Impact & the REF
“In the 2021 REF the University of Northampton will submit and celebrate the excellent research it has done, and is doing, to underpin the delivery of the Changemaker Challenges and the University’s mission of Transforming Lives + Inspiring Change. The interdisciplinary nature of much of our research will be made overt. We will particularly focus on the impact our research has had, locally, nationally and internationally, and the ways the implementation of research findings (the application of our new knowledge) has improved the lives of people, and their environments.” Professor Simon Denny (Executive Dean: Research, Impact and Enterprise).
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system used for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. In order to facilitate preparation for the next REF, two meetings have been scheduled for all staff on the 19th of May.
12 pm to 1 pm – Park Campus – DLT (Delapre Lecture Theatre)
2 pm to 3 pm – Avenue Campus – MR 5
Further meetings have been scheduled to look deeper at impact and case studies for units of assessment for the next REF. These are 3 hour meetings which will look in detail at what makes a 4 star impact case study and how we can apply that to our own research.
Please ensure that you come along to the meeting that is relevant to you, if you are unsure of which meeting to attend please contact your Research Leader.
24th May – 09:30 am to 12:30 pm – Mechanical Engineering, Art and Design, Geography, Computing – Avenue Campus – MY120
7th June – 1 pm to 4 pm Allied Health & Psychology – Park Campus – C317
9th June – 9:30 am to 12:30 pm – English and History – Park Campus – C317
9th June – 1 pm to 4 pm – Education, Business and Law – Park Campus – C317
Note – these are based on units of assessment, not faculty structures.
Please do prioritise these dates, and attend if at all possible.
Please email SDBookings@northampton.ac.uk to book your place.
If you are a PG Student, please contact dawn.hibbert@ed.ac.uk for booking.
Making Progress Workshop for part-time researchers
On Monday 19 June 2017, 09.30 – 16.30, The Open University in Milton Keynes is organizing a very interesting workshop, usually seen by students as a a real boost to motivation. The event is free but you will be expected to pay for your own travel. This one day workshop is open to all part-time research students within the UK. There are only few places left, so if you want to attend please book your place as soon as possible. Read the rest of this entry
New Academic Librarians Blog
A new blog has recently been launched by the Academic Librarians to provide staff with up-to-date news and information from the library world. The blog also contains training information and other developments from the team as well as links to relevant resources, including the latest Aspire step-by-step guide. If you want to be informed, check out the new Academic Librarians Blog.
PGR Student Poster Competition 2017: Invitation to all
The Graduate School would like to invite you to their Annual Research Student Poster Competition 2017 on Wednesday 17th May 2017, 11am to 2pm, in the Dialog Cafe, ground floor of Rockingham Library, Park Campus.
The poster competition is a development opportunity for doctoral research students, who present their research on an A1/A0 poster, giving short 1-1 verbal presentations alongside. So why not come along to meet some of our research students. They have been given a brief to present their research for a general, non-specialist audience, accessible to all. Read the rest of this entry
Graduate School Workshops Coming Up
Here are the Graduate School workshops running for doctoral students and early career researchers from May to July 2017. These workshops are open for booking through the Gateway Calendar. Also listed are Graduate School events. For more information please see the Calendar.
