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Festival of Doctoral Research 2022

Take a look back at the festival highlights from June 2022

The Festival returned with a mix of online and in person events, bringing together our doctoral community online to showcase and celebrate doctoral research at Sussex.

Taking place over five days (Monday 6 - Friday 10 June), there was ample opportunity across the week to learn, share, and connect with other doctoral researchers from across the University. 

Explore the full schedule of events and the images on Sway below.

Monday 6th June  

Excursions Journal vol.12: Online Launch Party (14.00 - 15.00, online)

• Excursions, the interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal run by doctoral researchers at Sussex, invite you to the launch of our twelfth issue on the theme of ‘Home’.
  
  Home has long carried connotations of safety, comfort, warmth and familiarity; a shelter from the confusion of the outside world, in which individuals can express themselves freely and in private. However, in an increasingly interconnected world, the term ‘home’ takes on new meanings. Mass migrations resulting from political turmoil shed light on issues of statelessness, national identity, forced relocation, longing/belonging, acculturation, and assimilation. Since the pandemic, home now incorporates work, schooling and healthcare, reflecting the interactions and intersections between the public and the private. 'Home' is a complex signifier, imbued with contradiction.
  
  Join us to hear about the latest issue, find out how you could get your research published, and discover how you could get involved and gain publishing/peer reviewing experience with Excursions next year.
  
  

Drop-in Careers Advice - Careers & Entrepreneurship (16.00 - 17.30, on campus)

• We are offering PHD researchers a one-to-one career session with a Career Consultant to help you make more informed choices about future career directions. The sessions are aimed at your agenda, with advice on career options, positioning yourself in the market, and identifying practical next steps.

Tuesday 7th June

Research with Impact Day: These events are organised by the Research Staff Office and Research Quality & Impact team. Visit the Research with Impact Day website for details.

Research with Impact Day: Research Showcase (9.30 - 16.30, Terrace Room in Bramber House)

• Dedicated to Sussex's Research Staff community, the Showcase event features marketplace-type ‘stalls’ at which researchers present their research and activities. Join them to find out more about their leading and innovative work, an opportunity to network amongst new and familiar colleagues, and to vote for the best stall (winner to be announced at the Awards Reception closing the event).

Research with Impact Day: Professional Services Drop-ins (10.00 - 12.00, Gallery Room 2 in Bramber House)

• Meet and find out about the work of our Professional Services teams supporting various aspects of research across the University, at a range of ‘drop-in’ tables. No need to book ahead – just turn up and have a chat, ask questions, get to know who’s who in the research support community, and how they might assist you in your research activities and career.

Research with Impact Day: Impact Question Time (12.00 - 13.00, Gallery Room 1 in Bramber House)

• What could you learn from your colleagues to help you progress along your impact journey? Hear from four Sussex researchers whose impacts were submitted to REF 2021, speaking about the various approaches, opportunities, challenges and successes they’ve experienced on their pathways to impact.
   

PhD Creative Outlets Craft and Chat (14.00 - 16.00, Meeting House Quiet Room)

• Please join us for our final PGR Creative Outlets of the year where we’ll be learning how to cross stitch! A PGR facilitator will be sharing designs and tips on how to get into this crafty and relaxing skill, and you’ll hopefully leave with the start of your very own cross stitch.
  
  Come along if you’d like to learn more, or feel free to pop in to socialise and do your own thing. All crafting supplies, food and drink provided.

Wednesday 8th June 

Panel Event - Thesis to Book: How to get published (10.30 - 12.00, Jubilee 144)

Dr Michael Guida, Dr Karis Jade Petty and Dr Carina Westling, three recent Sussex doctoral graduates, share their experiences of turning a doctoral thesis into a monograph book. The conversation will be chaired by Michael Bull, Professor of Sound Studies, who has vast experience in publishing books and collections including his own doctoral thesis. This event will be of interest to PGRs from arts, humanities and social sciences.

