UWS Research Students' Society

UWS Students against Accommodation Price Rises !!

2011-03-16T13:26:00.000Z

Hi guys,

It has recently come to light that the university plans to increase the prices of the Lady Lane and George Street residences from £55 a week to between £100-150 a week after refurbishment. As a result i have created an on-line petition against this - please feel free to sign it at:

https://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/uwspricehike

2011-02-15T16:04:00.001Z

Hi all,

There will be a Pancake Party on Wednesday the 9^th March. We will all meet in the RSS room at 5pm then will proceed to my flat to make and eat lots of pancakes. All you have to bring are the pancake fillings of your choice and any drinks you want.

This is to celebrate the tradition of pancake day on the 8^th March. I am not here on the 8^thso the event will actually be a post-pancake day party! If you can send me an email if you are interested in attending so I can get a rough idea of numbers, that would be great,

Thanks

Dorn

2011-02-15T16:03:00.000Z

Hi all,

The following posts have now been filled - if you are based at Ayr or Hamilton or live nearby please take note of your new presidents !!

Secretary = Jolly Gandhi – Jolly.Gandhi@uws.ac.uk

Treasurer = Matthew Neeves – Matthew.Neeves@uws.ac.uk

RSS Sub-President – Ayr - Yvonne Christley - Yvonne.Christley@uws.ac.uk

RSS Sub-Committee – Hamilton – Heather Horsburgh – Heather.Horsburgh@uws.ac.uk

Hazel Kelly - Hazel.Kelly@uws.ac.uk

Laura Kerr - Laura.Kerr@uws.ac.uk

Matthew has the keys to the lockers in the RSS room so if you would like one of these please e-mail him. If you have any ideas for events/activities down at Ayr or Hamilton please get in touch with the relevant people.

Also Fiona Edgar would like some help with a project she is working on. She needs to find some male students aged 16-18 to take part – I have put the details below – if you know of anyone who is interested there is a £30 gift voucher in it for them. Please see below for more details.

Thanks,

Dorn

The project is looking at how young men and women use alcohol in their transitions to adulthood.

For this, we have been recruiting males and females aged 16 - 18 and 25 - 30 to take part in focus groups about their experiences of drinking alcohol. We are also recruiting people from a range of socio-economic groups.

At the moment, we are looking specifically for male students/pupils aged 16-18 to take part in a focus group.

I realise that members of the RSS will not be in this age range themselves! I wondered, though, if you could send it out to the mailing list incase people know of any younger relatives/friends/students etc etc that might be interested in taking part. We have been granted ethical approval by a NHS Research Ethics Committee.

The date for the focus group for male students/pupils aged 16-18 is:

Thursday 24th Feb 2011

6pm - 8pm

It will take place at a venue in Glasgow city centre. If people need a taxi home afterwards, we can arrange that for them. Each participant will receive £30 giftcard for H&M.

For more information, or for anyone interested in taking part, if they email me at Fiona.Edgar@glasgow.gov.uk then I will send them out some more information.

Hope this all sounds ok.

Thanks very much,

Fiona

Q+A With Ian Bishop 25/01/11

2011-01-29T18:32:00.002Z

The session began with a brief presentation from head of IRO Ian Bishop:

· Issues relating to taught postgraduate degrees are dealt with at the Learning and Teaching Board.

· Issues relating to research degrees are dealt with at the University’s Research Knowledge Transfer Board (URKTB) on which your president sits as your representative.

· School Boards are where issues relating to the general running of the departments are dealt with.

· IRO exists to support the research staff and students. It is the onbly department within the university that deals with its students from application all the way through to graduation. It organises training events, progression etc.

· IRO reports to the Vice Principal of Research – Ian Bishops line manager – this is currently Roddy Williamson. He then reports to the URKTB.

· There are 3 key ways to resolve any problems you have;

- If a problem relates to university policy – this is dealt with at the URKTB

- The faculties and schools should be approached with issues relating to the local implementation/application of policies

- Your Director of Studies should be approached if problems are of a more personal nature.

