Remembering the Apollo Moon Landings
Lewis Goodings, Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Roehampton University, is coming to the University on Wednesday 12th December to speak about an analysis of people’s memories of the Apollo moon landings. All University of Northampton staff and research students are welcome.
Wednesday 12th December at 3pm in C204. Refreshments will be available. Read the rest of this entry
2012 EABIS Sustainability Conference report
Submitted by Nadeem Khan, NBS Postgraduate Student.
The University of Northampton was represented at the EABIS Colloquium, held at IMD Lausanne and Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne (EHL), on 2–5 July 2012. The theme was Corporate Responsibility and Sustainable Business. This forum brought together leading academics and Corporate leaders (IBM, Microsoft, Syngenta, Unilever) from across the globe, in dialogue on innovation for sustainability. Delegates from the European Commission and attendees of the Rio+20 Summit were also present.
“Creativity in Research” and “Academic Writing” Day
Dr Adair Richards, (trainer, consultant, broadcaster and academic), is delivering a training day for the UN Graduate School on Tuesday, 5th February 2013, covering both Creativity in Research and Academic writing. Read the rest of this entry
New resource: Journal Citation Reports
Good news! The University now has a subscription to the sector’s leading tool for assessing the impact and prestige of scholarly journals: Journal Citation Reports (otherwise known as JCR).
Based on citation data from journals indexed by Thomson Reuters, JCR calculates and reports the impact factors that are boasted of and aspired to by publishers and editors of academic journals. For researchers, they can provide a rough and ready measure of journal quality and answer the oft-asked question of “where should I publish if I want my work to have the highest impact?”.
The last three Graduate School workshops in 2012!
8th December: Saturday school. Click to book.
Writing and Structuring your Thesis, Introductory SPSS Statistics Session, Planning your Project and Time Management.
11th December 09:30-13:30: Successful research proposals & research ethics. Click to book.
Covers the requirements for registration as an APG. Essential for pre-registration research students but also important for supervisors who expect their students to be registering soon.
12th December 5-6.30pm : Focus Groups. Click to book.
Dr Jane Callaghan considers the specific features of focus groups, looking at both practical and theoretical issues in conducting focus group research.
R-Project Users Group – call for interest.
R is a free, open-source software environment for statistical computing and graphics. There is a possibility of setting up a University-wide R Users Group for researchers and/or providing training in using R, but first we need to gauge interest and experience.
If you are interested in such a group, or training in R, please email Simone Apel.
Please mention…
1. whether you have used R or not.
2. give an outline of what you have used it for (or might use it for).
3. whether you are interested in a User Group or being trained in R.
RCUK’s research career case study resource
RCUK has published further research career case studies, designed to inspire the next generation to think about pursuing a career in research.
Each case study tells their own personal story of how they got involved in research, what it takes to be a researcher, and their rewarding experiences from their chosen career paths. The RCUK resource now contains 44 case studies in total, covering a wide range of disciplines including arts and humanities; maths; biology; social sciences; and physics. Read the rest of this entry
Still places left on the Saturday School on the 8th December
Come to the 8th December Saturday school. A full, but relaxed day which includes
- Writing and Structuring your Thesis. Profs Ian Livingstone & Jeff Ollerton
- Introductory statistics using SPSS: A repeat of the 13th November workshop. Paul Rice
- Planning your Project. Daniela Bultoc
- Time Management. Daniela Bultoc
Includes all refreshments and lunch.
Book now! Designed for those early on in their research but anyone can attend.
See the Eventbrite link for more information on each session and to book.
Why citation counts can’t always be trusted
I have written before about the limitations of citation analysis in identifying the ‘best’ research papers but I’ve never before seen anybody attempting to buy citations with marzipan.
According to Kent Anderson, CEO/Publisher of the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, this apparently was how one eager Editor sought to increase his journal’s impact factor.
Read the full shocking story here.
Thanks to Jenny Delasalle of Warwick University for tweeting the above link.
Image credit: Musical Linguist on Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)
New research initiatives in the School of the Arts
Submitted by Professor Janet Wilson
In 2012, the School of the Arts has hosted a range of innovative lectures and events as well as developing and launching a number of exciting interdisciplinary research groups. The Annual Postgraduate Conference (11th-14th September 2012) provided a welcome review of the range and vibrancy of doctoral projects within the School as well as featuring a keynote address by Performing Arts scholar at Brazil’s University of Bahia, Claudio Cajaiba.
UON Graduate School Blog 
