Category: PhD

Resources for remote research in Human Geography – crowd-sourced document

Antonio Ferraz-de-Oliveira, from Cambridge University, has curated a document that was originally designed to support second year undergraduates, who are rapidly reformulating their dissertation plans for the summer. This project evolved into something quite substantial, and has been welcomed by PhD students and academics, who are also finding the need to revise and revisit research plans.

Antonio and other contributors have now released a version for general circulation, in the spirit of collective solidarity towards students, colleagues and researchers in these difficult times. You can find it following the link below:

Ferraz de Oliveira, A., ed. (2020). Resources for remote research in Human Geography. (crowd-sourced document). Available at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Oe-y9mA2ERrs0xzxSx64znMNEcMepp6Mu3ooCk4jbfc/

Postgraduate Forum Twitter Conference – apply to present

The Postgraduate Forum Twitter Conference will be taking place from Tuesday 25 to Thursday 27 August.

What is the PGF Twitter Conference?

This conference is an opportunity for PhD students in geography and related disciplines to share their research with the wider geography community on Twitter.

The PGF recognise that many people will have been preparing materials for conferences that have now been postponed or cancelled, and so they decided to run this event in the absence of such conferences (for example, the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference). If you have work you’d like to share which you had planned to present at any conference, or indeed any new findings you’d like to share with the academic world, please consider applying to present!

How does it work?

Participants will be grouped into sessions with others carrying out research in a similar field. You’ll be given 15 minutes to share 5 tweets which showcase your work, and 15 minutes to respond to any comments in a ‘live’ Q&A. With just 280 characters per Tweet, you’ll need to think about creative ways of demonstrating your findings, for example by creating a short video or GIF to accompany your text. If your application is successful, you will be sent a detailed presenters’ guide to ensure you’re well prepared to share and discuss your research with as wide an audience as possible!

The deadline for submissions is Friday 24 July.

For more details, please visit the PGF website at https://rgspostgradforum.org/rgs-ibg-postgraduate-forum-twitter-conference-2020.

Webinar: Dissertation projects – Introduction to secondary analysis for qualitative and quantitative

The UK Data Service are offering a free webinar for undergraduates and postgraduates who are using secondary data analysis in their research projects.

The free webinar takes place on 26th May 2020, but if you can’t attend then, it will be recorded and uploaded to YouTube afterwards.

Organised by the UK Data Service, the webinar will take you through the research process of a secondary analysis project, which includes an overview of the methodological, ethical, and procedural issues.

If you are a postgraduate looking for a project to do this summer that doesn’t involve face-to-face contact, or an undergraduate student trying to evaluate options for next year’s dissertation, this webinar will give you options to ensure you get valuable research experience during your degree.

This is an introductory webinar which assumes no prior experience of using archived data.

Presenter: Maureen Haaker

For more info and to sign up, click here.

RGS opportunities for postgraduates

Careers From Development: Putting Critical Thinking into Action. A postgraduate careers event hosted by the Developing Areas Research Group

Friday 15 March 2019

9.00am-5.00pm

Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), 1 Kensington Gore, London

Careers events and resources in universities tend to offer an array of options for those looking to work in the corporate sector. However there is less information about careers that utilise the critical debates covered in development and social science courses. As a result, students who have developed a critical understanding in international development, social justice, environmental justice, migration, human rights and globalisation are left with few options of where to take this after university. 

The event will provide a chance for students to listen to and network with experienced professionals who will talk about the challenges and realities of working in development-related careers. This event is the first of its kind, and we are excited to be hosting it on such a large scale. We have confirmed speakers from Amnesty International, DFID, Centre for Global Development, Global Giving, Switched On London, Banyak Films, The Guardian and more.

Price: £8 (including lunch and refreshments)

Book online: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/careers-from-development-putting-critical-thinking-into-action-tickets-54972671741

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New to teaching in geography, earth and environmental sciences (GEES): Workshop for postgraduates

Monday 25 March 2019
10.00am-4.30pm

Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), 1 Kensington Gore, London

Join Dr Lynda Yorke (Bangor University) and Dr Simon Tate (Newcastle University Prof Anson Mackay (UCL), with Dr Hilary Geoghegan (University of Reading) and Professor Anson Mackay (UCL) for a one day workshop to explore issues postgraduates face when teaching in geography, earth and environmental science (GEES). The workshop offers practical advice and ideas for undergraduate teaching through an exploration of the GEES subject signature pedagogies; strategies for engaging, working with and offering feedback to a wide range of learners; an introduction to participatory teaching, teaching lab work and fieldwork; and discussion and reflection upon the role and contribution of teaching assistants in all these areas using case studies and group discussions.

