Cafe Scientifique - 14th December

The first Café Scientifique evening of this academic year will be held on Wed 14th December, from 6pm (until 8 or 8:30ish) in the World Marche Common Room, Mile End.

Café Scientifique evenings are regular events for PhD researchers and research staff. The idea of the event is to create an informal, relaxed atmosphere where researchers from all disciplines can meet and chat, and also present their work and ideas to a general, friendly audience. A typical evening would consist of short presentations from researchers, wine/soft drinks and pizza, and other activities such as a quiz, a debate or a creative challenge.

The talks at this event will be:

The weird & wonderful world of Amino Acids
Hannah Wright, SBCS

Crude Cinematography: Image Stylistics Influenced by the Petrol Dollar in Lagos and Luanda
Nosa Obayiuwana, SLLF

Software Systems are leaking your information
Quoc Sang Phan, EECS

Incomprehensibility and Eminemce in Research Papers: Is it over my head or is it just meaningless waffle?
Tendayi Bloom, Law

If you would like to come, please can you book a place here
This is so I know how many people to order drinks and pizza for!

PhD comics - the movie!

I am really pleased to announce that Queen Mary will be screening the PhD Comics Movie! If you’re not familiar with PhD comics, it describes itself as “"Piled Higher and Deeper", the ongoing chronicle of life (or the lack thereof) in grad school.” The comic strips have been going for years, but the film has only been released this autumn.

The details of the screening are:

Mon 14th November from 5:30pm in the Perrin Lecture Theatre, Whitechapel campus. The film is slightly over an hour long.

This is a free event for Queen Mary PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and staff, and it will be followed by a drinks reception in the Old Library, Whitechapel which everyone is encouraged to attend.

Places at this event can be booked on the Learning Institute booking system - the event is listed as “PhD comics movie screening”.

I look forward to seeing lots of you at this event!

British Library days for new PhD students

The National Postgraduate Open Days are specially tailored days of talks, workshops and networking opportunities at the British Library, focusing on your research subject. Each day includes a general introduction to relevant research sources, curator talks and workshops, and details on how to get a Reader Pass. To ensure the days are accessible to research postgraduates from across the UK, students from outside London may apply for a limited number of £30 travel bursaries.

The days are extremely popular, so early booking is advised. The days are free to attend and lunch is provided.

Open Days are currently offered in History, English Literature and Social Sciences.

For more information and to book a place visit the website.

New academic year!

Apologies for the lateness of this post, but I'd just like to say a huge welcome to all PhD students who have recently started at Queen Mary, and a welcome to the 2011-12 academic year to current students, for whom I guess it's just business as usual! If you're new to this blog you can find out a bit more about me in the sidebar.

The Learning Institute programme of workshops for this year has started. You can see the calendar of what's coming up at the top of this page. I will also be using this blog to advertise other events that are running, both within Queen Mary and outside. If you want to find more out about the Learning Institute, what it offers and how to book on courses, please visit the main website, and the pages specifically for research students. You can find my contact details on the site - please get in touch if you have any questions, or any suggestions for things you would like to see on the blog or the website.

Hope to see you all at some workshops or events soon!
Jo

Vitae focus group - European Framework for Work Experience

Vitae are looking for enthusiastic researchers to be part of an exciting focus group to gauge your opinions and thoughts on implementing a new European Framework for Work Experience and accompanying resources for researchers.

The framework was developed a number of years ago in partnership with a number of European institutions and organisations to agree on the 12 most important competencies that employers look for in undergraduates.
Whilst originally designed for the undergraduate community, Vitae feel that there is applicability to the researcher community and would like to investigate how this framework could be used to enhance the employability of researchers in the near future.

We are looking for postgraduate researchers or research staff across any discipline with 3 hours of spare time on Wednesday 17 August between 11am-2pm and an additional hour in advance to read through pre-focus group materials. Lunch will be provided and any travel expenses incurred will be covered.

For more information and to register please click here.