· Each faculty has a Research Lead who can also act as a representative of the research students at the URKTB.

Questions were then presented to the IRO representatives

(I – answer from Ian, C – answer from Craig, H – answer from Heather). Comments in italics are made by your president during the type up of her notes!)

Q. How often does the URKTB sit?

A. - H. 4 times a year

At this point Martin complemented the excellent work Heather does on behalf of all research students.

Q. If the poster event is compulsory – why do we have to pay to print our posters?

A. - H. Anyone who does not wish to participate can opt out by getting consent from your Director of Studies, although the event is beneficial to all who attend.

A.- I. I think money will be a repeat issue here today. The contract of a studentship is between the student, the school and the university. IRO does not get enough money but will examine the pressures money issues place on students.

Q. £6000 is not acceptable as a stipend – teaching is needed to subsidise those on this amount. Students on £12000 have different issues to those on the lower stipend. Do fewer students on the lower stipend graduate within the given time? Why are we told not to bring up the issue of the stipend?

A. – I. IRO does monitor student progression. The obligation of the cost of producing posters should not necessarily be passed on to the student. We are not asking you to forget issues with the stipend; however the issue of the stipend should be parked (i.e. we should move on to another topic).

Q. How can the university expect to increase the number of research students on a limited amount of money?

A. – I. It is not easy to look at. The funding package is complicated. The stipend does not relate to quality and the £6000 stipend is not advertised as a full wage. The university needs to increase the number of international students and grant funded students. This will introduce inequality throughout for example international students are not given a stipend at all.

Q. How will the recent budget cuts affect us?

A. – I. This has not yet been discussed within the university. It will possibly be dealt with at the next URKTB meeting. The Research Postgraduate grant has been froze (i.e. we will see not further increase in the near future)

Q. Has IRO looked into finding extra sponsorship, grants etc for research students?

A. – H + I. IRO don’t specifically look for them but we do publicise what we do find. We have distributed the Alternative Guide to Grant Funding to all students and are quite happy to work with you to develop such opportunities. Some members of staff have created employment for research students as a result of grants they have applied for. The Interface grant is a good example. If anyone wishes to apply for a grant they can come and see us for help with the grant application process.

Q. Supervisors do not disseminate data on funding sources to us. What can you do to encourage more partnership/dissemination?

A. - I. It is all about finding appropriate mechanisms that do not take up much time. You must be sure to invest your time in something that is likely to generate a result.

Q. Can we make the Director of Studies more accountable (in regards to money/ grants etc)?

A. – I. This is not my area of experience. Some staff get many grants and publicise a lot. One member of staff has published over 100 articles in the last 18 months (that’s 5 a month or just over 1 a week if he was the first author!!!!). Some areas are harder to fund than others.

A. – H. Grant applications can be de-motivating – the chances of success are slim.

A. – I. You need to get used to the process for an academic career.

A. – H. We could repeat the grant application seminar. IRO can also help with any grant applications you make.

Q. Can we get a list of the grant sources that have awarded staff at this university in the past? (it was mentioned that by applying for a grant that has never been awarded to anyone in the university previously, it is less likely that the application will be a success)

A. I. I am keen to move on to other topics but i will be happy to review the situation. The larger grant sources are not available to students. I would like to take this topic offline (his words not mine !). If you bring your application along to us we can help you develop it. We can provide a Feed for grant application funding to your desktop which can then be tailored to your needs. This is done via your e-mail account (if you would like this service – e-mail heather).

Q. What is IRO doing in regards to improving teaching opportunities for research students?

A. – I. At present there is no policy in place to allow for research students to be given priority for teaching positions (actually there is – according to Hassan he himself passed such a policy through the senate !!!!). We are moving toward a policy which will encourage the use of research students in teaching. It will be a big improvement – research students will not be the sole suppliers of teachers, but part – suppliers. Short term teaching needs will always be available (i.e. when a lecturer is off sick). Recently there has been a change in research personnel (Hassan being replaced as VP of Research by Roddy and Malcolm Foley being the new VP of learning and teaching) and this has led to an increasing enthusiasm on the value that research students bring. To improve the situation it needs a university led initiative and a new policy. This would be good as it may result in an increased need for training to preserve the quality of teaching.

