Congratulations to our 2023 Poster Competition winners!

The Graduate School Poster Competition took place on May 25th and saw nine amazing posters. The Poster Competition is a development opportunity for doctoral research students, who present their research on a research poster, giving short 1-1 verbal presentations alongside.

Taking place at the Owl’s Nest in the Learning Hub, the poster competition was an exciting opportunity for PGRs at UON to engage the community with their research and practice their presentation skills.

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Graduate School Update Day & 3MT

Graduate School Update Day is on Friday June 9th and you are cordially invited to join us in the Town Hall for a formal session and follow-up discussions on the broad topic of Supportive Supervision – a session and discussion on how Supervisors can best support PGRs and how PGRs ensure they get the effective support that they need from their Supervisor. We are delighted to announce that Dr Paula Zwozdiak-Myers and Petra Buresova from Brunel University will be presenting in our morning session. Paula & Petra were involved in a fascinating study on doctoral researchers’ perceptions of supervisory relationships on their health and wellbeing. The session in the morning will be followed by lunch (provided) and prompt further discussions after lunch on supportive supervision at UON. Update Day will also feature our annual 3-Minute Thesis Competition at lunchtime – the first competition that we have held in-person since 2019.

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University of Northampton Annual Research Conference June 27 & 28 2023 – Call for Papers extended to 2nd June at midnight!

The Call for Papers for UON’s Annual Research Conference now closes on 2nd June at midnight. Whether you are a PGR student, an early career or more experienced researcher you can come along and present your research at the conference. The Conference provides an ideal opportunity to emphasise the contribution that our Research can offer to understand and tackle pressing challenges.

You can participate online on Tuesday 27th June and/or on-campus on Wednesday 28th June 2023. There is a variety of exciting ways to present your research.

  • Oral presentation (online on Tuesday 27th June, on campus on Wednesday 28th June). Oral presentations should be 20 minutes long, with time allocated for questions after each presentation. Presentations will be placed in themed sessions once all entries are received.
  • Symposium (online on Tuesday 27th June, on campus on Wednesday 28th June). This will be an hour-long session for a themed discussion on the topic of your choice. Each symposium will have one hour for their presentations. The sessions are yours to run as you wish and as Chair(s), you are responsible to oversee all proceedings. Proposals are welcome from Research Centres and Institutes, but also from informal groups of researchers who share a topic.
  • Poster/infographic display (poster and infographic to be displayed online and on Campus on campus on Wednesday 28th June).

If you wish to submit in one, or all, of these formats, please complete a separate form for each entry. You will be asked to provide an abstract of 50-150 words for oral presentations. poster and infographic, and 150-300 words for a symposium. The closing date for entry forms is midnight on 2nd June 2023.

Images of Research 2023: voting now open!

The Graduate School’s 2023 Images of Research (IoR) is now open for public voting. This year we have a collection of 20 fabulous research images from across the university. IoR showcases research in a unique way – researchers produce an original image, which can be a photograph or artwork, and write a short, engaging summary describing how the image links to their research. This results in an exciting exhibition, showcasing UONs research diversity.

To vote for your two favourites, just view the Images of Research Brochure, below, choose your favourite two and enter them in the Poll below. Please vote for your favourite two in no particular order, taking into account BOTH the image and the abstract. As a guide, a winning image would be one that:

* Is visually appealing AND

* Has an accompanying abstract which is well written, clearly connects with the image and ensures viewers, who know nothing about the research topic, will understand and find interest in the research presented.

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3-Minute Thesis – call for applications extended to Thursday 25th May!

The call for applications from PGRs has been extended to midnight 25th May. If you have reached the Transfer stage (or past Transfer) you will be eligible to apply to take part in this exciting and rewarding presentation event, which will be held at the Graduate School’s Update Day in the Town Hall, Waterside on June 9th at lunchtime. The winner will be awarded a £75 Amazon voucher.

To take part, you will be required to outline your thesis in a three-minute presentation and one slide, written for a general audience in plain English! In order to apply you must be a PGR at Northampton going through Transfer at present or have passed the Transfer stage of your PhD. DBA and Professional Doctorate students are encouraged to take part too but you must be in the research phase of your doctorate. Here is the entry form.

The winner of our 3MT will have the opportunity to represent UON and present at the East Midlands Doctoral Network (EMDoc) 3MT Competition later in September, which will be held online. And this year we are hosting it at Northampton!

Skills development “Preparing for 3MT” will be held online on 30th May. Go to Gateway to book your place.

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Come along to the Annual Postgraduate Researcher Poster Competition!

The Graduate School would like to invite you to their Annual Postgraduate Researcher Poster Competition on Thursday 25th May 2023, 11am to 2pm, in the Owl’s Nest on the ground floor of the Learning Hub, Waterside campus. The poster competition is a development opportunity for doctoral research students, who present their research on a research poster, giving short 1-1 verbal presentations alongside. Come along to meet some of our PGRs and learn about their research!

Chetak poster EMDoc

If you are a researcher or a research student yourself why not come along to support your colleagues. The event is a competition and we are offering a first prize of £100, and two second prizes of £75 for the top three posters. We will have judges circulating, picked from academic and non-academic staff. Judges will score the posters on design, accessibility of content, verbal presentation and researcher engagement. The prizes will be announced at 1.45pm.

We hope to see you there!

Want to learn how to design effective academic posters? Join us for a poster making and critique session!

Sample Poster

Academic poster presentations are excellent visual and verbal communication tools for researchers to describe their research to others. In this highly practical workshop we will consider what a poster should convey, we will look at visual design and written content and, using tips from poster competition judges, the session will also feature best practice in the verbal presentation of your poster at a competition. The session includes a design critique of real academic posters and you will go away better prepared to produce your own. It will contain essential training for PGRs entering into UON’s Poster Competition on May 25th.

After the workshop you will:

  • Understand the aim & purpose of poster presentations
  • Describe what makes a great poster from a judges perspective
  • Understand best practice in design to ensure your poster is attractive
  • Be able to write and organise your poster text
  • Identify the verbal presentation skills needed

We are looking forward to have you join us for this poster making workshop on Tuesday, 4 Apr 2023, from 12:00 to 14:30.

For more information and to sign up visit the workshop’s Gateway page.

Want to know how to make excellent academic presentations? Come to this Graduate School Development Day!

This experiential one-day course is focused on improving your presentations skills enabling you to deliver confident, clear and persuasive presentations both for internal seminars and external conferences. We will utilise a range of discussions, reflection, and experiential exercises to develop techniques to enhance the impact our presentations have.

Adair Richards is a globally recognised researcher and higher education specialist. He has spoken at many of the world’s top Universities (e.g. UCL, Harvard, Yale), and is now an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Warwick. His PhD was for research into potential cures for antibiotic-resistant bacterial diseases. Across his career, Adair has gained a broad base of academic experience also including postdoctoral research positions in both the sciences – biophysical chemistry, and the humanities – museum studies. His academic publications have received hundreds of citations, including by a Nobel laureate, and he has a particular interest in interdisciplinary studies.

This event will take place on campus on Friday, 31st March 2023 10am to 4pm with lunch provided.

Find out more and sign up on Gateway here.

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