Special Lecture: 13th March 2012, 5-6pm Lecture Theatre B, University Place.

Stephen Jones is a Welsh geneticist and was Head of the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. His studies are conducted in the Galton Laboratory. He is also a television presenter and a prize-winning author on the subject of biology, especially evolution. He is one of the contemporary popular writers on evolution. In 1996 his writing won him the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize “for his numerous, wide ranging contributions to the public understanding of science in areas such as human evolution and variation, race, sex, inherited disease and genetic manipulation through his many broadcasts on radio and television, his lectures, popular science books, and his regular science column in The Daily Telegraph and contributions to other newspaper media”.

Limited places available, book online at: www.ls.manchester.ac.uk/pgrslecture

Academic writing tutorial service

The University Language Centre offers international students a one-to-one tutorial service to support them in their written academic work.  This service is available during term-time throughout the academic session and is free of charge to students.

How does the academic writing tutorial service operate?

1. Submit a sample piece of your writing by email (see below).  This can be a recent piece of coursework or any other piece of your academic work in any stage of its preparation.  It must be no more than 1,500 words in length but if it is, please indicate clearly which portion you wish to have considered.

2. Please bear in mind that we require at least one week’s notice of each tutorial appointment so allow yourself plenty of time if you are working to a submission deadline.

3. You will receive an email offering you a choice of appointment times.  At this point, you will be asked for information about your academic career.  Your choice of appointment time will not be confirmed until we have received this information.

4. When an appointment time is agreed, you will receive confirmation by email.

5. If you find that you have to cancel your appointment, please let us know immediately so that the appointment slot can be allocated to another student.  Any failure to attend an appointment without informing us may result in your being denied a tutorial opportunity in the future.

Please note that this is not a proof-reading or correction service and that the University Language Centre does not provide such a service.

Where will I have my tutorial?

You have the option of being seen in Sackville Street Building or Samuel Alexander Building, whichever is most convenient for you.  You will be told where your tutor will meet you when your appointment is confirmed.

How do I book an appointment?

Submit your writing sample with your student ID number to Rachel Sinnott by email (Rachel.sinnott@manchester.ac.uk).  PLEASE QUOTE YOUR STUDENT ID NUMBER IN ALL CORRESPONDENCE.  Ring 0161 275 3426 if you need further information.

Introductory Courses

These require no prior knowledge other than how to use a modern PC.

• Introduction to UNIX Tue 7 Feb
• Introduction to Research Computing Thu 9 Feb (half day)
• Introduction to FORTRAN Wed 15 Feb
• Programming Techniques for Research Computing Thu 23 Feb
• Introduction to Scientific Visualization Thu 1 Mar

Intermediate Courses

These generally require some knowledge of FORTRAN or C, and UNIX or Linux.

• Parallel Computing using the Message Passing Interface MPI Wed 29 Feb
• High Throughput Computing using Condor Thu 8 Mar
• Shared Memory & Multicore Programming with OpenMP Tue 13 Mar
• Introduction to OpenCL Tue 27 Mar
• Introduction to Avizo Tue 3 Apr

For more information on course contents and how to apply, please visit the course web site:

http://www.rcs.manchester.ac.uk/courses

This workshop will explore and share experiences of communicating Arts and Humanities research to different audiences, including outreach and community projects, and to younger participants.  With tips on how to communicate complex ideas and research, as well as practical ways of making research topics more engaging, the workshop includes speakers from an arts and humanities background at a variety of university career-stages (from professorial to current PhD researchers).  All are welcome, whether you are new to communicating your research or have experiences to share. The workshop is free of charge, however booking is essential as places are limited. To reserve a place, please email Karina.croucher@manchester.ac.uk with your name and contact details, subject area, level of study and any needs and requirements.

This toolkit shares insights from the ESRC ‘Representing Self – Representing Ageing’ project which used a variety of visual participatory methods: art therapy; photo therapy and community arts to research women’s experiences of ageing. Realities toolkits are no-nonsense documents about the practical side of doing social research.

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/morgancentre/realities/toolkits/participatory-visual/

Realities toolkit 16: Using self-interviews (Nicola Allett, Emily Keightley and Michael Pickering)

This toolkit describes the use of self-interviewing as one of the research methods used in the “Media of Remembering” project. The method involved participants using a small digital audio recorder to talk in their own time about their lives. The research team developed this method to give participants more opportunity to pause and reflect on the research topic, which in turn produced rich, useful data.

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/morgancentre/realities/toolkits/self-interviews/

November 8, 2011, 3-5pm, University Place 5.210.

The Research Institute for Cosmopolitan Cultures is organising a seminar to discuss the recent riots in cities in the UK. Members from RICC will give introductions to a series of short readings by academics, journalists and bloggers, and a general discussion will follow. Please join us to discuss the varied responses to the riots from the UK and abroad, and to examine what can be gained from putting these perspectives in dialogue. Readings can be found on the RICC website and pasted below. Please read ahead of time if possible.

