Category: BGRS-organised events
Winners of the 2023 Three Minute Thesis and BGRS Poster Competitions
Top row left to right: Conor J. Kelly, Jo Brydon-Dickenson, Allison McKibban. Bottom row left to right: Graham Driver, Laura Phillips-Farmer, Clau Di Gianfrancesco
Birkbeck’s annual Three Minute Thesis and Poster competitions were held on 25 May and proved to be an entertaining and invigorating evening for competitors and the audience alike.
For the Three Minute Thesis competition, participants from a range of different disciplines were challenged to present their scholarly research to a non-specialist audience in just three minutes. Showcasing their ability to talk with clarity and passion about their research, as well as their presentation skills, the quality of entries from doctoral students was exceptionally high. For the Poster competition, doctoral students submitted a poster design that explained their complex research to a mixed audience of non-subject specialists.
The winner and recipient of a £500 prize for the Three Minute Thesis was Conor J. Kelly, for his talk entitled ‘Brexit and Northern Ireland’s Political Parties’.
The winner of the Poster competition and recipient of £150 was Graham Driver for ‘Exploring the geological evolution of Glacier-like Forms on Mars’. As well as the winners, a panel of judges also selected runners-up for each competition, and there was also a people’s choice award.
Below is more information about the students who placed as winners and runners-up, and their respective research.
Three Minute Thesis Judges Winner: Conor J. Kelly
Thesis title: Northern Ireland’s Political Parties Shifting Stances on European Integration
What’s it about? Northern Ireland’s political parties have had a huge influence on political developments related to Brexit in recent years. But the parties themselves have often presented contrasting positions on whether they support European integration since Ireland and the UK joined in 1973. There is literature on how parties form their positions on the EU. However, I argue Northern Ireland presents a somewhat unique case, and I try to show why you need to go beyond the current literature on political parties in order to understand how they behave towards Europe.
Why this research? I grew up in Donegal, near the Irish border and I’ve always been interested in the politics and history of Ireland. The 2016 Brexit referendum brought the politics of Northern Ireland back to the top of the political agenda in Ireland, the UK, and the European Union. My thesis is trying to make sense of one dimension of a complicated but fascinating set of political dynamics.
What’s your background? I did my BA at the University of Galway in Ireland and then studied for an MA at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Prior to coming to Birkbeck in 2018 to do a MRes and then a PhD, I had a variety of different jobs in not-for-profit fundraising in New York and London.
Three Minute Thesis Runner-up: Jo Brydon-Dickenson
Thesis title: Percy Grainger and Trans Identity in Edwardian England
What’s it about? It’s about a musician who wrote a lot about gender and sexuality in their private letters and diaries. I’m using those documents to try to piece together some understanding of what it was like to be trans in London in the early twentieth century and how people like Percy Grainger might have understood themselves.
Why this research? A lot of trans history before the 1950s is built upon court records and newspaper articles, and it’s very rare that we get to hear trans people speaking for ourselves. So, when I came across these documents with Grainger expressing thoughts that will probably seem quite familiar to a lot of trans people today, I thought it was important to take the time to unpick them and show how they might help us understand the trans past.
What’s your background? Before this, I was doing a Master’s at Reading and a degree at Sussex, both with a focus on music and gender in history. My background also includes a lot of performing music, so I love the opportunity to bring the things that I’ve learned as a musician into my research.
Three Minute Thesis People’s Choice Winner: Allison McKibban
Thesis Title: An Era of Violence: Confronting Colonialism in the U.S. Violence Against Women Act (1994-Present)
What’s it about? While laws regulating sexual violence are used by governments around the world, it remains a global health crisis. For 30 years, the U.S. Violence Against Women Act has addressed sexual violence, and in particular, violence against Indigenous women. My research questions why this set of laws hasn’t prevented the violence, through uncovering the ingrained beliefs beneath the words written in the more than 2000 pages of legislation.
Why this research? The United States government has enacted violence against Indigenous communities for centuries. However, as a U.S. citizen, I never learned of this ongoing colonization until I was in university. My research pushes back on my own government’s violent policies, but also has compelled me to do activist work to restore land to Indigenous peoples.
What’s your background? Before Birkbeck, I worked in government affairs in the US and attended LSE and Oxford to study for master’s degrees related to law, gender, and history.
