Category Archives: Graduate School
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.
Read the rest of this entryImages 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.
Read the rest of this entryCome 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!
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!
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.
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 entryImages 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.
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
Graduate School Workshop No-Shows – active from January 2023
The Graduate School is implementing a no-show policy for signing up to but not attending workshops that will take effect from January 2023.
We understand that plans change, and that you might no longer be able to make it to a workshop or an event you thought you would like to attend. The aim of the policy is not to discourage you from registering for events you might be interested in. Instead, if your plans change, we ask that you simply let us know that by cancelling your registration.
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UON Graduate School Blog 