North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership
My experience at the Collaborative Writing Hub
Daniela Fazio Vargas, Sociology, University of Manchester (2021 Cohort)
Writing can be frightening. We all know the cliché of the “blank page” and how much anxiety it creates to “make sense of things” with words – especially during the PhD when we are constantly expected to write, organise and analyse different sources of information. I have been feeling this anxiety even stronger ever since I started my third year. Being aware that the “end” is approaching and that I would need to put all my chapters together has haunted me these past few months. For that reason, when I saw the possibility of joining the collaborative writing hubs, I did not doubt for a second! That is why I decided to join the first writing retreat organised by the NWSSDTP in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University, which took place on the 20th of October.
Read More‘Collaborative Doctoral Writing Hubs’: Writing Retreats for Doctoral Students
Mya Kirkwood, Business and Management, University of Liverpool (2023 Cohort)
It’s rare to go to a writing retreat and actually enjoy yourself – but the collaborative writing retreat between the NWSSDTP and Liverpool John Moores University was a fantastic experience which did just that!
Read MoreFeminist Inquiry: BSA Regional Postgraduate Event, 10th October 2023
Adele Moore, SSSTM, University of Liverpool (2020 Cohort)
On Tuesday 10th of October, one of our student reps, Adele Moore, co-hosted an event called ‘Feminist Inquiry with her colleague, Lara MacLachlan. The event was funded through the British Sociological Association’s Regional Postgraduate Award, and the SLSJ Research Cluster, ‘Publics and Practices’.
This symposium sought to highlight the value and importance of feminist thinking to the field of sociology. Organised by and for PGRs, we managed to bring together UK-based PGRs involved in or who are interested in feminist perspectives.
Read MoreThe amazing opportunity of going to and presenting at multiple conferences
Brandon O’Hanlon, Psychology, Lancaster University (2020 Cohort)
I recently had the amazing opportunity of going to and presenting at multiple conferences before the start of the new academic term – it’s been a great Summer of Science with our lab, the NoSA group! The first stop was my first international conference and my first trip to Scandinavia: The International Symposium of Auditory and Audiological Research (ISAAR) conference in Nyborg, Denmark. This was a wonderful (and very intense!) conference for hearing science, involving work about hearing aids and hearing loss, new techniques for improving hearing quality in older adults, and plenty of biological and neuroscientific accounts of how we might improve our perception of speech in difficult listening conditions. As my PhD is looking at using different senses, like sight and touch, to improve speech perception in noisy environments, the conference was the perfect fit for me! I took a lot from the work shared that has been beneficial for my own research outlooks, and I have been inspired more so to get stuck in with further research projects already! The venue itself was also great: by the beach on one of Denmark’s many islands, with incredible food. I’ll definitely look to go again in the future.
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North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership 