Author Archives: Miggie Pickton
Improve your research skills with a little help from CfAP
Choosing the right tool to analyse your data or finding the best way to structure your findings can be a fraught process. However help is on hand from the Centre for Achievement and Performance – otherwise known as CfAP.
CfAP exists to help all students, including those doing research degrees, achieve their academic potential:
“If you were training for the Olympics you may need to work on aspects of weight, speed or flexibility to improve your performance and to gain insights into how your body works. Visiting CfAP should be regarded in a similar way – you wish to work on aspects of your academic work to improve your performance and to gain a better understanding of how you learn. As with athletes, taking responsibility for your own development leads to success.”
(Sandy Gilkes, National Teaching Fellow)
CfAP staff have recently created a new site on NILE; it is open to everyone and there is no need to enrol. The site contains a huge range of materials to support all aspects of academic endeavour. Read the rest of this entry
SAGE permits authors to deposit full text in NECTAR
As of today, if you have an article published by SAGE Publications you can upload the accepted version of your full text to NECTAR immediately. With no embargo.
SAGE has just announced a review of its author archiving policy and now permits immediate deposit of the post-peer-review, accepted copy of an article in the author’s own institutional repository.
(See details of SAGE’s publishing policies here.)
This represents a very positive response to recent developments in the sector (such as the Finch report and the revised RCUK policy on open access) and means that SAGE can now promote itself as a SHERPA RoMEO ‘Green‘ publisher, along with 349 other publishers including Cambridge University Press, Elsevier, Intellect, John Wiley and Sons, Kluwer, and Public Library of Science.
Launch of the UK Data Service
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has just announced the launch of a new national service that will consolidate and incorporate four established data services and websites:
- Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS)
- Census.ac.uk
- Secure Data Service (SDS)
- Survey Question Bank (SQB)
The UK Data Service offers a a single point of access to a wide range of secondary data including large-scale government surveys, international macrodata, business microdata, qualitative studies and census data from 1971 to 2011. Read the rest of this entry
University response to HEFCE consultation on open access and the REF post 2014
The university has responded to HEFCE’s first consultation on open access and research assessment post 2014.
In support of their objective of increasing the proportion of research outputs that are made available in open access form, HEFCE’s proposals centred on the requirement that all research outputs submitted to future assessment exercises should be made open access as soon as possible after publication:
“To support and encourage the further implementation of open access we intend to introduce a requirement that all outputs submitted to the post-2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercise are published on an open-access basis, where this is reasonably achievable and where, given the medium in which the output is presented, the concept of ‘open access’ applies.” (HEFCE, 2013, para 8)
HEFCE requested responses focused on several key issues, as follows: Read the rest of this entry
Free trials of resources from Palgrave and Taylor & Francis
Two trials are on offer. Make the most of them while you can! 
Taylor and Francis
- This 30 day trial has been arranged by the library and provides access to two complete collections of Taylor & Francis journals: Social Science and Humanities and Science and Technology
- The extra content is accessed via the A-Z list of databases in NELSON or go directly to Taylor and Francis Online
- Use your University single sign-on credentials to log in
- Navigation is as standard but you’ll have access to many more journals than usual
- Available until 22 April
Palgrave Macmillan
- The ‘Access All Areas‘ promotion offers free online access to Palgrave Macmillan’s full portfolio of journals spanning the Humanities, the Social Sciences and Business
- Browse journals from the list of subject areas on this page: http://www.palgrave.com/accessallareas
- Available from 1-30 April
Postgraduate Perspective Newsletter: February 2013
The February 2013 issue of the Postgraduate Perspective newsletter is now available. Featuring the theme of ‘sustainability’, articles include:
- The virtue of Sustinere is its sustainability
- Helsinki prize winner Aylwyn Walsh
- Social network phenomena
- Multiculturalism and sustainability
- The Research Support Hub
- Sustainable educational development
- The student experience
- Student finance and sustainability
- Book review corner
- New students and completions
- Postgraduate Annual Conference
- Graduate School training programmes
Research seminar in the School of Science and Technology
Submitted by Professor Jeff Ollerton
The following double-header research seminar is taking place on Wednesday 8th May 1200 to 1300 in NW205. All welcome.
Professor Kate Rowntree (Department of Geography, Rhodes University, South Africa):
“Integrating geomorphology into the classification of ecological condition: GAI and the Ecostatus model for South African rivers”
Professor Roddy Fox (Department of Geography, Rhodes University, South Africa):
“A comparison of modelled and recorded rainfall for the extreme weather event of February 2011, Ganora, Sneeuberg Mountains, South Africa”
Kate and Roddy will each speak for about 30 minutes. Further details are available from Ian Foster.
Image credit: delayedgratification on Flickr 
HEFCE consultation on open access and submissions to the REF post 2014
In July 2012 HEFCE announced that it would consult with the HE sector on how to ensure the widest possible access to research outputs submitted to post 2014 REF exercises.
The first step of the planned two-stage consultation process is a letter inviting institutions and individuals to comment and advise on the consultation proposals. Broadly speaking, these cover:
- Funding body expectations for open access in post 2014 REF
- The role of institutional repositories
- Embargoes and licences
- Exceptions
- Monograph publications
- Open data
The University of Northampton Research and Enterprise Committee will be sending a response to HEFCE and welcomes your input to this. Please leave a comment below or email Miggie Pickton with your response.
HEFCE’s deadline for responses is 25 March 2013 so your input by 18 March 2013 would be appreciated. Thank you.
Research Council requirements for data management – slides available
The slides for yesterday’s session focusing on the research data planning requirements of Research Councils are available below. Thanks to all who came along and stimulated a fair bit of discussion.
The request for a further workshop on selecting, documenting and sharing sensitive qualitative data has been duly noted – watch this blog for further details.
UON Graduate School Blog 