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Co-producing Doctoral Urban Research in the Global South – New doctoral training course

New Doctoral training course open for applications until 3rd December, 5pm

We would like to draw your attention to a new doctoral training course entitled, Co-producing Doctoral Urban Research in the Global South.

This online short course has been developed by the Knowledge in Action for Urban Equality programme, led by Prof Caren Levy at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit, UCL.

It will run from 18-21 January 2021 and aims to:

Mobilise urban equality and epistemic justice as critical lenses for engaging with urban development challenges for a diversity of students from universities across the UK
Provide the space for a critical discussion about the theory and practice of knowledge co-production;
Generate a supportive co-learning environment for students to reflect on the current or potential contributions of knowledge co-production to their doctoral research;
Contribute to the development of a UK Urban Learning Hub which brings together urban researchers who engage with issues of knowledge co-production and urban equality.

Eligibility criteria

Applicants are required to:

Be enrolled in a PhD programme at a UK university;

Demonstrate that their doctoral projects show significant interest in, or are already committed to, address issues of one or more of the following concepts and approaches: epistemic justice, co-production and/or urban equality in relation to cities of the global South.

We particularly encourage applications from first and second-year MPhil/PhD students, but the course is open to everyone.

Please find attached the Course Overview, which includes information about the course structure and eligibility criteria.

For further details about the course and to download the application form, please visit: www.urban-know.com/resources-dtc

All queries and completed applications should be submitted to: dtc@urban-know.com

We would appreciate if you could share this announcement with doctoral students and supervisors in your department that might be interested.

We look forward to receiving applications by 3rd December 2020, 5.00 pm (GMT).

Call for papers – Culture, Things, and Empire

A call for papers, shared on behalf of the organisers of the Culture, Things, and Empire seminar series

Dear Members and Contacts of the Birkbeck Graduate Research School,

We are delighted to share with you a call for papers for our interdisciplinary AHRC Midlands4Cities-funded virtual seminar series, ‘Culture, Things, and Empire’. We will be hosting 5 online Zoom seminars (20-minute papers and 40 minutes of discussion) and 1 masterclass for all registered participants surrounding issues and themes such as race, gender, class, and materiality in the fields of imperial, colonial and global studies. The series will take place between November 2020 and April 2021. Registration to attend the seminars will also open soon here: https://culturethingsempire.wordpress.com/

Please see the attached document for more details or email: culturethingsempire@gmail.com.

Please visit our website: https://culturethingsempire.wordpress.com/ and follow us on twitter @CTEseminars for more immediate updates.

Deadline for abstracts: 19 October 2020, 5pm.

(Registration to attend the seminars will open soon on our website.)

Image source Flickr, user BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives used under creative commons licence

Screen Studies Research in a Pandemic

Annual Postgraduate Training Event by the UoL Screen Studies Group, co-funded by CHASE and LAHP

23rd and 24th October & 20th November

Day 1: Friday 23 October, 14:00-20:00

Day 2: Saturday 24 October, 10:00-13:00

Day 3: Friday 20 November 14:00-17:00

Teaching Creative Writing

Image by Fred Merchán, taken from Flikr and used under Creative Commons licence

Creative writers teach in schools, universities and the community, on retreats, in theatres and in workshops. Teaching is often a key part of a writer’s career, and there are rich possibilities creative arts education across a huge range of contexts. But how do you teach creative writing? Can you? This series offers anyone considering teaching creative writing as part of their career development the opportunity to look in detail at the theory and practice of creative writing pedagogy in a variety of institutional and community settings.

The series will address the historical principles and contemporary critiques of creative writing pedagogy, and how these are responding to wider institutional and societal developments. It will consider in detail the theory and practice of employing these pedagogical skills both within and outside higher education. Attendees will be invited to reflect on future possibilities and challenges for the development of creative writing teaching, enabling a deeper awareness and knowledge of creative writing as a subject of study, a future career, and a creative practice.

Students are not expected to attend all the sessions, but the series has been designed to allow for an arc of learning from theoretical principles to practical engagement.

The sessions will take place online via Microsoft Teams, once a month for the 2020/21 academic year.

