The AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership working group will host a BAME Doctoral Researchers Event on 8th July at the British Library to showcase and celebrate the work being done by our BAME researchers.
This event is open to all Arts and Humanities PhD students at Birkbeck, regardless of whether they are funded by CHASE.
Encounters is the chance for CHASE-funded doctoral researchers to meet up to share experiences and ideas. This programme offers opportunities to expand your perspectives, explore new skills, and learn more about how CHASE can support your research.
Dunlop Green Flash, adidas Samba, Puma States, Reebok Classic, Nike Air Max, or Yeezy 350 … how many would hear in this list the echoes of the broad sweep of global history, from the mid 19th to the early 21st Century? In a recent Research Blog post, a Birkbeck PhD alumnus recounts his long walk from his first pair of adidas in the mid 1980s to a book deal in 2015, via a global industry valued in the billions.
Self-styled sneakerhead, Thomas Turner researched his beloved sports footwear against a changing landscape of society, sport, fashion, industry, and technology – graduating in 2013 with a PhD in History from Birkbeck. To trace the footsteps in history of one of the most culturally rich and economically significant products of our time, the humble sports shoe, step over to the trail on the Research blog:
The
Birkbeck Graduate Research School (BGRS) aims to highlight the activities and
successes of our research student community. We are pleased to announce the inaugural
Gwynne-Vaughan Medal which will be awarded to a Birkbeck PhD student able to
demonstrate the most notable contribution to their field while undertaking
their PhD.
The
winner will be awarded a £200 prize and a medal at the BGRS Summer
party
on Monday 1 July 2019 and will also be featured on the BGRS blog.
Eligibility
This
competition is open to all part time and full time PhD students at Birkbeck
Any
achievements you include must have taken place while you were registered as a
Birkbeck PhD student
Consideration of
entries
All entries will be considered by the Research Student
Sub-Committee (RSSC)
Deadline for entries: Friday 21st June
If you would like to be considered for this prize please submit a completed entry form, including brief student and supervisor statements by the end of Friday 21st June 2019.
ISSUE 6 This bulletin aims to keep postgraduate researchers informed of upcoming courses, events and opportunities in the Bloomsbury area.
In the spotlight – Bloomsbury Festival
What’s new? Voice, Presence and Impact
Book now! June courses available
In the spotlight
Bloomsbury FESTIVAL Taking place over 10 days from 11 – 20 October 2019 across Bloomsbury’s major venues and hidden spaces, the festival aims to amplify creative development in Bloomsbury, give a platform to its emerging talent and create interesting collaborations across arts and science.
For more information visit the Bloomsbury Festival website here
12 June 2019: Conducting sensitive interviewsLSE Sensitive interviews include interviews about emotionally difficult topics or deeply personal issues, interviews with vulnerable populations or research that could have negative consequences for participants.
15 June 2019: Meeting the Challenge of the Part-Time DoctorateUCL An introductory presentation highlighting the aims and objectives of the session will be followed by group work and plenary discussions on specific challenges and solutions.
20 June 2019: Animal Research: Critical, Challenging & Creative ThinkingUCL We will consider how animals are used in research both within the UK and at UCL, as well as the broad spectrum of societal opinions regarding animal use in research and how research is communicated to society.
20 June 2019: Overcoming Writer’s Block for Research StudentsUCL This full-day workshop is designed to provide an awareness of writer’s block for PhD students. It includes strategies to both prevent and unblock.
A friendly and supportive in-house conference, showcasing the work of doctoral students in Birkbeck’s English Department. Organised by students in the 2nd year.
13 June 2019, 1pm-9pm, Keynes Library, 43 Gordon Square
Free entry. All are welcome. Refreshments provided.
Keynote (1-2pm) by Anthony Joseph:
A
discussion of Kitch, Dr Joseph’s fictional
biography of the Trinidadian calypso icon
Lord Kitchener (Peepal Press, 2018):
‘Kitch: A
Liminal Life,
A Community of Voices’
Student panels at 2.15pm, 3.45pm, 5.15pm, 7pm
Plenary discussion: 8.15pm-9pm
In a culture that valorises busyness, productivity, pace and “progress”, stillness can be radical. Refusing, ignoring, omitting, not doing; sometimes the most political actions look like doing nothing at all. But who gets to not do? When and how is not doing a politicised, racialised, privileged, resistant or utopian act?
Through conversation, provocation, installation and self-care, we look at unproductivity as an activist practice and the ways in which caring, resting, suspending, pausing and breaking can be re/claimed as political acts by and for everyone, particularly those marginalised by the racial and gender inequalities of neo-liberal capitalism.
As part of this one-day conference, we are invitingpaper proposals/provocations and interdisciplinary submissions from Birkbeck graduate students, early career researchers and individuals from wider academic, creative and activist communities. Alongside paper proposals, we welcome submissions of artworks, shorts films, and proposals for performances and acts of care. Please read the about section before submitting.
Professor Julian Swann, Director of the BGRS presents Janette Leaf (Department of English and Humanities) with the runner up prize for her 3MT talk ‘Locating the Sympathetic Insect’.
Why did I go in for it?
I guess what prompted me to go in for the Three Minute Thesis was the sheer challenge of whether I would be able to sum up my research in a short time and in a way that would appeal to a broad audience. Whenever anyone outside my area of specialism asks me what my PhD is all about, I tend to say, ‘insect imagery’ and then try to gauge how much more detail to go into. My hope for this competition was that it would give me a boost to expand upon my two-word ‘insect imagery’ answer without the equivalent of giving a full-blown paper, and I’m pleased that condensing the thesis into a maximum of 180 seconds really did help me concentrate on what’s attention grabbing and interesting in my work. It also revealed a clear trajectory from horror to ecology. I wondered if my supervisor might think I was crazy to compete, but he was happy for me to go for it and that was a nice endorsement in itself.
Supportive environment
Anyone who puts themselves forward for the Three Minute Thesis is given a short training session in presentation skills, and I went along to the workshop feeling slightly uncertain whether I would have the confidence to enter the competition. There was absolutely no pressure to take it all the way. A few chose not to, but most of us did follow through and we really enjoyed the experience. During the training as well as on the evening itself everything took place in an incredibly supportive environment. Even though students were competing against each other the overriding feeling was that we were all in the same boat sharing the same nervousness and the same excitement, and so there was lots of mutual help and encouragement.
Presenting a paper free paper
I took my first degree in the 1980s and my return to academia (part time) is a comparatively recent phenomenon. My business career has so far spanned marketing, transport logistics and property legislation, but never involved presenting to a large group of people against the clock. I felt quite exposed talking about a research project designed by me, supported by only one slide and without the benefit of any written prompts. Outside of university I perform with two choirs, so if I’m on a stage I’m fairly used to singing somebody else’s words. Speaking my own words about my own special interest to an audience and panel of judges is a different matter entirely. My thesis is on ‘Locating the Sympathetic Insect’, and I like to think of it as wonderful and weird. The primary focus is on prose literature, whilst also incorporating art and film and entomological science, and I’m absolutely thrilled it was so well received. Before the Three Minute Thesis competition I’d presented at a small number of conferences and had positive feedback, but I’d never done it without holding onto my notes. I now feel I have the unhampered ability to put aside those pieces of paper so I can talk in a more spontaneous and engaging way at future events. And that’s important to me as I am keen for my research to have the best possible impact.
I’ve got the competition to thank for that leap and would encourage any fellow PhD to participate.
