How can I practice Open Research?

In this post, Judith Hegenbarth, Head of Research Skills in Libraries and Learning Resources, looks at the ways in which PGRs can participate in the ever-expanding open research culture.

You may have heard about a world-wide move to ‘open’ research, where the outputs of research projects are made as accessible and reusable as possible.  Outputs are often understood to be publications, but can also include datasets, code and software, and records of methodologies that have been used. The University of Birmingham has made its own statement and commitment on open research; but how can PGRs contribute?

Photo by Amina Filkins on Pexels.com

In the most tangible way, your thesis will be the output of all the work you have done on your research programme.  At the end of your programme, you will submit an electronic version of your thesis to the University’s eTheses repository and this will make your work more discoverable and give your research wider reach.  Over the past 4 years where the library holds theses in hard copy and electronic format, there have been less than 160 individual hard copy consultations across the entire collection, while electronic theses have been downloaded almost three million times.

Of course, there may be conditions under which you have to apply an embargo to your work (such as complying with commercial funder requirements, or not releasing mentions of patient data), and there is a process for applying for one of these.  One of the key tenets of the open research movement is to make your work ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary’.

Aside from your thesis, there are other ways that you can practice openness in your work:

• By creating an ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID), you can tell people what you’re researching and point them to your work. If you have a slide deck from a conference you spoke at, you can deposit it on a repository such as Zenodo, which will ‘mint’ a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to add to your profile.
• If you have a manuscript that is ready to be submitted to a peer reviewed journal, you can deposit it on a preprint server (most journal publishers are happy for this to happen but check their webpage for their policy on this). This gives you the chance to get informal feedback on your work and for others to see it sooner than they otherwise would. There are disciplinary repositories that you can use, and the University has its own ‘ePapers’ repository. 
• You may also be able to publish open access via one of the publisher agreements that Library has paid for upfront to cover publishing fees for corresponding authors with a University email address. Our SciFree tool is the starting point for identifying those journals.
• Think about whether the data underpinning your research can be shared (which you hopefully considered and discussed with your supervisor when you wrote your Data Management Plan). You can deposit your data in our eData repository once your research is complete so you are prepared should a publisher or funder require you to provide a data access statement.
• If you write code to analyse data, consider sharing this using tools such as GitHub or GitLab which allow you to make software publicly available whilst under active development using versioning.
• As well as sharing your own work, you can benefit from the openness of others.  Take a look at Re3Data to see datasets that you could interrogate in your own discipline area.

Open Research is an initiative that continues to develop, and over time you will undoubtedly come across more and more ways to work ‘openly’. There is ongoing support from the Research Skills Team and the Scholarly Communications Team. Our Research Data Librarian holds drop-ins, and you can ask us more by having Tea with a Research Librarian. In the meantime, you can find more detail on our self-enrol canvas course. 

What is normal?

April is Autism Acceptance Month and in this post, Eloise Parr, a newly diagnosed autistic PGR in English Language and Applied Linguistics, shares her journey of self-acceptance.

As a newly diagnosed autistic person*, Autism Acceptance Month has very much been for me as well as those who are allistic (not autistic).

Whenever I would talk to someone about being stressed and overwhelmed with the amount of things I had to do for my PhD, they’d tell me that was normal. Whenever I talked to someone about balancing PhD work and household chores, they’d tell me that was normal. Whenever I would talk to someone about being really anxious about speaking at conferences and not knowing what to say during a networking session, they’d tell me that was normal too.

Those people were right up to a point. It is normal to sometimes feel stressed and anxious as a PGR. What wasn’t normal was how often and how intensely I was experiencing anxiety and stress, and how none of the usual fixes (a change of scenery, talking to friends, meditation, cognitive behavioural therapy, etc) seemed to help at all.

It wasn’t until a friend of mine told me I might be autistic that it all began to make sense. After hours of internet research for days on end (it’s very common for autistic people to hyperfocus on a topic like this) and talking to all of my autistic friends (again, it’s very common for autistic people to gravitate to one another accidentally or intentionally), I finally started to feel I had answers for why being told my struggles were ‘normal’ didn’t sit right with me.

