Public Engagement with Research: The Personal Development Holy Grail

This week James Walker, a postgraduate researcher in the Centre for Doctoral Training in Fuel Cells and their Fuels in the School of Chemical Engineering, shares his public engagement experience with us…  

Ever been at a party and killed a conversation in ten seconds flat when asked “so, what do you do?” If so, you’re probably also a postgraduate researcher (PGR) – or perhaps a town planner. My heart goes out to my peers who are both! I used to get as far as “oh I’m doing a PhD in Chemical Enginee-,“ before I’d notice the glazing over of the eyes of what had been my audience. “You must be very smart,” they all say, before suddenly needing to nip to the loo. Now I lead with “well I make really tiny renewable energy catalysts and look at atoms using fancy, expensive microscopes that look like weapons in a Bond villain’s arsenal!” Suffice to say, the second response engenders significantly more discussion. The subtle difference is in knowing your audience and tailoring your delivery, I’d say. These are among a crop of new skills that I’ve picked up since becoming heavily involved in public engagement with research and I’m writing this to tell you how you too can revolutionise your personal development simply by talking about the thing that you spend most of your time doing. Convenient eh?

I recently hosted a workshop as part of the University’s Arts & Science Festival. Entitled “In The Chemists’ Kitchen,’ my workshop invited a group of unsuspecting adults for a look behind the scenes in our labs in the Birmingham Centre for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Research. Workshop participants joined in in preparing nanoparticle ‘soup’, made microwavable ‘ready meal’ silver nanoclusters and recrystalised a copper sulphate ‘cheesecake’. It might sound wacky to use cooking metaphors to communicate scientific concepts but it occurred to me that while my lab is veritably inaccessible to the public, most people have at some point made a pot of soup and can relate to chopping up vegetables and boiling them to release the tasty goodness – usually as per the secret family recipe. When I synthesise nanoparticles, I boil up chemical compounds in a broth-like solvent until bonds break and smaller fragments assemble as desired, and I am usually following a recipe handed down ceremoniously in Nature Chemistry. The parallels are clear – to me at least!

So what did I learn from developing my workshop, I hear you ask? First of all, independently developing and hosting a workshop required a significant amount of planning and project management. Keeping the activities and briefing engaging required a very critical assessment of my aims and objectives for the workshop, and a shrewd review of the way each concept would be communicated. I could not have achieved this alone – my workshop developed iteratively through inputs from experienced Public Engagement with Research Committee and Cultural Engagement staff, as well as technical suggestions from colleagues and the School’s health and safety officer. On the night of the workshop, I was ably supported by four PGR colleagues. I think the term “collaboration” is overused but in all reality my event would not have been nearly as successful were it not for my collaborative working with each of the above individuals – from encouraging me to be creative in my approach to physically assisting participants in their experiments. Finally, my colleagues and I were shocked by just how awe-inspiring routine and frankly boring aspects of our day-to-day work (using a magnetic stirrer, for example) were for the workshop participants. This new perspective well and truly answers the “surely people won’t find this interesting?” question that is such a barrier to getting researchers involved in public engagement.

To summarise, then, organising and hosting my workshop offered me an all-encompassing opportunity to develop my communication, team working and project management skills. It’s easy to get bogged down in the pursuit of data for that all important PhD thesis, but I think it’s also prudent to remember that there’s life after the viva and these kinds of transferrable skills will stand anyone in good stead for just about any career that I can think of.

We’ll be discussing the pragmatic personal development merits of getting involved with public engagement and highlighting just how fun bringing your research to a wider audience can be at an upcoming coffee morning for PGRs and ECRs. Please join us! The aim of the coffee morning is to encourage a collaborative and peer-supportive approach to PGR/ECR-led public engagement activities so some things to think about – how can we best assist each other to deliver impactful public engagement? How can we organically foster an interdisciplinary/cross-college approach to developing these activities?

For their kind assistance with his workshop, James would like to gratefully acknowledge Caroline Gillet, Jon Wood, Laura Milner, Kaye Winwood, Aimee Jackson, Laura Allerston, Pete Mardle and Alan Stephen.