• Dr Michael Guida completed his doctorate in 2018, and is presently a Research Associate in Media and Cultural Studies at Sussex. Mike is a cultural and social historian who worked for many years as a writer, editor, researcher, and strategist in publishing and digital media. His book Listening to British Nature: Wartime, Radio, and Modern Life, 1914-1945 has just been published by Oxford University Press (2022).
• Dr Karis Jade Petty completed her doctorate in 2017, and currently works as a Lecturer in Anthropology at Sussex. Her most recent publication was The Visual, The Invisible and blindness: The Uncanny in Self-Lanscape Relations for the Journal of Material Religion (2021). Her monograph deriving from her thesis Sensing the Landscape: Movement, Body, Vision will be published by Routledge in 2023. 
• Dr Carina Westling completed her doctorate in 2017 and is a Senior Lecturer in Cross-Platform Media at the University of Bournemouth. Her book Immersion and Participation in Punchdrunk's Theatrical Worlds, derived from her PhD thesis, was published by Methuen in 2020. Carina has received a grant from The Arts Council of England to produce Crucible, a permanent interactive work for Brighton's new Sussex Royal Hospital.
• Michael Bull is Professor of Sound Studies at Sussex. He is the founding editor of two Routledge journals - Senses and Society and Sound Studies: An interdisciplinary journal - and the editor of two book series: The Study of Sound (Bloomsbury) and Sound in Urban Popular Culture (Routledge). His 'doctoral book' Sounding Out the City: Personal Stereos and the Management of Everyday Life was published by Berg in 2000.

  

Research Hive Wellbeing Walk (13.00 - 14.00) - Meet in front of ACCA

• The Research Hive Scholars have got the afternoon dip covered! 
  
  Take a break and do some green exercise with us. This is a one hour mindful woodland walk of the Great Wood area in Stanmer Park. There is also the option to venture out into the park and through the village of Stanmer (walkers’ choice!).

  Some benefits of green exercising:

  • Recharge your batteries

  • Focusing on feeling

  • Improving your mood

  • Way of resting

  If you have any questions or require any accessibility support, please email the Hive Scholars at researchhive@sussex.ac.uk.
  
  

Drop-in Careers Advice - Careers & Entrepreneurship (14.30 - 16.00, online)

• We are offering PHD researchers a one-to-one career session with a Career Consultant to help you make more informed choices about future career directions. The sessions are aimed at your agenda, with advice on career options, positioning yourself in the market, and identifying practical next steps.
  
  

TEDx Viewing Party (16.00 - 17.30, Jubilee 118)

• The Doctoral School is hosting a viewing party of this year's TEDxUniversityofSussex talks, showcasing the research that’s being conducted by researchers at different career stages at Sussex.
  
  Watch recordings of all new TEDx talks by Dr Melis Ulug, Dr David Orr, Giada Brianza, and radio and TV presenter Claudia Hammond, followed by a chance to network over refreshments. Be inspired to think out of the box in the ways you communicate your research!
  
  Dr Ozden Melis Ulug is a social psychologist and a feminist who cares passionately about social justice. She is a Lecturer in the School of Psychology. Her TEDx talk is on taking action against discrimination. Watch the recording .
  
  Dr David Orr is the Head of Department of Social Work and a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at Sussex. His TEDx talk is on the complexities of tackling issues of self-neglect. Watch the recording .
  
  Giada Brianza is a PhD researcher in Informatics at Sussex and a Research Assistant at UCL. Her TEDx talk focuses on the relationship between the sense of smell and body image. Watch the recording .
  
  Claudia Hammond is the presenter of several podcasts and radio shows on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service. She is a Visiting Professor in the School of Psychology. Her TEDx talk is on the art of rest. Watch the recording .
  
  

Library Pub Quiz (17.30 - 19.00, Room 76 at Falmer Bar)

• Join the Library’s Research Support team and fellow doctoral researchers for a pub quiz, research style. With five rounds - including picture and music rounds - test your general and research knowledge and be in with the chance of winning some excellent prizes!
  
  Attendees will receive a drinks voucher for the SU bar.

Thursday 9th June 

RDP Workshop: Understanding the PhD Job Market - (10.00 - 11.30, on campus)

• In this pilot session we’ll explore the different destinations and job markets that PhD researchers typically move into after achieving their PhDs. We’ll touch on the academic ones, although our focus will be on non-academic alternatives. Better understand and investigate possible career destinations after your PhD, identify skills developed in your PhD work and how they can be used, and discover where to find further resources.
  
  

Research Image and Poster Competition Exhibition (from 12.00, Student Centre)

• Drop in and browse the exhibition of academic posters and images representing doctoral research at Sussex over the past year - and vote for your favourites for the £250 People's Choice awards (you can also vote online, 6th-8th June via our website).
  