Last Cafe Scientifique of 2010-11 - 6th July

The next Café Scientifique event for PhD students and postdoctoral researchers from all disciplines will be on Wednesday 6th July, from 6pm in the World Marche Common room on the Mile End campus.

The presentations at this event will be:

‘Sun: The Earth’s warm friend or your skin’s cold enemy?‘: Correlation between sun-exposure and skin cancer.
Nikol Mladkova (Blizard Institute)

Protecting The Pork Pie: What Is The Protected Food Names Scheme And How Does It Work?
Matthew Rippon (Geography)

Modern money mechanics
Marco Paladini (EECS)

Making the most of the internet

ResearchGate is a social and professional network tailored to academics, scientists and researchers with over one million active members.

The site lets you engage and interact with fellow researchers, build an online presence and keep up-to-date with happenings in your field.

A recent blog post on the site describes the best ways for graduates to make use of the internet with regards to starting a career in research/academia. Hopefully you will find it useful!

Next Cafe Scientifique - Thursday 19th May

The next Café Scientifique event for PhD students and postdoctoral researchers from all disciplines will be on Thursday 19th May, from 6pm in the World Marche Common room on the Mile End campus. This is a different venue from previous events!

The presentations at this event will be:

There’s more to sex than you think (part 2!) – Helene Muller (Biological & Chemical Sciences)
and
And you think we’ve got it bad? Higher Education in Sierra Leone – Marie-Aimee Brajeux (Law).

For further information or to book a place please contact Dr Jo Cordy (j.m.cordy@qmul.ac.uk).

New website about Academic Careers

The University of Manchester Careers Service have just launched a new site which is intended to help PhD students and early career researchers to get a better understanding of what an academic career entails, how to get one and how to succeed in one.

The website is open to all researchers from any university or discipline. It answers many questions about how to make it as an academic.

The site contains plenty of video clips of academics and early career researchers, as well as information about the different stages of an academic career and tips for finding jobs, applying for them and succeeding in interviews.

Visit the site here.

Cafe Scientifique - 17th March

The next Café Scientifique event for PhD students and postdoctoral researchers from all disciplines is being held on Thursday 17th March. It will be a chance for researchers to get together and meet each other in a relaxed setting. This is an informal and fun evening event involving free wine & pizza, three short presentations from researchers and some other activities such as a quiz and/or creative challenges!

The presentations at this event will be from Hannah Wright (Biological & Chemical Sciences), Keith Jones (Electronic Engineering & Computer Science) and Katie Lidster (ICMS).

The evening will start at 6pm at Mucci, Library Square on the Mile End campus. For further information and to book a place please contact Dr Jo Cordy (j.m.cordy@qmul.ac.uk).

Junk the Jargon Final

Junk the Jargon 2011 results

The final of this year's competition was on Thursday 17th Feb in People's Palace Lecture Theatre 1. All 12 finalists did a fantastic job of engaging, entertaining and educating the audience - there were creative analogies, humour, a huge variety of props and even the odd explosion!

The judges for the final were: Prof. Evelyn Welch, Professor of Renaissance Studies and Vice-Principal (Research & International Affairs); Prof. Colin Jones, President of the Royal Historical Society; Nicola Horne from Cancer Research UK; and Rhian Harris, Director of the V&A Museum of Childhood, and they had a really tough job to pick first, second and third place, but they eventually managed and the final decision was:

1st place: Myrto Chioni (and her two lovely assistants), from Barts Cancer Institute, for her description of "The secret life of Mr FGFR".

2nd Place: Jamie Upton, from the Blizard Institute of Cell & Molecular Science, for his poem about baldness and his research on hair follicules.


3rd Place: Marie-Aimee Brajeux from the School of Law, for her talk about ASBOs.


The audience also had a chance to vote for their favourite, and they picked Alex Papple, from Barts Cancer Institute, for his amazing use of dangerous props to explain how anti-cancer drugs could be made more effective.

Thanks to everyone who was involved!
Videos will be posted on the Learning Institute website soon.

Events for Arts & Humanities researchers

I've just come across two things that are coming up for researchers in Arts and Humanities subjects.

