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.

Promoting STEM for Britain

Paris Pasqualin, a PGR in the Department of Civil Engineering, was recently selected to be a finalist in a prestigious national competition designed to connect early-stage researchers with Members of the Houses of Parliament. In this post, he shares his experience.

As a finalist of the STEM for Britain 2023 poster competition, I had the opportunity to showcase part of my PhD project at the House of Commons on Monday 6 March 2023. My poster’s title was “ADDRESSING WATER AND FOOD SCARCITY THROUGH A NOVEL SYSTEM FOR GREENHOUSES, EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION AND MODEL PREDICTIONS” and focused on a technology that can recover almost 100% of the freshwater required by greenhouses, thus representing a solution to water scarcity. This is important because globally, agriculture accounts for around 70% of annual freshwater utilisation.

Paris standing with his poster in the House of Commons.

This was my first poster presentation, so I did not know what to expect. After putting up my poster, I was struck by the chaos and noise created by people trying to overcome other people’s conversations.

I had some visitors from the industry who were interested in sustainable agriculture and found my work impressive, especially considering the UK’s tomato shortage after the high energy cost of greenhouses in Spain due to the colder weather and inflation. I also had the honour of being visited by the MP for Bristol West, Thangam Debbonaire, who found my research could benefit England since, excluding public water supply, East of England is estimated to require more than 60% of their freshwater for agriculture.

Once the judging session started, the chaos intensified even more. During the judging session, we were required to stand in front of our posters for an hour and a half and wait for the judges to come. The rules stated that we would be visited by at least two judges, but I received none until five minutes before the end of the judging session. The judges then rushed me to finish as quickly as possible. Considering that this was a competition, I believe that I was not treated fairly compared to other participants. For example, I noticed that one participant next to me discussed their research with one of the judges for 15 minutes.

I really hope that future participants will have only good memories from the event, and I sent an email to the organisers suggesting some rules to be considered, such as allowing the same time for every participant to present their work. They replied, saying that they will ensure that what happened to me will not happen again.

This experience taught me that we cannot always expect everything to go smoothly, and that when things don’t go as planned, it’s important to keep doing our best. Despite the turndowns, I found encouragement from the visitors who were interested in my research, showing me that my PhD is headed in the right direction.

Your online profile: the options explained

There are a lot of options out there for you to curate your online profile as a researcher. Judith Hegenbarth, Head of the Research Skills Team in Library Services, sets out the options.

As a researcher who wants to contribute to the sum of human knowledge and ultimately make the world a better place, it helps if people can find you and your work online. Curating your online profiles allows you to control your own narrative, but there are a few options to consider.

An example of a profile on the University’s Research Portal

Online groups for international networking and collaboration

In this post, Joanne McCuaig, a distance learning PGR in the College of Arts and Law, explains how and why she set up online discussion groups using Twitter.

I’m a part-time, distance student in my 2nd year, in the department of English Language and Applied Linguistics. I’m a Canadian, living in South Korea, studying with a UK institution; I wanted to take advantage of any networking opportunities. First, I set up my Academic Twitter account – regular Twitter but used as a research profile to share about your skills and work.

I then decided to start two different student groups. I got the idea after attending an online conference that had breakout sessions for PhD students. It was energising to be able to share about our research, ask questions to others, and offer suggestions for literature, methods, or approaches.  A few months after the conference I contacted, via Twitter, a few of the students I’d “met” at the conference to ask if they wanted to continue the conversation. 

Developing Consultancy Skills in Practice

Ahead of running the Virtual Consultancy Challenge in 2021, Katie Hoare from Careers Network spoke to some of the previous participants to find out what they learnt and whether they enjoyed it.

In spring 2020, as lockdown hit, postgraduate researchers from across the University and the globe were gaining valuable professional skills as well as work experience as consultants, and they were doing so completely online via the Virtual Consultancy Challenge. The Virtual Consultancy Challenge is an online self-access training programme and competition where inter-disciplinary teams of postgraduate researchers work together in virtual teams to solve their “client’s” real-life challenge.

The 2020 Virtual Consultancy challenge winning team (clockwise from top): Francesca Lewns, PhD Dentistry; Taiwo Hassan Akere, PhD Earth & Environmental Sciences; Paris Lalousis, PhD Psychology.

Ten tips for organising an online conference

We are all learning to do more online, including conferences. In this post, Sharon Smith, a PGR in the School of Education, shares her experience of organising an online conference. For more detail, see Sharon’s full post on her personal blog.

At the beginning of September, a friend and I ran an online postgraduate conference for students studying philosophy of education. We initially started thinking about the conference late Spring, but decided not to rush into hosting it, choosing a September date for the event to ensure we had sufficient time to plan for it. This meant that we could attend other online webinars and conferences to see what the common issues were, and to understand the experience from the perspective of the attendee.

Here are ten tips for anyone wanting to organise an online conference:

How to organise an online conference and live to tell the tale

Continuing our recent mini-theme of online conferences, Lluís Jerez i Bertolín, a PGR from the School of History and Cultures, shares with us his experience of organising one.

Lluís Jerez i Bertolín

In late April of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was wreaking havoc around the world, which was not good. I stepped from assisting the organisation of the Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology Colloquium (CAHA Colloquium) to being its sole organiser, which was also not good. As the Colloquium could not be postponed to the next academic year, it had to take place online, which at the time I saw as a complete disaster.

In this post I want to share three guiding principles that allowed me to navigate this situation and turn a perfect storm into an enjoyable conference. These principles are: communication, decision-making tempo, and accessibility.

Join The Conversation

What is The Conversation?

Launched in Australia in 2011, and then in the UK in 2013, The Conversation is an independent source of informed opinion from the academic and research community. The Conversation is funded by universities, research institutions, corporate bodies, foundations and reader donations, enabling it to be free for readers and authors.  And PhD students may write for The Conversation!

Making the “e” in e-mail stand for “effective”

How many e-mails do you receive in a day?  How many e-mails do you think your supervisor receives in a day?  A typical supervisor might receive well over 100 e-mails every day.  What can you do to help make e-mail an effective communication tool between you and your supervisor when your supervisor has so many messages to deal with?

The Thesis Whisperer has discussed this a couple of times, with excellent posts on a supervisor’s perspective on the “tyranny of tiny tasks” that often result from e-mail, and inter-cultural e-mail communication.  Here are some additional strategies that I use when communicating with colleagues (including academic colleagues) by e-mail.

Social Networking to raise your research profile

Image credit: mkhmarketing

Today, I’ll briefly explore what social networking in an academic context is all about, and how it can help you. We’re all probably familiar with social networking in the context of our social lives, but how do we harness the power of social networking to help us as professional researchers?  And how or where do we start?

I’ll try and answer those questions: firstly, developing a social network of fellow researchers working in your field can help to keep you informed of developments, conferences, research grant opportunities, etc. The ‘How?’ question is probably the one that preoccupies most of us!