BFWG Annual Academic Doctoral Awards 2023
The British Federation of Women Graduates (BFWG) Academic Awards for outstanding academic excellence
Closing date is 5pm on Friday 3rd March 2023.
BFWG Research Presentations Day
This one day meeting in London, on Saturday 13th May 2023, is a good opportunity for postgraduate doctoral students to present their work to a general audience with a small prize offered for the best presentation.
Follow each link above to documents with more information. For further information wisit the website BFWG – The British Federation of Women Graduates or email awardsqueries@bfwg.org.uk
Student Union Elections are open for nominations
Postgraduate Researchers are encouraged to take part in the nominations for the SU Executive Team – for all roles, including a part time Postgraduate Research Students’ Officer. You can read more about it at the link above.
The Officers have regular meetings with decision-makers at all levels of the University and the Students’ Union, including the Vice Chancellor, and sit on some of the most important committees that have a direct impact on your experience as a student.
As well as this opportunity, the Graduate School are also looking for Representatives to sit on some of our Research Degree and Ethics boards. If you are interested in doing this please contact Matthew McCormack.
The nominations are open! Key Dates around Elections
Nominations Open Monday 13th February 2023 at 9am
Nominations Close Sunday 26th February 2023 at 5pm
Voting Opens Monday 13th March at 9am
Voting Closes Wednesday 15th March 2023 at 2pm
Call for Posters from PGRs! Enter the Postgraduate Researcher Poster Competition 2023
The Graduate School has launched the call for entries for the 16th Annual PGR Poster Competition, which will be held on campus on Thursday May 25th. Our Poster Competition is open to all doctoral students at UON and is an excellent development opportunity for presenting research, for improving communication and for networking with other doctoral researchers. The Entry Form is here, deadline for entering is April 27th. You have until May 25th to produce and print your A1 landscape poster. There will be Amazon voucher prizes to win – £100 for the winner and 2x £75 for the runners up!
The aim of the event is for PGRs to create a research poster that explains complex research to a mixed audience of non-subject specialists. Your paper poster will be displayed on traditional poster boards in an exhibition in the Owl’s Nest, Learning Hub at Waterside Campus, with an in-person judging session. Entrants must be available from 10am on the day until 2pm.
At whatever stage in the research process you are, do take this opportunity to share your work with others and gain valuable feedback. For further information on the rules of entry, please see the Guidelines.
Read the rest of this entryPractising your presentation skills in a supportive environment
Delivering good research presentations to others is a skill which requires practice and an absolutely essential research skill for PGRs. With this in mind the Graduate School are offering Presentation Cafés every month as an opportunity for PGRs to present their research and/or be in the audience to listen and ask questions. The online Cafes are a great opportunity for PGRs to gain confidence and feedback on their presentation without being judged, in a friendly and supportive environment. Whether you are rehearsing for a Transfer seminar, a presentation for a conference or simply wish to talk about your research to others, the Presentation Cafes are there for you to develop those skills.
To sign up to present your research at an online Café, please fill in this form. Presentations should be 10-15 minutes long with time for questions after. Cafes are planned for 15th Feb 4pm; 13th March 12 noon; 20th April 10am; 16th May 3pm; 12th June 1pm.
To be in the audience (no presenting required!) just click on the green Respond button on the Café workshop pages on Gateway calendar. Please note, do think about signing up to make a presentation at some point – we will have to cancel sessions if we don’t have any presenters! If you are interested in presenting at an in-person Cafe on campus please contact Simone or Lina from the Graduate School.
NVivo license renewal codes
We would like to let you know that the new license renewal code is available for NVivo. NVivo is a software program used for qualitative and mixed-methods research. Specifically, it is used for the analysis of unstructured text, audio, video, and image data, including (but not limited to) interviews, focus groups, surveys, social media, and journal articles.
The information is posted in Student Hub where you can download the software and find the license code. If you have downloaded NVIVO in the past you may be able to use the new license code without a new download being required. For new uses, the downloaded package will include the installation file for Nvivo. If you have any problems downloading this software, then please phone IT Services – www.northampton.ac.uk/unit or 01604 89 3333.
