The UWL Doctoral Students' Conference 2023
Intro
The University of West London Graduate School’s 26th annual Doctoral Students’ Conference saw as many as 130 research students and academic colleagues take part.
Article body
The event attracted its highest ever number of student participants, with paper presentations from 33 doctoral students and poster presentations by a further thirteen.
Opening the conference, Director of Studies at the Graduate School Professor Maddie Ohl welcomed Professor Aude Bicquelet-Lock to her first Doctoral Students’ Conference in her role as UWL’s Director of Research and Development. Professor Ohl then highlighted the successes achieved across the year by UWL’s doctoral students and the Graduate School in increasing conference allowances and VC Scholarships. She explained that building on this will enable UWL to grow its research profile in anticipation of the next Research Excellence Framework – REF 2028 ranking that examines universities research activities.
Next, Professor Bicquelet-Lock gave the morning keynote lecture - ‘In and out of academia: lessons, reflections and anything in between’ - in which she shared an overview of her academic journey from exams in Aix-en-Provence to her current Director of Research and Development role. Aude outlined the five most important lessons she has learnt along the way with their relevance to personal and career development and research impact.
Dr Jen Mayer, Head of the School of Human and Social Sciences, gave the afternoon keynote lecture - ‘Translating your research skills into academic leadership and management’ - which she illustrated using reflections on her own career path. Jen discussed how the skills developed through doctoral research can be harnessed to support various academic roles within and beyond academia, encouraging doctoral students to be open to the possibilities.
Four judges - Professor Emerita Pauline Fox, Dr Ori Igwe, Dr Reza Keihani and Professor Jeremy Strong carried out the challenging task of evaluating students' presentations to award prizes for the best paper and poster presentations.
The best paper was won by Agha Hasan for ‘A quantitative case study to assess the performance of UK supermarket buildings in relation to future climate change and modern construction techniques’. Leon Clowes won best poster for ‘"Queer Mats": a co-creative think and play about addiction and connection’.
Additionally, The Marcia Worrell Prize was awarded to doctoral researcher, Neda Sattarzadeh. In presenting the award, which is in its third year, Professor Ohl paid tribute to the late Professor Worrell for her enthusiasm in supporting students, and to Neda Sattarzadeh for her important research and exemplary commitment to supporting her peers.
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