Graduate School News - Spring 2015

Loughborough University

Graduate School NEWSLETTER SPRING 2015

The Graduate School has had a number of recent changes, with some exciting developments planned for the future. This is the first of what we hope will be many newsletters keeping you up to date with the Graduate School’s work.

THE GRADUATE SCHOOL GETS A NEW HOME New for 2015/16: the Graduate School is thrilled to announce that from October 2015 we will have a new home – ‘Graduate House’.

FAREWELLS AND WELCOMES Last autumn we were sorry to say goodbye to both Dr Jill Thurman, who moved on to the University of Nottingham, and Dr Heather Dalgleish, who took early retirement. We wish Jill and Heather all the very best for their future endeavours.

We were delighted to welcome to the Graduate School team Dr Carina Hart (Administrative Officer, Research Student Office), Dr Katryna Kalawsky (Postgraduate Research Student Development Officer, Centre for Academic Practice), Dr Duncan Stanley (Research Staff and Student Development Adviser, Centre for Academic Practice), and Mrs Fan Cleverdon (Graduate Intern, Research Office).

Graduate House is located in the middle of campus not far from EHB.

Based in the Angela Marmont Building, in the middle of campus, Graduate House will be a completely refurbished, dedicated postgraduate facility including a spacious training room, a flexible study space, a communal kitchen and social space (both inside and outside the building). The building will be exclusive to postgraduate research and taught students and will be the hub of Graduate School activities. The redevelopment of this space entails a significant capital investment from the University, and to celebrate we will be holding a Graduate House-warming party in the autumn – expect more details over the summer.

@LboroGradSchool

The core team also includes Dr Brigette Vale (Senior Assistant Registrar), Dr Kathryn North (Researcher Development Manager), Prof. Andrew Dainty (Director, Graduate School), Mrs Zoe Chritchlow (Graduate School Assistant) Eve Uhlig (Careers Adviser Researchers, Careers and Employability Centre), and Martin Ashby (Web Development Officer, Academic Registry), and we are pleased to have close links with many colleagues across campus.

Some of the Graduate School team: Brigette, Kathryn, Andy, Zoe, Duncan, Katryna, Fan and Carina.

www.lboro.ac.uk/services/graduateschool

GRADUATE SCHOOL SUMMER SHOWCASE 17TH JUNE 2015 10AM – 1PM Incorporating the final of Loughborough’s first Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, a poster competition and student achievement awards, the Graduate School Summer Showcase is a celebration of doctoral research. It’s also an opportunity for postgraduates from across the University to come together, share ideas and talk about their research. Loughborough’s Three Minute Thesis winner will go through to the national Vitae Three Minute Thesis competition, as well as winning an iPad mini.

Could you communicate your research in three minutes?

Several students took on the challenge and the winners of each heat shared their experiences of presenting their research in three minutes, with one slide and no notes!

HEAT 1 WINNER PAUL BRACK, CHEMISTRY

“3MT was a really interesting experience. Normally when you communicate your research to your fellow researchers, you can use technical terms, but 3MT is a real challenge as you have to say it in three minutes, and make it understandable to anyone.”

HEAT 2 WINNER AMANDA BIGLER, ENGLISH, DRAMA AND PUBLISHING

“I did enjoy the 3MT; I haven’t done anything like that for years. I was scared, but I enjoyed it. I love the fact that there were people from all aspects of the university.”

HEAT 3 WINNER JOANNA TURNER, COMPUTER SCIENCE

“I entered the 3MT competition because it looked pretty fun. It was also a great opportunity to practice my presentation skills.”

RESEARCH CONFERENCE 2015 11TH NOVEMBER A date for your diary - the Research Conference is the biggest event of the year for the Graduate School, and this year’s format will mirror the previously successful format of plenary and breakout sessions including workshops and researcher talks, exhibitors, Poster Competition, and Photograph Competition with cash prizes. More details will follow closer to the event.

NEW PROGRAMME OF WORKSHOPS – FEEDBACK With the arrival of new team members, the Graduate School’s training programme is undergoing a refresh, and we’re pleased to say that postgraduate researchers seem to love it! Here is just a small selection of the feedback we have received:

“It was very informative, thank you!”