It’s not all about you: How to make some sweet non-academic CV music

PGR Careers Adviser Holly Prescott explains how a quick change of perspective can make all the difference when writing a non-academic CV…

As a PGR Careers Adviser I’ve learnt to spot some classic PhD CV errors quicker than Theresa May can call a snap election. Something that really interests me though is one of the most popular questions I get asked by PGRs, which is…

‘What should I include in my CV?’

A relatively understandable and inoffensive question you might think?

Well… What I find interesting about this question is that the person asking it seems to be approaching their CV in a very specific way that comes from the self: what have I done? What should I write?  When we’re thinking in this way though, it then becomes easy to forget that our CV isn’t a summary of our life story: it is a marketing document strategically written for a particular target audience.

The CV mind-set shift we’re thinking about here is:

Moving from ‘what should I include’…

To thinking instead… What does this recruiter want to know about me?

This is why, in order find out what we ‘should include’ on our CV, we first need to know:

• For what kind of opportunity are you using this CV?
• What is involved in the role?
• What essential and desirable skills and experience is the employer is seeking?

Think of your skills and experience as music (bear with me…). Your potential employer’s job description and person specification are musical scores. Once you know what’s written on those scores, you can hit all the right notes. Without knowing or paying attention to what’s on the scores, your chances of reeling off a Beethoven-standard application are pretty slim. So, the answers to these key questions become our blueprint on what the employer wants to know about us… and hence, what to include in our CV or application. So, we know what the employer is looking for, and hence have some good clues as to which of our skills and experiences should take priority on our CV. Cue the next inevitable question…

What about my PhD?

How can we effectively communicate our PhD skills and experience to match what it is that an employer wants to know about us? Especially when applying for non-academic jobs where a PhD may not speak for itself?

Mike graduated with his PhD from the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences in 2016 and wanted to take his PhD outside of academia. He secured a place on a Graduate Scheme, and has some useful advice for current PhDs applying for jobs beyond academia.

‘When talking to people (including employers) who haven’t been through the PhD experience, it can be quite hard to convey what is involved in a PhD and how hard it is,’ says Mike. One way that he addressed these difficulties in communicating the value of his PhD to non-academic employers was to include his PhD under both the ‘education’ and the ‘work experience’ sections of his CV. ‘Under “education” I’d give the working title of my thesis and a couple of bullet points covering the main points and achievements. What was far more substantial though was what I wrote about my PhD as “employment.”’

Here, Mike used his PhD experiences to pick out key skills relevant to the employers he was targeting. ‘I presented my PhD experience in terms of competencies relevant to that employer. I looked back on the PhD and times when I’d showed qualities like leadership or team work. Then, I gave demonstrative examples of when I’d showed these competencies: for example, coordinating a team of volunteers during fieldwork.’

So there you have it… those key competencies and skills that the employer is looking for are our ultimate guide on what to include in our CV and how best to present our PhD experience to that recruiter. If you want to know more about how best to nail your non-academic applications and interviews, join us for our workshop ‘Successful job applications outside of academia: a complete guide for Postgraduate Researchers’ on Friday 26 May.

Finding your way in the foggy road of data collection…

This week Coralie Acheson, a 2^nd year PhD Researcher in the Ironbridge International Institute for Cultural Heritage, shares her experience of collecting data for her research…

My research is on how tourists encounter and negotiate the values of Ironbridge Gorge, a World Heritage Site in Shropshire; part of a collaborative AHRC-funded project looking at the communication of value to different communities of interest at the site. This was my first serious foray into the academic world of cultural heritage following years of studying and working commercially in archaeology. When I started, I knew I had a steep climb in terms of raising my knowledge base in terms of thinking about tourism theory but I hadn’t realised how much I also needed to learn about the actual practicalities of carrying out the research.