Price: £20 (including lunch)

Book online – https://t.co/2XhbJ1vqfz

Enquiries – m.davis@rgs.org

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Elections for the Postgraduate Forum Committee

Nominations are now open for election to the committee of the Postgraduate Forum, with elections to be held at the AGM at the mid-term conference at Manchester Metropolitan University, 24-26 April. More information about the available roles and how to run for a position on the committee is available here: http://www.pgf.rgs.org/2019-pgf-elections. You can find out more about the Postgraduate Forum Mid-Term conference: http://www.pgf.rgs.org/rgs-postgraduate-mid-term-conference-2019/.

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Jack Dangermond Award 2019

Applications for the Jack Dangermond Award 2019 are now open. The award provides support to attend the 2019 Esri UC in San Diego for undergraduates, postgraduates or early-career researchers who use the ArcGIS platform for teaching or research. The deadline for applications is Friday 26 April. 

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Applications now open for the Turing Enrichment scheme

The Turing Enrichment scheme offers students enrolled on a doctoral programme at a UK university an opportunity to boost their research project with a placement at the Turing for up to 12 months. Enrichment places are offered for 6, 9, or 12 months with start dates in October 2019 and January 2020. Places are based at the Institute headquarters at the British Library in London where students will continue their PhD in conjunction with their current supervisor, while enriching their research and making new collaborations during their time at the Institute.
 

Enrichment students may be eligible for a stipend top up of up to £5,500 as well as a travel allowance.

To find out if you are eligible and for details of how to apply: https://www.turing.ac.uk/work-turing/studentships/enrichment/application-process

Applications should be made directly to the Turing by 11 March 2019. 


Rodrigo Mendoza-Smith, University of Oxford (one of the Turing’s first enrichment students), had this to say about this experience: “The Enrichment programme at the Turing has been intellectually refreshing and stimulating. I find the daily interaction with Turing researchers the most valuable experience and I have also greatly benefited from weekly reading groups, seminars, masterclasses and meet-ups. ”

RGS Postgraduate Mid-term conference 24-26 April 2019: Calls for papers and posters OPEN!

Hello fellow geographers,

We are pleased to announce that the call for abstracts for the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) Postgraduate Mid-term Conference 2019 is now open. This is an annual Postgraduate focused conference that is co-organised by the RGS, it’s Postgraduate Forum research group and a UK host university. This year, the conference will be held at Manchester Metropolitan University (Manchester, UK) from Wednesday 24th to Friday 26th of April 2019. We hope to see you then!

Why should I attend?

This conference is a great opportunity for all postgraduate students in any discipline of geography, human, physical or environmental, to present their work in a friendly and supportive environment. We also welcome postgraduates outside the discipline who work with geography in some way. This interdisciplinary event is an excellent place to get feedback on your work, network, and practice your presentation skills whether you are a first-time presenter, or you are preparing for other conferences or PhD Viva.

How much?

The cost of the conference is: £65

The registration fee will include;

  • Access to a great programme of paper and poster presentations
  • Workshops to develop skills that are key for an early career researcher,
  • Keynote speeches from established academics in geography
  • Refreshments throughout the conference,
  • A drinks reception on the evening of Wednesday 24th April,
  • Lunches on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th April
  • Conference meal on the evening of Thursday 25th April at GRUB, a street-food venue, with a selection of food vendors and craft beer.

When can I register?

Registration for the conference will open in 2019. Please keep up to date on our social media, and the Postgraduate Forum Twitter account and website for details when they are announced. We will also be disclosing more information about our keynote speakers, workshops and other aspects of the conference in due course.

Can I apply for funding to attend?

There will be opportunities for postgraduates to apply for bursaries to attend the conference. These are facilitated and provided by the RGS’s research groups. Details of these opportunities and updates from the conference will be circulated via our Twitter account @rgsmidterm2019, the Postgraduate Forum Twitter account @PGF_RGSIBG and their website www.pgf.rgs.org.

How to apply?

 Please send an abstract of no more than 250 words along with four keywords, your full name and university, and your intention to present a poster or paper, no later than 21stJanuary 2019.

Please specify in your email upon submission of an abstract the following:

  • Your intention to present a paper or poster;
  • The area(s) of geography your paper/poster is situated, alongside four key words.