In the past the business school have piloted actions that have later been adopted throughout the university. Ron Livingstone is enthusiastic about involving research students in teaching, as is the dean of the school – Malcolm Foley.

Possible staffing cuts would affect the part-timers first (this is a comment related to the recently announced budget cuts)

It would be good to open up opportunities to students. It would also be good experience as long as it fits in with your work schedule.

Q. – I. What do you think of the three day teaching module?

A. We would like to see more like this. It lacks training in assessment of work as this is in the second part of the module.

I. You do need to be classed as associate lecturers before being exposed to students. IRO has not been responsible for research students for that long. We need to improve the training schedule and make it less flat. Training need vary between faculties, but we are keen to get research students to support the university.

Q. Can we turn the poster event into a research colloquium?

A. – C. The reason we brought in lectures was to make it more like a conference event and to provide students with more experience the opportunity to present. We like new ideas and have discussed making it into a two day event.

Q. We don’t get given any feedback about our posters?

A. – C. We do give out the marking criteria but we did discuss this last year.

A. – I. I like the idea of a bigger event. We would be happy if a couple of people would be willing to work with IRO to improve the situation (if anyone fancies doing this e-mail me).

Q. Who is responsible for our intellectual property?

A. – C. The university at present holds 6 patents – this can be seen on the website Euronet. Your Director of Studies identifies if anything is patentable and if it is begins the patent application process. The student can ask for their intellectual property back if the university is not using it.

Q. Could we do a pod cast of the poster session? Can we use them outside the university?

A. – C. Some of the posters have been placed in the Glasgow Science Centre. You can use them elsewhere as long as you don’t include a date stamp.

Q. As research students can we attend undergraduate modules?

A. – C. If the module is related to your studies, you can attend them for free. You can also attend staff training sessions unless they have specific restrictions.

A. – I. Research training comes out of the IRO budget.

Q. Do we get the UCAS points for modules?

A. – I. You can sit the exams and it will appear on a transcript if you are enrolled within the university or Bell College. Modules can take up your time, you need to make sure that it follows your progression.

Q. Some directors of studies have mentioned that PdP’s (personal development plans) are mandatory – is this true?

A. – I. I will take this online and follow it up.

Q. Can IRO help with professional certifications?

A. – I. Not unless they are required for you PhD. Some are provided within the university – if they occur as part of taught modules, then they are free. The commercial courses offered for external payments are not free. There is a tax implementation relating to professional bodies for the university.

Q. I can get two courses from the university – these are for Java and Oracle – do i have to pay for these?

A. – I. The IT academy offers certification through both commercial courses and internal modules. If you undertake a module as a student – you have to go through IRO to register. If it supports your studies and you Director of Studies signs off on it, the course will be free.

Q. How can you get the schools to co-operate more on research student issues?

A. – I. Transparencies are needed between schools. Any pay variations on teaching/demonstrating duties in a HR discrepancy. We would like all students to be treated equitably. We would prefer the schools to pay for student posters and we are happy to work with groups of students.

Towards the end of the session Ian stated that he thought he would have been questioned on the following issues:

· Staff/student liaison – we need to do something with that.

· Allocation of teaching duties – we are working on it.

· Conference attendance scheme – available through IRO.

· Office Space – on our radar. We don’t like the phrase hotdesking or its implementation. Proposals for provision are in the process of development.

· The student assistance fund exists for those on the £6000 stipend and in hardship.

I leave you with one of Ian’s final comments;

I – We are working on your behalf.

RSS Meeting and Q+A with Ian Bishop

2011-01-26T12:45:00.001Z

These meetings occured on the 24th and 25th Jan 2011 - the minutes and transcripts of these will be posted shortly !!

