For LGBT+ History Month in February and International Women’s Day in March, the Access and Engagement Department is looking for two Birkbeck PhD candidates or early career researchers to deliver an accessible public lecture or workshop for an audience with little to no experience of Higher Education. If you are interested in doing this please get in contact by 12 February.
Our
public lecture series, Get Started: Big Ideas, was
previously delivered in Stratford Library, in collaboration with Newham
Council. Through the pandemic we have been delivering the talks on Zoom and
broadcasting using YouTube live.
The
themes this year are ‘Body, Mind, Spirit’ (for LGBT History Month) and ‘Gender
Equality in Eudcation’ (for International Women’s Day), so we will be looking
for pitches that take these themes into account.
WHO? We’re looking for Birkbeck academics, particularly PhD students and early career researchers, whose research touches on topics relevant to LGBT+ History Month or International Women’s Day.
WHAT? Our audience consists of people with no experience of Higher Education, or those who have had a long break since their last HE experience. With that in mind, we will work closely with the academic to ensure the lecture is accessible to these audiences. More information on our department’s work.
We
are open to pitches of lectures (roughly 20 minutes in length), workshops,
virtual walks, or other formats that you feel would be engaging. This would
usually be followed by a Q&A.
PAYMENT We are able to pay PhD candidates or academics who are not on full-time contracts. The pay is at spine point 31 (£21.15 per hour) and we would usually allow for 2 hours’ prep time and 1 hour delivery. In this case we will also be adding 1 hour to allow for familiarising yourself with any software needed. Please do get in touch if you have a proposal which would exceed the allotted time.
Please note: This opportunity is for current Birkbeck PhD students only
Birkbeck’s Access and Engagement team are looking for a PhD candidate to conduct some research into the experience of students who have been supported by the Access and Engagement team in their entry or transition into Higher Education. They are looking for candidates who have experience of qualitative research and facilitating focus groups.
This research will help the department to review its activities and ensure that the support on offer to prospective students from groups which are underrepresented in Higher Education is effective and useful.
Full details of the role
A full job description and details about the role are available below and include instructions for how to apply. If you have any questions about the role please email h.gartrell@bbk.ac.uk.
The deadline for applications is Sunday 9 February.
The British Science Association’s mission is to transform the diversity and inclusivity of science; to reach under-served audiences and increase the number of people who are actively involved and engaged in science.
They are looking to recruit CREST assessors within the fields of: STEM, Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and Economics. The CREST Awards is one of their flagship programmes for young people. CREST inspires and engages young people aged 5 to 19-years old with project-based STEM activities.
CREST Assessors sought
CREST assessors help to develop students’ interest and attitudes towards science, along with their scientific and project skills. They do this by assessing Silver and Gold projects against the CREST assessment criteria, providing constructive feedback and encouragement, and sharing their STEM expertise with young people. Often, project assessment is the first time students’ work is seen by someone other than their parents or teachers. Students value the opportunity to share their work with someone with expertise and/or a career in the STEM sector.
Assessing projects can be done on a voluntary or paid basis paid (£4 per Silver Award assessment and £6 per Gold Award assessment), with approximately 5 hours’ worth of assessments per month. All assessment and feedback are carried out via our online platform.
Assessors are trained how to assess projects and give effective feedback. Also, assessing CREST projects count towards STEM Ambassador volunteer hours.
Further details
Please see the complete details for the role here.
Those interested should register their interest in this form and will be contacted shortly afterwards. If you have any questions, would like to know more about CREST Awards or have any thoughts on who else might be interested in the CREST assessor role, please contact Claudia Linan, Education Officer: t. +44 (0)20 7019 4969
A steering group has identified themes for the sessions but we are asking for additional help in organising the second day of the conference. We are looking for volunteers to help identify suitable contributors (academic staff, current Birkbeck doctoral researchers or alumni) and to organise for them to take part in each theme.
By taking part in this way you will have the chance to meet other PhD students and contribute to this exciting event. If you are willing to take part we will put you in contact with members of the steering group or others who would like to volunteer and you would be asked to work together on the theme you are interested in.