I am using a mixed-methods approach – my research involves trying to pin down something both intangible and ephemeral, the ‘communication of value’ to a difficult to define, constantly changing and incredibly varied group of people – so I needed to form a sort of research ‘pincer’! I am using:

• Interviews – semi-structured, with both those working with tourists, and the tourists themselves;
• Observation – both remote and participant;
• Qualitative media analysis of materials produced for and by tourists – think Instagram, guidebooks, signage etc;
• Visual field notes – a developing collection of imagery which tells a story about my site.

I am currently right in the middle of collecting all of this data and feeling rather swamped. It is like a juggling act trying to process already collected data into initial analysis of some form, carry out more research and preparing for things happening over the next few months. A complex and colour coded diary has become essential! I have found that writing things down has helped me get my head around where I am with my research – not so much for the output but the process of doing it helps me organise my thoughts and get control of the stress!

I have massively benefitted from research training from lots of different sources including an ‘interview for researchers’ course (AHRC), free online courses in social media analytics, one-to-one skill sharing with other PhDs as well as courses available through the university on Endnote and data management. This was all absolutely essential, particularly as I am effectively a social science researcher with an arts background and who is based in the College of Arts and Law. Ultimately, though, the best way to figure out how to do things is just to try them out – go to conferences and present, try different analysis methods you’ve only read about in books – just go for it (within the remit of your ethical approval!) and it will get easier!

Do you want to share your PhD experiences with other postgraduate researchers on this blog? Get in touch with Dr. Eren Bilgen to become one of our guest bloggers.

*NEW* Web of Science Citation Connection

This week Vicky Wallace, our Library Subject Advisor for the College of Life and Environmental Sciences, introduces us to the new ‘Web of Science Citation Connection’

University of Birmingham researchers now have access to ‘Web of Science Citation Connection’.  This package includes a wealth of databases, allowing you to retrieve a great deal more than journal articles; namely information on:
Books:  offering book and book chapter literature searching, and the option to browse within a book to its book chapters, to see where the chapters have been cited.

Data: Search for datasets used by others and gain credit/citations for your own.  The Data Citation Index links the data behind the research to the literature.

Patents: Read accessible summaries of patents written by experts, linked to the original patent.  You can see citations to the patents to help you identify potential competitors/collaborators.

In addition, the package also includes Specialist Subject Databases including BIOSIS Citation Index, Current Chemical Reactions, Index Chemicus, and Zoological Records.

The new package gives us access to these databases for 2010 onwards.

Making the most of Citation Connection

Not sure how useful these resources will be to you?  Use FindIt@Bham to select ‘Web of Science’ (All Databases), undertake a search on your topic, and then use the “document types” filter to see the range of resource types returned alongside the usual journal articles.  Refine and explore the results.

Search Core Collection (Web of Science Citation Indexes) to check citation metrics – calculations will be based on citations in journals and books.   More information about metrics is available on our Bibliometrics website.

Discover the data behind the literature by using Data Citation Index.  Data from stable, up-to-date, peer-reviewed and high quality repositories are indexed; the repositories can be searched or browsed.

Explore patents literature on Derwent Innovations Index.  Consisting of 3 sections (Chemical, Electrical and Electronic, Engineering), patents are harvested from patent offices worldwide, and Derwent’s specialists produce summaries, deciphering the technology to make it more understandable and more accessible.  As well as topic searching, you can search by institution, derwent classification codes and a range of other identifiers.  Explore the links between patents to see patents that share the same technology.  Check citations to the patents, and identify competitors/collaborators.

For further advice and guidance on making the most of these resources, contact your Subject Advisor in Library Services http://Intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/library/subject

 

Your PGR skills: from feeding bees to being the bees-knees…

PGR Careers Adviser Holly Prescott and current PhD researcher Nick Howe discuss how to get to grips with transferable skills as a PGR

The term ‘transferable skills’ often elicits either:

1. Yawns
2. A flashback from a cringe-worthy team-building day
3. Utter bemusement

So let’s think about it in another way.

Imagine your postgraduate research degree wasn’t just about writing a however-many-thousand-word thesis. Imagine that, at the same time, you were also becoming a proficient project manager, an expert in conveying complex information in an accessible way, and a skilled diplomat capable of managing a whole host of potentially tricky professional situations and working relationships.

