It’s finally here – The Festival of Doctoral Research is upon us! The three-day programme of events runs from 26-28 June; whether you’re a professor or an undergraduate, we’ve got something in store for you, and everyone’s welcome. To help you find your way around, we’ve put together this handy insider guide. Just follow our steps and we’ll make sure that you don’t miss any of the highlights.
1: Opening Talks: From reactive to proactive: re-imagining mental health for doctoral researchers
Location: Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Gardner Tower
Time: Tuesday, 10:30-12:00
Open to: all
We begin in the Attenborough Centre’s Gardner Tower with our Opening Talks. In a thought-provoking session, our guest speakers will be exploring current attitudes towards the mental health of doctoral researchers, and arguing for a more proactive approach.

2: Excursions journal new issue launch: ‘Networks’
Location: IDS Bar
Time: Tuesday, 17:30-
Open to: all
Later in the day, head to IDS bar to celebrate the launch of a new issue of Excursions, featuring papers based around the theme of ‘Networks’. Run by doctoral researchers from Sussex, Excursions is an online peer-reviewed journal showcasing innovative, interdisciplinary postgraduate research. Come along to celebrate an exciting new issue, meet the team behind the journal, and find out how you can get involved.
3: Public Engagement Pop-Up/Research Image Competition
Location: Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Gardner Tower
Time: Wednesday, 10:30-12:00
Open to: all
After a well-earned rest, head to the ACCA on Wednesday morning for two of our most exciting events.
Our Public Engagement Pop-Up showcases the techniques doctoral researchers have used to take their research out into the wider world. There’ll be immersive visual experiences and cutting-edge chemistry as our researcher demonstrate how they’ve excited and engaged the general public.
In the same session, we’ll also be displaying the submissions to our Research Image Competition. We asked our doctoral researchers to submit one single image capturing the breadth of their research, and we received some breathtaking entries. These will be displayed in a special exhibition – you’ll also be able to vote for your favourite in our People’s Choice Award. Expect stunning, thought-provoking images to stimulate the eyes and the intellect.
Booking required for both events.
4: Three Minute Thesis (3MT)
Location: Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Jane Attenborough Studio
Time: Wednesday, 13:30-15:30
Open to: all
You don’t need to move far for our next event; grab some lunch from the ACCA café and join us at 13:30 for what promises to be a Festival highlight: Three Minute Thesis.
Book your place to watch 6 doctoral researchers attempt to compress their 80,000 word thesis into creative and amusing three-minute presentations. They can’t use props, or song, or even poetry: contestants must rely solely on their ingenuity and wit to dazzle the audience. Once the competition is over, vote for your favourite, and head back to the Gardner Tower at 15:30 to see the winner crowned in a special prize-giving ceremony.
5. Living Library
Location: Open Learning Space, The Library
Time: Thursday, 10:00-12:00
Open to: all
The final day of the Festival kicks off with an immersive reading experience – the ‘Living Library’. Come along to the Library and ‘check out’ one of 11 doctoral researchers, each with a different story to tell. Take your researcher for a tea/coffee, they’ll tell you their story, and you can ask them any questions you might have. It’s a great opportunity to learn from the experiences of our doctoral researchers.
Find out all about the ‘living books’ we have to offer, and book your place, on this page.
- Come along to our ‘Living Library’ and ‘check out’ a living book!
6. Workshop time!
If you’re a doctoral researcher, you might want to visit one of our workshops on Thursday, designed to help you maximise your doctoral experience at Sussex.
Sussex Library’s ‘Doctoral Community Sandpit’ is an interactive session focussing on giving you the skills to organise and run your own event, with a special emphasis on how we can use these events to build the doctoral community at Sussex.
‘Understanding & Translating your Doctoral Skills’, a workshop coordinated by Sussex’s Careers and Enterprise Services, will encourage to you to reflect on the skills you’ve learnt during your doctorate and ask how you can successfully translate these in your future careers.
7. Celebratory Summer BBQ
Location: Falmer Bar, Room 76
Time: Thursday, 16:00-18:00
Open to: MA/PhD/research staff
After two packed days you might be in need of some R&R. Why not book your place on our special summer BBQ, celebrating the end of the Festival. It’s open to all MA students and doctoral researchers: sign up in advance you’ll receive a voucher for a chicken, beef, or vegan burger, as well as sides and a drink. Hopefully the sun will be shining, making it a perfect opportunity to chat with your peers in a relaxed environment.
8. PubhD
Location: IDS Bar
Time: Thursday, 18:30-20:30
0pen to: all
Finished soaking up the sun? End Thursday on a high by heading to IDS bar for our final event: PubhD. Enjoy a free drink and watch some of our brightest doctoral researchers explain their research at ‘pub level’ – free of academic jargon and understandable to all. Book your place to claim your free drink.
9. Home!
That’s it! Over three Festival-filled days, you’ll have seen some of the fantastic research taking place at Sussex, witnessed some amazing feats of ingenuity and sat open-mouthed through live displays of wit and wizardry – now it’s time to go home, get some rest, and wait until next year!