New workshop for PGRs: Critical Thinking and Academic Communication
Dr Qian Zhang in Educational Linguistics is running a development day on 31st January 2023 from 10am until 4pm which will help PGRs to critically read and analyse academic sources, express arguments clearly and concisely and improve their critical reading and writing.
The development day will be held on campus at Waterside and you can sign up here on the Gateway page. The day includes all refreshments and lunch.
Images of Research deadline extended to 31st March 2023 – for the last time!
Winner of the UON Images of Research 2021-22 by Oluwaseyi Omoloso (as chosen by our guest judge)
Runner-up of the UON Images of Research 2021-22 by Peter Jones
The Graduate School’s Images of Research (IoR) competition’s deadline is extended for a final time to 31st March 2023! If you haven’t yet sent in your submission this is your chance to take part in this exciting opportunity to showcase your research at Waterside’s 5-year anniversary festival.
All researchers (staff or research students) at the University of Northampton are invited to participate. Create a unique image – a painting or a photograph – that captures the essence of your research or captures an element of it in an artistic way. Include a catchy title and a 150 word summary and your entry for Images of Research will be ready for submission. You can find more information on how to apply in the IoR 2022-23 Rules and Guidelines.
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PGRs. Are you getting the most out of your supervisory relationship?
Your working relationship with your supervisor is so important and getting the best out of the relationship can really help you to progress in your doctorate, making your life much easier. This workshop, run by Professor Ian Livingstone, who runs UON’s Supervisor Development Programme, helps you to consider what you want to get out of your supervisors and how to manage that. He will help you to gain a deeper understanding of the working relationship and what you need to do to to maintain a good relationship, thinking about how to communicate assertively and consider how to recognise and manage constructive and non-constructive criticism. A must for all Postgraduate Researchers.
The session will run from 10am-12noon at Waterside, Northampton on 24th January 2023. But there will also be an opportunity for PGRs to join remotely via Collaborate. You will be able to register and find the Collaborate link in the Gateway page below.
New Development Days for PGRs
The Graduate School are running new monthly Development Days for PGRs – a full day on campus on a theme – featuring practical workshops with lunch and the opportunity to meet with your fellow PGRs from across the university. Seriously consider taking a day out to do this. Doctoral study can be isolating and meeting up with others is a great way to share your concerns, chat about your research, share tips and tricks for progressing and increasing your motivation.
Please book on Gateway using the links below (click on the green Respond button). Contact Simone with any booking issues.
Read the rest of this entryWellbeing Day for researchers on January 18th 2023
Following on from our successful Wellbeing Week in September, we are hosting, on campus, a Wellbeing Day for researchers on the topic of Resilience in Research on the 18th of January. It is open to all postgraduate researchers and all staff doing research at UON. There will be two main sessions held on the day.
The morning session will be facilitated by Daniela Bultoc, an award-winning emotional intelligence and resilient leader coach. This interactive session aims to provide researchers with the space to focus on themselves, review where they are now and gain a renewed perspective on what is important to them. The session provides practical insights into building resiliency and refocusing in times of uncertainty or when dealing with setbacks.
Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on what helps them be at their best, what motivates them and what their strengths are. They will become more aware their own communication approach in different situations, and especially when solving problems or working with others.
The afternoon session will be facilitated by Cathy Smith, Dean of Research and Innovation, and will be a discussion based around different themes concerning the various challenges and concerns faced by researchers. There will be an opportunity for attendees to briefly discuss wellbeing issues they have experienced as a researcher at UON. And the discussion will cover how the University can support the researcher community and how we can support each other. You can choose to remain anonymous by submitting your thoughts, experiences, and questions around these areas beforehand to be brought up at the event in this section of the day. You can follow the links above for the sessions’ respective Gateway pages for more information, to see the schedule and to sign up for the sessions. Please note that the two sessions have separate sign ups and you need to sign up for both of them if you wish to attend the whole day. Lunch will be provided
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