Poster Competition Winner: Graham Driver
Thesis Title: Exploring the Geomorphological Evolution of Glacier-Like Forms on Mars
What’s it about? The mid-latitudes of Mars are populated by numerous water-ice-rich landforms known as Glacier-Like Forms (GLFs) that are similar in appearance to valley glaciers found on Earth. Little is known about these glaciers and how they have evolved over time. Using data collected by orbiting spacecraft, and computer climate modelling, I am attempting to provide insight into the geological evolution of these landforms and discover what environmental factors influence glacial evolution on Mars.
Why this research? I have always been interested in space exploration and geology, particularly in geomorphology and how landscapes are formed. When you think of Mars, you think of a dry, cold, dead planet, not an active landscape with large glaciers on its surface. The difference between what I had known about Mars before and the excitement of what I could discover exploring another planet drew me to this research. It’s an amazing privilege to have the opportunity to look at Mars every day from images I have requested from spacecraft 140 million miles away.
What’s your background? Like many Birkbeck alumni I was working a steady job when, aged 30, I decided to go back to university to study something I have always been passionate about: planetary science. I worked full-time whilst completing my degree at Birkbeck, and graduated in 2019. In 2020, this PhD was advertised at Birkbeck, and I was fortunate enough to be selected for the position. Now I’ve had the opportunity to teach one of the modules which got me here and help other students towards their goals of exploring the geology of our solar system.
Poster Competition Runner-up: Laura Phillips-Farmer
Thesis title: Where structural and individual factors interplay: Building on the pathways approach to homelessness
What’s it about? It’s about looking at the factors involved in why and how people come to face homelessness in the UK. Currently, research is split between ‘individual factors’ or ’structural factors’ or episodes of both types of factors. I would like to explore the spaces where they interplay using Life Course Theory and by focusing particularly on families.
Why this research? Homelessness in the UK is a crisis that many take for granted. Comparisons between countries show that policy makes a huge difference, but it is highly contested over. I wanted to provide research that would give some weight to arguments in these areas. I was keen to slightly dismantle this idea that there’s always going to be some people who are safely in housing and some people who don’t get that, and that there’s something inherent about ’those people’. Homelessness charities sometimes make the point that “we’re all only one or two months of pay away from being homeless”, but it’s more complicated than that, with inequalities being deeper rooted. I want my research to help people tackle that complexity.
What’s your background? I’ve worked as a youth worker, managed a winter night shelter project, and also a support worker for a homelessness charity. I took the Birkbeck conversion MSc in 2019-20, studied a health and social psychology MSc at Maastricht University in the Netherlands the following year, and began my PhD in the summer of 2021.
Poster Competition Runner-up: Clau Di Gianfrancesco
Thesis title: Collective Practices of Undoing and Unbecoming: Masculinity and Theatre of the Oppressed
What’s it about? I am investigating the potentialities held by participatory theatrical practices, and more specifically of Theatre of the Oppressed, in troubling and re-imagining gender and masculinity. In my work, I consider the work of decolonial, antiracist, queer, and feminist thinkers – and specifically, those who have used theatre and performances as privileged sites to question and trouble gender normativity. My aim is to investigate theoretical and practical ways of doing and undoing gender and masculinity. I am using an ethnographic approach, detailing my experience with companies working with Theatre of the Oppressed in different parts of the world.
Why this research? I have been interested in questions pertaining to gender, theatre and gender performances since my BA in Psychology. I find theatre an incredibly helpful and productive medium to explore questions of identity and gender. Given my added interest in collaborative storytelling and collective imagination, I think that theatre and performance offer privileged sites for such rich, artistic, multi-sensorial, embodied and collaborative ways.
What’s your background? While studying for my BA in Psychology, I saw my first Theatre of the Oppressed play which I was so profoundly struck by it that it informed my dissertation. After my BA, I did a Master’s in Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck, where I learned about a rich variety of theories and methodological approaches and encountered a vibrant community of postgraduate students. After a year of working as a Research Assistant at Goldsmiths in the Department of Sociology, I was awarded the UBEL, ESRC 3+1 scholarship which is currently funding my PhD research.
BGRS Poster Competition 2023
Thursday 25 May 2023
Birkbeck Graduate Research School (BGRS) invites you to enter a Postgraduate Research Student Poster Competition, which will be held on campus alongside the 3 Minute Thesis Competition on Thursday 25 May from 6pm.
