Blog Archives

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!

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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.

22nd May 2024 Publishing Day

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.

Call for Posters from PGRs! Enter the Postgraduate Researcher Poster Competition 2023

The Graduate School has launched the call for entries for the 16th Annual PGR Poster Competition, which will be held on campus on Thursday May 25th. 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. The Entry Form is here, deadline for entering is April 27th. You have until May 25th to produce and print your A1 landscape poster. There will be Amazon voucher prizes to win – £100 for the winner and 2x £75 for the runners up!

The aim of the event is for PGRs to create a research poster that explains complex research to a mixed audience of non-subject specialists. Your paper poster will be displayed on traditional poster boards in an exhibition in the Owl’s Nest, Learning Hub at Waterside Campus, with an in-person judging session. Entrants must be available from 10am on the day until 2pm.

At whatever stage in the research process you are, do take this opportunity to share your work with others and gain valuable feedback. For further information on the rules of entry, please see the Guidelines.

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Call for Entries; Graduate School Research Poster Competition 2022

The Graduate School has launched the call for entries for the 15th Annual Research Poster Competition and the call for entries closes on May 3rd. The competition is open to all PGRs at UON. Posters will be displayed digitally in an exhibition at Waterside, with an in-person judging session, on May 24th at Graduate School Update Day. The competition will be held from 12:15pm through to prize giving at 3:30pm.

The aim of the event is for PGRs to create a digital poster that explains their research to a mixed audience of non-subject specialists.  At whatever stage in the research process you are, do take this opportunity to share your work with others and gain valuable feedback. For further information on the rules of entry, please see the Guidelines.

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David’s top tips for being productive at home

I’ve been having real difficulty concentrating whilst working at home. I find it hard to start tasks, my eyes are sore, a 5-day week feels daunting and I feel anxious when I don’t complete the tasks I planned to do. I miss going to work!

At the Graduate School Drop-In today, we talked to a PhD student about concentration and productivity. We came up with a few practical ideas that I thought I’d share with you: Read the rest of this entry →

Dr Mike Daniel Scholarship for Postgraduate Researchers

The application form for the Dr Mike Daniel Scholarship is now available with a 31 May deadline.  Open to all current postgraduate researchers, and those who enrol in March.

https://www.northampton.ac.uk/student-life/bursaries-scholarships-and-awards/dr-mike-daniel-research-degree-scholarship/

Also, just a reminder that PGRs students can also apply to the T D Lewis Scholarship, with the same deadline https://www.northampton.ac.uk/student-life/bursaries-scholarships-and-awards/td-lewis-scholarship/  Read the rest of this entry →

Postgraduate Researcher Award 2018 – winners’ reports

In 2018 The Graduate School launched the Postgraduate Researcher Award to provides up to £1,000 to support a research student in the pursuance of their research degree programme at the University of Northampton. The Award was available to full-time or part-time postgraduate research students at the University of Northampton. The award was to support and enhance research activity of various kinds (for example, additional travel costs, purchase of specialist equipment, researcher development). The four successful applicants have submitted reports on their award, what they used it for and the benefit it had on them and their research. Read the rest of this entry →

PGR Poster Competition 2017: Call for posters extended!

PostergenericThe call for posters for The Graduate School’s 12th Annual Poster Competition has been extended for another 5 days.  If you are a UoN research student and would like the chance to win a £100 or £75 prize then why not take part and submit your Entry Form to Simone by this Friday 28th April. Please also read the Rules of Entry 2017.

You have until the Poster Competition date to design and print your poster. The competition will be held on Wednesday 17th May 2017, 11am to 2pm, in the Dialog Cafe, ground floor of Rockingham Library, Park Campus. To enter the competition you will need to be available from 10am on the 17th May (to set up) and be present until 2pm. During the competition you will stand by your poster from 11 until 13:00 to be judged. Read the rest of this entry →

Seminar – The PhD journey: Exploring the supervision implications at key stages

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Research degree students and supervisors are warmly invited to a research seminar on The PhD Journey, on Thursday 20th April at 10am in Sulgrave 029, Park Campus. The seminar will explore various anchor points across the research supervision process taking the student journey as the overarching framework. Themes of supervision pedagogy will explored as each milestone on the PhD journey is reached.

The seminar will be delivered by participants on the supervisor development programme: Mary Doveston; Rebecca Fakoussa; Steve O’Brien; Friedemann Schaber; Asieh Tabaghedi; Olinga Ta’eed.

Image: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0. Source From geograph.org.uk, Author Kenneth Allen

PGR Student Poster Competition 2017: Call for posters from research students

PostergenericThe Graduate School would like to invite research students to submit an application to present a poster at their 12th Annual Poster Competition on Wednesday 17th May 2017, 11am to 2pm, in the Dialog Cafe, ground floor of Rockingham Library, Park Campus. We are offering a first prize of £100, and two second prizes of £75 for the top three posters.  Read the rest of this entry →