Please RSVP to caitriona.devery@manchester.ac.uk

Readings:

• Patrick O’Shea will introduce Sivamohan Valluvan’s “Behind the Manchester riots: ‘they are saying we have nothing‘”
• Sivamohan Valluvan will introduce David Harvey’s “Feral Capitalism Hits the Streets“
• Felicia Chan will introduce Paul Gilroy’s “Paul Gilroy Speaks on the Riots“
• Jackie Stacey will introduce Slavoj Zizek’s “Shoplifters of the World Unite“
• Rachel Wilde will introduce Matt Wilde’s “On the Riots and the Need for a New Commons“
• Atreyee Sen will introduce Rudrangshu Mukherjee’s “Beyond the Pale: The Violence in England Could Have Stemmed from Despair“
• Madeleine Reeves will introduce Laurie Penny’s “Panic on the Streets of London“

An online training course to help disseminate good practice in research data management developed at the University of Edinburgh is now free to use by PhD students, early career researchers and digital data users at all UK universities.

The non-credit, free online course has interactive units focused on key concepts of data management including video clips of senior academics talking about data management challenges.

There are also practical exercises in handling data in four software packages widely used by researchers in different fields, which learners can download and work through at their own pace.

Access the course and tweak it to your requirements <http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra>

Simon Hodson, programme manager at JISC, the technology consortium for UK further and higher education, said: “When we listened to the delegates at our recent conference on data management, it was obvious that many universities feel the need to embed good practice much earlier in the careers of their researchers than they do currently.  The fact that this course is available through an open license for repurposing and rebranding will help other universities benefit from the good work that Edinburgh has already done.”

The Data Library team at EDINA, a JISC-funded UK national academic data centre based at the University of Edinburgh, produced the materials over the course of the past year as part of the JISC Managing Research Data programme.

The team chose to deliver the course online so that learners could engage with it in their own time. This means it has the potential to reach a wider community, by releasing it as an open educational resource.

Robin Rice, data librarian at the University of Edinburgh and EDINA, said: “The online course supports statements about good practice in research data management with real life stories and scenarios. It is designed to be fun, relevant, useful, interactive and timely (FRUIT!) for those pursuing a research project. The accompanying software modules for data handling skills give a deeper grounding within particular analysis environments.”

They worked with the University of Edinburgh’s School of Social and Political Studies, the School of GeoSciences and the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology to target the resources towards their doctoral training programmes.

Negotiation is an important skill which you might use in a variety of situations in academia and industry. This workshop will give a short introduction to the topic followed by a lively practical session where you will have the chance to test your skills for yourself.

Any postgrad, postdoc or research staff are welcome to attend  Harold Hankins 10.05, Thursday 3rd November 2-4PM

To attend you must book as places are limited by emailing claire.gill@manchester.ac.uk

The screening of PhD Comics – The Movie has been scheduled for the afternoon of December 14 in University Place Lecture Theatre B between 15:30 and 17:30.  Please arrive from 15:30 for a 16:00 screening.  The movie itself is a little over an hour long.

The event has been set up on eProg is open to all researchers across the University and there are 600 places available.

Please click here for more information: http://tinyurl.com/6795vab; http://www.phdcomics.com/movie/index.php

1 November 2011

University of Chester (Warrington campus)

www.vitae.ac.uk/nwhub

The Vitae NW Hub is pleased to announce that a series of workshops especially for part-time researchers will run during the 2011/12 academic year. The first of these will be hosted by the University of Chester at the Warrington campus on 1 November 2011. Each workshop will follow the same format, with skills sessions changing at each of the different university locations. There is no charge to attend these workshops. For more details about this workshop, visit http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/56271-464201/Part-time-researcher-workshop.html To book your place, complete the online booking form found at www.vitae.ac.uk/nwhub. Places will be strictly limited to 35 participants per workshop. If you have any questions about this workshop, please contact nwhub@vitae.ac.uk.

Researcher development sessions covered in this part-time workshop:

• Academic writing styles
• Getting the best from a part-time supervisor

A typical programme for a day’s session:

09.30

Arrival and networking

10.00

Welcome

10:05

Part-time researcher success stories

10:15

Getting to know you & objective setting

10.40

The ethos and process of part time research

11.15

Break

11.30

Researcher Development session 1 – a nuts and bolts session

13.00

Lunch

13.40

Introduction to the afternoon

13.45

Researcher Development session 2 – a management and motivation session

15.15

Break

15.25

Objectives review

15.40

Action planning

15.50

Q&A

16.00

Close

Part-time researcher workshops in 2011/12:

1 November 2011, University of Chester (Warrington campus)

• researcher development sessions: Academic writing styles & Getting the best from a part-time supervisor

March 2012 (date tbc), Manchester

• researcher development sessions: Structuring your Thesis & Making progress: avoiding defeatism and self sabotage

25 May 2012, University of Cumbria

• researcher development sessions: Speed reading essentials & Realising your potential using the Researcher Development Framework

June 2012 (date tbc), Liverpool

researcher development sessions: to be confirmed (tbc)