Academy Scholarship Competition 2014

athens2The Institute of Ideas Academy Scholarship Programme offers a small number of full time students (any academic discipline) attendance tickets for the three-day annual Academy weekend for only £60, which includes three nights accommodation, full board & an events programme! The Institute of Ideas Academy is a residential retreat running from Friday 18 July to Monday 21 July, in which you can be unashamedly esoteric and intellectual for a weekend. There are three parallel lecture series on Classics, Literature and History as well as a plenary History of Ideas series on moral thought. To be in with a chance to win the Academy Scholarship read on! Read the rest of this entry

Dual publication for UN PhD students

Two PhD students from the 2011 cohort at The University of Northampton have had their papers published in the March 2014 edition of DECP Debate, a publication produced by the Division of Educational and Child Psychology (DECP) of the British Psychological Society.  They are Jacqueline Stone from the Division of Psychology and Carmel Capewell from the School of Education. Read the rest of this entry

Research Seminars and Associate Professor Lectures continue…

Following Mike Starr’s sterling start to the research seminar series in January, on Thursday 6th February at 6pm in MY120 Avenue Campus, we will be welcoming novelist and film-maker, Alistair Fruish to the School of the Arts.  Alistair who is a member of the Writers-in-Prison Network will be discussing his novel Kiss My Asbo, which has been recommended by Graphic Novelist, Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta).

OWING TO UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES, ALISTAIR FRUISH’S EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED BUT WE HOPE TO RESCHEDULE IT IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

We also have a number of other talks and lectures coming up this term…

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Grounded Theory Forum – 12th February

Winter_im_OberdorfSubmitted by Sarah Neill

The fifth Grounded Theory Forum is on Wednesday 12th February, from 1-3pm, in MX7 meeting room on Park Campus. The subject for discussion is the adaptability of grounded theory.

Glaser and Strauss (1967), in their original text stated that GT strategies should be used flexibly – a perspective also shared by Charmaz when she stated that she views ‘GT methods as a set of principles and practices, not as prescription or packages’ (2006, p9). So how far can you adapt it before it is no longer grounded theory?

If you are interested in attending  please email Sarah Neill.

Making a superstar researcher

Professor Jeff Ollerton has drawn my attention to an interesting post on what it takes to be a productive researcher.

In his post on Jeremy Fox’s blog, Brian McGill lists William Shockley‘s eight hurdles which must be cleared if a researcher is to be successful and productiveRed foxes.  It is not just about writing: being able to come up with a worthwhile research idea, knowing when to stop researching and start writing, and being willing to make changes in response to peer feedback are three of the eight steps.  If your performance exceeds the average on each of these steps you could be well on the way to becoming a superstar researcher.

Check out the full post here.

Image credit: Kelly Colgan Azar on Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Opportunity to teach English in Iraq

An opportunity has arisen in collaboration between Salahaddin University and the University of Northampton. A six-month-training course in IELTS preparation for students is being planned and requires at least two teachers for a period of six months.

You would be provided with one free return ticket, accommodation and salaries according to the terms of an agreement between Salahaddin University and the University of Northampton.

If you are interested, please contact debbie.christopher@northampton.ac.uk in the first instance.

Using doctoral theses in your research – webinar repeated

Sara Gould of the British Library is repeating last year’s webinar on using doctoral theses in research. She writes:

“Please join us for an EThOS webinar to be held on Thursday 13 February 2014, at 15:00 GMT. This will be a repeat of the session we held on 10 December which saw 385 attendees and lots of requests to hold another for colleagues who were unable to join us then.

Title: Using doctoral theses in your research: a guide to EThOS.

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Seminar on end of life care to be held on February 12th

Submitted by Ruth Hughes-Rowlands, Institute of Health & Wellbeing.

IHWThe Institute of Health and Wellbeing are holding a lunchtime seminar on Wednesday 12th February. Led by Professor Judith Sixsmith and Mei Lan Fang, a Researcher at UoN, the seminar focuses on “End of Life Care: Exploring psychological well-being religious practices and beliefs and support needs of Manchester’s Chinese population.”

The event will be held in the Sunley Conference Centre at the University of Northampton, Park Campus from 1-2pm. To book or for more information see the flier or Eventbrite booking page.  

Call for papers: Children And Young People’s Mental Health Conference

SchoolsocscienceSubmitted by Dr Jane Callaghan

Researchers are invited to participate in the 2014 CAMHS conference 2014 at the University of Northampton. The first call for papers is now open and will close on 11th April, so please do consider submitting an abstract for a paper, poster, workshop or symposium.  Read the rest of this entry