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Doctoral College Newsletter - 24 June 2024
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Statement on the use of Generative AI
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Review your new staff profile
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Colleagues and postgraduate researchers are asked to log onto Symplectic Elements and review their profile in the new system.
We encourage you to set time aside to review and update your new profile before Tuesday 17 September, when profiles will go live externally. Guidance, including tips on writing your profile, is available on the Profiles SharePoint site, and an ‘essential checklist’ review should take 30 minutes.
Both bookable and drop-in training sessions are now available and start from this week across all campuses. At certain sessions there will be the opportunity for you to obtain a new professional headshot to use on your staff profile. Workshops are also available on communicating your research via the media, navigating social media as an academic, and optimising your online presence.
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Cornwall Doctoral Training School 2024: Communication & Dissemination
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Developed specifically for postgraduate researchers (PGRs) at the Cornwall campus at the University of Exeter, this 2-day training school will cover critical topics like:
- Drafting impactful conference abstracts
- Writing and delivering engaging conference presentations
- Leveraging social media and blogging to share your work
- Preparing for academic job interviews and presentations
Attending both days will allow you to fully immerse yourself in the material and get the most comprehensive learning experience. You'll have the opportunity to practice these skills through interactive group exercises and receive valuable peer feedback, as well as feedback from senior academic staff and Researcher Development. This is also a chance to meet up outside of campus and network with PGRs from across the university's three faculties.
Dates: Wednesday 10 July- Thursday 11 July
Time: 10:00 - 17:00
Location: Princess Pavilion, Falmouth
The training, transport, and meals are all provided free of charge. Your feedback from participation in this training school will also help us develop plans for future Cornwall-specific postgraduate training provision.
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Research Showcase Poster Competition- Our Winners!
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We had a great number of entries for our Research Showcase poster competition, capturing the attention of people passing through the Forum between Monday 10-Thursday 13 June. The winners are...
STEMM Category
1st Place: Jessica Rudd with 'Opportunistic fine-scale tracking of a large marine mammal following predation event of an Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in the Northeastern Atlantic'
2nd Place: Annabel Ditton with 'Using creative methods to the technology experiences of people living with dementia'
3rd Place: Ghalia Abel with 'Lidocaine use in large pelagic fish research'
HASS Category
1st Place: Hannah Mortimer with 'What role do feeding and caring play in "good farming" on regenerative farms?'
2nd Place: Fay Kahane with 'What is sustainable beekeeping?'
3rd Place: Chloë Edwards with 'Listen Without Prejudice: Queer Masculinities in the Popular Music Cultures of Thatcher's Britain'
See these posters on our webpage, or if you're based in Cornwall, pop to Social Street, Exchange Building, Penryn Campus between Monday 1- Friday 5 July and check out the Research Showcase Poster display.
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Research Showcase Three Minute Thesis Competition- Our Winners!
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Thank you to everyone who joined us to watch the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition on Friday 14 June, which was an excellent finale to Research Showcase week. We saw an eclectic mix of topics so well done to all presenters who bravely took on the challenge!
Our winners are:
1st place - Felix Sadebeck with Cowtious Livestock Management: Towards a Better Tomorrow Through Roman Cattle Remains
2nd place – Luke Weymouth with Epigenetics of Alzheimer’s disease: Longer reads, better data!
3rd place - Prashanth Saseedharan with Intervertebral disc on a chip
Joint People's Choice Award: Felix Sadebeck with Cowtious Livestock Management: Towards a Better Tomorrow Through Roman Cattle Remains and Lyndsey Carmichael with The Experiences of International Postgraduate Students in Distance Higher Education
Felix will be entered for the Vitae 3MT Competition and we wish him best of luck!
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Clay Workshop at Penryn- Wednesday 26 June
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As part of Postgraduate Peer Group (PGPG), PGR Tasha Hammond has organised a series of wellbeing workshops. The next one is Clay Workshop with Eloise Rose Design, which is taking place on Wednesday 26 June, 14.00-15.30 in Stella Turk Collaboratory. In this fun messy workshop you will use clay to make and decorate your very own trinket dish.
