Blog Archives
Graduate School Update Day 2024 – Research Culture and Community at UON
Our Graduate School Update Day will run on Tuesday 4th June from 9:30-3:30pm. This annual event is for postgraduate researchers and their supervisors to come together to discuss topics of interest. This year we will be discussing the importance of developing and maintaining a strong research culture and community at UON – in supervision, in PGR development and in our research degree support across the university. Dr Neil Radford from the University of Derby is joining us for these discussions – Neil is the external examiner for UON’s Supervisor Development Programme.
The day will also include a session on research degree policy changes, an introduction to Images of Research 2024, which will be open for voting, and an overview of the upcoming Annual Research Conference later in June.
Lunch vouchers will be available for a free lunch for all attendees. You can attend for all or just part of the day. Please see the schedule below for full information and go to Gateway for booking your place.
EMDoc PGR Conference 2024: Call for abstracts from PGRs
The call for abstracts is open for the 2024 EMDoc PGR conference. If you are studying for a doctorate at UON you are eligible to apply. EMDoc consists of nine Midlands 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 Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University, and will take place online on 25th September 2024. UON PGRs are invited to submit abstracts for the conference (submission deadline Monday 10th June).
The theme for the 2024 EMDoc conference is ‘Collaborations, Connections and Positive Change: Imagining Possible Futures Through Research’. This event seeks to support cross-disciplinary
and cross-institutional dialogue and collaboration, inviting contributions from PGRs working across subject areas.
Come 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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UON Research Conference 2024 – call for submissions deadline extended to 13th May!
The call for submissions for our Annual Research Conference is open to all researchers at UON, so whether you are a PGR student, an early career or more experienced researcher you can apply to present your research on Tuesday 25th June (on campus) and/or on Wednesday 26th June (online). You have the choice of a 15 min oral presentation, chairing a round table discussion, facilitating a workshop, presenting a 20/20 Pecha Kucha (20 slides, each for 20 secs!), designing a research poster/infographic for an online collection or submitting an artefact/object for a ‘touch the exhibits’ display on campus. You can enter as many of these categories as you would like. The call closes at midnight on 13th May. To enter read on…..
Read the rest of this entryDr.App: NEW video support for postgraduate researchers & their supervisors
The Graduate School has purchased licences for Dr.App., designed for PGRs and staff supervising research degrees. Dr.App is an online video resource covering everything from working with supervisors and preparing for the viva examination to coping with stress and mental health challenges, from research impact to presentation and networking skills. It has content PGRs should find helpful at every stage of a research degree, in any discipline. For supervisors there are a number of videos on good, supportive supervision. More than 8 hours of videos are organised into topics for easy reference and are developed in association with academic consultant Prof John Wakeford of The Missenden Centre. To access the resource follow the information in the flyer attached below.
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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 entryIt’s live! The new NILE site for PGRs and research degree Supervisors.
RES001 Researcher Development, the Graduate School’s NILE site for over 10 years, has been replaced by a brand new site called RES003 The Graduate School Resource Bank. For both postgraduate researchers and their supervisors, this new site has fresh new content, is easier to navigate and now is the one-stop place to answer questions on doing and supervising a research degree at the University of Northampton. This is a brief run-down of content….
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.
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