You can sign up for individual sessions using the links below:

13 October | 1100-1200 | Creative writing pedagogy: past, present and future

25 November | 1430-1745 | Pedagogy in practice: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, screenwriting

3 December | 1100-1230 | Can you teach creative writing? Theory and practice of the creative writing workshop

19 January 2021 | 1100-1230 | Decolonisation and inclusivity in creative writing

9 February 2021 | 1100-1230 | Show don’t tell: feminist pedagogy in the creative writing classroom

9 March 2021 | 1100-1230 | Writing in the Community

Call for Doctoral Student Participation – BISR Urban Intersections Experimental Collective

Starting in academic year 2020-21, the Birkbeck Institute for Social Research is funding an Experimental Collective on Urban Intersections. This new research grouping will bring together scholars from across Birkbeck doing urban research, including postgraduate taught and research students. Through a diverse programme of activities (see below), the Experimental Collective aims to incubate joint research collaborations, provide research training, raise the public profile of urban and social research at Birkbeck, and build up the capacity for a more permanent urban research centre or institute at Birkbeck in the future.

Urban Intersections series

Towards these aims, in the coming year the Urban Intersections Experimental Collective will host (remotely, as necessary): an Urban Intersections series which may include research seminars, engagements with visiting practitioners, film screenings, focused reading discussions and (virtual) field visits; two Research Methodologies Workshops; and an end-of-year Public Research Colloquium.

We are currently seeking expressions of interest from our community of doctoral researchers to be involved in this exciting new initiative.

Steering committee members sought

In the first instance, we would like to solicit expressions of interest for up to three Birkbeck doctoral students to join our Steering Committee. Members of the Steering Committee would help shape the overall direction of the Experimental Collective and would also help to organise or potentially lead on some of its events and activities.

We would also welcome expressions of interest from Birkbeck doctoral research students who have excellent ideas for urban-related research events that they would like to organise with the Urban Intersections annual programme.

Expressions of interest

Expressions of Interest should include your:

Name
Department
Area of research (1 sentence)
Stage of doctoral studies (e.g. first year, upgraded to PhD, writing up)
A short statement (max. 200 words) outlining how you would like to contribute to the Urban Intersections Experimental Collective (e.g. whether you would like to volunteer to be on the Steering Committee, lead on a specific event idea you have, or both).

Expressions of Interest should be sent to Dr Scott Rodgers no later than 16 October 2020.

Who do you match with?

A BGRS Blog post by Lexter Woodley (PhD Geography, Environment and Development Studies)

Whether it concerns colleagues, friends, family or your life partner … it is good to know on which points you (dis)agree. Not so much to possibly distance yourself from that person, but to be able to work more effectively on the relationship. One way to do this is to ask yourself and the other person questions. Below is a book tip, which also includes references to research data, for light-hearted but instructive conversations.

In these unprecedented times, reflection on yourself and on your environment may be of greater value than ever. You may have been in isolation or quarantine with your partner for weeks, gaining new insights into how your personalities relate to each other. While studies show that similarities or complementarities in partners’ personalities may not determine a successful relationship (Eysenck & Wakefield, 1981; Groves, 2016; Rosowsky et al., 2012), it is nice to keep personalities in harmony. Or perhaps you have seen your colleagues in a different light due to a changing work situation. It is good to keep in mind that guarding the bond with each other at work is important if connectedness with colleagues is a factor for your job satisfaction.

As a headhunter/recruiter, I bring people together and I am actively busy with reaching out to others to make suitable matches. As a PhD student, I bring ideas together about intra-household dynamics between men and women to eventually publish as articles and complete my thesis. Already having a lot on my plate, I was still curious about finding ways to reach out to others by sharing insights – whilst undertaking PhD research – about interpersonal relationships. This prompted me to bundle research-based statements about men/women issues and put them in book form. Indeed, the book tip mentioned above is therefore a shameless plug for my “Talk Data to Me” book, but if even only one statement could provide additional insight, understanding and knowledge between you and your intimate (as the book contains sexual references) interlocutor, then this plug is worth it.
In the spirit of this book, I provide “Battle of the Sexes” quizzes for groups, with statements that are also based on research data but are suitable for non-intimate individuals, such as colleagues. For example, I was recently invited to an online networking event where attendees competed for the most correct answers to my “yes/no” statements. The winners were the ones who, despite the limitations of not physically being in the same space, managed to bond with each other through video connection and live chat. If (the spirit of) my book could be a means to find online connection for these non-intimate persons, then my wish for you is that the hard copy of the book would create big sparks between you and the person who (possibly) suits you.

Have fun!

Lexter Woodley
www.lexterwoodley.com/product/book-talk-data-to-me

Eysenck, H.J., & Wakefield, J.A. (1981). Psychological factors as predictors of marital satisfaction. Advanced Behavioral Research and Therapy, 3, 151-192.

Groves, K.K. (2016). The role of spirituality in happy fifty-year marriages. Texas A&M University-Commerce.

