North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership
Chairing the Lancaster Historical Postgraduate Conference
Anna Drury, Economic & Social History, Lancaster University (2023 Cohort)
Hello!
My name is Anna Drury. Since starting my PhD in October last year, I had the great privilege of acting as Chair of the Organising Committee for 2024’s Lancaster Historical Postgraduate Conference (LHPC), and I am very happy to report that LHPC 2024 was a roaring success!
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Paige Monaghan, Psychology, University of Liverpool (2021 Cohort)
I’ve never been to a writing retreat before. As a PhD student, it often seemed that every opportunity just wasn’t the “right place, right time.” Perhaps you’ve seen ads for the famous Gladstone’s writing retreat—it’s far away and pricey (and the Gladstone Writing Retreat is not covered by RTSG). So, it’s safe to say that the perfect opportunity hadn’t come along until last month.
Read MoreSocial History Conference in Durham University
Amy Stanning, Economic & Social History, Lancaster University (2021 Cohort) with Louise Bell from Leeds University
I have been a PGR rep on the SHS committee for a year now and this was my first conference as a rep.
Louise and I organised a welcome desk at the start of the conference and welcomed lots of lovely PGRs and shared all the wonderful things we had in store.
On the first night we organised a post-dinner quiz of five rounds in the bar at Collingwood College where we all stayed. The quiz was great fun and the winners enjoyed their chocolate!
On day two we organised a meet-up and lots of PGRs came along to discuss PGR life and how we as reps could support the PGR community – we got lots of great ideas!
My paper was also on day two and it was a big milestone for me as it was my first paper at a learned society conference, quite nerve-wracking but it seemed to go well!
I am grateful to the NWSSDTP for funding my place at the conference and enabling me to get involved!
Surviving my first conference presentation
Luke Parkinson, CSPSW, Lancaster University (2021 Cohort)
After speaking with other PhD students about our conference experiences, I decided to write this blog. Instead of writing about my research directly, I want to acknowledge and share the difficult experience of undertaking a professional activity for the first time through the everyday story of attending my first conference in September 2023. Anxiety around conference presenting is sometimes reduced to the idea of stage fright and public speaking. Although this resonated with me, several other challenges came before and during the conference. Conference presentations, at least for me, are not a straightforward and linear task, just as my research has so far proved not to be.
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North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership 