News & Events
March/April 2012 Newsletter
Date: Mar 06, 2012
Conferences: Call for Papers
SPARC
iBEE Innovation in Built Environment
Work Matters
2012 Science Communication Conference
Terena Networking Conference
PopFest
Parties, People and Elections: Political Communication since 1900
Salford Lectures and Research Seminars
University Events for March and April
Training and Development
Salford Postgraduate Research Training (SPoRT)
Standing up for Science Media Workshop
Finish Up and Move On
Funding Opportunities
British Science Association Media Fellowships
Institute of Physics' Public Engagement Grant Scheme
Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellowships
Salford Postgraduate Research Student Support Fund
Salford Postgraduate Research Experience
Josh Davenport, Environment and Life Sciences
Resources
Conferences: Call for Papers
SPARC, 30th and 31st May 2012, University of Salford
Salford’s Postgraduate Annual Research Conference (SPARC) is open to researchers in all disciplines, and is free to attend. So if you are a postgraduate researcher interested in publicising your work to new audiences, sharing ideas with researchers from different subject areas and universities, and developing your presentation skills, then SPARC is for you!
Abstracts are invited for 15 minute presentations, 5 minute 'speed presentations', and posters. We are also open to other forms of presentation relevant to creative, practice-led or applied research.
**ABSTRACT SUBMISSION BY 16 MARCH 2012**
See the conference website for more details
iBEE Innovation in Built Environment Education, 22nd May 2012, Media City, University of Salford
Advance notice of iBEE 2012, a ‘can’t miss’ event for networking, CPD and acquiring fresh ideas about how to teach.
Building upon the success of prior iBEE events, this year’s interactive conference will focus on innovations in ‘collaborative teaching and learning in the built environment’. The event will allow educators to actively engage and learn from the best of a set of experiences and approaches and explore how they might be used in their own context.
Through a range of studio-style interactive workshops, ‘show and tell’ sessions, problem-based and project-based learning case studies, participants will be able to sample a range of practical tools and techniques for effective course development and delivery. iBEE is a showcase for novel and creative approaches to teaching and learning and provides a unique opportunity for academics to experience effective and exciting ways of energising learning.
There are limited FREE places available for PGR students. To register your interest please contact Hazel Palmer (h.m.palmer@salford.ac.uk)
Work Matters, 3rd May 2012, Leeds University Business School
The Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change (CERIC) warmly invites postgraduate researchers at all stages of their studies to attend and participate in our 2012 doctoral conference, to be held on the 3rd May 2012 at Leeds University Business School.
Abstracts are invited from a broad spectrum of employment relations themes covering any
aspect of:
• Work
• Employability
• Labour Markets
• Industrial relations / trade union movements
• Human Resource Management
We welcome presentations on any aspect of your research project and offer a friendly and encouraging
setting in which to present and discuss your work in progress. Presentations will be fifteen minutes
with ten minutes for discussion. A poster session will also be held on the afternoon of the
3rd May. Buffet refreshments will be available.
300 word abstracts to be submitted by 28 March 2012
For more details see the conference poster or contact the organisers on busjcu@leeds.ac.uk
2012 Science Communication Conference, 14th and 15th May 2012, Kings Place, London
The annual two-day Science Communication Conference addresses the key issues facing science communicators in the UK and brings together people involved in public engagement.
This year's Conference theme is ‘Impact' which aims to discuss the various ways to measure the impacts of public engagement activities as well as how research scientists and engineers will consider the impact agenda of their research.
For more information see the conference website
There are also bursaries available for PhD students to attend the conference
Terena Networking Conference (TNC 2012), 21 - 24 May, Reykjavík, Iceland
The TERENA Networking Conference (TNC) is a large and prestigious European research networking conference - over 500 participants including decision makers, networking specialists and managers from all major European networking and research organisations, universities, worldwide sister institutions and industry representatives attend.
Through keynote speeches by renowned specialists and many parallel sessions, the Conference presents an overview of the latest developments in research networking, both in the technical field and in the areas of application and management.
This year's conference theme is "Networking to Services" and will focus on network technologies, infrastructures and services that support research and education,
Student Sponsored Poster Award: Students can apply to attend the conference free of charge: a limited number of sponsored registration places (including travel support) will be available for bona fide postgraduate students from relevant fields.
