Networking and a’ that and a’ that at the 2013 iDocQ

By Calum Liddle, Doctoral Candidate, University of Strathclyde

Speed networking for doctoral candidates attending conference is a little like a modern dating exercise: there’s a little academic flirting, a bit of showmanship and polite, albeit very genuine, intrigue at another’s research. Eighteen students participated at this year’s annual Information Science Doctoral Colloquium (iDocQ) at Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University. That’s nine ‘dates’ a piece. The exercise successfully kicked off the day, breaking the ice - there was strangely a lack of it in the Granite City for a change - far quicker than any timid coffee session might achieve. Speed networking, while still a little novel, should not be mistaken for a corporate away day gimmick. It proved a quick way for delegates to be thrown into a space where invaluable contacts beyond the boundaries of their home institutions were secured.

Calum Liddle and Dr Annemaree Lloyd

 

 

Following the series of dates, the morning guest speaker, namely, Dr Annemaree Lloyd of Charles Sturt University, Australia, took to the stage. She first gave an overview of her recent research, then provided a ‘real world’ account of doing a PhD with hints and tips based on her experience as both a doctoral candidate and PhD supervisor. Dr Lloyd’s presentation was more than well received by delegates, especially those just starting out who are, after all, still novice navigators of the PhD/supervisor relationship.

Desert Island Discourse with Professor Graham Crow

The SGS's Director, Professor Graham Crow, was featured in the Summer 2013's issue of Network (from the British Sociological Association) in its Desert Island Discourse article. Here are extracts on three out of five of Professor Crow's book choices should he get stuck on a desert island... 

The Trumpet Shall Sound - Peter Worsley

It is a wonderful demonstration of how the world is open to apparently bizarre interpretations which make more sense as we learn more about them. It also illustrates how doctoral research has been the point of departure for many significant books in sociology. Two of Louise Ryan’s recent Desert Island Discourse choices came out of PhD theses: Erving Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life and Ann Oakley’s Housewife. Longer ago, so did Emile Durkheim’s The Division of Labour in Society.

In my new job as Director of the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science I like to emphasise to research students that a good thesis can be the start of a celebrated career. This was true for Goffman, who was associated as a PhD student with my new department at Edinburgh when he was doing fieldwork in the Shetland Islands. At about the same time Worsley was undertaking his PhD fieldwork on Groote Eylandt in northern Australia and noting things about social organisation that were relevant to themes expanded upon in The Trumpet Shall Sound. He later became President of the BSA and Head of the University of Manchester’s pathbreaking Sociology Department. His best-selling Introducing Sociology only just fitted into my school blazer pocket, but I carried it round with me until I had read it through to the end. Having been captivated by that book, I moved on to Worsley’s own research, reported on in his first book it its account of ‘cargo cults’ and the (to Western eyes) strange rationality of people encountering modernity who imagined that it was just a matter of time before their boat arrived, in the same way that they saw boats coming in to sustain the lives of colonial figures on their Melanesian islands. 

Decades later Worsley returned to these themes of ‘what different peoples make of the world’ in his 1997 book Knowledges in which he re-empahsised the point that we do well to employ a comparative perspective to understand ourselves and our assumptions about what we know or what we think we know.

Is there life after a PhD?

By Dr Edward Hall, Associate Director SGS-DTC

Clockwise from left: Andrew Lyon, Vikki McCall,
Richmond Davies, Graeme Roy,
Catherine Maclean, Mike Woolvin

When the end of the PhD is in sight – the final drafts of the chapters almost there, the external examiner chosen, the viva date set – there can be mixed emotions: joy and relief, of course, but also anxiety and fear for what lies ahead once the final copy is bound and the degree ceremony is over. Is there life after a PhD? Yes, you know a great deal about a very specific subject, and yes, you can now call yourself Dr., but… What can you do with this knowledge and the skills you have learned over the last 3 to 4 years? 

At an excellent session at the SGS Summer School, seven past PhD students who have gone into non-academic careers – an increasingly popular choice for research students – reflected on their own experiences of life after the PhD and how they have applied their skills to a wide range of employment opportunities: economic adviser to Scottish Government, campaigner on health and wellbeing, writer and actress, primary school (and now yoga) teacher, rural policy researcher, museum researcher and NHS data analyst.

Care: An interdisciplinary view on theory, research, policy and practice

By Professor Kirstein Rummery - Associate Director, SGS-DTC

Day 2 of the second week of the SGS Summer School. We’re going to try something a bit different, and take people out of their disciplinary comfort zones….we’re going to try and think about CARE in different ways. Hopefully it’ll be challenging, engaging, critical….The aim of this event was to bring together different disciplines, to gain new perspectives, and to come away with fresh insight in our research. 