In November last year, I was finally diagnosed with autism at the age of 25. Although I qualify for the label of ‘late diagnosed’, I feel somewhat fortunate that I was able to find this out now compared to many who are diagnosed or self-diagnosed in much later stages of life. That being said. once I gained that diagnosis, I went from non-disabled and neurotypical to disabled and neurodivergent* seemingly overnight. Of course, in reality, I’d always been disabled, it’s just I had always treated myself and been treated as if I were non-disabled up until that point. This meant I wasn’t able to give myself the accommodations I needed and was instead making things worse by pushing myself too much.

As soon as I began to discover what autism looked like for me, I felt a weight had been lifted off me but also found myself struggling more with things I once did with apparent relative ease. This is because I realised how much I’d been pushing myself into a state of discomfort without even realising it. For example, I suddenly found social situations more difficult once I was aware of how sensitive I was to loud noises and the unconscious effort I used to put in to create appropriate levels of eye contact and facial expressions.

It was very demotivating to find out I will always have struggles that many others won’t have, but it’s just meant that I have had to find what support I need from the people around me and what support I need from myself. For me, these changes are working in shorter, focused sprints rather than a 9-5 (the Shut Up and Work sessions in the Main Library have been a god-send!), making sure my supervisors set me clear deadlines between supervisions, and making sure my working environment is filled with fidget toys.

My journey of self-acceptance is far from over but once I stopped forcing myself to be someone I wasn’t, I was able to understand and accept myself a lot more than before.

* A note on terminology: although some people have individual preferences, the autistic community has shared a general preference for identity-first language (autistic person) rather than person-first language (person with autism). This is the language I prefer too, but it’s also best to ask someone what they prefer if you’re not sure. I will also be using the term ‘neurodivergent’ to describe myself and others. This isn’t an interchangeable term for autistic but is an umbrella term used to describe anyone who isn’t the dominant neurotype (neurotypical). This includes autism, ADHD, Tourette’s, dyslexia, dyspraxia, bipolar, etc. More information.

The spirit of Ramadan in research

As we approach the end of Ramadan, Sophia Butt, a PGR in the Department of English Language & Linguistics and the School of Social Policy, shares her thoughts on the parallels between being a successful researcher and observing the Islamic holy month.

When I was invited to write a blogpost about my experiences of being a PGR observing Ramadan, one of the first thoughts that came to mind was the many parallels between the prerequisites for success during this Islamic month, and the fundamental principles of being an effective PGR. Ramadan is a time for mindfulness and spiritual reflection to strive for lasting personal and societal betterment.

Sophia’s photo of Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) masjid (mosque) in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

Similarly, the Researcher Development Framework (RDF) helps PGRs realise their potential to develop credible academic and professional portfolios. Its four domains of:

1. knowledge & intellectual abilities;
2. personal effectiveness;
3. governance & organisation; and
4. engagement, influence & impact

and its 12 sub-domains emphasise the skills and behaviours which also underpin the spirit of Ramadan, i.e.:

Month of Ramadan	Skills	PGR Success
adhering to specified times for daily fasts	Time Management	committing to regular research activities to meet deadlines
enhancing theological knowledge through reading & listening to spiritual sermons	Intellectual Development	sourcing & interpreting multi-modal materials to develop subject knowledge
thinking beyond rituals by critically engaging with values that underpin desired behaviours & norms	Critical Thinking	evaluating sources, findings & assumptions to reach effective conclusions
being cognisant of actions that feed misconceptions, and avoiding these through positive deeds	Cognitive Awareness & Problem-Solving	recognising & isolating problems in research to seek solutions for the same
exercising willpower, patience & determination to achieve goals	Perseverance	overcoming procrastination & obstacles to meeting aims
introspecting & developing self-awareness to become a better version of oneself	Self-Reflection	identifying strengths & weaknesses as a PGR to capitalise on the former & address the latter
spreading positivity & facilitating the enactment of good deeds	Engagement & Influence	adopting a collegial approach to peer engagement & knowledge sharing
understanding & enacting the principles of moral behaviour	Understanding Governance	applying the codes of ethical & legal practice throughout studies
conducting oneself in a manner befitting of an ambassador of Islam	Professional Conduct	adhering to institutional & departmental expectations of academic practice & integrity

