Postgraduate Research Conference 2010

This event gives PGR students the opportunity to gain invaluable experience for attending a conference and possibly giving a paper and answering questions.

Whilst the structure for the day and the procedures replicate those of a formal conference, the audience consists of your peers and friends. Some academics come along too.

The atmosphere is supportive and friendly. This is a genuinely non-threatening learning experience which will serve you well for the future. The day also has a strong social dimension with ample opportunity for conferees to network and chat over coffee and lunch.

Abstracts

View the 2010 Postgraduate Research Conference Abstracts (PDF).

Review of the Event by PhD Student Laura Davies

Once again, the annual ESSL Postgraduate Conference was hailed as a great success. A move to a new venue has enabled the conference to grow, with more papers presented and more delegates in attendance than in previous years. We were delighted also to welcome members of staff to the event and we thank them for their support.

The different schools across the faculty were well represented and the day provided stimulating presentations, discussion and the opportunity to meet and chat with our fellow postgraduates in other schools. This is such an important part of the conference: bringing us all together so that we can meet and chat with others who may have similar or complimentary research interests or simply to widen our social networks. A fine lunch and a wine reception afterwards helped to facilitate this!

Interdisciplinary theme

Our conference theme for 2010 was 'interdisciplinarity' and this produced a wonderful range of presentations on themes as diverse as Ugandan Disability law, masculinity and music, the politics of Nigerian oil resources and science education within the secondary curriculum to mention just a few (abstracts are available on this website).

In addition, we were delighted to be able to welcome Professor John Leach with his words on ‘research and impact’ and to close with a most interesting presentation from Dr Angharad Beckett of the School of Sociology and Social Policy detailing the findings of the DEEPS project in which the attitudes of children towards disability were explored. This rather sobering report really illuminated the need for, and value of, interdisciplinary information sharing and cooperation across research disciplines.

It is so important to say that this event is simply not possible without the hard work and dedication of postgraduates who organise the day or present papers, the staff of our graduate school who lend their time, expertise and support to make the day happen and, of course, the delegates who attend and contribute to the atmosphere of the event with insightful comments and questions. A huge thank you to you all and we hope to see you in 2011 for another successful ESSL conference.