Submit a 100-250 word abstract on the conference topic by 13 April 2012. For more details see the website.
PopFest, 21st-23rd June 2012, Loughborough University
PopFest is an annual population studies conference for postgraduate students organised by fellow postgraduates. To celebrate the 20th annual PopFest, the conference in 2012 will reflect on the past 20 years of population studies and look forward to the challenges facing population studies in the next 20 years. PopFest welcomes representatives from various disciplines such as Social Sciences, Demography, Human Geography, Social Anthropology, Social Statistics, Health, Development, Social Policy, Energy and other related fields. All research projects, completed or in progress, relating to population studies will be welcomed.
There will also be a poster session during the conference to allow researchers to present their work in this format. PopFest also gives postgraduates the opportunity to chair sessions, if you are interested in chairing a session please contact us and we can try to find the best session for you to chair.
Abstracts (500 words max) and proposals for poster presentations should be submitted to Popfest2012@lboro.ac.uk by 20 March 2012.
You can read more about the abstract submission and the conference here.
Parties, People and Elections: Political Communication since 1900, 14th June 2012, People’s History Museum, Manchester
The way politicians talk to the people, and how they do so has undergone a dramatic change since 1900. The demise of the mass platform, the birth of radio, cinema and television, and the advent of new social media, has radically reshaped how parties and people interact. Furthermore, increased centralisation, ‘professionalisation’ and the use of experts schooled in the techniques of advertising have all affected what parties say and how they say it.
The conference, sponsored by the Centre for British Politics at the University of Nottingham, will explore how parties spoke to the people. It will analyse what these communications looked like, and what (if any) impact they had on the people. The conference aims to be inter-disciplinary and we invite papers from those working in the fields of history, political science, political communication, cultural studies, and art history. In addition to the academic content, the conference aims to include advertising executives and politicians who have participated in past election campaigns.
Please contact Chris Burgess to submit abstracts (250 words) by 2nd April 2012, or for further details email ldxcb7@nottingham.ac.uk and see the conference blog.
University of Salford Lectures and Research Seminars
Click on the links below for more details
Training and Development
Salford Postgraduate Research Training (SPoRT)
Click on the links for session details and booking information
| 8th March | Introduction to EndNote X 5 |
| 14th March | Information Management for the Web |
| 15th March | Intellectual Property Rights for Research Students |
| 19th March | Geographical Information Systems (GIS) (2 of 2) |
| 21st March | Doing a Literature Review |
| 22nd March | Online Copyright |
| 27th March | Surviving the Viva: What to Expect from the Final Hurdle |
| 28th March | Publishing in Peer-Reviewed Journals |
| 28th March | |
| 29th March | PhD Progression Points (online session) |
| 17th April | Myers Briggs Personality Profiling |
Please see the training section of this website for more details and for the full programme of SPoRT Sessions.
External training opportunites
23rd March, Standing up for Science Media Workshop, Manchester
Sense About Science will be holding a Standing up for Science media workshop at the University of Manchester on Friday 23 March. This full day event is free and for early career researchers in all sciences, engineering and medicine (PhD students, post-docs or equivalent in first job). The workshop combines discussion about science-related controversies in media reporting with practical guidance and tips for how to deal with the media.
For more information and details of how to apply, see the workshop poster here and go to the Vitae website.
29th – 30th March, Finish Up and Move on, Nottingham Trent University
Vitae is running a two day course for final year research students of all disciplines. It covers what you need to know to successfully complete your PhD and move on to the next phase of your career, whatever that might be. The course also includes a section on leadership skills.
The two day programme is full and varied and includes time for discussion, reflection and practical exercises. This non residential event is open to final year postgraduate researchers, subject to availability. See the Vitae website for more details.
Funding Opportunities
British Science Association 2012 Media Fellowship
The British Science Association run a Media Fellowship scheme for scientists, social scientists, engineers and clinicians to spend the summer working with national news journalists to improve their communication skills and media awareness. It’s a fantastic opportunity for researchers at any stage of their career to spend 3-8 weeks working with print, TV and radio hosts including the BBC, Guardian and Times to produce accurate, well-informed stories about developments in science.
