Contents:
- New LISS DTP Manager – Welcome Paula Clackson
- Training Update – Summer Courses
- LISS Student Led Activity Fund
- Workshop: Decolonising the Researcher
- Black Students Talk – KCLSU
- KCL Wellbeing Support and Events for PGR Students
- LISS Pathway 2 (Life Course, Psychology and Health): Guest Speaker Series (Open to all LISS students) and Journal Club
- ESRC Announcements and Events: Celebrating Impact Prize, CLOSER Webinar, Big Ideas Pipeline, Changing Research Practice project
Click to view the full LISS DTP Events Calendar
- Welcome to Paula Clackson, new LISS DTP Manager
Our new LISS DTP Manager (Paula Clackson) joined the team on Monday 29th March. Paula joins us from a background in managing DTP’s, having managed the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Safe and Trusted AI and also the MRC DTP at King’s. She has also managed several CASE grants across EPSRC, BBSRC, AHRC and NERC research council funding and managed key stakeholder relationships across education, industrial, charitable and government partnerships.
Paula will work closely with the DTP’s Directors and will lead the LISS DTP Administration Team. You can contact her directly on paula.clackson@kcl.ac.uk – she looks forward to getting to work with you all as she settles in!
- Training Update
From 12th April you can sign up for LISS DTP Core Methods Training taking place this Summer Term. Sign up on Skillsforge after viewing updated outlines on the LISS DTP Training Page. Most of our Summer Term courses meeting in May/June. This includes:
- LISS004 Introduction to Qualitative Research
- LISS005 Introduction to Quantitative Research
- LISS006 Introduction to Mixed Methods Research
From 19th April, you can start to sign up for Advanced Methods Training Courses. The LISS DTP website and Skillsforge will be updated over the next week with new course outlines and meeting dates. Our Summer Term programme continues to be hosted online and we hope to reintroduce in person courses and meetings this Autumn.
Have a suggestion for a LISS DTP course you would like offered? Submit a request using our Course Proposal Form.
Don’t forget you can also access a number of training courses through KCL’s Sage Campus subscription, LinkedIn Learning, the NCRM and more through the BPSN. Visit the Centre for Doctoral Studies website for a complete listing.
- LISS Student Led Activity Fund
The LISS DTP invites funding applications for student-led activities. Activities eligible for funding can include one-off events like a workshop or conference, recurring events like reading groups or seminar series, or involve the creation of resources such as web apps, handbooks, etc. We encourage innovative and imaginative proposals. We are very happy to receive applications to co-fund events with other DTPs or other organisations. We can consider applications for any value, but an ideal budget would be £3000 or less. Please see the Research and Event Funding page on the LISS DTP website for more details, including an application form.
If you wish to discuss any ideas before applying, please contact the Deputy Director for Training and Cohort Development (paul.copeland@kcl.ac.uk).
- Workshop: Decolonising the Researcher
Wed, 28 April 2021
09:30 – 13:00
Twitter: @DecolResearcher
A workshop on decolonisation and the research process, to share experiences and strategies on how to navigate positionality, ethics & power
About this Event
Decolonisation has become a ubiquitous term in recent years and is in danger of being co-opted, diluted, and rebranded by the very institutions in need of radical reform. We often hear that “it is necessary to decolonise our institutions” but in practice, how do we as a community of researchers and students integrate decolonial methodologies in a meaningful way? How can we implement change in our own research and practice going forward?
Join Dr Awino Okech (SOAS), Dr Eka Ikpe (King’s), Dr Ian Calliou (Coventry University) and Andrea Espinoza Carvajal (King’s) for a half-day workshop on what decolonisation can bring to the research process, sharing experiences and strategies on how they navigate issues such as positionality, ethics, power, and control. What are the methods they use to actively decolonise their work and the research field? The workshop structure will enable attendees to reflect on their own research projects with the aim to facilitate a space for progressive dialogue between academics and researchers, across career stages, on the practical ways in which we can engage with decolonising methodologies.
This event is hosted by King’s College London and is funded by LISS-DTP through the Student Led Activity Fund (SLAF) and supported by the Kings Decolonising working group and the LISS-DTP Pathway 11 ‘Global Order, Violence and Security’ .
- Black Students Talk (KCLSU Wellbeing)
Join the next virtual meeting on Microsoft Teams: Thursday, 22nd April 2021 from 3-5pm
Microsoft Teams Link (no registration required)
What is Black Students Talk (BST)?
Black Students Talk (BST)* is a peer support group that provides safe, supportive and therapeutic spaces for Black students to meet, share, learn, and manage our mental health & wellbeing at King’s College London. *BST is part of the national Black People Talk (BPT), an initiative founded by Yannick Yalipende and Nkasi Stoll that aims to support the mental health and wellbeing of the Black community in the UK.
Who is Black Students Talk (BST) for?
University students at King’s College London who identify as Black (African, Caribbean, Mixed with Black heritage).
Why does Black Students Talk exist (BST)?
As university students we experience complex academic, psychological, social, emotional and financial pressures. Black students face specific pressures that often affect our mental health and therefore, our university experience and outcome. We want to help make the lives of all Black students at King’s College London as happy, healthy and successful as possible.
What do Black Students Talk (BST) sessions offer?
- one-to-one/group discussions using culturally relevant/specific psychoeducation
- help accessing appropriate mental health services within the university and wider community
- a ‘home away from home’ to connect with other Black students
- visiting speakers from Black mental health organisations
- resources designed and delivered by trained facilitators
How do I attend the Black Students Talk (BST) sessions?
BST sessions are being held virtually on Microsoft Teams every other Thursday. No need to sign up in advance. Click here to read more on the KCLSU website.
Follow us on Twitter: @BPTwellbeing
- KCL Wellbeing Support and Events for PGR Students
Wellbeing Toolkit for PGR Students: This toolkit contains six modules organised into two themes: (A) self-care and management, and (B) working with others.
The Wellbeing Thesis: An online resource for postgraduate research students to support wellbeing, learning and research
KCL Counselling & Mental Health Support Service – online counselling offered, and out-of-hours counselling is now available
King’s College London Students’ Union (KCLSU) Wellbeing Resources
Tips on working from home and wellbeing: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/wellbeing/working-remotely/advice
- LISS Pathway 2 Guest Speaker Series and Upcoming Events
LISS DTP Pathway 2 Guest Speaker Series
Dr Mark Freestone – Making a Psychopath
Thu, 29 April 2021 3-4pm
Mark is a Reader in Mental Health at the Centre for Psychiatry, Queen Mary University of London and has worked in prisons and forensic mental health services for over 15 years. Following consulting on the hit series Killing Eve, Mark writes about the complex term “psychopath” in his book: “Making a Psychopath – My Journey into 7 Dangerous Minds”. Please join us for what will be a fascinating talk.
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The first LISS-DTP Pathway 2 Journal club has been scheduled for Tuesday 13th April at 12.00-13.00. Please use this Eventbrite link to see further details and to get tickets (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/journal-club-tickets-147131380921). Even though it’s organised by Pathway 2, any LISS-DTP student from any of the pathways can join if the paper is of interest
Questions about these events? Please contact LISS Pathway 2 Student Representatives.
- ESRC’s Celebrating Impact Prize now open
The ESRC is pleased to launch the 2021 Celebrating Impact Prize. This is an annual opportunity to recognise and reward ESRC-supported researchers who have created or enabled outstanding impact. The Prize is open to current and previous ESRC-supported researchers, including doctoral students, and there are five competition categories this year: Outstanding Business and Enterprise Impact; Outstanding Public Policy Impact; Outstanding Societal Impact; Outstanding International Impact and Outstanding Early Career Impact.
All finalists have a film professionally made about their work and impact, and winners are awarded £10,000 to spend on further knowledge exchange, public engagement or other impact related activities.
Key dates
- Applications open: 18 March 2021
- Applications close: 10 May 2021 at 16:00 UK Time
- Interviews for shortlisted candidates: 20 – 21 July 2021
- Awards ceremony: November 2021 (date TBC)
For further details, including application guidelines, please visit esrc.ukri.org/research/celebrating-impact-prize/. For any enquiries please contact impact@esrc.ukri.org. On Twitter please search for: #impactprize
Transition to new UKRI website
If you haven’t already, please do sign up at the following link for a chance to provide input into how our Doctoral Training Network information is reached and presented online. This is a part of bringing together ESRC and the other UKRI councils into one place online at the new UKRI website. We’re looking for you, your staff and students to input: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ukri-esrc-recruitment
Upcoming CLOSER webinar
Registration is now open for the second webinar in CLOSER’s series showcasing biomedically-focused longitudinal studies to social science researchers who may be otherwise unfamiliar with the study data, and what they can offer social science research. This hour-long session will focus on the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, which from 1991-92 recruited over 14,000 pregnant women whose lives, and the lives of their children, have been followed intensively over the last two decades, and Generation Scotland which looks at the health and wellbeing of volunteers and their families, from childhood to old age, living in Scotland.
When: Tuesday 13 April 2021, 12:00-13:00 BST
ESRC Big Ideas Pipeline – for circulation
ESRC has introduced a Big Ideas Pipeline to collect ambitious and transformational ideas from the social science community and beyond. Big ideas are those that aim to address a major challenge, infrastructural or capacity building need at scale. They are hard to achieve, require significant support to deliver and, if successful, will have significant impacts. Big ideas encourage interdisciplinary approaches (across but also beyond the social sciences) and international partnerships, and are expected to attract significant public, government, industry and/or third sector interest.
The Big Ideas Pipeline is designed to help shape future funding calls and we welcome submissions at any time individuals and groups from academia, industry and third sector bodies.
Please visit our website to find out more about the Big Ideas Pipeline.
Changing Research Practice: Providing useful evidence and communities for research methods during and after Covid-19
The Covid-19 pandemic necessitates that researchers think differently about how they undertake their research. This situation is not just a case of making adjustments to timelines or resource plans but presents fundamental methodological challenges for how the work is completed. As researchers start to experiment with new approaches, it is important the choices they make are informed by evidence and they have an awareness of the new methodological options that will have a lasting impact on approaches to research in the future.
To support social science researchers – including PhD students – through this period of methodological adjustment, ESRC funded the National Centre for Research Methods to undertake the Changing Research Practice project. Its aims were to synthesise the emerging evidence about methodological adaptations and engage researchers in knowledge exchange about methods in the pandemic. NCRM ran eight workshops with researchers, most of whom had been adapting methods in the pandemic. Participants were generous with their ideas and candid about their experiences. Additionally, the research team conducted a rapid evidence review of published literature and reviewed blogs, websites, Twitter discussions and other grey literature.
Resources produced include two project reports, wayfinder guides, reading and reference lists on particular issues and methods, and a series of videos. More information about the project can be found on NCRM’s blog