  Winners will be announced at 3.45pm following the 3MT final. See the Research Image and Research Poster pages for further details.
  
  

Networking Lunch and Market Place (12.30 - 14.00, Student Centre)

• Grab some lunch, network with fellow researchers, and find out about the opportunities available to you across campus and beyond.
  
  Chat to staff from the Doctoral School, Research Staff Office, Library and Careers & Entrepreneurship, and find out about opportunities for further development with Excursions Journal and the Brilliant Club. And check out the poster and image exhibition while you're at it! 
  
  

Three Minute Thesis Final (14.00 - 16.00, Student Centre)

• The 3MT is an academic competition that challenges doctoral researchers to describe their research in just three minutes to a non-academic audience.
  
  Join us for the exciting live final as PhDers from across the university compete to win £500 towards research and a place in the Vitae national semi-finals. You'll also get a chance to vote for your favourite for the £250 People's Choice award!
  
  The 1st and 2nd place prizes will be judged by Dr Mahmoud Maina (People's Choice winner 2016), Dr Sushri Sangita Puhan (3MT runner-up 2020), Dr Erika Mancini (Research Staff Office) and Dr Edward O'Garro-Priddie from The Brilliant Club (a Sussex PhD graduate).
  
  

Prize-giving Ceremony (15.45 - 16.00, Student Centre)

• The 3MT final will be followed by our prize-giving ceremony. Prof Jeremy Niven, Dean of the Doctoral School, will announce the winners of our Research Image and Research Poster competitions as well as the annual Adam Weiler Doctoral Impact Award, which recognises PhD students who demonstrate the potential to make a lasting, positive impact in their field.
  
  

Sussex Humanities Lab Make/Create Drop-in Day (10.00 - 18.00, Sussex Humanities Lab)

• Celebrate the end of the academic year! The SHL Advocates invite you for a day of low-risk creating, making and demoing:

  · Art/craft space with drawing, painting, printing, sculpting materials
  · Try out vintage digital paint programs
  · Experience demos from MAH researchers exploring AR and live coding music practice
  · Go on a self-led mapped out sound walk
  
  Finally, there will be a pizza banquet and drinks served to finish the day.

Friday 10th June 

RDP Workshop: Open Access - A very short introduction (11.00 - 12.00, online)

• This bitesize workshop will introduce you to the ways that Open Access is radically changing the publishing landscape, look at ways you can make your work Open Access and consider the benefits of making your doctoral thesis more widely available.

  Library colleagues will lead this interactive Zoom workshop, and there will be time for your questions throughout.
  
  

End of year Barbecue (13.00 - 16.00, Falmer Bar)

• Celebrate the start of summer at our legendary end-of-year barbecue, back after a two-year enforced break. With reserved seating on the Falmer Bar patio, it's a great way to get together with other researchers in the open air. Choose a beef, vegetarian or vegan option when you register. Includes a free drink voucher!

Online Activities throughout the week  

Research Image and Research Poster Showcase

• The Research Image and Research Poster competitions showcase the richness and variety of PhD research undertaken at Sussex. Shortlisted posters will be exhibited on the competition webpages throughout the Festival of Doctoral Research (6th - 10th June), and in an exhibition at the Student Centre on 9th June.

You will be able to vote online for your favourite image and poster for the People's Choice award, from Monday to Wednesday 8th June (12 noon), or in person at the exhibition on 9th. See the competition pages for more information.

First place, second place and People's Choice prizes will be announced at the prize-giving ceremony following the 3MT final on Thursday 9th June. 

Make It Happen: PhD Careers interview recordings

Bringing experience-based career insights about academic and alternative careers to PhDers, from PhDers. The Careers team and Hive Scholars hosted a series of interviews with Sussex PhD alumni earlier in the year, as part of Make It Happen month.

Watch the recordings below (CareerHub login required).

Featured speakers:

• - Research Associate, Cambridge Judge Business School
• - Lecturer, University of Exeter
• - Professor of Sustainable Chemistry at Imperial, and President of the Royal Society of Chemistry
• - CEO and Co-Founder of Moogsoft

Follow @SussexDocSchool and #SussexDocFest on Twitter for live updates from some of our events throughout the week.

Festival 2022 Photos - open the Sway presentation in full screen for the best viewing experience and click to enlarge the slides

If you have any queries about the Festival of Doctoral Research, please get in touch with us at researcher-development@sussex.ac.uk.