North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership

Making the most of training opportunities during a pandemic

Matina Shafti, Psychology, University of Manchester, 2019 Cohort

One of the most valuable aspects of doing a PhD is the wide range of skills you can build throughout your time as a student. This is especially made possible for NWSSDTP students who have access to the Research Training Support Grant (RTSG). You can apply to the RTSG to cover various costs relating to your research, such as attending conferences, purchasing books and training events. While the amount you can claim for some things is limited, there is funding available to cover the costs of training relevant to your research. This means that you can go to training events free of cost, as long as it is necessary for your PhD.

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Internship with the Department for Education

Andrew McKendrick, Economics, Lancaster University, 2017 Cohort

In September 2020 I started an internship at the Department for Education (DfE). Its in London, I was in Lancaster. Such is the deal with an internship taking place during in a major public health situation – interning from home.

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Starting an MA at Lancaster University – Pandemic Edition

Charlotte Evans, Economic and Social History, Lancaster University, 2020 Cohort

It was late September, the colours on the trees boasting their most beautiful shades of the year and I was packing up my car to move to Lancaster. It was getting dark as I navigated the town-centre’s one-way system and eventually, after a couple of wrong turns, I reached my new house. I remember being dropped off by my parents in Nottingham where I completed my undergraduate degree, and that same, overwhelming sense of unfamiliarity washed over me. I didn’t know where any of these streets led. I’d have to learn my way around a whole new place, a new university and a new department in the middle of a worldwide pandemic.

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Qualitative Research Symposium Workshops 2021

Olivia Fletcher, Geography and Environment, University of Liverpool, 2020 Cohort

On the 27th of January, I attended the workshop on Digital Methods as part of the Qualitative Research Symposium organised by the Centre for Qualitative Research at the University of Bath. The workshop was led by Dr Stephanie Merchant and the aim was to help researchers identify study contexts where technology would be useful for enhancing understanding, increase confidence in this method of data collection and inspire creativity and innovation.

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