Postgraduate Conference 2021
Returned to its traditional late Spring/early Summer slot, the sixth Keele Postgraduate conference saw staff and students from across the University convening once more in the less traditional format of an online event.
The conference provides an opportunity to promote and celebrate the fantastic range and diversity of postgraduate work in the University in an accessible and inspiring way to an informed, but non-specialist audience, with a focus on effective and engaging communication.
As with last year’s conference, the event was a collaboration between the Keele Doctoral Academy (KDA) and the Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences, chaired throughout by Professor Alexandra Lamont, Director of the Keele Doctoral Academy and Professor of Music Psychology.
Students had the opportunity to present their research through the following competitions:
- Poster - showcasing research in a visually impactful way with an easy to read poster, accessible to a non-specialist audience with engaging language.
- Three Minute Thesis (3MT) - students present their work using one slide and in just 3 minutes.
- Advertise your Research – in memory of our colleague, Dr Rachel Green, a brand new competition challenging students to think creatively and advertise their research in a novel, non-traditional format.
- Open Research - recognising and rewarding postgraduate students who have made—or who demonstrate concrete plans to make—strong contributions to the principles of Open Research in their doctoral studies.
The online format proved incredibly popular again with over 150 registered to take part or attend. Embracing the interdisciplinary ethos that underpins the founding principles of the conference, there was strong representation from all three faculties, with 28 posters presented from across 11 schools. Each faculty had put forward 2 heat winners to take part in the prestigious Three Minute Thesis competition and the brand new Advertise your Research competition had attracted some diverse and exceptionally creative entries.
Click to view the Conference programme, book of abstracts, poster gallery and Advertise your Research Entries
Alongside the competitions there was an important panel session on 'the employment experiences of doctoral degree students', chaired by the KDA Director, Professor Alex Lamont. We were delighted to welcome
- Dr Kat Mycock – KPAC Post Doctorate Research Fellow, Keele University,
- Dr Harry Williams – Postdoctoral Researcher, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine
- Miss Kara Holloway – Student Mental Health Project Coordinator, Keele University.
We were also delighted to welcome Dr Jim Grange University Academic Lead for Research & Integrity Improvement to launch the Open Research Award. Jim gave a presentation on Open Research; explaining what it is, why students should engage with it, and 6 steps individuals can take to ease into employing Open Research in their work.
A series of break-out sessions were arranged and took place following the main conference programme. They featured:
- Job Applications, CVs and Interviews – Making a Good Impact hosted by Emma Colley
- Inside perspectives and tips for grant applications – Early Career/Post Doc. hosted by Dr James Cook
- Researcher conversations hosted by Professor Zoe Robinson
- Designs for opportunity: scoping potential postgraduate project funding hosted by Professor Deirdre McKay
- In the company of friends: research with external partners hosted by Ann Pittard
- Research journaling with Start to Success hosted by Toni Karic
Slides from those sessions are available here.
Pro Vice-Chancellor and ILAS Director Professor Jonathan Wastling announced the prize winners, commenting on the exceptionally high standard of entries, across all competitions.
Posters
The Judge’s Prizes for Posters were awarded as follows:
1st Annabel Polles, School of Humanties
The Magic of Motown and the Soul of Stax: Did African American Soul and Rhythm & Blues Music Influence the Black Freedom Struggle of the 1960s?
2nd Alana Wheat, School of Geology, Geography and the Environment
The Geographies of Climate and Ecological Emergencies – Sustainable communities and youth for nature’s recovery in Staffordshire
3rd Thomas Pattinson, School of Geology, Geography and the Environment
Comparing Plant and Invertebrate Diversity in Coppice and High Forest Habitats within a Historical Coppice in Shropshire
The People’s Prizes for Posters were awarded as follows:
1st Annabel Polles, School of Humanities
The Magic of Motown and the Soul of Stax: Did African American Soul and Rhythm & Blues Music Influence the Black Freedom Struggle of the 1960s?
2nd Susie Johns, School of Humanities
Fields, Fairs and Festivities: Telling the Time Before the Industrial Revolution
Thee minute thesis
The Judge’s Prizes for the Three Minute Thesis competition were awarded as follows:
1st Sara Barreto, School of Pharmacy and Bioengineering
The Scent of Stem Cells
Sara will go forward to compete against the 2020 Three Minute Thesis winner, Amy Worrall at the KPA Bob Beattie Postgraduate Student Recognition Awards evening on 16 June. You can view Amy’s presentation from the 2020 conference here.
Joint 2nd Valentyna Slyusarchuk, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences
Design & Synthesis of Water-Stable Metal-Organic Frameworks for CO2 Capture
Joint 2nd Sara Elsayad, School of Social Sciences
Sustainable Integration: an ethnographic study of a British Muslim community in Birmingham
The People’s Prizes for the Three Minute Thesis competition were awarded as follows:
1st Valentyna Slyusarchuk, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences
Design & Synthesis of Water-Stable Metal-Organic Frameworks for CO2 Capture
2nd Nikki Miller, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences
How can we measure accurate temperatures of stars?
Advertise your research
The Judge’s Prizes for the Advertise your Research competition were awarded as follows:
1st Alana Wheat, School of Geography, Geology and the Environment
The Geographies of Climate and Ecological Emergencies – Sustainable communities and youth for nature’s recovery in Staffordshire
2nd Larissa Rix, School of Pharmacy and Bioengineering
The Patellofemoral Joint of Despair
Open research award
Dr Jim Grange announced the joint winners were:
1st prize Iwan Dinnick, School of Psychology
Used multi-verse analysis
1st prize Stuart Moore, School of Psychology.
Collaborated on development of open-source software for fitting mathematical models of memory (with associated pre-print)