Until my teens, I had a rather rudimentary understanding of ‘sawm’ or fasting. I thought it was simply about nurturing God-consciousness and spirituality while abstaining from food and drink from dawn till dusk. But with maturity, I realised that the month of Ramadan also instils self-discipline, steadfastness and refraining from behaviours that are harmful to oneself – and society. It encourages empathy, humility, and charity by urging reflection on the lives of the less fortunate and those enduring perpetual adversity.

Additionally, it accords opportunities for physical, psychological, and social development: scientific studies have shown that intermittent fasting purges the body of toxins, thereby enhancing physical and mental wellbeing. Hence, mindfulness during Ramadan serves as a reminder of how to secure year-round gains.  This philosophy can also be applied laterally to achieve PGR success whether by adopting a positive mindset with determination; overcoming challenges by avoiding harmful distractions; or helping struggling peers.

And so, as this month of Ramadan draws to a close, I look forward to the rewards of my endeavours…

Practice makes perfect: a 3MT journey

This time last year, Katrina Jan, a PGR in the Department of English Literature, took part in the UoB 3MT competition and she shares her experience here. There’s still time to sign up if you’re interested in participating in 2024 – sign up here before 28 March.

Last year, I decided to challenge myself and throw myself to the lions by participating in 3MT. I went through many emotions whilst participating in the competition. From, “What am I doing?!” to “I can’t do this”, and then “Okay, maybe I can sort of do this”, “Oh no, definitely shouldn’t have signed up for this” and “Right, I’m doing this and I’m going to give it my best shot” and I’m so very glad I did.

The 3MT contest was a journey and a challenging one for me, especially with all my other commitments. I had just started a new research project on top of my current job at the University and alongside my role as a University Graduate School scholar, as well as the PhD itself and all my other extracurriculars, to say I was busy would be an understatement. To top it off I was battling a cold and a mouth ulcer by the time the 3MT practice heats had started, I was not feeling my best and barely had time to prepare.

Katrina’s 3MT performance in the finals

My first practice was not great, and I would probably go as far as to say that was probably one of the worst presentations I’ve given. A painful mouth ulcer and a stuttering performance with a judging panel staring at me, were not what I envisioned when I first signed up. However, the feedback I received from the judges was encouraging yet critical and helped spur me on for my next heat.

By the time my next practice heat came, I was cured, and had a little more rehearsal but by no means had I put enough time into it as I would have liked. Except I realised the night before, that this was in fact NOT A PRACTICE. It was the elimination stage. I wasn’t even off-script and although I was not ill this time, I was ill-prepared.

How I managed to get off-script for the next day is beyond me. I’m dyslexic and therefore my short-term memory is not great, so forgetting words is my speciality. However, my BA is in Drama and English, and my background prior was in Theatre and Performance, and whilst it had been nearly a decade since I had done a show, I tried to think of this as a performance.

I wrote my 3MT speech like a script and took out any jargon.

1. So, it would be easy to remember
2. A non-specialist audience could grasp what I was saying
3. See first point

This time I would be presenting at the 3MT Heats mouth-ulcer-free but sleep deprived. Nervous? Most definitely! The nice part? So is everyone else. The other contestants (although far less clumsy and more prepared than I) were so lovely and encouraging, that not for a second did I feel like we were competing against each other. Everyone gave genuinely positive feedback and the advice I was given from another contestant was:

• Practise
• Practise
• Practise

Once I had (by some miracle) got through to the Final, that’s exactly what I did.