- Word: Working with Long Documents 10 May 2017, from 09:30 to 11:30
- Risk Assessing your Research 10 May 2017, from 11:45 to 13:15
- Systematic literature searching 10 May 2017, from 14:00 to 16:00
- Graduate School PGR Poster competition 17 May 2017, from 10:45 to 14:00
- Reading and writing skills at Level 8 (session 1) 22 May 2017, from 10:00 to 12:00
- Career management for researchers: CV Workshop 23 May 2017, from 10:00 to 12:00
- Shut Up and Write! 23 May 2017, from 13:00 to 16:00
- Part-Time Researcher 25 May 2017, from 09:30 to 16:00
- Social Media Analysis Workshop – Gathering and analysing social media data from Twitter and YouTube 25 May 2017, from 11:00 to 13:00
- Research Ethics Seminar 01 Jun 2017, from 12:00 to 13:30
- Designing Questionnaires 06 Jun 2017, from 10:00 to 12:00
- Analysing Questionnaire Data 06 Jun 2017, from 13:00 to 15:00
- Q Methodology 13 Jun 2017, from 10:00 to 12:00
- Shut Up and Write! 14 Jun 2017, from 10:00 to 13:00
- Reading and writing skills at Level 8 (session 2) 19 Jun 2017, from 10:00 to 12:00
- Graduate School PGR and ECR Conference 20 Jun 2017, from 09:30 to 17:00
- Graduate School Update Day 29 Jun 2017, from 09:30 to 14:00
- An Introduction to Nvivo ( Intermediate) 10 Jul 2017, from 13:00 to 16:00
Writing and Structuring your Thesis
The Graduate School is running a workshop on Writing and Structuring your Thesis on the 2nd of May from 13:15 to 14:45 . This is part of the – Getting Started 1 Development Day – the workshop will take place in Pytchley, PY101, Park Campus, near the student center. Lunch and refreshments are provided so, if you would like some lunch before your session, please come along a bit earlier ( lunch time is 12:30-13:15).
If you wish to attend please book using Gateway.
A warm welcome to our new PGR Intern, Leila Benseddik.
The Graduate School are delighted to announce that we have recruited our new PGR Intern, Leila Benseddik – congratulations and welcome to Leila, who started working with us yesterday, Tuesday 25th April.
Leila is a PhD student in English and Creative Writing in the Faculty of Education and Humanities and she will be working with us 2.5 days a week for 9 months. Our part-time, paid internship post, administrated through Unitemps, will be a rolling internship, providing a current research student with skills transferable to a research career. Leila will be working here in Top Lodge, supporting The Graduate School’s many development activities and providing administrative support for workshops and events. Leila will develop skills in supporting researchers, whilst at the same time, as a PGR student herself, be able to offer valuable input into the programme. She will also be heavily involved in the organisation of this year’s Graduate School PGR Conference, which will be held on June 20th.
If you would like to contact Leila then you can contact her on her Graduate School work email Leila.Benseddik2@northampton.ac.uk.
Inaugural Research Ethics Seminar
The Research Ethics Committee has established a series of seminars to bring researchers together to discuss current and best practice in research ethics. The seminars are for any staff or postgraduate research students. Each seminar will discuss paper related to research ethics. The first meeting will take place on 1st June 2017, from 12:00 to 13:30 in Top Lodge Conservatory, Park Campus.
This inaugural meeting will discuss the following paper:
Reubi, D. 2012. The human capacity to reflect and decide: Bioethics and the reconfiguration of the research subject in the British biomedical sciences. Social Studies of Science. 42(3): 348-368.
Please come along prepared to discuss the selected paper with others from a diverse range of academic disciplines.
PGR Poster Competition 2017: Call for posters extended!
The call for posters for The Graduate School’s 12th Annual Poster Competition has been extended for another 5 days. If you are a UoN research student and would like the chance to win a £100 or £75 prize then why not take part and submit your Entry Form to Simone by this Friday 28th April. Please also read the Rules of Entry 2017.
You have until the Poster Competition date to design and print your poster. The competition will be held on Wednesday 17th May 2017, 11am to 2pm, in the Dialog Cafe, ground floor of Rockingham Library, Park Campus. To enter the competition you will need to be available from 10am on the 17th May (to set up) and be present until 2pm. During the competition you will stand by your poster from 11 until 13:00 to be judged. Read the rest of this entry
The next REF and Open Access
Research outputs that do not meet HEFCE’s open access policy access and deposit requirements will not be able to be submitted to the next REF… this can not be changed retrospectively… Need to know what to do? Tune in to a webinar on the 2nd of May at 3 pm and find out everything that you need to know to ensure your outputs are compliant.
None of the following will make an output eligible for submission…
“I put it in Research Gate”
“I put it in Academia”
“I didn’t know about it”
“I didn’t have the time”
“I don’t know what I am meant to do”
“But I’m not submitting this artilce to the REF anyway”