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PGR Headshots Penryn- Tuesday 2 July
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Venue: Seminar room 1&2 in the Masters Suite (DDM), Penryn Campus.
Date: Tuesday 2 July
We have 15 mins slots available between 10:15 - 13:30 for you to sign up for PGR Headshots in Penryn. Please note registration is mandatory and only one session is available for booking per student.
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Training Workshops for Neurodivergent Researchers
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This series of three workshops aims to support neurodivergent researchers in navigating the unique challenges they face during the final stages of their research degree and in transitioning to the next phase of their careers. Participants will have the opportunity to share their experiences, learn from a lived-experience advocate, and develop practical strategies for maintaining their well-being, effectively communicating their research, and exploring alternative career paths. We would like to create a space for sharing advice to help our neurodivergent PGRs to manage and develop their research, work with their supervisors, and engage the research communities and opportunities available during their degrees.
The workshops are:
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Being a Neurodivergent Researcher: How to keep sane in the final months (Wednesday 3 July, 12.30-15.45, in person in Old Library Training Room 4, Old Library, Streatham Campus)
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Being a Neurodivergent Researcher: Communicating your fascination (Wednesday 10 July, 12.30-15.45, in person in Old Library Training Room 4, Old Library, Streatham Campus)
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Being a Neurodivergent Researcher: Blank space, or, the future beyond the MRes/PhD (Wednesday 17 July, 12.30-15.45, in person in Old Library Training Room 4, Old Library, Streatham Campus)
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University of Exeter Research Ethics Showcase- July to September 2024
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The Research Ethics Association is delighted to partner with the University of Exeter to host a fantastic event celebrating the vital contributions of staff and students in the realm of research ethics. This showcase, generously funded by the University of Exeter and Research England, aims to spotlight the innovative and informative approaches of ethics across all disciplines.
Running from July to September, this showcase aspires to showcase interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration, highlighting the importance of ethical considerations in research. All University of Exeter staff and students will have the opportunity to engage in a variety of activities, including workshops, panel discussions, and partake in creating a poster gallery, all designed to facilitate knowledge sharing and inspire best practices in research ethics.
If you have any queries, please email info@ethics-association.org.
This event has been funded by the University of Exeter, Research England and the Research Ethics Association.
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Santander Universities Research Awards- Deadline Thursday 11 July
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Santander Universities are giving away 50 research awards of £1,000 to postgraduate university students and staff.
• This opportunity is open to academic staff and postgraduate students (Masters, PG taught or research, PhD) conducting any form of research at any UK university. You do not need to be Santander customers to apply.
• You must be conducting research during the 2023/2024 or the 2024/2025 academic year.
• The funding is given as cash and can be spent on anything that supports the winner’s research, including equipment, resources, travel expenses and any other research costs.
• The 50 awards will be allocated on a random basis.
• Applications are open from Monday 20 May to Thursday 11 July 2024.
• To apply, applicants must visit the Santander Open Academy platform, where you'll need to register for an account (if you don’t already have one). Once you’ve verified the account, you can then complete the application form to apply for the award.
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Join fellow PGRs in this online space, led by PGRs for PGRs to focus individually on whatever tasks you would like to work on. You can join the PGR Study Space Microsoft Teams Group here, or for further information, please contact Jo Sutherst.
The PGR Study Space core facilitated hours are:
Monday 10:00am-12:00pm
Wednesday 10:00am-12:00pm
Friday 10:00am-12:00pm
There are unfacilitated sessions outside of these hours so you can fit it around your working patterns.
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1-2-1 career appointments available
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1-2-1 careers appointments with our dedicated PGR careers coach, Kenneth Howgill, are available to book on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Kenneth is a qualified and experienced career coach, lecturer and learning and development professional with over 20 years’ experience within the corporate sector, universities, further and adult education. He has held management roles in the public, corporate and not for profit sectors, leading professional development, coaching programmes, and recruiting graduates. Kenneth is a member of the
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is a member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council and holds a business degree, a master's in music and a professional career coaching qualification.
All appointments are 50 minutes long. Please contact researcherdevelopment@exeter.ac.uk if there are any technical difficulties.