I practised with the other contestants, PhD colleagues, to random undergraduates who wouldn’t leave the lecture hall and to the security guard who tried to kick me out of the lecture hall, and this made a huge difference to the way I presented. I didn’t expect to be runner-up against such brilliant contestants (some even became close friends), but if I somehow managed to pull this off, so can you.

The Piscopia Initiative: inspiring inclusion in Maths

Ahead of International Women’s Day on Friday 8 March, Rosie Evans, a PGR in Maths shares the work that she does with The Piscopia Initiative.

Only 26% of doctorate mathematical sciences graduates are female, and this falls further to 11% of mathematical sciences professors. The Piscopia Initiative is an international network of women and underrepresented genders in mathematical research with two key aims:

• To support current women and underrepresented genders in PhD study in mathematics and create a community where they feel heard and understood.
• To encourage more undergraduates to consider further study in mathematics.

Three PhD students (Isabella, Tiffany, and Mary) at the University of Edinburgh started Piscopia in 2019 to tackle this gender gap that we see in mathematical research. I started up the Birmingham Piscopia node in 2021 in the first year of my PhD when Tiffany got in touch. At the end of 2022 I became a national co-lead and I am now responsible for coordinating some of our 19 committees across the UK and one in the US.

PiFORUM23 participants at the University of Birmingham in September 2023

Our local committees run events such as mentorship schemes, social sports, and application helpdesks for students to get advice on PhD applications. Nationally, we host a monthly, online seminar series called PiWORKS and run an annual in-person event called PiFORUM. We also have several online advice series on our social media pages including “Mathematician of the Month”, which celebrates the recent achievements of a nominated women or person from an underrepresented gender.

International Women’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women and underrepresented genders within our community. Piscopia are hosting ten events across the UK simultaneously on Friday 8^th March to celebrate International Women’s Day this year. Our Edinburgh committee are going to be making signs and going on the IWD march, in Newcastle there will be a bake sale in aid of a Kenyan outreach programme that encourages and supports Kenyan girls to pursue education in STEM, and lots of our other committees are hosting coffee & cake (York, St Andrews, Bath, Glasgow & Strathclyde, Leicester) with a poster carousel of work done by women and underrepresented genders in Maths. Here in Brum we are going to be hosting a PhD showcase on the Physics Bridge in Watson. After a successful showcase in 2023, we have decided to run the same event this year, hopefully even bigger! We’ve asked postgraduates in maths to make a poster that communicates their research in a way that is accessible for undergraduates. This includes talking about the best and worst parts of PhD study for them and the sorts of skills that they learnt when they were undergraduate that they are using now. This event is open to anyone but is particularly aimed at women and underrepresented genders. The goal is to break the barrier between postgraduates and undergraduates and initiate conversations that would otherwise not happen organically. We also want to inspire the students by showing them the huge variety of topics that we as postgraduates research – each PhD and therefore each PhD student is unique.

None of the events we run here in Birmingham would be possible without our committee members as well as the staff in Maths. Sara Jabbari and Olga Maleva have supported us at every stage, particularly with their advice from their experience supporting underrepresented groups in Mathematics. We’d love you to get in touch if you’d like to be involved.

Queer Research(er)

During LGBT+ History Month 2024, Rebecca Humphreys-Lamford (she/her), a PGR in the College of Arts and Law, discusses her experience of being a queer researcher carrying out research on representations of asexuality.

The theme for LGBTQ+ History Month this year is ‘Under the Scope’, designed as a celebration of LGBTQ+ peoples’ contributions to medicine and healthcare. It also serves as a reminder of the many ways in which LGBTQIA+ people have existed ‘Under the [Micro]Scope’ of scrutiny, discrimination, and pathologization in both research and society more generally.

My research focuses on representations of asexuality on British television over the last twenty years and aims to discover how asexual representations can impact asexual communities. Asexuality is a sexual orientation that includes any person who does not experience, or rarely experiences sexual attraction.  As a queer researcher in the field of Gender and Sexuality Studies, it can be difficult to balance this research alongside my own identity as an asexual. I remember starting my MA by Research in 2021, where – for the first time – I was speaking about asexuality to people who weren’t my closest friends. I often found myself having to navigate a space where talking about my research often meant outting myself as asexual. Sometimes this meant explicitly coming out with the words “I am asexual”, while at other times, feeling almost forced ‘out’ through the assumptions of others about why I was engaging in research about asexuality.

