The 2009 Plymouth Postgraduate Symposium
Every year the Plymouth Postgraduate Symposium grows in size and remit, and this year was no exception. For the first time ever postgraduate students from institutions across the UK were invited to travel down to Plymouth and present their ideas. Lancaster, Coventry and Cardiff are but a few of the universities participants travelled from and we were overjoyed that we had clearly managed to bridge the geographical gap between researchers.
As well as the papers we had a live web-link with James Parsons, a postgraduate working in Canada researching into the Canadian ice-breaking fleet. James was not only able to present his own research, but also to participate in live discussion throughout the day.
Keynote speeches from academics on surviving the PhD and talks on skills and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships were also part of the programme, and it was great to see so many postgraduates turn up to benefit from these sessions.
Of course, one of the major benefits of presenting at the Plymouth Postgraduate Symposium is the fact that your paper will get published, and now the event is over there is still a significant amount of work to do. However, the success of the event and the enjoyment people experienced participating makes it worthwhile and we anticipate publishing the complete proceedings in late November 2008.
Luke Sloan
'Associate Lecturer in Politics'"The 2008 Plymouth Postgraduate Symposium took place on 2nd May. We would like to thank all of the presenters and delegates for making that event so interesting and stimulating. Thank you for your positive feedback and see you next year".
2008 PPGS CommitteeYou are welcome to view the report about our symposium on the Plymouth University website (which includes some of the pictures from opening and presentations):
http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/pages/view.asp?page=22831
The 2007 Postgraduate Symposium
- 2007 Proceedings
- 2007 programme and abstracts
The second Faculty of Social Science and Business Postgraduate Symposium took place on the 2nd and 3rd of March 2007. A varied and interesting programme enlightened and entertained the Research community in the Faculty. With subjects as varied as ‘Sex, Drugs & Rock & Roll – top tips on how to pursue these (or any other) research interests’ through to ‘Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights and Indian Pharmaceutical Industry’ there was something for everyone.
“Opening the event was our Dean, Dr. Joan Chandler, who gracefully gave us some insights into how ‘not’ to antagonise the viva examiner. By contending that -‘yes, I’ve already stated that on page 238, paragraph 4, line 27. Didn’t you see it?’ is perhaps not the best way to get brownie points!
Dr. Rachel Torr was next up. She gave us a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ look at how to manage you PhD supervisor……. especially if their indulgencies are caught on camera!
Following on, was Dr. Nick Johns with his witty and spontaneous talk on ‘surviving the viva – Preparation and techniques that aid the experience’. Although we were not entirely convinced of his conviction to his presentation, he did enlighten us with his personal account of the week before his viva, at least what he could remember of it! To conclude he advises us to ‘be afraid, be very afraid’. Thanks Nick. Sounds like good advice!
To conclude the introductory talks was Dr. Adrian Barton. Typically, from criminal Justice, Adrian wanted to know what the remaining doctorates who didn’t work in HE or private industry did for a living. Answers on a postcard please - to Dr. Adrian Barton, FOSSAB.
Enter the postgraduate team of presenters, all 23 of them. Coming from various backgrounds and specialities, they all gave a splendid performance. Nervous, they may have been and awkward they may have felt, but they each gave everything they had to great effect.
At the end of the two day event, we were all tired but invigorated and enthused by the dissemination of research that had occurred.
Dr. Phil Megicks drew the symposium to an end by congratulating the presenters on a job well done, although none of this would have happened without him. Throughout the organisation Phil had been pestered by committee for cash and he frequently pledged to pay all prior approvals only after adequate quantities of superior grovelling!
Professor Mick Fuller closed the event by extending his usual warmth and style with a spontaneous, off the cuff, talk on the benefits of disseminating our research to the scientific community locally, nationally and if the urge takes you, internationally as well. He assured us that giving such presentations get easier with practice (how could we doubt such words coming from someone with such a relaxed aura?) especially if there is a prize or two up for grabs!!”
Attendees seemed to find the event fulfilled all of the needs a Postgraduate research student could want – comments included the following observations:
Every aspect was excellent! - Sarah Tuck
Congratulations to you and your team for the wonderful symposium. It was fun.....
1. Good venue
2. Great food and drinks
3. Nice variety of presentations
4. Good organisation
5. Good literature and orange gifts! My children liked those!
6. Good facilitators.
7. Interesting guest speakers
8. Can we have three additional guest speakers for next year in addition to those like this year. They were very interesting. The three additional could be at the start, middle and completion of their research!
9. Good to have both days and the times were also good. Please keep both days on the schedule for next year.
10. And hey you guys, please can you present next year. It would be great to hear your subjects. If available, please can the same team arrange next year’s symposium? I like people who stay active late at night and e-mail during the vampire hours! - Mark Harron
A very enjoyable and well run symposium! I was particularly impressed by the organisation and the support from the different organisers both in terms of submitting the work and in encouragement for the presentation. I thought the sessions were all useful and I found it interesting to see how those in other schools use similar methods to achieve different aims - Susie Darlow
I felt the event was very positive. The topics covered a wide array of subject matter which were all very interesting. I particularly liked the idea of Masters level students giving presentations - perhaps that is an area that could be further encouraged. On a personal note the preparation for the event clarified issues in other chapters of my PhD that I had not to date properly formulated or articulated, that has been of enormous benefit - Theresa Waight
All I can say is THANK YOU!
Thanks to you and to everyone involved in the day (including the wonderful caterers!). The day was very enjoyable (especially after I had delivered my presentation and could relax). The organisation was superb – everything just seemed to happen – a clear sign that there had been an enormous amount of hard work behind the scenes. Nothing negative to feed back. Well done to the whole team, and thanks again for a smashing Symposium - Claire Kelly
I really enjoyed the whole experience and it was so good to meet and chat with fellow students and share our research experiences. This proved vital - especially as I am studying from a distance which can be a very isolated experience at times. Many, many thanks to everyone for a very well organised event - Alice Chanter
Thanks for organising the event; I think it is very useful for all of us to know what the fellow PhD-students do. The overall quality of both the research and the presentations itself was quite good, I thought. I have been to international conference with much worse presentations - Veit Bachmann
Review by Mel Wright
The 2006 Postgraduate Symposium