Category Archives: Early Career Researcher
Want to learn how to design effective academic posters? Join us for a poster making and critique session!
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.
Wellbeing 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
COVID-19 update: guidance on planned research and enterprise activities
**Updates: As the COVID-19 situation continues to develop, the default institutional expectation remains that research and enterprise activities should proceed in online or virtual formats. It is recognised that exceptions will exist, but until further notice, all face-to-face research/enterprise activities work can only proceed with the approval of the most relevant Dean or Deputy Dean (or for LLS/ILT – Head of LLS), following risk assessment in alignment with current University of Northampton guidelines. As a default position, research/enterprise work will not be allowed to proceed if:
- alternative, remote research methods could be used which will meet the objectives of the research in an ethical manner;
- the planned work involves UK or international travel;
- the planned activity can feasibly be postponed.
Further guidance, plus expectations about risk assessments and new resources for online research methods are outlined below.
Current position
The University of Northampton’s Situation Updates page is the primary source of information and updates for colleagues and researchers at the University of Northampton: https://www.northampton.ac.uk/about-us/situation-updates/
Given the exceptional, unprecedented situation which is ongoing as a result of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, all researchers must reflect on their planned and ongoing activities: this may necessitate pausing, rescheduling or amending activities. Amendments to activities, or proposals for new research/enterprise activities, must be reviewed and approved by the University of Northampton’s Research Ethics Committee or Faculty Ethics Committees.
It is likely that COVID-19 will cause significant disruption for research activities, particularly where:
- proposed/ongoing research activities require face-to-face contact with participants, particularly those who are at-risk or require self-isolation as per the latest UK Government advice;
- researchers are themselves at-risk or require self-isolation;
- proposed research involves UK or international travel;
- planned research requires visits to settings which are closed or have restricted access as a result of COVID-19.
If you are concerned about the impacts of the current situation on your ongoing/planned research, support is available as follows:
Read the rest of this entryAnnual Research Conference: Brochure Online
June 20 – 21st 2019
We’re looking forward to seeing everyone later this week at our Annual Research Conference. We have a host of treats in store for you including three distinguished keynote speakers, and our inaugural Bake your Research Competition! We also have research papers, and the famous 3MT too. The full conference brochure can be viewed here.

If you would like to book for Day One or Day Two just click the links to register your attendance. Please do join us for the conference meal too, by booking on Gateway.
Top 100 – Altmetrics – 2017
The Altmetric Top 100 2017 is here! Check out this year’s list of the most talked about articles. http://altmetric.com/top100
What are Altmetrics?
- Attention to research outputs in non-traditional sources, e.g. policy documents, news, blogs and social media
- Indicators of research impact
- Help understand how research is being received and used
- Complementary to traditional citation-based analysis
Why Altmetrics?
- Provide a more coherent understanding of research attention
- Understand the broader reach and early impact of research
- Track attention to a broad range of research outputs, including articles, posters, data sets and working papers, etc.
- Help researchers get credit for impact activities
Advantages of Metrics for Single Research Outputs
- Real-time, immediate feedback on attention to scholarly content
- Useful for early career researchers whose work may not have accrued citations
- Showcase attention to a research output beyond academia
- Not biased by an over-arching metric
The Altmetric Bookmarklet
The free Bookmarklet lets you instantly retrieve altmetrics data for any article.

To install, go to: http://altmetric.it
Remember that the Numbers Don’t Tell You…
- Quality of the paper
- Quality of the researchers
- Whole story
Adapted from https://www.altmetric.com/
Notice of transfer Seminar on Wednesday 22nd November at 3:15pm in MY120 (Maidwell)
All members of the university are invited to attend this upcoming transfer seminar being held in MY120, Maidwell, Avenue Campus on Wednesday 22nd November at 3:15 to 4:00pm.
Imene Hamani. The Role of In-Group Attachment Among Kabyle Migrants Living in Britain
Note the slightly later start time of 3:15pm due to the teaching commitments of the external (Melanie Crofts).
All are welcome.
ETHICS and Research Data Management
Most research data – even sensitive data – can be shared ethically and legally if researchers employ strategies of informed consent, anonymisation and controlling access to data. Researchers obtaining data from people are expected to maintain high ethical standards and comply with the relevant legislation.
Researchers must adhere to data protection requirements when managing or sharing personal data. However, not all research data obtained from people count as personal data. If data are anonymised then the Act will not apply as they no longer constitute ‘personal data’.
Wiley’s Data Sharing Policies
The majority of Wiley’s journals enforce one of the following standardized data sharing policies:
Encourages Data Sharing
Expects Data Sharing
Mandates Data Sharing
An excel spreadsheet of all Wiley’s journals and their associated policy on data sharing can be found under the pinned items in the Yammer Research Support Group.