Research suggests that 72% of Britons “haven’t heard of or have heard very little” about asexuality: I find  myself feeling ‘Under the Scope’ when talking about my research, as in some cases, I am the first asexual someone has met. For any researcher, talking about their research can be difficult. You have to translate your specialisms into understandable summaries and hope the audience will have some idea about what you’re talking about. However, for me, there are additional hurdles. I have to ask, ‘Will this person know what asexuality is?’; ‘Will they understand why asexual representation is so important?’; and begin every discussion by framing what asexuality is. I have to ask myself, ‘Will they even believe that asexuality is real?’, and be prepared to not only defend my research, but my own identity as well.

Thankfully, my research has consistently been met with positive reactions.  I am now a first-year PhD student, continuing my research into representations of asexuality: I am thoroughly enjoying it. I can stand proud about my research, and my position as an asexual researcher conducting research into asexuality. But my own project requires putting members of my community ‘Under the Scope’, through questionnaires and interviews, in order to talk about our experiences and histories. This is an important privilege and responsibility. Recognising LGBTQ+ History Month (and LGBTQIA+ histories more widely) is important. This recognition can act as a tool from which we can all learn, not just in retracing and celebrating queer histories that have historically been silenced, but in remembering the horrors of the past to avoid repeating them. A celebration this year, then, of LGBTQ+ peoples’ contributions to medicine and healthcare is important, but simultaneously, it must be remembered that the fields of medicine and healthcare continue to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people. Just because we can celebrate our successes, doesn’t mean we can’t look to our futures and continue to work towards equality, in healthcare and beyond, for all LGBTQIA+ people.

Escaping the bubble

In this post, Olivia Langford, a PGR in the Shakespeare Institute, shares her experience of a placement with the Royal College of Physicians, the ways it has enriched her research and CV, and her tips for other PGRs considering a placement.

As a PhD student belonging to the College of Arts and Law, opportunities to work with non-academic institutions are perhaps more limited than other disciplines. However, wanting to gain valuable and real-life work experience, increase my range of skills in a field I would like to enter post-PhD, increase my networking connections, and, let’s face it, escape the bubble of academia for a little while made me want to pursue a placement.

The Royal College of Physicians, London.
Image credit: Paul the Archivist, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I was lucky enough to carry out my placement with the support of AHRC Midlands4Cities, who as well as funding my travel expenses, actively encourage and facilitate placement opportunities for all their students. Whilst M4C have a number of placement partners, I wanted to identify my dream institution to work with who I felt could aid my project and who I felt I could benefit during my placement. After visiting them for archival research, I chose the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) in London and based my project around analysing their collection of recipe books from c.1580 – 1660, considering the recipes relating to maternity. This was closely tied to my thesis research, which considers non-English motherhood in William Shakespeare’s plays. The RCP were very accommodating from the outset and helped me to not only put together a feasible project, with mainly remote working involved, but also one that had a suitable timescale as the placement would involve a more relaxed approach to my thesis development. Not every institution will have the staff, time and funding to enable this to happen, however, so it is worth getting in contact with them initially to see if the organisation will suit your individual requirements.

It is important to identify what you hope to gain from the placement, both in relation to your project, and additional skills that the placement organisation may offer you. Before my placement started, I agreed with my primary contact at the RCP that I would publish a blog post on their website, aimed at the general public. This improved my writing capabilities, as I gained experience of being able to produce content for a non-academic audience. I also outlined that I would aim to write an article on my project findings, which the RCP were happy to support. The RCP provided special collections handling, such as knowing how to work with rare and delicate manuscripts whilst I was on-site, and this has really improved my experience when considering heritage jobs post-PhD. I gained skills whilst carrying out the placement itself, such as developing my palaeography skills whilst transcribing the early modern recipe books, which has expanded the scope of my thesis research. It is worth considering how you could use your placement research to improve your public impact and engagement – for example, I presented my placement findings at the 2023 Fertility, Folklore and the Reproductive Body conference.

