Category Archives: Graduate School
It’s live! The new NILE site for PGRs and research degree Supervisors.
RES001 Researcher Development, the Graduate School’s NILE site for over 10 years, has been replaced by a brand new site called RES003 The Graduate School Resource Bank. For both postgraduate researchers and their supervisors, this new site has fresh new content, is easier to navigate and now is the one-stop place to answer questions on doing and supervising a research degree at the University of Northampton. This is a brief run-down of content….
Read the rest of this entryReading and writing retreats: Support in academic writing for PGRs
This academic year we have chosen academic writing support as a focus for our postgraduate researchers, with a monthly online Shut Up & Write! and a series of academic writing related webinars and workshops.
Writing your Thesis so Your Examiner Can Read It ran yesterday, facilitated by the experienced Dr Katy Mahoney.
Next week, on 16th January, Emma Kimberley and Samantha King from LLS will be facilitating the Graduate School’s first Reading Retreat. And on Tuesday January 16th February we are running a full day’s guided Writing Retreat on campus, facilitated by Dr Alison Hardy from Nottingham Trent University.
Our series of online Shut Up & Write! for 2024 starts on 30th January, with an optional social session afterwards to chat with fellow PGRs after a morning of writing. Other dates for SU&W! are 28th Feb, 16th April and 7th June, all with taught input sessions on a different theme. For details and to book see the Gateway Calendar.
Images of Research deadline for submissions extended to April 24th – still time to apply!
The Graduate School’s Images of Research (IoR) competition deadline has been extended to Weds 24th April at midnight! So that gives you another 4 weeks to take a photo or draw/paint a picture that reflects your research. Then write just 150 words on how it links to your research and include a catchy title -then your entry for Images of Research will be ready for submission. You can find more information on how to apply in the IoR 2023-24 Rules and Guidelines below.
All researchers (staff and research students) at the University of Northampton are invited to participate. As previously, this year’s IoR will consist of two parts – viewers can vote for their top three favourites and a ‘guest’ judge will pick their top three as well. All you need to do is make sure that your entries follow the Rules and Guidelines linked above and submit your image via this form by the close date of April 24th.
The Graduate School launched its first Images of Research in 2013. Justin Lance, then Head of Corporate Programmes at NBS said of it “this is such a wonderfully simple, yet powerful, concept to showcase the diversity and flamboyance of research across the University.” Indeed, this is a perfect opportunity for you to express your creativity and engage a broader audience with your research. Every year, Images of Research are displayed around campus and selected images find their way into different University publications.
Browse through the Images of Research 2023 Brochure to take a look at last year’s entries.
If you are a researcher we invite you to participate in our 12th Images of Research. If you have any questions please contact Lina in the Graduate School.
We look forward to your entries!
Merry Christmas and a happy new year…
…from everyone in the Graduate School. We look forward to helping and supporting our research degree students and supervisors in 2024.
A warm welcome to our new postgraduate researchers starting in October 2023
A four day induction from 30th October to 2nd November saw us welcome a further 31 postgraduate researchers to the University of Northampton.
The 4-day biannual Induction Programme is run by The Graduate School in October and March and is compulsory for all PGRs starting out on their PhD or MPhil. The Induction aims to launch them into their studies by offering them a variety of workshops and talks, including research degree processes and procedures, skills development, open access, library resources, EDI and research integrity. Our new researchers also gave presentations on their research topic, had an induction into their Faculty, met members of staff at the University who will support them along the way and created a WhatsApp cohort to keep them in touch with each through their studies.
Read the rest of this entryGraduate School Development Days 2023-24
Graduate School Development Days on campus have all been finalised for the 2023-24 academic year. You are invited to browse through the days and topics below and plan ahead to set aside time for the ones that you would like to attend to meet up with other PGRs and attend some development workshops. Here is a brief overview with links for more information and to book.
Development Days are full days on campus, with lunch, based on a particular stage of study or theme. They are designed to be experiential, discussion-based and involve networking with other PGRs Face to face opportunities are proven to decrease feelings of isolation amongst research students and will allow you to make new friends with fellow PGRs for future support and connections.
13th November 2023 Finishing stage – Editing, proof reading and viva ‘experiences’
Strategies for managing the final editing & proofreading of your thesis. Hear from visiting alumni on their viva experiences and ask all those tricky questions.
15th December 2023 Unlocking the World of Quantitative Research: Philosophy and Practice: (Half day)
Join us for a comprehensive workshop designed to demystify the art and science of quantitative research, equipping you with essential knowledge and skills to conduct meaningful research in your field. This workshop will be for about 3h, immersing you in the philosophy, questionnaire design, and data analysis using SPSS.
16th January 2024 ‘Reading’ Development Day
Improving your reading skills will also improve your writing skills. This development day will involve a reading retreat and will feature links between good reading skills and writing at Level 8.
16th February 2024 ‘Writing’ Development Day
Dr Alison Hardy is back with her legendary writing retreat, where she will first introduce 90 minutes of good writing strategies, followed by dedicated writing slots to enable you to get on with your doctoral writing tasks.
