Blog Archives

Wondering how to start your very own Research Blog? Join our new online workshop

A practical introduction to creating and publishing a Blog for your Research (online workshop)

24 Nov 2022, 12:00 to 14:00

Have you ever thought about starting a Research Blog but wasn’t sure where to begin or how to go about it?

Keeping a Research Blog is an excellent way to document your experience, keep track of your progress and share your research journey with others.

The Graduate School is hosting “A practical introduction to creating and publishing a Blog for your Research”, an online workshop that will introduce you to creating and setting up a blog on Campus Press (the University’s version of WordPress), how to customise it to your needs and how to publish it.

Find out more and sign up for the workshop on Gateway.

Are you a PGR in the beginning stages of your research journey?

Whether you have just joined the University of Northampton or have been with us for some time and need a refresher on the beginning stages of your research journey, the Graduate School would like to invite you to our Development Day: Getting Started which will take place online on November 22 from 10:00 to 16:30.

This series of webinars is for students who have recently joined a research degree programme at the University of Northampton. We will cover what to expect in your first year, how to prepare for key stages and events in your research project and how to prepare for the ethical approval process. There will be plenty of opportunity for questions and discussion.

To find out more information and to sign up please follow this link to the event’s Gateway page.

NVivo training for PGRs and staff doing research

Would you like to learn how to use NVivo? NVivo is a qualitative data analysis (QDA) management tool and Dr Hala Mansour is running two in-person workshops for the Graduate School, one for beginners in November and one for more experienced users in December on campus at Waterside. The workshops are open to Postgraduate Research Students and Early Career Researchers, academics and research staff.

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Event – Graduate School Development Day: Finishing

Photo by fauxels on Pexels.com

The Graduate School’s new Development days are monthly, in-person events on campus, with lunch. These will offer experiential learning, discussion and networking, group work and collaboration – all those things that are far better delivered in-person than online. Each day will have a theme and our first day is on Finishing your Doctorate

Our Graduate School Development Day: Finishing is happening on campus on the 14th of November! It is a full day event (with lunch provided!) designed for those who are in the writing up stage of their doctorate. Consisting of two parts, it will start with a workshop led by Prof Ian Livingstone about editing and proofreading your work. It will be followed by a session with Dr Emel Thomas which will explore the core aspects of the viva experience and include a Q&A panel with UON doctoral alumni.

If you are in the final stages of writing your thesis and preparing for the viva, we invite you to join us for this day packed with valuable information and opportunities to network with your fellow researchers. Find out more information about the sessions and schedule and register for the Development Day on Gateway.

What would your research look like as an image? Images of Research is back!

FRESHPPACT: Levelling our Mounting Plastic Problem
Winner of the UON Images of Research 2021-22 by Oluwaseyi Omoloso (as chosen by our guest judge)

The Graduate School’s Images of Research (IoR) competition returns! All researchers (staff or research students) at the University of Northampton are invited to participate as the Call for Images is now 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 2022-23 Rules and Guidelines.

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Welcoming Lina to The Graduate School

Lina El-Azhab

We’d like to congratulate Lina El-Azhab on her appointment as our new Researcher Development Administrator in the Graduate School. Lina will be supporting all researcher development activities for both PGRs and Supervisors, working with Simone Apel and Ian Livingstone. She will be administering our inductions, development programmes, Graduate School events and other initiatives, such as Wellbeing Week and the Annual Research Conference. A very warm welcome to the team, Lina, from Matthew, Ian, Laura, Billie, Twiggy and Simone!

UON Images of Research 2021-22 – Results!

FRESHPPACT Winner of the UON Images of Research 2021-22 by Oluwaseyi Omoloso

Dr Cathy Smith, Dean of Research, Impact and Innovation, announced the winners of the 2021-2022 Images of Research competitions yesterday at the UON Annual Research Conference. Congratulations to the winner of the main competition, Oluwaseyi Omoloso from B&L, chosen by our Guest Judge Haley Morris-Cafiero from Art and

Desire Lines was the runner-up, Peter Jones

Design. Oluwasyi’s image was submitted in collaboration with Ebenezer Laryea, Amin Hosseinian Far and Adrian Pryce and was entitled FRESHPPACT: Levelling our Mounting Plastic Problem (above).

Haley’s runner-up was Dr Peter Jones from FAST, with his image Desire Lines of Physical Activity (right). Images with their abstracts can be seen in the catalogue of entries below.

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Showcasing the very best research at UON’s 2022 Annual Research Conference

Tuesday 21st June (online) and Weds 22nd June (on campus)

Hosted by The Graduate School

The Creative Hub

The University of Northampton’s Annual Research Conference will be a hybrid in 2022 – Tuesday 21st June online and Wednesday 22nd June back on our beautiful campus for the first time since 2019.

The conference provides an ideal opportunity for all researchers – postgraduate researchers, early career researchers and experienced researchers – to present their research and to discuss and share good practice with others in a supportive environment. And we have a great opportunity for you to network and catch up with colleagues over lunch and breaks on our face to face day on Weds. Our Conference Twitter is #UoNResearchConf22 so do feel free to promote the event.

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UON Annual Research Conference 2022: Would you like to be a chair?

Tuesday 21st June (online) and Weds 22nd June (on campus)

Photo by Luis Quintero on Pexels.com

Hosted by The Graduate School

The University of Northampton’s Annual Research Conference provides an ideal opportunity for all researchers to present their research and to discuss and share good practice with others in a supportive environment. And it also offers PGRs and ECRs (and other more experienced researchers) a chance to chair an oral presentation session.

You have until Thursday 9th June to let me know if you would like to be nominated as a Chair. It’s great for your CV and for building your experience as a researcher and we will offer some training and guidance to support you beforehand and on the day.

Celebrating live events at the 2022 Graduate School Poster Competition

Graduate School Poster Competition winners from left. Runner up Patrick Yeboah; winner Hadiza Azi, runner up Allyson Green. Head of Graduate School Prof Matthew McCormack

On Tuesday 24th May the Graduate School held their first poster competition for 3 years, running alongside the annual Update Day. The exciting face to face event was held in the Creative Hub space, with posters displayed on the fixed TV screens, with postgraduate researchers presenting their research alongside.

The winners were announced by Professor Matthew McCormack, Head of Graduate School. First prize, a £100 Amazon voucher, was won by researcher Hadiza Azi from Health and Biological Sciences. Hadiza’s poster was entitled “Utilisation of Maternal Health Care Service in Bauchi State, Nigeria: Exploring the Limiting Factors”. Hadiza said of the competition “The event was great, and it provided us the opportunity to meet face-face after such a long time.” Two second prizes of £75 in vouchers were won by Allyson Green from Humanities and Patrick Yeboah from Accounting and Finance. Congratulations to all the winners.

Presenters commented how good it was to back on campus for an event. One said “I met some lovely people and it’s so interesting to discuss research with each other. Reinforcing what we are doing helps the critical discourse and reflection.” Another commented “. I got a lot out of the day as it gave me the confidence to talk about my research and really own it. I wasn’t sure what to expect initially but I’m trying to challenge myself more this year and it was a great experience. I would definitely welcome more face-to-face activities. It was good to meet new people and catch up with others.”