The first, on the 15th Feb, is a focus group at the British Library, designed to gain a better understanding of how BL services meet the needs of Arts & Humanities researchers within the Higher Education community. A payment of £50 will be given to anyone taking part. Each group will last for approximately 1.5 hours, and they will run between lunchtime and 5:30pm.
Anyone interested in participating should email David Mort at IRN Research at dmort@irn-research.com giving details of their subject area, institution, and general research experience (i.e. first-year PhD, early career researcher, established academic) PLUS a telephone number where they can be contacted in advance of the group.

The second event is at King's College London on 28th Feb:

"Graduates’ Day, King’s College London, 28th February 11-4, Anatomy Theatre Museum, 6th Floor, King's Building, King's College London

Refreshments and lunch provided

What is the public value of Arts and Humanities?

It is no secret: There were less difficult times for Arts and Humanities. Time is short and finances are scarce. So: Why study Shakespeare? Why think about politics and the world religions? Why explore national history? Why reflect upon moral issues?

The first Arts and Humanities Graduates’ Day at King’s College London invites PhD students from Arts and Humanities in the University of London to engage with these issues and discuss the importance of Arts and Humanities in the contemporary world. It will also be an opportunity to meet fellow research students working in the field of Arts and Humanities.

This free event will take place on Monday 28th February, 11-4 in the Anatomy Theatre Museum, 6th Floor, King's Building, King's College London, Strand Campus:

http://www.anatomytheatreandmuseum.kcl.ac.uk/location

If you would like to join us for this free event, please email Sarah Hayward (sarah.hayward@kcl.ac.uk) to book your place. Refreshments and lunch will be provided."

The Thesis Whisperer

I've recently come across this blog, The Thesis Whisperer, which has tonnes of great posts and articles about aspects of doing and surviving a PhD. I'll put a link to it at the side of this blog so you can easily see new posts.

Cafe Scientifique - 3rd February

The next Café Scientifique event for PhD students and postdoctoral researchers from all disciplines is being held on Thursday 3rd February. It will be a chance for researchers to get together and meet each other in a relaxed setting. This is an informal and fun evening event involving free wine & pizza, three short presentations from researchers and some other activities such as a quiz and/or creative challenges!

The presentations at this event will be from Mark Stevenson (Biological & Chemical Sciences), Peter Kirby-Harris (Politics) and Emily Collins (Geography).

The evening will start at 6pm at Mucci, Library Square on the Mile End campus. For further information and to book a place please contact Dr Jo Cordy (j.m.cordy@qmul.ac.uk).

PCs at Queen Mary

If any of you ever need to use the PCs that are available around the QM campuses, this should be of use to you: IT Services have recently launched a new website showing how many PCs are free in all the labs and other locations around campus.

Junk the Jargon 2011

Junk the Jargon 2011 is nearly here!

Can you make your research clear and entertaining to a wide audience in only 3 minutes? If you think so, or would just like to try, then enter the competition!

Faculty Heats

Humanities & Social Sciences: Tues 8th Feb, 4pm in Lock-keeper’s Cottage, Mile End

Science & Engineering: Wed 9th Feb, 4pm in People’s Palace LT1, Mile End

Medicine & Dentistry: Thurs 10th Feb, 5pm in Perrin LT, Blizard Building, Whitechapel

The Final

The final will be on Thursday 17th Feb in People’s Palace Lecture Theatre 1 from 5pm. It will be followed by prize-giving and a drinks reception in the People’s Palace foyer. Prizes of £500, £250 and £100 will be awarded for the top three presentations, and there will also be a separate prize awarded based on the audience’s vote.

Judges for the final are:

Prof. Evelyn Welch, Vice-Principal (Research & International Affairs)
Prof. Colin Jones, President of the Royal Historical Society
Nicola Horne from Cancer Research UK
Rhian Harris, Director of the V&A Children’s Museum
A representative from the science communication organisation Guerilla Science

To find out more, or to book a place at one of the faculty heats, please contact Jo Cordy: j.m.cordy@qmul.ac.uk.