 The above information will help the conference committee to sort out abstracts more easily and organise sessions around grouped themes.

 You can submit your abstract or get in touch if you have any questions here: RGSMidterm2019@mmu.ac.uk

We look forward to welcoming you to Manchester in 2019!

The Manchester Metropolitan University Mid-Term Organising Committee

 

Jamie Halliwell, Gail Skelly, Matthew Carney, Fraser Baker, Rong Huang and Maria Loroño-Leturiondo.

The RGS-IBG Postgraduate Mid-term conference, Cardiff University 19th – 21st April 2017: A reflective account

Jamie Halliwell, PhD candidate, Manchester Metropolitan University
Website Officer for the SCGRG

Its been a month since the RGS-IBG held its mid-term postgraduate forum which was held between 19th and 21st April. The honour of hosting the event went to Cardiff University and attracted over 100 international postgraduates and early career researchers. For me, this was my first RGS related event which gave me many opportunities to network with other postgraduates, researchers and academics in a relaxed and more intimate atmosphere. I thank the SCGRG for sponsoring my bursary to attend this excellent event.

My PhD Research and conference presentation

On the Friday morning of the conference, I presented my research which explores the construction of identities through Eurovision Song Contest fandom. I presented preliminary findings and data which I had collected through interviews with Eurovision fans at the contest in Vienna in 2015 and through interviews that I conducted over Skype. I also discussed my proposals on how I intend to continue my research. This will involve engaging with digital research methods, such as netnography, and use social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp to explore how Eurovision fans engage with the contest on an everyday level and how their identities are constructed through the contest. Fans also create their own fan websites and blogs, which also intersect with social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. This is as a result of the increased use and development of internet and smartphone technologies, which provide fans with greater spatial mobility in interacting with the contest and with other fans. Eurovision fan websites are an interesting research area, as they allow fans to accrue cultural and subcultural capital and assist in creating fan communities. As a member of a fan website, there are many opportunities to attend the Eurovision Song Contest and its spinoff events as a ‘fan journalist’. This involves meeting and greeting with Eurovision artists, interviewing them for fan websites and attending their press conferences. During the main Eurovision event, fan journalists also have access to country rehearsals and they occupy the same backstage spaces (known as the ‘press centre’) with other fan websites and official journalists from country state broadcasters, such as the BBC.

The press centre was the main space where I conducted my interviews in Vienna and one of my key arguments and questions is to deconstruct the contest’s perceived representation as a ‘gay event’, even though it is not constructed as such. Where contest organisers are increasingly acknowledging and producing narratives aimed at a gay audience, gay men that I interviewed explained how it causes internal conflicts with their identities. Some felt that gay narratives through the contest weren’t entirely representative but subjective, making them question their own gay identity. Gay men also identified the difference in atmosphere between the contest and inner city gay clubs. One respondent believed he felt other gay men constructed impressions of the way he dressed and looked. As opposed to Eurovision event spaces as appearing less sexualised and the collective interest in Eurovision helped break the ice when conversing with other fans. Moreover, there was evidence to suggest the negotiation of Eurovision fandom between Facebook and Twitter by heterosexual male fans. Fandom was seen to be restricted to Twitter which provided more freedom to produce Eurovision-related content and engage with other fans, whereas Facebook is seen as a platform where fandom is restricted. Facebook is seen to be used more for everyday social organisation and these fans believed that their families and friends who can view their Facebook profile would not be interested in their Eurovision fandom. This may also suggest a ‘closeting’ of fandom from Facebook, as their heterosexuality maybe challenged, given the common perception of the contest as a gay event.

The Postgraduate mid-term conference, Cardiff University 19th – 21st April 2017

The Glamorgan Building of Cardiff University, where the conference took place
The Glamorgan Building of Cardiff University, where the conference took place

The conference provided ideal opportunities to network with other delegates, academics and RGS-IBG research groups. On arrival, I met up with fellow social and cultural research geographers during the research social before attending the first keynote lecture by Dan Raven-Ellison. A keen guerrilla geographer and face of the National Geographic, he has explored how moving through different spatial environments impacts on his body and stress levels. He is also campaigning to designate London as a the first ‘National Park City’.

The Thursday morning saw another keynote lecture from Professor Mark Jayne of Cardiff University discussing his research into geographies of alcohol and violence and the socio-cultural underpinnings of drinking cultures. These activities were likely to take place on a ‘night out’ in the inner city to attend clubs, drink excessively and engage with binge drinking. Jayne showed the audience clips of these activities, some of which involved drunk working class males performing hyper-masculinity when getting into fights with other drunken males.