7th March 2024 Presenting and disseminating your research with impact
This day will focus on impactful research, methods of dissemination, improving your presenting skills and getting your research out there by building your digital presence.
15th April 2024 Progressing from the middle stage of your doctorate
Maintaining momentum, managing your supervisor and their feedback, overcoming procrastination and improving productivity – just get your thesis done! Here are lots of tips and tricks that will help you achieve progression in this latter stage.
Writing your first article and increasing your chances of getting published in journals, with ‘expert’ academics talking about their experiences and giving tips.
18th June 2024 Building a Research Career
This day will focus on what it takes to build a successful research career, whether you would like to work in or outside of academia. PhD to Prof or another exciting career outside of academia – what is it to be?
As well as our Development Days on campus we are also offering a couple of online days on qualitative research.
Part 1: Qualitative research methods: an interactive guide 14th March 2024
Part 2: The collection and analysis of qualitative data 5th June 2024
We have a variety of short webinars and workshops on offer in the Gateway calendar, so take a look to find what you need. If you would like help deciding what to sign up to then please contact Simone Apel for a 1-1 session on Teams.
Welcome to the Academic Year 2023-24!
This year we have an exciting line up of transferable skills workshops planned for you as we continue to populate the Gateway Calendar with new and repeat sessions, confirming facilitators and dates for the autumn.
Dr Kate Mahoney will be joining us to deliver two different webinars, one on ‘High Intensity Productivity: Maximising the impact of short time periods or opportunities for progress’ in September and, in January, ‘Writing your thesis so your examiner can read it’. New workshops also include ‘Working with Long Documents in MS Word’, ‘Times Management Tips for PGRs’, and ‘Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding’. There is also a new workshop on getting feedback scheduled for November. Our repeat workshops include ‘Reference management in Zotero’, ‘Preparing for a successful Transfer’ and ‘Preparing for the Viva” the latter two of which would be added shortly so keep an eye on the Gateway Calendar. To help you plan your career we are running ‘Career Management Skills for Researchers’ in September, the first of 3 careers support webinars specifically designed for PGRs.
Already in the calendar are the dates for the Development Days on Campus, such as the ‘Finishing’ Development Day, though some are still to be assigned content. We recommend that you look through the dates in advance and plan for the ones that you would like to attend. Development Days are full days on campus, filled with exciting workshops, and give you the opportunity to network with your fellow PGRs.
Do take a look at the calendar (you may be asked to log into Gateway) and check back regularly as new workshops are still being added. Book your place on a workshop by clicking on the green button on the workshop page. Get in touch with Simone if you have any questions about or suggestions for the skills development programme. We would love to hear from you and are open to suggestions for new workshops and webinars.
If you are a PGR student and would like to talk to someone about the upcoming academic year please get in touch with us via graduateschool@northampton.ac.uk. We wish you a pleasant and productive academic year and we look forward to seeing you at our programmes!
Images of Research 2022-23: Results!
Dr Cathy Smith, Dean of Research, Impact and Innovation, announced the winners of the 2022-2023 Images of Research competition at the in person day of the Annual Research Conference on 28th June.
Out of a collection of 20 fabulous research images from across the University of Northampton, Rosie Zielinski was chosen by guest judge, James A. Smith, technician demonstrator – performance in the department Culture, as the overall winner of this year’s Images of Research with her image entitled ‘The Surface Between’. The Runner Ups were Andrew Ballantyne and Anne Lama with their image entitled “There’s something fishy going on! Sustainable exploitation of waste skins from the fishing sector”. A public vote saw Jeffrey Ansong take home the People’s Choice award with his image titled “Working Through the Mess: Examining the Inefficiencies in Manual Inventory Management Systems”.
Come learn about participatory art-based research methods!
You are invited to an exciting new seminar series titled “Using Participatory Art-based Research Methods for Evaluation”!
This seminar is presented in three parts. The second session will take place tomorrow June 20th at 11am and will focus on the Photovoice methodology in international contexts. It will provide case studies from low- and middle-income countries and shows examples from the Arts and Humanities Council’s research that used Photovoice. This session is going to be led by a guest speaker, Dr Melis Cin from Lancaster University. Dr Cin uses arts methods with marginalised populations in Global South to raise critical consciousness, stimulate change in the community and facilitate public deliberation on important political and social issues that matter to the communities.
The third session will take place on June 29th at 11am and will be presented by Dr Claire Paterson-Young, Dr Ecem Karlidag-Dennis and Dr Toa Giroletti from the Institute for Social Innovation and Impact. This session explores how Photovoice, and other variations of Photovoice can be used for evaluation. The Institute for Social Innovation and Impact team adapted the approach to use for evaluation with young people, this adapted approach will also be presented in this session.
While these sessions are intended to be a seminar series, you are welcome to attend any of the sesisons even if you have not attended the previous ones.
All researchers are welcome to attend. You can find more information and a syllabus for the seminar on the Gateway page linked above as well as book your spot.
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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UON Graduate School Blog 