Blog Archives

Launch of PGR ‘Writing Buddies’ initiative

Deborah Babalola, Postgraduate Researcher and PGR Rep, and Simone Apel from the Graduate School are launching a new initiative for PGRs called Writing Buddies. Writing Buddies are small ‘micro-groups’ of writers coming together to write in a social space, which may be virtual or physical. They are micro-versions of structured writing retreats, where writers set themselves goals which they share with others, write for set periods together, then use the breaks to discuss ideas, share practice or just chat, often joining up again for another writing session. Social writing has helped many writers with productivity and motivation to overcome writing blocks and, just as importantly, can give support and a sense of belonging in a researcher writing community.

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2022 EMDoc PGR Conference: Call for abstracts from Postgraduate Researchers

The call for abstracts is open for the 2022 EMDoc PGR conference. If you are studying for a doctorate at UON you are eligible to apply. EMDoc consists of nine universities who are keen to work collaboratively to share best practice, resources and insights into doctoral research across all disciplines. The EMDoc Conference is a great opportunity for PGRs to discuss and promote their research as well as network with other researchers from across the East Midlands.

This year’s conference will be hosted online by the University of Lincoln, and will take place on the 21st September. UON PGRs are invited to submit abstracts for the conference (deadline 5th August), on the theme of “Interdisciplinarity and Collaboration”.

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Reviewing the UON Research Conference 2022

The annual UON Research conference was held on Tuesday 21st June online on Collaborate and on Wednesday 22nd June on campus in the Town Hall. The hybrid format allowed off-site students and those not able to come onto campus a platform to present and to attend, but still gave those people who wanted to come onto campus the opportunity for a traditional conference format, to meet and network. Over the two days we had 2 keynotes, a brand new (for us!) Pecha Kucha style of presentation, 38 oral presentations from both postgraduate researchers and staff and 4 ‘Roundtable’ sessions.

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Phone-a-Thesis! Round 2 of a great initiative for PGRs is open!

It’s time for round 2 of Phone a Thesis! The proactive “Phone a Thesis” project promotes additional peer support for PGRs, with the aim of giving us opportunities to talk to other PGRs about our research, to get us used to practicing this with like-minded other students in a supportive way.

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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.”

Invitation to the Annual Research Student Poster Competition 2022

2017-05-17 11.47.00The Graduate School would like to invite you to their Annual Postgraduate Researcher Poster Competition on Tuesday 24th May 2022, 1pm to 4:15pm, in the First floor exhibition space of the Creative 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. So why not come along to meet some of our PGRs. Read the rest of this entry

UON Annual Research Conference 2022: Call for submissions extended to Monday 23rd May

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. We are offering researchers the opportunity to present online on Tuesday 21st June and on-campus (with synchronous live streaming) on Wednesday 22nd June.

If you do not wish to present but would like to help at the Conference, for example as a session Chair, then please also get in touch with Simone.

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Holiday reading… and watching for PGRs!

Photo by Kaboompics .com on Pexels.com

If you are looking to develop some research skills during the Easter (or summer!) holidays we have a wide range of courses, slides and other resources on offer online, as well as recordings of Graduate School webinars. Read on to find out where you can access these….

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