The postgraduate presentations took place across the Thursday and the Friday, which ran across parallel sessions. Luckily they all took place within the Glamorgan building within the geography department, so you didn’t have to travel far if you wanted to go to different sessions! Some postgraduates presented their proposals for their PhD research, share their ideas and feedback on their presentation or on how to develop their ideas. As well as the presentations, we also had workshops on a variety of topics; one that I attended was the thesis proofreading by Dr Bertie Dockerill. This was an excellent workshop and gave me insight into the proofreading process, Dr Dockerill was an effervescent and dynamic communicator and definitely perked the audience up! The conference also had a big social media presence which helped to promote everyone’s research and document the conference.

We also were treated to three presentations on Estonia, here’s one of them…!

I was the only postgraduate to represent my university (Manchester Metropolitan), but with all the social events associated with the conference (as well as the conference dinner on the Thursday evening, many of use went for food and drinks after the conference on the Wednesday and Friday!) it was easy to chat and share ideas with other delegates. From attending the American Association of Geographers conference in Boston, USA two weeks previously (which attracts around 4,000 delegates each year), it was nice to come back to the UK for a smaller and intimate conference. The Cardiff University and Postgraduate forum organisers were fantastic, everything ran smoothly and they were always happy to help! I would definitely recommend attending this conference to anyone and I will hopefully be there next year!

 

AHRC Midlands3Cities funding for UK/EU students

The Midlands3Cities Doctoral Training Partnership (M3C DTP) is a collaboration between the University of Birmingham, Birmingham City University, De Montfort University, University of Leicester, Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham. M3C is awarding up to 87 PhD Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) studentships for UK/EU applicants for 2017 entry. M3C provides research candidates with expert supervision (including opportunities for cross-institutional supervision), research training and access to a wide range of facilities, cohort events and placement opportunities with regional, national and international partners in the creative and cultural sectors.

The School of Geography at the University of Nottingham (see here) invites applications from students whose research interests include:

  • Environmental humanities and landscape studies
  • Animal geographies
  • Cultural economy
  • Geographies of empire, militarism and internationalism
  • Epidemic spaces and cultural-historical geographies of health
  • Heritage sites and legacies of enslavement and colonialism
  • Histories of geographical and environmental thought

For more information please follow the following links for the cultural and historical geography research theme.

The deadline for M3C funding applications is 16 January 2017, by which time students must have applied for a place to study and have ensured that two academic references are submitted to the home university on the correct M3C form.

For full details of eligibility, funding, proposal-writing workshops and research supervision areas (including use of the supervision search tool) please visit www.midlands3cities.ac.uk or contact enquiries@midlands3cities.ac.uk

Please contact Dr Adam Algar at Adam.Algar@nottingham.ac.uk if you have any questions related to doctoral study in geography at the University of Nottingham.

Engaging in Qualitative Methods Postgraduate Workshop: Friday 22nd April at the RGS in London

The Social and Cultural Geography research group, GFGRG and GLTRG research groups are sponsoring a session at the Royal Geographical Society on Friday 22nd April 10am – 4.30pm. The session is titled ‘Engaging in Qualitative Methods Postgraduate Workshop’ which will be held at the RGS building in Central London, SW7 2AR.

Need some help working out your methodology? Want to learn more about the Royal Geographical Society and it’s research groups? Or just want to meet some other doctoral students and chat through your ideas? This workshop is designed to help those students at the beginning of their PhD or MA journeys to think critically about their methods and methodology and offer a space to meet and chat with other students in an informal atmosphere in the beautiful RGS building in central London.

Sessions:

  • Introduction to methodology & methods
  • Key Note Speaker – Dr Erin Sanders-McDonagh, Middlesex University. Erin is committed to research that has an impact and she has experience using a multitude of methods in extremely diverse contexts.
  • Innovative research methods & methodologies; visual, participatory, feminist approaches. This will be run as an active participatory session, encouraging students in thinking about the methods that they might use, but also to innovate and make them effective for the often unique situations encountered in ‘real life’ research.
  • Be Critical!- Round table exercise designed to get participants to be critical of the research methods that they use and the implications they have on themselves and their participants. When Methods Go Wrong – a session to explore flexibility, lone research safety and to pull from the organisers own experiences to share “lessons learnt”.

Travel Grants Available. Contact Eve at ab7996@coventry.ac.uk for more information.

You can find out more information about tickets by clicking here.