(Being effective as a researcher)

“I learnt lots of practical techniques to use in the future” (Being effective as a researcher)

“The pace and delivery was much better than previous courses. I took a lot away from this” (Tools for creative thinking).

“Everything was useful! And nicely explained, thank you so much!”

(Managing your research as a project)

We will continue to build in improvements to the programme, broadening the depth and variety of sessions. If you have any particular requests or suggestions please let us know by contacting pgrtraining@lboro.ac.uk You can view upcoming events on the Graduate School website; we’ve set up a calendar to make it easy for you to spot when events are taking place.

All researchers are welcome to book onto our sessions, however please make every effort to attend courses you are booked onto, or to cancel your place if you are not able to attend, so that other students don’t miss out.

ALTERNATIVE GUIDE TO POSTGRADUATE FUNDING The Graduate School has subscribed to the Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding Online. This means that students from all disciplines and nationalities can access a huge database of funding opportunities (e.g. fees, maintenance, and research costs), comprehensive guidance, and numerous tools to help prepare winning grant applications. For more information and to access the Alternative Guide, please visit the “Funding for current students” section of our website.

EVENTS CAFÉ ACADEMIQUE We are holding a special series of Café Academiques, with each event themed around one of the University’s six Research Challenges. The cafés give research students from a wide range of disciplines the opportunity to learn about research taking place at Loughborough in an informal and relaxed environment. The talks are intended to be accessible to non-specialists and the cafés, which run in the early evening with refreshments, are a great opportunity to meet and network with other research students.

What some of the attendees said:

“Excellent event – seemed to generate more interaction than previous Café Academiques”

STUDENT’S UNION RECOGNISES POSTGRADUATE RESEARCHERS AT AWARDS: On 8th May Loughborough Student’s Union held the Development Officers Do Awards. It was a fantastic evening of celebration and we were delighted that several postgraduate research students were rewarded for their contribution to enhancing the postgraduate research community. A huge congratulations to Andrew Rowe and Jordan Dawson for winning the ‘Postgraduate Champion Award’ for their work setting up the PhD Support Network (with Sammy Davis from LSU), and also to Sarah Brooke, the PGR President, who won the ‘Biggest Impact on Postgraduate Experience Award’. Thank you to the LSU Development Officers for inviting the Graduate School to this excellent event!

“Interesting and accessible talks” “I enjoyed the relaxed and informal atmosphere and the chance to discuss interesting topics with other students” “A very good evening. Full house, interesting talks, good discussion, food, wine, what’s not to be pleased about?”

Professor Kevin Lomas, Energy Research Challenge Leader.

THE GRADUATE SCHOOL WELCOMES INTERNATIONAL VISITORS The Graduate School welcomes 15 students from IIT Bombay, who are visiting Loughborough to undertake Summer Research Projects. The students were selected following a highly competitive selection process, and are based across six of our Schools. The students were welcomed by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof.

Bob Allison, and Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research, Prof. Steve Rothberg at an event on 8th May. A number of events are planned for the students, and they are invited to fully engage with Loughborough life during their visit.

We hope the students have an enjoyable and fruitful time at Loughborough.

PHD SUPPORT NETWORK

A full house at Café Academique: Energy

FUTURE CAFÉ ACADEMIQUE DATES 2 June 2015

Communication, Culture and Citizenship

23 June 2015

Enabling Technologies

A new, highly popular, PhD Support Network has recently been set up by two postgraduate research students: Jordan Dawson (Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences & Geography) and Andrew Rowe (Civil Building Engineering). In an informal setting, the network provides a weekly lunchtime drop-in for any postgraduate researcher to stop by, relax, have a chat, and meet others from across the University.

The network also enables postgraduates to share experiences about their doctoral study and acts as an intermediary support group where discussion with peers can take place around non-specific concerns.

For more information email phdpeersupportnetwork@lboro.ac.uk and follow on Twitter @lboroPhDSN

PhD SN

Loughborough University