Postgrad Profile on

POSTGRAD PROFILE ON... The Postgraduate Society

Every issue, we’ll bring you an interview with a postgraduate student or member of staff so you can find out more about what your peers are up to. For our first Postgrad Profile, we’ve been catching up with two members of The Postgraduate Society team: Zoë Newth and Thomas Rolfe. They’re all about creating a supportive postgraduate community and they’d love you to get involved. We hope you enjoy getting to know them better!

Thomas Rolfe, Bath Spa PHD Candidate

WHAT COURSES DO YOU STUDY AND AT WHAT LEVEL?

ZOË: MA Heritage Management (full time)

THOMAS: I’m a PHD candidate in Museum and Heritage Management, studying in the Heritage Department. My supervisors are Dr Alison Hems and Dr Kristen Doern and my research title is: Community, representation, social cohesion, and museums: audience engagement in Bath, Bristol, and LA.

THE POSTGRADUATE SOCIETY IS STILL VERY NEW. WHAT WERE YOUR MOTIVATIONS FOR STARTING IT?

THOMAS: To create a more cohesive postgraduate community environment at Bath Spa University, and where there is a more active and shared research experience from a Masters level, all the way to the senior academic level (The Professors who teach at Bath Spa University).

ZOË: The whole committee are the postgraduate academic reps for 2020/2021. We all had the aim of decreasing the undergraduate and postgraduate gap and wanted to create a tighter knit postgraduate community.

WHAT ARE YOUR AIMS FOR THE POSTGRADUATE SOCIETY?

ZOË: Our aims for the society splits into two sections. The first is creating a fun social space for postgraduates to meet. We have scheduled regular socials and hope they become places for us to meet each other across a range of courses, which we felt was currently missing. The second is creating a research space for postgraduates. We currently felt there was no place for students to share their work and to hear current research that was going on at the university and beyond.

THOMAS: To create a lasting and memorable postgraduate experience for all students who study and work at the University. Also to build the reputation of Bath Spa and its unique and creative research disciplines, by sharing, collaborating, and creating engaging experiences for everyone within Bath Spa, but to people outside of it too.

HOW WILL YOU BE INVOLVED WITH THE ‘POSTGRAD POST’?

THOMAS: Highlighting the research and the researchers at Bath Spa University, giving them a platform and opportunity to showcase their research to the rest of the University. Inspiring those who wish to go into research, encouraging further collaboration between different research communities at Bath Spa University, whilst allowing for the further acknowledgement of Bath Spa researchers and the work that they do.

ZOË: We wanted to help with the creation of a postgraduate publication to ensure postgraduate students had their own dedicated space for news. We will be involved by helping encourage staff and students to contribute to the publication, whether that is sharing the news of your latest achievements or the interesting research you are conducting. We will also be sharing the upcoming Postgraduate Society events and news.

WHAT EVENTS DO YOU HOLD AS A SOCIETY AND HOW CAN OTHER STUDENTS GET INVOLVED?

ZOË: We host a range of socials. We run a monthly coffee morning that also doubles as a study morning. We also host many evening socials, such as a wine and cheese night, or murder mystery night. We also run competitions, such as the 3 minute thesis competition, and host lectures from guest speakers. Our first lecture series is covering COVID-19 and its impact across many subjects and sectors. You can get involved by checking out our Facebook or Instagram page where we post these events:

Facebook: BathSpaPostgradSoc

Instagram: bathspapostgradsoc

You can become a member, for free, by heading to www.bathspasu.co.uk/activities/view/postgradsoc and clicking ‘Join’! By doing this, you can also receive emails from us.

A massive thank you to Zoë and Thomas for being our first interviewees! Be sure to check out The Postgraduate Society through the links in the issue and stay in touch with your community. Fancy being interviewed for the next Postgrad Profile? Email us at studentcomms@bathspa.ac.uk