Postgraduate Research Student Showcase Conference 2020

This is a past event which is no longer running.

I recently attended the Postgraduate Research Student Showcase Conference 2020, which is one of the Doctoral School’s biggest events of the year.

The Doctoral School offers a lot of support and events such as this for the University of Lincoln’s postgraduate researchers, which include PhD and Masters by Research. I am only doing a taught Master’s degree and have not got any plans of pursuing a PhD in the future. However, having attended several workshops that the Doctoral School posted on Eventbrite such as “Photoshop for Researchers” and “Life Story Interview”, I found them incredibly interesting and useful for my current studies as well.

This 2020 Postgraduate Showcase Conference featured student presentations and posters, but also speeches about the academic career path from experienced researchers. The research presentations were carried out by PhD students from various schools across the university. These were divided into themes such as Culture or One World and not disciplines. Thus, I got to listen to and learn about intriguing topics that I would not normally come across such as third world approaches to international law or the process of creating a body scales to investigate body image. The students who presented did a great job with connecting to an audience unfamiliar to their respective fields, and their evident passion for the research personally got me very engaged.

The other great thing about this event is its tea and lunch breaks. The catering of the Hilton DoubleTree Hotel was excellent (those chocolate chip biscuits were the best!), but the conversations that I was able to make during the breaks were invaluable. At first, I thought I would be out of place and have difficulties talking to anyone there. However, it turned out that a number of international students that I sometimes ran into on campus were attending as well; one of them was even a presenter that day.

I either knew very little or was completely clueless about the topics showcased at the conference, but so were most of the people there. A lot of us came to the event simply because we were curious and want to learn new things, and it was this common curiosity and interest that drove the constant flow of conversations we had that day among friends, colleagues and newly introduced acquaintances while enjoying those lovely biscuits.

I deeply appreciate such events and workshops that the Doctoral School, as well as other departments at the University of Lincoln, have organised to support us students. They are great opportunities for me to broaden my interdisciplinary understanding, and I always look forward to putting them in the timetable alongside my main classes.

Chi, MA Education student from Vietnam

Please note: This content was created prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, and some information might differ due to current laws and restrictions. Please refer to Government advice and the University of Lincoln for the latest information.