We kicked off with a keynote address from Professor Marian Barnes from the University of Brighton, author of several key texts in this area including Care in Everyday Life: an ethic of care in practice. She talked about the challenges of doing CareFull research, of drawing on feminist and other thinkers, of thinking about ourselves and our approaches to care in our research. We then had presentations looking at care research in comparative social policy, from Kirstein Rummery, and using data sets to gain longitudinal perspectives on care from Janice McGhee.

After lunch came the really challenging part: several of us had volunteered ‘works in progress’ to be critically reviewed by senior, experienced researchers. These sessions were run according to Korpi’s rules, which are used by the International Sociological Association’s Research Committee on Poverty and Social Policy. Everyone has read the paper in question, and the author does not present it: instead the discussant presents a summary and a critique of it, you respond, and you then get critical feedback from the other participants. It’s quite different doing this from discussing your work with your supervisor, or even presenting your own work at a conference. People pick up on different things and have challenging perspectives that you might not even have considered – it can feel a bit bruising if it isn’t done ‘with care’!! Luckily the discussions, though challenging, were always thoughtful and supportive. Everyone came away with very useful ways to improve their ideas, research and writing.

Reflections on Day 1

By Dr Edward Hall, Associate Director, SGS-DTC

It's 6.30pm on Monday 17th June, and I am sitting at my laptop with a cup of tea in the centre of Edinburgh, reflecting on an amazing first day of the SGS Summer School 2013. Great sessions, good coffee, excellent conversation, a tasty lunch and a superb buzz of intellectual excitement! 

The four sessions I attended represented both the diversity of social science in Scotland - including 'methods and philosophical reflections in social work' and 'filmmaking and ethnography' - and its distinctive character - critical, engaged, and interdisciplinary. The summer school has an international flavour too - the social work session featured Walter Lorenz (Bolzano, Italy) and Alan Klima (Davis, California, USA) led the ethnographic film workshop - something that, we believe, is of huge benefit to the students attending.

So, a great start to what promises to be a fantastic and stimulating week. I'm off to the ceilidh now - should be fun!

Engaging in social media

By Dr Simon Burnett, Associate Director SGS-DTC

A key part of the work of many doctoral researchers in social science is engaging in different academics and practitioner communities. From an information science perspective (my own field of research), social media tools such as Facebook as Twitter provide invaluable opportunities to engage with these groups. However, given their variety and nature, the challenge is now not so much in finding or gaining access to these groups, and is more about how we engage with them in meaningful ways! For doctoral researchers, they can be excellent resources for peer review, specialist guidance (for example in relation to specific methodological approaches or tools), or even just a bit of good old fashioned camaraderie!

The Scottish Graduate School of Social Science is increasing its own social media presence, and our goal is to use these tools to help build our community of social science doctoral researchers across Scotland and beyond. We hope you'll find our social media offerings of interest, and help you to participate in our vibrant research community.

So, let's get tweeting and liking and sharing! 

The attractions of summer schools

By Professor Graham Crow, Director SGS-DTC

I'm watching with keen interest as the second summer school of the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science unfolds over the next two weeks. Building on the success of the 2012 summer school, the new Directorate team that I lead has been busy over many months to put everything in place. 

But what makes for a successful summer school? 

Professor Graham Crow - Director, SGS-DTC

In my experience, there are several 

elements. The first thing that's required is people who are in the right frame of mind to spark off each other - presenters with something to impart and an audience who are looking to be something other than passive recipients of those presentations. Secondly, there should be a framework for the event that allows for that interaction to flow. That includes sessions in the formal programme with a variety of formats and, just as importantly, times and spaces around those formal sessions in which people can bounce ideas off each other. The social events built into the programme are one aspect of this, but the networking in the breaks are another. This leads on to the third thing, which is a diverse gathering of people. Summer schools bring together individuals with a wide range of backgrounds and interests, and are a way of encouraging people to 'get out more', escaping from the disciplinary and methodological silos into which it's all too easy to fall. 

The most successful events that I've attended have been ones where unexpected as well as expected things happen, as people push themselves to try out new things and are open to sharing with others their experiences of doing research. Of course, the timing of summer schools aims to add a fourth element, that of warm and sunny weather, and for that we're keeping our fingers crossed, but we can give no guarantees. And should the sun not shine, we will of course go ahead, because it is the first three elements that are the crucial attractions.

I will look forward to meeting as many of the people at the summer school as I can, whether that be in a session, at a social event, or at any point between. I'll be disappointed if I don't pick up a sense of excitement about new horizons opening up as the months of preparation and anticipation turn into reality.