This Poster Competition is open to all doctoral researchers at Birkbeck and provides an excellent opportunity for you to present your research, practice your communication skills, to network with other doctoral researchers and to celebrate your work.
Prizes
- The winner of the first prize will receive £150 and a certificate
- Two runners up will be awarded certificates and £75 each
Poster requirements
- You should create a research poster that explains complex research to a mixed audience of non-subject specialists.
- Your poster should be formatted for printing as A0 in size and in portrait orientation.
What is involved?
- Your poster will be displayed on a poster board, with an in-person judging session during a reception after the 3 Minute Thesis Competition.
- You will be invited to attend your poster during the judging session and so that attendees can speak with you about your research.
How to enter
- If you would like to enter the competition please complete this Entry Form by Tuesday 16 May.
- In order to be printed (we will pay for your entry to be printed) you will need to send your completed poster as a .pdf to graduateresearchschool@bbk.ac.uk no later than midday Monday 22 May.
Training available
For all those taking part in the competition we are organising a workshop to help you produce your poster.
Regardless of whether you are planning to enter the 3 Minute Thesis Competition or enter this BGRS Poster Competition please do mark 6pm Thursday 25 May in your diaries for these exciting events.
Three Minute Thesis Training sessions
The BGRS is pleased to announce the 2023 Birkbeck 3 Minute Thesis Competition, which will take place on Thursday 25 May from 6pm. Please mark this date in your diaries!
Birkbeck 3MT: Thursday 25 May 2023
Join a selection of Birkbeck PhD students as they compete to communicate their compelling thesis topics in just three minutes. This event is a fantastic opportunity to share and celebrate the interests and successes of PhD researchers from across the College and we invite all current Birkbeck PhD students to take part. The winner of the Birkbeck competition will be chosen by an expert panel of judges who will award:
- £500 to the overall winner
- £250 to the runner up
- The audience will also have their say by picking a people’s choice winner who’ll win a special prize.
Training Sessions
As part of our support for the competition, a free programme of training sessions has been arranged. All potential 3MT competitors should attend these sessions. However, any or all of them are open to any doctoral researcher at Birkbeck who would like to gain skills in these areas:
- Session 1: An introduction to 3MT and how to present a lightning talk – Thursday 11 May 3-4pm
- Session 2: How to break down your PhD into a lightning talk – Monday 15 May 11am-1pm
- Session 3: Presenting Skills – Thursday 18 May 2-4pm
What is it like to take part in 3MT?
Some of last year’s contenders have kindly shared what they gained from partaking.
Marie Houghton said that it ‘helped me to clarify exactly what I think the main message of my PhD is’ and that she ‘would definitely recommend taking part in the 3MT to any other PhD students.’
Hannah Reeves also said that the competition allowed her to ‘think about what matters most about my research – what do I care about, what do the community I’m working with care about, and what will this audience care about.’ She also described herself as nervous about the experience of being on stage but ‘the training helped to develop a mutually supportive atmosphere.’
Doyin Olorunfemi described how ‘the exercise of delivering a concise speech gives you clarity of mind as a researcher and clarifies your contribution.’ She would ‘highly recommend the competition.’
Audio-Visual Skills Workshop – Urban Margins
You are invited to apply to a student-led training in audio-visual research techniques. This series of four workshops and related events will be facilitated by The Derek Jarman Lab in collaboration with BISR Urban Intersections Working Group and Corkscrew Practice-Based research network.
Over the course of this free four-week course, you would be one of up to eight participants receiving a practical introduction to audio-visual skills PGR students can incorporate into their research. PGR students from any department can apply. You will learn basic tools to enable greater innovation within your research data collection and dissemination.
The course will be organised around a shared theme of “urban margins”, inspired by a related event taking place the week before the workshops start, titled ‘Urban Intersections at the Margins’, which you would be invited and encouraged to join. The notion of urban ‘margins’ arguably invokes a stigmatised frame: one in which subjects, bodies or sites are located ‘on the margin’ of the city; or on the fringes of a hegemonic urban social order. But what if urban margins were reimagined beyond such stigmatised frames, as a space of hybridity, where new dynamics might arise, demanding new ways of knowing and intervening in urban realities? This broad theme will provide a thematic and conceptual context through which you will develop your audio-visual skills.