Call it selling yourself, call it ‘spin,’ call it whatever you like… but there’s no imagination required. As a PGR, you are already ALL OF THESE THINGS. And, chances are, much more besides. When it comes to considering potential careers and applying for jobs then, the trick is being able to reflect not just on what we know as PGRs, but what we can do.

Currently undertaking a PhD looking into the recent decline of the honey bee, Nick Howe talks about how attending the University’s Postgraduate Enterprise Summer School (PESS) helped him understand the skills with which he was armed as a PGR.

‘It’s sometimes hard to see what skills you are gaining when you spend a lot of time doing esoteric things, like feeding nectar to bees,’ says Nick. ‘I assumed my PhD was only teaching me how to be a better scientist, and why shouldn’t it? But as someone who has realised that academia isn’t for them, I began to worry if this was enough. Would I be able to work in the “real world”’?

On PESS, Nick worked in a team of researchers on a problem set by Innovate UK to design a solution to improve the wellbeing of freelance workers. ‘The time-management skills that I’ve gained during my PhD really paid off in PESS,’ says Nick. ‘In fact, I feel that they were crucial to my team’s success.  A PhD gives you a range of skills that employers like, such as good self-awareness and self-reflection. Working with supervisors is also good experience in dealing with managers. Tenacity, time-management and working independently are all in there too.’

As Nick attests, effectively communicating your skills to potential employers, investors or other key people is all about audience. How can you translate your skills to business and industry? How do you show your ‘audience’ what you can do in a way that means something to them? There are some useful tips on this in pages 9-10 of this Career Planning for PhDs e-book written by Postgraduate Careers Consultant Jayne Sharples.

In addition, investing some time in a team activity outside his research showed Nick that he possessed some skills that he had never previously had the chance to showcase. ‘During PESS I began to realise that I had skills which I didn’t even know I had, like a talent for design work.  This has actually translated well to my PhD with some pretty nifty poster designs.’

So there you have it… it’s not just about feeding bees. It’s about stepping outside of yourself to see just what you’re capable of and why others should/will be interested in what you have to offer. For help with this and for some great experience in growing your transferable skills (who knows, maybe one day you’ll talk about it in an interview…), make like Nick and apply for the Postgraduate Enterprise Summer School. Nick says:

‘I highly recommend PESS. It’s a lot of fun and is great for improving team-work: something in which many PGRs get little practice. I didn’t realise all the skills I had until I had an opportunity to use them. PESS gave me that opportunity.’

PESS 2017 will be taking place from 17 – 21 July 2017. Registration is now open; click here to find out more. For more information, contact Holly Prescott, PGR Careers Adviser

Publishing during your PhD

We all know that getting your work published during your PhD can be a tough process, but it is possible…In this blog post Elaine Mitchell, a part-time postgraduate researcher from the College of Arts and Law, shares her experience with us…

As well as pursuing my PhD on gardening and horticulture in eighteenth-century Birmingham in the Centre for West Midlands History over the last year, I’ve worked on two publishing projects with my supervisor. Here are a few reflections on the experience.

Like the best projects I’ve been involved with they have drawn on existing abilities but presented me with new challenges. These new challenges have tested my ingenuity, persistence and skills of persuasion – to name a few things! At the same time they have shown me when to compromise and when to stand back and know that what I have done is enough – not perfect but, in the face of a deadline and a budget, the very best I could do.

Both books required me to think about images. As Picture Editor on the new history of Birmingham – Birmingham: the workshop of the world (Carl Chinn & Malcolm Dick, 2016) – I researched and supplied over 200 high-resolution copyright-cleared images to the publisher. These were not just to illustrate points in the text but to enlarge upon them and add a new visual dimension that would draw in the reader and make them want to stop on the page. It made me think about the most important themes of the text.  What, if you just looked at the pictures, would you draw from the chapters and, if you took the text away, would the images focus on and project those same key themes? How would you sum up your research in an image?