We welcome applicants from universities, institutes and industry across the UK and application is online. Closing date is 11 March 2012.
Institute of Physics' Public Engagement Grant Scheme 2012
Do you have a fantastic idea for making physics accessible? Do you want to reach a wider audience? Do you need some support to make your outreach activity happen?
The second round of the 2012 Public Engagement Grant from the Institute of Physics is open for applications. The grants are worth up to £1000 and aim to support physics-based outreach activities in the UK and Ireland throughout 2012. Activities should provide engaging experiences of physics to public audiences - grants will not be awarded to projects aimed at solely delivering the curriculum to school pupils.
More information about the grant scheme, including application forms, guidelines and summaries of past projects, is available online, or by emailing physics.society@iop.org
Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellowships
Now in their second year, the Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellowships aim to support and develop upcoming stars in public engagement with science.
The Engagement Fellowships champion the leaders of tomorrow by fostering the most promising upcoming talent of today. The Wellcome Trust are looking for people with a strong track record of engaging the public with ideas around biomedical science and/or medical humanities, looking to make a step-change in their careers. Fellows are provided with financial support for up to two years.
The Application deadline is 30 March 2012. For more details see the website.
Salford Postgraduate Research Student Support Fund
The PGR Student Fund is available to any current University of Salford postgraduate research student in good standing with the university. The aim of the fund is to encourage research students to engage in wider research activities that are related to their ongoing research in an interesting and innovative way. This might include presenting at conferences, outreach activities, or organising PGR workshops.
Awards are available for up to £500. The next submission deadline for 2012 is 28 June.
Please see the website for more details of the fund criteria and how to apply.
Salford Postgraduate Research Experience
Josh Davenport, School of Environment and Life Sciences, was awarded PGR Support Funding in December 2011 to attend an international conference. Below he provides an account of this experience.
I attended the American Geophysical Union Annual Fall Meeting 2011 held in San Francisco, California, USA. This conference is the largest worldwide in geophysical sciences and attracts 20,000 earth and space scientists, educators, students and policy makers. I presented a joint paper with Prof David N Collins on the 'Climatic variation and river flow in glacierised Himalayan basins'.
AGU Meeting 2011 provided a unique opportunity to discuss with internationally recognised Himalayan glaciologists the issue of climate change across the Himalayan arc. Through other presentations within the session it was clear that our paper was unique; the only one to have utilise real data sets to show trends in climate change. However, the other papers in the session focussed on futurology rather than looking at past trends. The use of remote sensing featured heavily, suggesting that Himalayan glacier research is investing in these techniques, however, for large extents of the Himalayas, this is not ideal due to the poor spatial resolution. After the session, there was time to talk at the Moscone Conference Centre and later at the Himalayan dinner with the opportunity to listen and contribute to discussions of Himalayan climate change. There was a lot of interest in the research that I am currently undertaking, as they believed my work was unique and they wanted to know more about my overall thoughts on climate change in the Himalayas.
My research will continue and model climate data similar to Jarosch (2010) who modelled precipitation and air temperature. As datasets can be hard to acquire, this conference was an excellent opportunity and exposed University of Salford to North American geophysics and was recognised as a leading university for Himalayan research. As a whole, the trip has greatly benefited my current and future research and has allowed me to broaden my knowledge and develop new ideas for future research.
by Joshua Davenport
Resources
PGR Tips is a monthly email bulletin from Vitae providing tips and information to help you during your PhD and when planning your career. Each month focuses on a single theme, it covers topics such as evaluating skills, writing up, support and funding, and launching an academic career.
To view past editions of PGR Tips, click here.
Click here to sign up for email bulletins.
The Academic Phrasebank is a general resource for academic writers, developed by the University of Manchester. It aims to provide you with examples of some of the phraseological "nuts and bolts" of writing organised under various headings (including introducing work, referring to the literature, being critical, describing methods). It was designed primarily with international students whose first language is not English in mind. However, if you are a native speaker/ writer, you may still find parts of the material helpful.
See http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/
Image credits
Daffodil image from Flickr
Political poster from Picturing Politics, People’s History Museum
Seminar image from Flickr