Over the past year, the ShowCASE team has been creating a network of CASE students across the DTP. Our monthly online seminars have seen presentations from students working with a variety of industry partners for PhD projects across a multitude of disciplines. We’ve heard talks from PhD students working with the police, Natural England, Haleon, and various brilliant small charities. In our most recent online seminar, Hannah Charles presented on her research working with a social housing partner and energy security in Manchester. You can sign up to upcoming seminars by following our twitter @ShowcasePhD, or by following our Eventbrite page.

As well as the online seminar series, we held our very first in-person social event at the University of Manchester in November 2023, kindly funded by the NWSSDTP. After an introductory networking lunch, and a showcasing of attendees academic poster contributions, we were treated to talks from key note speakers, Professor Catherine Durose and Dr Robyn Dowlen.

The first of the two key note speakers, Dr Robyn Dowlen, overviewed her PhD research which explored the musical experiences of people with dementia in collaboration with Manchester Camerata. This incredible, and at times challenging, project was a wonderful example of how insightful and meaningful collaborative research can be. You can learn more about Robyn’s work with Manchester Camerata here.

Next, Prof. Catherine Durose, who is also a co-director of the Heseltine Institute at the University of Liverpool, shared her vast experience working between academia and public policy. She spoke about her reflections on collaboratively working with different stakeholders, exploring themes of civic engagement, inclusion and diversity. After both Catherine and Robyn’s presentations we hosted reflective Q&A sessions, where we talked together about navigating ethics, managing researcher wellbeing, and working well with non-academic organisations when doing collaborative research.

We closed the event with a creative poster-making session which focused on the theme of ‘collaborative research’ led by Poppy Budworth. The poster-making was a great opportunity for our attendees to get to know each other, chat about their research and CASE partner organisations whilst making thoughtful posters about how PGRs can be collaborative in their research practices. The posters drew on both Catherine and Robyn’s presentations, as well as the attendees own experiences of doing a CASE studentship.

After the success of the first social event, we are planning to host another social in August 2024, so keep your eyes peeled for upcoming information on this event. In addition, we will continue to run our online seminars throughout 2024, which amplifies the work of a different CASE student each month. If you are a CASE student and you would like to get involved in the seminar series and/or or present your work please get in touch.

 You can email us at showcase.phd@gmail.com

Upcoming Seminars

March – Rita Netwon, Care and Repair England

April– Sneha Chotaliya, Haleon

May – Pamela Forster, Lancashire Archives