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Wellbeing Support and Sessions
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Every Mind Matters
Having good mental health helps us relax more, achieve more and enjoy our lives more. The NHS have expert advice and practical tips to help you look after your mental health and wellbeing. See their website here.
Spectrum.Life
Sprectrum.Life provides a confidential telephone, video, and live chat counselling service to help with stress, anxiety, depression, relationship issues, bereavement and more.
Wellbeing Centre
If you would like to speak to PGR Education Welfare Team for Welfare, they can be contacted at welfare.pgr@exeter.ac.uk or tel: 01392 726207. Further wellbeing information, tools and support can be found on our wellbeing webpages.
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Foundations of Meditation: Sign up now
In this 5-week course you will be introduced to the foundational principles of meditation practice, sowing seeds that can ripen into greater ease, happiness and appreciation in your life.
First session: Tuesday 4 June
Final session: Tuesday 2 July
Time: 11:00
Venue: Sports Centre studio, Penryn Campus
Cost: £5
All proceeds will be donated to Ravenswell wildlife charity 🦉
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New Group: Writing for Wellbeing
Writing for Wellbeing, funded by Wellness Creation Project, is a space for students to either bring their own creative writing projects, or be guided through journalling, etc. It's open to all registered students including INTO, those with first languages other than English, any and all experience of writing creatively.
Sessions are in-person, every Tuesday at 12.00-14.00 in Queen's Building, and facilitated by Wellbeing Services staff.
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Nurture-U: Help with imposter syndrome and stress
The Nurture-U team are offering FREE resources and therapies to help with confidence, imposter syndrome, and stress while doing your PhD.
We have:
1. An online toolkit, to help you track your mood over time and manage your busy lives
2. An innovative app to build confidence,
3. Online therapy, with a therapist or self-guided, and
4. A resilience workbook, with support from a therapist.
All these options have been proven to work, we’re just researching who responds best to what type of support. You can hopefully improve your wellbeing, earn shopping vouchers, and help other students in the future by contributing to research!
Any questions, please email nurture-u@exeter.ac.uk. You can also follow us on Instagram.
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Free Mindfulness Sessions for Wellbeing
Mindfulness is a powerful practice of training our attention and an evidence-based way to tackle anxiety, stress and low mood. If you’re interested in exploring more, there is a variety of free internal options available for all colleagues.
Sessions from the internal Mood Disorders Centre mindfulness team include: an eight-week MBCT-L course (2hrs weekly), an eight-week ‘deeper mindfulness’ course for those who’ve completed the MBCT-L course and bespoke ‘healthy mind’ sessions for whole teams, which can be delivered in-person or online.
You may also be interested in trying mindful meditation in 30 min online sessions each Thursday lunchtime. This is a secular practice run by the Chaplaincy.
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Power Walk and Talk Group
Join a lunchtime group for a power walk- meet outside Washington Singer Labs, Streatham Campus.
When: 12.30 every Thursday
What: Brisk 20 mins power walk around the university grounds
Who: Open to all – students, staff and even their dogs!
Why: Get active, socialise, enjoy fresh air and natural beauty, improve PM productivity
This concept was selected by the Mental Health and Wellbeing Group to receive funding assistance from the Wellness Creation fund.
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Details on how you can contact the PGR support team, either via email, telephone or face to face via our hubs (located on all campuses) is available on our contact us webpage.
Remember you can come along and meet the team or to ask any enquiries you might have at either of our helpdesk hubs below at any of our campuses:
The Streatham PGR Hub is open from 10.00am – 3.00pm Monday to Friday. The Streatham Hub is situated in the Old Library Ground Floor next to the Quiet Study Space and Bill Douglas Centre.
The St Luke’s PGR Hub is open from 10.00am – 3.00pm Monday to Thursday. Students wishing to access the hub should go to the Info at St Luke’s desk and request PGR support. The PGR team will then be called to see you.
The Penryn PGR Support Office is open from 10.00am – 2.00pm Monday to Friday. It is based in the Postgraduate Suite in Daphne Du Maurier building 3 (next to the SU and opposite the Stannary).
For enquiries surrounding training and development, please contact the team on: ResearcherDevelopment@exeter.ac.uk
You can view previous versions of the newsletter here.
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