Blog Archives
DEADLINE EXTENDED: Images of Research 2025
All researchers (staff and research students) at the University of Northampton are invited to participate as the Call for Images is open. 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 2024-25 Rules and Guidelines.
As in previous years, 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 May 31.
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 2024 Brochure to take a look at last year’s entries.
If you are a researcher we invite you to participate in our 13th Images of Research. If you have any questions please contact Lina in the Graduate School.
We look forward to your entries!
Images of Research 2024: voting now open!
The Graduate School’s 2024 Images of Research (IoR) is now open for ‘People’s Choice’ voting. This year we have a collection of 23 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 UON’s research diversity.
To vote for your favourites, view the Images of Research Brochure, (you can download the file at the bottom of this news item), then choose your favourite two in the IoR 2024 Voting Form. 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.
The People’s Choice closes on June 20th at midnight. Please note that there is only one entry allowed per person.
Read the rest of this entryCome along to the 2024 Postgraduate Researcher Poster Competition!
The Graduate School would like to invite you to their 17th Annual Postgraduate Researcher Poster Competition on Thursday 23rd May 2024, 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!
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Call for Posters from PGRs! Enter the Postgraduate Researcher Poster Competition 2024
The Graduate School has launched the call for entries for the 17th Annual PGR Poster Competition, which will be held on campus on Thursday May 23rd. 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 & visiting staff. The Entry Form is here, the new deadline for entering is April 29th. You have until May 23rd to produce and print an A1 landscape poster, which you need to bring with you. There will be Amazon voucher prizes to win – £100 for the winner and 2x £75 for the runners up!
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.
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.
Graduate 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!
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.
Read the rest of this entryGraduate 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.
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UON Graduate School Blog 