The weekly, day-long Friday workshops will be delivered through the Derek Jarman Lab. Each week’s workshop will focus on a different set of skills. We will begin with still photography, then sound recording, then moving image, and finish with a session on how to organise shoots, plan equipment and cover some of the legal aspects of using found/archival material. The mornings will be practical, and you will get hands-on experience with how to get the best out of one’s chosen piece of equipment. The afternoon will be spent using editing software, where you will learn how to get the best from your recordings. Baseline knowledge of editing software is also key to producing high-quality output from documentation collected during research.
You do not need to have any kind of prior audio-visual experience, and “urban margins” does not have to be a focus of your research. You simply need an interest in developing skills and knowledge in audio-visual techniques. Following the workshop, you will have the opportunity to show and discuss your work in progress at an event organised with the Urban Intersections Working Group and Corkscrew (likely to take place in late June or early July, more details to come).
To apply, please write a short paragraph (up to 300 words) on why this course interests you and how you would use the skills gained in relation to your doctoral research. Please note that applicants are required to attend all workshops and are advised to attend the sessions on the 26th of May and the 30th of June. Please do not apply if you cannot attend the session on the 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rd of June from 10 am to 4 pm
The deadline for application is the 24th of March 2023. You will hear back by 24th April 2023.
Timeline
DATE: 26th of May
Urban Intersections at the Margins, an informal workshop bringing interdisciplinary approaches and methods of seeing urbanisation at the ‘margin’, both in the Global South and North. 26 May 2023, afternoon, 43 Gordon Square.
A screening of Baronesa (Brazil, 2017), co-sponsored by the Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image, followed by a roundtable discussion with Dr Louisa Acciari (UCL), Dr Gracia Ramirez (UAL) and Dr Mara Nogueira (Birkbeck). 26 May 2023, 6 pm, Birkbeck Cinema.
[These events are not obligatory for the workshop participants but are strongly encouraged]
#1 Stills
DATE: 2nd June 2023
Time: 10 am to 5 pm
Location: Derek Jarman Lab, 43 Gordon Square
#2 Sound
DATE: 9th June 2023
Time: 10 am to 5 pm
Location: Derek Jarman Lab, 43 Gordon Square
#3 Moving Image
DATE: 16th June 2023
Time: 10 am to 5 pm
Location: Derek Jarman Lab, 43 Gordon Square
#4 Planning and Collaboration
DATE: 23rd June 2023
Time: 10 am to 5 pm
Location: Derek Jarman Lab, 43 Gordon Square
DATE: 30th June 2023
An informal event where workshop participants can share their work in progress with members of the Corkscrew practice-based research network and the Urban Intersections working group. Location: TBC
2022 Gwynne-Vaughan Medal winners announced

Monday 19 December 2022
On Monday 19 December we welcomed doctoral researchers to the BGRS Winter Party. The event was a chance to enjoy some festive celebration and also to announce the winners of the 2022 Gwynne-Vaughan Medal competition. The medal is named after Birkbeck’s first female Professor, Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, and is awarded to Birkbeck Doctoral students able to demonstrate the most notable contribution to their field while undertaking their research degree.
This year the medal was awarded in two categories: Current Research Students; and Doctoral Alumni. In both categories the achievements were completed while enrolled as a doctoral student.
Professor Julian Swann (Pro Vice Chancellor of Research and Director of the Birkbeck Graduate Research School) welcomed all those present and announced the following winners for the competition this year:
Current Student category
- Winner: Dr Linda Miller (Department of English, Theatre and Creative Writing, School of Arts)
- Highly commended: Kate Errington (Department of English, Theatre and Creative Writing, School of Arts)
Doctoral Alumni category
- Winner: Dr Melissa Buron (Department of History of Art, School of Arts)
- Highly commended: Dr Gurbachan Singh Jandu (Department of Politics, SSHP)
All are awarded a certificate and the winners in each category will be sent a medal and a £250 prize.
Congratulations to the winners this year and many thanks for all those who entered the competition. We look forward to opening a call for entries to the 2023 Gwynne-Vaughan competition next year.