As well as expanding my knowledge of copyright legislation (which we all need to know about) my work on the book made me delve deeper into the University’s own collections – a rich source for the history of Birmingham and many other topics. Images from the University were sourced from The Cadbury Research Library, Research and Cultural Collections and the Phyllis Nicklin archive and all these are worth exploring for visual sources (but do check copyright and seek permissions). The Cadbury Research Library also has a Flikr stream with themed albums.

The second book, Gardens and Green Spaces in the West Midlands since 1700, is for University of Hertfordshire Press and I’m co-editing it with my supervisor Dr. Malcolm Dick. This not only requires me to think about images but also to develop my editing skills and, having written a chapter myself for the book, to expose my own writing to editing and critical assessment before finalising the text. Despite a dose of imposter syndrome, I took up friendly offers to read my drafts and the result is a much-improved, tighter piece of work; a valuable experience that I can recommend and shall certainly now repeat. It’s useful to have one or two people beyond your supervisors who will read your work and offer constructive criticism.

At times these projects have seemed like an indecently long haul but now that I have held one of the books in my hands I see the results of piecing together this jigsaw bit by patient bit and somehow the outcome is more than the sum of its parts. It occurs to me that this is not unlike producing a PhD thesis and it is possible when you are prepared to work hard and receive the help offered by colleagues around you.

So what do you think about publishing during PhD? Do you have any tips or advice on getting published?

Why you should take part in the Research Poster Conference

Presenting your research in a poster format might seem like a daunting task, but there are many reasons that this is an essential task for PGRs. Jenna Clake, from the College of Arts and Law, shared her experience of participating in the Conference with us…

I presented my research at the Research Poster Conference last year, with a poster entitled ‘Do You Think I’m Crazy?: Feminine and Feminist Humour in the Absurd’. As a Creative Writing PhD researcher, sometimes it is difficult to gain the opportunity to disseminate my research to a wide audience. My research focuses on two main areas: my ‘creative’ work (poetry) and my ‘critical’ work (researching literary theories and trends). I rarely have the chance to talk about the latter, especially to academics and researchers outside my specialism, so the Research Poster Conference offered the chance to receive some much-needed peer review.

The exercise of creating a poster to share your research is helpful in terms of identifying the key aspects and terms of your project. Firstly, you must engage your audience! I was encouraged to think of an interesting title for my poster to gain attention. By asking a question (‘Do You Think I’m Crazy?’), I managed to engage a variety of people – they were intrigued, and wanted to know the answer. You have limited space on a poster, so you must identify the key points of your research: this is incredibly helpful, as it reminds you of the key ideas behind your project. Once you have identified these, you can start thinking about discussing your project with a variety of audiences. Posters shouldn’t be too text-heavy, so after identifying the key points, you can think about how to sum up your research succinctly and clearly: this will certainly help in future discussions about your work!

When presenting at the Research Poster Conference – whether to judges, other researchers, or members of the public – it was essential that my presentation was accessible. I quickly learned that what thought was ‘accessible’ might not be to people outside my discipline! I learnt to adapt very quickly and explain some of my key terms in a comprehensible way. It is important to think about the impact that your research has (or will have), and the impact of your research will certainly increase if you can share it with more people.

I previously mentioned that peer-review was a major benefit of the conference. The Research Poster Conference draws a large and varied crowd; this meant that many people saw my poster and presentation, and could offer feedback. It was incredibly helpful to see my research from another perspective: some people were able to question my conclusions and the logic behind them, whilst others allowed me to defend my point of view and articulate my reasons. As a result, I was able to highlight areas of my research that needed work, and also interrogate my arguments to ensure that they were sound. I came away from the conference with some clear ideas about what I needed to do to improve my thesis.

The Research Poster Conference offers you a great chance to engage in your development as a researcher; you will disseminate your research to a large and varied audience, consider the key ideas of your research, and receive feedback on your work.

This year, the Research Poster Conference is taking place on 15^th June 2017, and applications for abstracts are currently open until 3^rd April 2017.

If you would like to take part this year, you can find more information about applying to the Research Poster Conference at the University Graduate School website