Monday 9 December, 10:30 – 15:30
Hilton Brighton Metropole

Co-organised by the University of Sussex (U-DOC project), the University of Portsmouth, and Vitae, the objectives of the event are:

• to disseminate examples of best practice in PGR mental health and wellbeing emanating from the PGR Catalysts projects of the South-East of England.
• to create an opportunity for exchanging knowledge and discuss challenges, with an emphasis on co-creation and sustainability
• to spur collaborations with local organisations involved in improving PGR mental health/wellbeing

South-East Universities and local organisations involved or interested in PGR mental health/wellbeing are welcome.

It is taking place on Monday 9 December, from 10:30 – 15:30 at the Hilton Brighton Metropole.

For more information and to register for free, visit the Eventbrite link.

On Tuesday 3rd December the Researcher Development Programme and Research Staff Office are hosting a networking lunch for international doctoral and postdoctoral researchers.

We will be joined by colleagues from across the University that provide support for international researchers.

Book your place to join us for a free buffet lunch and to meet other international researchers from across the University!

The event is taking place from 12:30 – 14:00 on Tuesday 3rd December in the Quiet Room (Meeting House).

Click here to book your place

The Doctoral Open Days are a chance for doctoral researchers to discover the British Library. Learn about the extent of the Collection: manuscripts, archives, books, maps, visual art, sound recordings, newspapers, zines, stamps, official publications, journals, databases, websites … and more!

Spanning over 3,500 years of history, drawn from across the world and covering hundreds of languages, the Library’s Collection is an essential research resource, unique in its size, variety and potential to support scholarship across a wide range of different disciplines and subject areas. 

The events are mainly taking place at the British Library Knowledge Centre at St Pancras, London throughout January and February 2020. For more details, please visit the British Library’s website.

Interdisciplinarity has received a lot of importance in academia, but there isn’t always the opportunity to meet and interact with people outside of their own disciplines. The Doctoral Interdisciplinary Unconference is a chance to meet people from other schools who might be working on similar topics to you.

The organisers want to create more interaction between peers across disciplines and research areas. They believe that this will be an excellent opportunity for collaboration, interaction, engagement and more – offering a space where such interaction is possible and might even take the shape of something fruitful beyond the event.

Date: 19th November 2019
Time: 12.30 – 14.30
Venue: Sussex Library, Open Learning Space

Sign up here

Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) are offering grants of up to £1000 to support innovation in academic practice.

The Digital Practice Awards give staff the opportunity to develop or experiment with new tools, resources or teaching approaches. Participation also demonstrates an active commitment to the development of scholarly practice and to the enhancement of the student experience.

Successful applicants will be supported in the implementation of their project, which will run throughout the 2019/20 Spring Semester. There is an expectation that awardees will actively contribute to the sharing of good practice across the institution by showcasing the outcomes and lessons learned from their innovation at relevant networking/dissemination events and through the production of a short video case study or blog post.

Proposals must be submitted by 5pm on Friday 13th December 2019. Please see the TEL website for more details about the awards and to download the application form.

Are you a PhD or professional doctorate student at a UK university with a formal diagnosis of autism and aged 18 or over?

Would you like to help provide greater insight into the experience of autistic students as they progress through doctoral study?

This research is part of an MRes project looking at autistic research students’ academic experience, social experience and communication, support from the university, disclosure, research community and careers. Participants are offered the choice of a face-to-face or email interview.

It is hoped that the results of this study can feed into providing a better HE experience for autistic research students and to a more inclusive PGR environment more generally.

If you are interested in taking part in this study or would like further details please contact Melanie Steele m.steele@uea.ac.uk.

12.00 – 13.30 on Wednesday 20th November
Arts B 217 (lunch included)

Researching a tough topic?
Struggling with the content of your research?
Not sure who to talk to about it?

Researchers from across all disciplines are invited to come together and discuss their experiences of working with challenging data. This kind of research can leave researchers vulnerable, and the aim is to create a space to openly discuss the issues involved, and bring in experts to discuss coping methods.

For more info please contact Alex at a.kempton@sussex.ac.uk.

*Please note this is for Doctoral Students only due to funding restrictions*

Supported by the Understanding the Mental Health of Doctoral Researchers project.

The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Summer Programme provides the opportunity for young researchers from the six countries including the UK to receive an orientation on Japanese culture and research systems and to conduct collaborative research activities with leading research groups at Japanese Universities and research institutions over a period of two months during the summer.

The British Council is this programme’s nominating authority for UK candidates. Applications are now open for the JSPS Summer Programme 2020, with a deadline of 15 January 2020.

Awards include: Return international airfare, maintenance allowance, domestic research trip allowance and overseas travel and accident insurance policy.

Eligibility, guidelines, and application form are available on the British Council Japan website. 

The Excursions journal, run by University of Sussex researchers, has a Call for Papers on the concept of chaos.

The journal the invites researchers to embrace chaos and investigate the complexities of society, nature, science and being human. Is chaos a natural, universal phenomenon of “disorder” or a perspective-bound construct? What meanings and functions can we attribute to chaos in theory and practice? How can chaos aid contemporary scholarship in its quest to understand the complexity of our lived experience? 

In this issue, Excursions seeks to assemble a collection of articles that reflect on the concept of chaos, whether as a natural phenomenon in an objective reality or as a socially-constructed subjective phenomenon. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Chaos as a metaphysical concept or theory
• Chaos as a process in the biological, physical and social world
• Chaos as a theme in popular culture and political discourse
• Chaos as fuel to incite change
• Chaos as a source of creativity
• Chaos as constructed by ideology and epistemology
• Chaos as part of a research method

Please submit your paper by 17 February 2020 via the Excursions website. If you have trouble with the submission system, please email enquiries@excursions-journal.org.uk.

Visit the Excursions website for further details on the Call for Papers.

If you’re an undergraduate (but not a finalist) or a postgraduate student, you can fill in the Student Barometer survey.

It’s a way to let the University know how you are finding your time at Sussex, so the University can understand what’s working and make improvements for you and future students.

The 2019 survey is open until Sunday 8 December and there is a weekly prize draw for:

• one of five £500 vouchers to spend on travel (STA Travel)
• tech (Currys PC World), or
• food (Sainsbury’s).

See the Student Barometer webpage for more info and to take part.