Rosowsky, E., King, K.D., Coolidge, F.L., Rhoades, C.S., & Segal, D.L. (2012). Marital satisfaction and personality traits in long-term marriage: An exploratory study. Clinical Gerontologist, 35, 77-87.

Strategies and support for Black, Indigenous, and people of colour in ecology and evolutionary biology

The article below is written from the point of view of PhD students in the United States. It describes the experiences of Black, Indigenous and people of colour within a particular field of research but it is an informative framework to consider issues of importance for postgraduate researchers in other disciplines and for the wider postgraduate research community.

Click here to view article from the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution (July 2020)

Life as a first year PhD student and NHS Mental health worker

A BGRS Blog post by Ogechi Anokwuru (PhD Psychology)

Hi my name is Ogechi, I am currently a first year PhD psychology student at Birkbeck and an NHS Mental Health worker. My previous studies are Master of Public Health (MPH) and BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science.

My PhD journey has been great so far, acquiring new skills and knowledge in psychology. I have been very lucky to be a part of the Department of Psychological Sciences, and am grateful to my supervisor and mentor. My research is on medical help-seeking behaviours amongst the BME community which crosses over to my line of work in the NHS on a daily basis.

As well as registering my systematic review on Prospero, lecturing about what I do in work gave me a sense of joy to share the knowledge and attitude around how health psychology interventions are practised in NHS and NHS Mental Health settings. In these uncertain times, it can be quite challenging, but it is very important that everyone looks after their mental health during this time.

Balancing work and studies can be quite challenging as a mature student, but I’m determined that this will bring more benefit to the world of research and the field I am heading towards. COVID-19 has brought the world to a standstill and has shown us the possibilities of adjusting to this potential new normal. It has also highlighted the health inequalities and disparities seen in the BME community which is in line with my research, medical help-seeking and the barriers experiences by this group making it very relevant to today’s climate.

I hope the next time I write another blog post, it will be me sharing my published systematic review for all of you to share and read.

Stay tuned and stay safe!

Ogechi

Ogechi Anokwuru, MPH, BSc (Hons)

1st Year PhD Psychology Student

Department of Psychological Sciences

Solace in the Cracks: Drawing Weeds Ecology, Art History, Practice – a Material Witness Zoom Webinar

Friday 19 June 2020, 3-5pm

Scourges of gardeners, foes of council workers armed with tanks of glyphosate, trampled, neglected, ignored: weeds are despised, yet they flourish, succeeding where other plants fail. Tracing its etymology from Old through Middle to Modern English, the OED defines a weed as ‘Any herbaceous plant not valued for its usefulness or beauty, or regarded as a nuisance in the place where it is growing.’ Gardeners generally consider plants that grow where they are unwanted to be weeds, however much they are appreciated by the insect community.

Material Witness normally focuses on material things made by people, and how we interpret them by practical, theoretical, and historical means. This session switches emphasis, beginning with nature: the ecology of the pavement cracks, the roadside verge, the railway tracks. How have artists recognised the usefulness and beauty of weeds? How can we make the most of their vigour, tenacity, and ubiquity during this unprecedented lockdown?

This two hour webinar will begin by exploring the deep art history of weeds through medieval herbals, the plant-filled borders of books of hours, and Dürer’s extraordinary ‘Great Piece of Turf’, and some interconnections with contemporary artists’ practice. Our focus will then turn to drawing weeds, using a variety of strategies and with a view to creating expressive observational drawings.

This workshop will focus on using materials that you have ready to hand. You can use any paper, and any mark-making implements that you have to hand.

Find more and register here

BEI Research seminar series

The Department of Business, Economics and Informatics is running a series of research-focused webinars over the summer term on a weekly basis until Friday 26th June.

To attend, please join using this Collaborate link at least 10 minutes before the start of the session. This link will be used for each seminar in the series.

Schedule for upcoming talks in the series:

Friday 29^th May, 12pm – 1pm

Dr Muthu De Silva, “Does affective evaluation matter for the success of university-business collaborations? A sentiment analysis of university-business collaborative project reports”.

Friday 5^th June, 12pm – 1pm

Dr Pam Yeow with Dr Danielle Tucker (Senior Lecturer in Management at the University of Essex), “Rethinking, ‘Rethinking Ethical Consumerism’”.

Friday 12^th June, 12pm – 1pm

Dr Rebecca Whiting, “Digi-Housekeeping: The invisible work of flexibility”.

Friday 19^th June, 12pm – 1pm

Prof. Alex Poulovassilis, “Managing missing and uncertain data on the UK Museum sector”.

Friday 26^th June, 12pm – 1pm

Prof. Almuth McDowall, “The show must go on – career penalties and work-life balance in the performing arts”.