Outside of all these listed skills and outcomes, however, it is important to consider whether being out of your comfort zone may make you a more capable and flexible researcher. Having lived all my life in a small town in the West Midlands, travelling to London, working in an office and seeing the busy behind-the-scenes of a heritage organisation was all incredibly new, but also incredibly enriching, to me. Take account of your finances, family and research commitments, but also consider broadening your horizons – your placement may just be the beginning of a brilliant career!

Spotlight on the RDF: “Collegiality”

In one of our occasional series of “Spotlight on…” posts, we take a closer look at a specific descriptor from the RDF. Each one of the sixty-three descriptors in Vitae‘s Researcher Development Framework (RDF) is a characteristic of an excellent researcher, and we’ll be looking at how UoB PGRs can develop these characteristics.

Photo by fauxels on Pexels.com

Research, and particularly postgraduate research, can be a lonely business. Each PGR is answering unique research questions. A lot of (if not all) day-to-day activity is carried out on an individual basis. So who are our colleagues? What should our relationship be with them? How might we develop that relationship? Does it even matter?

The RDF puts collegiality in domain D (engagement, influence and impact) and sub-domain D1 (working with others) and the phases for this descriptor are:

1. Shows consideration to others; Listens, gives and receives feedback and responds perceptively to others.
2. Is approachable, demonstrates interpersonal sensitivity; Ensures everyone has a shared understanding.
3. Keeps people informed of wider institutional issues; Promotes collegiality, regardless of status; Engages in supportive peer review with colleagues.
4. & 5. Exemplar for collegial behaviour in department/institution; Cascades knowledge; Solicits and attends to feedback from colleagues at all levels.

So far, so wishy-washy. The first couple of phases can be summed up by “don’t be a dick“, and then it sort of seems to say that you can be collegiate by being collegiate…

So I thought I might give you my interpretation of what it means to be collegiate as a PGR.

The single most important thing you can do as a PGR is to surround yourself with people. Support from others, in all its different forms, is going to make all the difference to you, through both your research and your wellbeing. But I think of collegiality as a specific part of this which has two key components. Firstly, it involves primarily that part of your network which surrounds you in your department or School. The people that might, in some contexts, be called “colleagues”. In the past, it might have been the people who share your office corridor, building or common room, but who may not seem immediately useful. Secondly, it is about reciprocity, so as much as you will benefit from having good working and social relationships with your colleagues, they will also benefit from you being an active part of their network. Collegiality is therefore part of creating and maintaining an effective, welcoming, and vibrant research culture and everyone can do their bit.

There are lots of ways that you can be collegiate in your area, including:

• Cultivate successful relationships with all the members of your supervisory team, including your mentor.
• Get involved in departmental activities, such as research seminars, and encourage others to do the same.
• If you can, spend time in your department on campus, working in a hot-desking room or shared PGR office.
• Meet up for coffee (virtually or in person) occasionally with the people around you and let the conversation go where it will. Take it as an opportunity to check in on someone’s wellbeing – ask twice.
• When you develop your skills, proactively think about how you can share your learning with others in your department.
• Look out for and participate in EDI initiatives such as the UoB LGBTQ Ally Scheme, or the Staff Networks, and again, share your learning within your department.

What does being collegiate mean to you? Who do you think of as your colleagues and how do you practice collegiality?

2024: a year of good enough

Happy New Year! Despite it being a bit of a cliché, there’s something about a new calendar year and the promise of longer days ahead which makes it feel like a good time to make promises to ourselves about the future. Here’s my suggestion to you for 2024: this is the year you will be good enough.

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The media is full of suggestions on how we can be The Best but this year, how about focussing on being good enough?