2022 Gwynne-Vaughan Medal
Deadline for entries extended to midday 14 October
The Birkbeck Graduate Research School (BGRS) aims to highlight the activities and successes of our research student community. We are pleased to announce the 2022 Gwynne-Vaughan Medal which is awarded to Birkbeck Doctoral students able to demonstrate the most notable contribution to their field while undertaking their research degree. The winners will be awarded a £250 prize, a formal certificate and a distinctive medal.
Eligibility
There are two categories for entry:
Current doctoral students
- This category is open to all current part time and full time doctoral students enrolled at Birkbeck in academic year 2021/22
- Any achievements you include must have taken place while you were registered as a Birkbeck Doctoral student up to 31 July 2022
Doctoral awardees
- This category is open to any student who was enrolled in academic year 2019/20, 2020/21 and who has already been awarded their doctorate.
- Any achievements you include must have taken place before your doctorate was awarded.
How to enter
Applicants must complete the following Gwynne-Vaughan Prize form which includes a statement from the student and a supporting statement from the supervisor.
Your completed form should be sent by email to graduateresearchschool@bbk.ac.uk
Deadline for entries
Friday 14 October, midday
Consideration of entries
All entries will be considered by the Research Student Sub-Committee (RSSC). The winners will be announced at the end of the Autumn term at a BGRS event that will be open to all research students at Birkbeck.
2022 Birkbeck 3 Minute Thesis Competition: Join the Audience on 16 June
Registration now open for this event
You can be part of the audience for this year’s Three Minute Thesis Competition. On Thursday 16 June, an expert panel of judges will decide which Birkbeck student has presented the most compelling, convincing, and concise summary of their thesis. There’s a lot at stake: not only the prestige of winning and the confidence that goes with it, but also –
- £500 to the overall winner
- £250 to the runner-up
As part of the audience you will have a vote to decide who is the People’s Choice. You can also join the Birkbeck postgraduate community in celebrating the diversity of research interests undertaken here, and raise a glass to that with a drinks reception after the winners have been announced.
Register now to be part of the audience.
Three Minute Thesis Training sessions
The BGRS is pleased to announce the 2022 Birkbeck 3 Minute Thesis Competition, which will take place on Thursday 16 June from 6pm. Please mark this date in your diaries! This will be the first competition to have taken place in person since 2019.
Birkbeck 3MT: Thursday 16 June 2022
Join a selection of Birkbeck PhD students as they compete to communicate their compelling thesis topics in just three minutes. This event is a fantastic opportunity to share and celebrate the interests and successes of PhD researchers from across the College and we invite all current Birkbeck PhD students to take part. The winner of the Birkbeck competition will be chosen by an expert panel of judges who will award:
- £500 to the overall winner
- £250 to the runner up
- The audience will also have their say by picking a people’s choice winner who’ll win a special prize.
Training Sessions
As part of our support for the competition, a free programme of training sessions has been arranged. All potential 3MT competitors should attend these sessions. However, any or all of them are open to any doctoral researcher at Birkbeck who would like to gain skills in these areas:
- Session 1: An introduction to 3MT and how to present a lightning talk – Thursday 5 May 11:00-12:00
- Session 2: How to break down your PhD into a lightning talk – Thursday 12 May 11:00-13:00
- Session 3: Presenting Skills – Thursday 19 May 11:00-13:00
What is it like to take part in 3MT?
You can read more about what it was like to take part in the 2018 and 2019 3MT competitions in the following BGRS blog posts:
- Cathy Rogers
- Keith Jarrett (2018 Winner)
- Gabriella McGrogan (2019 winner)
- Janette Leaf (2019 Runner Up)
This is an international event and the Birkbeck winner will have the opportunity to continue on to the UK semi-finals later in the year.
BGRS Conference – Postponed
As a result of the current situation we have had to postpone the BGRS Conference which will no longer take place on 22-23 April. However, we do intend to find an alternative date for the event later in the year and will confirm this once available.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank all who had helped to shape the conference through contributions by email, discussion off line, by attending any of the BGRS conference meetings, or by volunteering to take part in the student sessions on methods/ disciplines or the poster competition. Many thanks too to speakers who had agreed to take part.
Thanks in particular to those of you who have been active in the conference steering group and who had until recently been choosing and inviting speakers and helping to set things in place. I’m hopeful that we will be able to build on the work done so far and deliver an exciting event later in the year.