Category Archives: Student Life

2019 Postgraduate Writing and Publishing Workshop, Prato Centre, Italy

Image

Reply

In the summer of 2019, Monash University will host a ‘Postgraduate Writing and Publishing Workshop’ at their Prato Centre in Italy. In previous years the main purpose of this workshop has been for postgraduate researchers to learn more about the writing and publishing process through workshop sessions, small-group discussions and individual support from an academic writing mentor.

Credit: www.monash.edu

Dr. Kate Gibson, who successfully completed her PhD in Sociology at Newcastle earlier this year, attended the Prato workshop while still a PhD student. She found the experience to be a very positive one, and has the following to say:

In my third year, when I was in the throes of writing up and grappling with my 1st empirical chapter, I went to Prato for the Writing and Publishing Workshop. The point of the trip was to learn about and practice skills for writing for publication. 

I actually wasn’t really ready to start thinking about publishing my data, so asides from putting together a hypothetical abstract, I spent most of my time redrafting my chapter with the support of an academic from Leicester University. She really did help me think about how it could be eventually turned in to an article. 

By day we oscillated between workshops and free writing time (which I spent sat at my laptop on the Terrace in the Italian sunshine) and by night we enjoyed lovely (and cheap) Italian food and wine. What could be better than working and socialising with a fantastic bunch of people, all travelling on the PhD journey? 

In fact, I am currently in the process of writing my first journal article, and have recently been prompted to dig out some of the notes I made on the trip, which have been very helpful. I am still benefitting from the experience!

If you are thinking about going – GO (I wish I could!).

The 2019 workshop will take place 10th-12th July (inclusive), and is aimed at PhD students well in to their second and third years of candidature so attendees can benefit the most from the workshop. Newcastle University’s School of Geography, Politics and Sociology is able to send three PhD students this year, and is accepting expressions of interest between now and 23rd November. Please contact gps.pgr@ncl.ac.uk for more information.

Making the most of ESRC: Collaborating with researchers in Brazil

Posted on by
Reply

Clare Vaughan is an ESRC-funded PhD student at Newcastle University. She is currently researching the experiences of young women at risk of homelessness in the north east. She recently travelled to Brazil to develop new research links with other academics in her field, and to disseminate her own research findings.  Here she writes about her experience, and encourages other students to pursue similar opportunities.

As an ESRC-funded PhD student, I was lucky enough to be awarded an Overseas Institutional Visit grant, taking me to Brazil in May of this year. The purpose of the grant is to:

  • undertake additional specialist research training not available on the UK
  • develop language skill
  • establish research links that will be beneficial to their current or future academic career
  • disseminate early research findings
  • attend and participate in seminars where directly relevant to their research

My visit to the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) allowed me to explore the latter three of the above points, working directly with gender and anthropology professor, Cynthia Sarti. I had reached out to Professor Sarti due to the close relationship between our research themes, and was excited at the prospect of developing the theoretical framing of violence within my own work.

I was invited to a number of events whilst at UNIFESP, and seeing the enthusiasm of students attending lectures up to 11pm gave me some food-for-thought! The highlight of my visit to UNIFESP was presenting to postgraduate gender studies students, delivering a presentation on the use of the visual method photovoice in research with young homeless women. Having an opportunity to present your work within an international context enables a totally different perspective on definitions and contexts that we often take for granted, and we had an excellent debate on the legal categorisation of ‘homelessness’ in the UK vs Brazil.

Part of my trip also included visiting Porto Alegre, to the very south of Brazil. Here, I spent time with gender scholar Dr Tatiana Maia from La Salle University and attended an incredibly interesting panel on the theoretical and social value of restorative justice (see pic below). My good friend and philosophy professor Fabricio conducted live translation so I was never left out of the loop!

From left to right: Fabricio Pontin, Brunilda Pali, João Pedroso

Completing an Overseas Institutional Visit to Brazil was, at times, a daunting experience. Arriving alone in a city of 12 million is not for the feint-hearted. However, the warmth of the people I met whilst there, the academic opportunities I was given and the sadness I felt boarding the plane home was testimony to the brilliant time that was had. I highly recommend applying for this scheme – you never know what connections and opportunities may come out as a result. And having a university-funded trip abroad wasn’t half bad either!