It doesn’t matter how long you spend writing, re-working and editing your writing, it won’t survive an encounter with your supervisor (or examiners or peer reviewers) completely unscathed. And quite rightly, too – it will be improved by being seen by fresh eyes or by taking into account a different viewpoint. So don’t waste time on trying to make your writing perfect, just ask yourself, is this good enough for review? If you’re concerned that the lack of polish will affect the feedback you receive, be specific about what you need: is the overall structure about right? do the key arguments make sense? have I included enough criticism and synthesis in this literature review?

This shift in perspective can also help when you experience an overwhelming urge to compare yourself to colleagues. Everyone’s research is unique, so of course your skills and expertise will also be unique to you. You don’t need to be the best at anything, only good enough to carry out your unique research tasks. When planning your development activities, plan what you need to be good enough, rather than spending time over-shooting what’s required. In many cases, this will indeed result in you becoming a local expert in a particular skill or method, but there’s no need to make that your key aim or to worry if it doesn’t.

Often, a desire to do things brilliantly acts as an inhibitor to getting things done at all – as many procrastinators will know to their cost. Reminding yourself that the task you are trying to start only needs to be good enough can remove a powerful barrier. A first draft only has to exist. Good enough work is infinitely better than no work. Let go of your inner perfectionist and find increased productivity.

There are all sorts of areas of your life where trying to be good enough rather than the best can help: browsing job vacancies, parenting, housework, keeping in touch with friends, to name just a few more. Be proud of what you can achieve and stop yearning for perfection.

In 2024, good enough is good enough.

Exploring Knowledge Horizons: A Researcher’s Insta-Journey

In our last post of 2023, Fatemah Dashti, a PGR in Civil Engineering, shares her experience of initiating research collaborations via social media.

In recent years, the role of social media has become an integral part of the academic journey. If you were to ask any researcher across the world about their use of social media in recent times, the resounding answer would be yes. The use of social media platforms has revolutionized the means by which researchers disseminate their work and establish connections within their academic communities. Imagine a life without social media, it’s a scenario that prompts reflection. Personally, as a PhD student, I’ve witnessed the profound impact of social media on both my personal and academic spheres. It goes beyond a mere tool for communication; it has become a lifeline connecting me with family, especially when they are miles away.

Platforms like Instagram have become spaces where I can share the joy of my paper publications and celebrations, reaching friends across the world. Social media serves as a complementary tool to conferences and journals, rather than a replacement. In recent times, a significant scientific conferences have transitioned to live online platforms, utilizing platforms such as YouTube or Instagram.

In the years 2017 and 2018, my experiment into environmental volunteering took root through Instagram. It all began with a post from the Date Palm Friends Society account, extending an invitation to join their environmental volunteer community. Motivated by this post, I took the plunge and joined several environmental events organized by the Date Palm Friends Society. These events were considered to increase environmental awareness. One of the standout features of these events was the inclusion of environmental lectures conducted by researchers from different countries. In May 2018, during an environmental projects event, I presented on the conversion of tidal seawater energy into electricity. The event was hosted by the Kuwait Environment Public Authority. This journey, ignited by a simple Instagram post, unfolded into a rich of experiences. From actively participating in environmental events to absorbing the insights shared by environmental researchers, each step contributed to my growing understanding of environmental sciences.

In my journey at the Water Research Centre within Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, I had unforgettable experience as a team member in the “Assessment of the Potential of Dibdibba Shared Aquifer (WM066C)” project. Our challenge was to develop a conceptual numerical model for the shared Dibdibba aquifer which demanded groundwater well data from Iraq and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As a team member, in conversation with the project leader, the solution came unexpectedly, by Instagram. I suggested to the project leader, about connecting with hydrology researchers I follow them on the Instagram platform. Engaging with researchers through Instagram proved to be a game-changer. The collaboration with experts unfolded seamlessly, and the missing pieces of our aquifer puzzle fell into place. In conclusion, our journey through the assessment of the Dibdibba shared aquifer project became not just a scientific exploration but a testament to collaboration through the lens of one of the social media platforms which is Instagram.