We invite you to let us know by
the end of Tuesday 4 February if you are willing to help in this way.
BGRS Postgraduate Research Conference: 22-23 April 2020
2020 will mark the 100th anniversary of Birkbeck joining the University of London, and also the 100th anniversary of our first PhD. To celebrate these milestones as we approach the College’s 200th year, the BGRS is organising a centenary conference, led by current PhD students and doctoral alumni.
Provisionally
entitled #BBKConversations, it will be a great opportunity for the whole Birkbeck
postgraduate research community to engage with the big issues of the day. The
steering committee are in the early stages of planning the conference, but we
need your help to shape it.
Over the course of
two days, we hope to arrange lectures, workshops and maybe an exhibition, using
our current research as well as the work of alumni to frame some big
#BBKConversations.
Below are some
themes the committee has come up with, but we would really like your input. What
do you want to discuss and focus on? We are looking for exciting and
innovative ways to bring together researchers in business, humanities, social
sciences, STEM, and everything in between.
Whether or not you want to take an active role in the conference, please put the 22nd and 23rd of April in your diary. If you would like to join the committee, propose a theme or participate in one of the #BBKConversations, please contact the BGRS Manager Tim Hoe (t.hoe@bbk.ac.uk). Get in touch with any and every idea no matter how big or small, and let’s make this a great conference. Please let Tim have your ideas by the 2nd of December so we can discuss them at our planning workshop.
The conference committee will hold a workshop on the 4th of December from 15:00 to 17:00 in Clore 101 – this will be open to anyone who would like to contribute to planning and organisation of the conference.
Suggested themes
If Birkbeck did not exist would we need to invent it? What is the relevance of Birkbeck’s mission and its particular character in relation to society today?
What have Birkbeck’s contributions to society and to research been? The conference could showcase this in relation to alumni. What should Birkbeck’s future research focus be?
What are the historic and current roles for Birkbeck in terms of activism and research? Birkbeck has a radical history but should a university be radical?
Is London a global city-state? If so, is that good or bad for the UK? It was agreed that the relationship between education, social mobility and migration could be explored in the context of London and the rest of the UK.
Access and engagement. What is the future of the university in relation to race and migration, borders and decolonisation of the curriculum? What does a modern doctoral graduate look like and what journeys have led to our research students coming to Birkbeck? It would be interesting to explore some of the different stories and the role of a PhD in different cultures, with opportunities to interact and to explore these issues further at the conference.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of quantitative and qualitative research? This could work as a debate – with representatives from both sides.
What role does objectivity play in research? How does storytelling and narrative relate to research? What is reality – and what are the consequences of choices made when framing research?
What relevance do issues of privacy and digital data have in research? This could include discussion of artificial intelligence, deep learning, big data and ethics.
The Access and Engagement Department sits
at the heart of Birkbeck’s commitment to improving the access and success of
non-traditional students in London. We work with groups who may otherwise feel
excluded from taking a step into higher education, including trade union
members without a formal qualification above level 4; FE and adult education
college students; forced migrants and those who have been out of education for
a number of years.
Birkbeck’s academic and research community can support our work in a range of ways, including:
delivering
free community lectures and/or learning activities;
running
workshops to support those facing organisational change at work;
helping
people to develop the skills they need to successfully navigate structural
inequality;
offering
insights into community priorities through
their research.
Find out more
To find out more and discuss possible collaborations, the Department is holding an Academic Open House event on Thursday 26th September from 3-5pm in Malet Street B02. The event is open to PhD candidates, Early Career Researchers and academics at Birkbeck. We will present further information about our work across London and our priorities for 2019/20, and there will be the opportunity for discussion with other academic colleagues and members of the Department.
To register your interest, please complete the following short form: https://bbk.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/open-house-register-of-interest For refreshments purposes it would be helpful to know how many are able to attend the Open House event, but even if you are unable to join us on the 26th, we’d still love to hear from you so please do complete the form so we can keep in touch about future opportunities.