RSS Xmas Party 2010

2011-01-26T12:39:00.001Z

Hi all,

The Christmas party this year was a casino themed murder mystery. This was very succesful with over 20 people turning up !!

RSS Weekly Digest

2010-09-21T14:16:00.000+01:00

RSS Quiz
We will be hosting a welcome event and ‘pub’ quiz for newly enrolled research students on Friday the 1st October at 17:30 in the RSS Common Room (and the Cafe outside there). IRO have kindly agreed to supply us with a glass of wine or two each, as well as juice for all you non-drinkers out there. You are also invited to bring you own drinks if more than a couple of glasses of wine is what you require on a Friday afternoon! If you wish to attend, please email Charlie.fielding@uws.ac.uk by this Friday the 24th September, if you haven’t already, to help us arrange the quiz teams and drinks.

Welcome Event
There will be a second welcome party event, held in the Union on the 8th October, to which you are all invited to mingle with new students, staff and IRO alike. Again, please email Charlie if you intend to attend.

Election
The election will begin by email a week today and be open for one week – keep your eye out for next week’s newsletter as it will contain a link to the webpage where you can vote. There will be only one vote allocated for each email address on the mailing list so without that email you won’t be able to vote!

Mailing List
If anyone knows of any research student who is not on this mailing list, please let me know. If that research student would like to exercise their vote next week but not be a permanent member of the mailing list, this can be arranged – please let me know.

New Student Guide
Hard copies of the new student guide are in the RSS Common Room for anyone who wants one.

Faculty Representatives
Could those students who have been nominated/elected as student Faculty representatives please email me to let me know who you are.

RSS Weekly Digest

2010-09-15T14:13:00.000+01:00

RSS Common Room
We are still looking for a new volunteer to wash the tea towels from the common room on a regular basis - please email myself or Martin Smith.

Faculty Representatives
Could those students who have been nominated/elected as student Faculty representatives please email me to let me know who you are.

Election
In conjunction with last year's president, Peter Bloomfield, I have drawn up an outline of the roles of both the President and Secretary of the RSS. Please email me if you wish to be nominated for the Presidency, having reviewed this information.
The election will be conducted by email and votes will be counted using the web-based tool, Survey Monkey. If you have any issues with this, please let me know as soon as possible. I intend to open the voting on Monday 27th September and close at midnight on Tuesday the 5th October.

Induction for New Students
The induction for new students is being held on the 1st October. We will be hosting a 'pub' quiz in the Union in the afternoon and early evening, in order to get new students talking to one another. We hope that a number of you will be able to attend so that new students also get a chance to meet existing students - please email Charlie Fielding if you can attend.

Lockers
There are still a large number of lockers available in the RSS Common room for anyone who needs one. Please contact me for keys.

URKTB Meeting 22-09-2010, proposed agenda

2010-09-09T15:25:00.001+01:00

1.Stipend
Some students still feel the stipend is too low and would like the University to reconsider its commitment to the 3 year, £6000 pa stipend for the following reasons:
Students are very unlikely to complete their PhD on a 3 year £6000 stipend. This is both because they must work whilst studying in order to fund their living costs and they have no opportunity to save any money to cover their living costs for the average 6 - 12 months it takes to complete a PhD after funding ceases.
Research students in the School of Computing and the School of Business (Marketing Division) have been told that there is no money whatsoever available to them for the foreseeable future, including in the form of teaching pay. That is, research students in the School of Computing have been categorically told that they will not be able to get paid teaching work or any funding from the School for research at all, under any circumstances. Many are worried that this will affect their ability to carry out their studies as they cannot afford to fund their living expenses or any research related expenses from their stipend alone.
The level of the stipend does not permit international ‘mobility’ to allow effective study between universities in different countries – those who are studying across borders cannot afford to live in the UK and/or away from family on the 6k stipend.
The types of students that the stipend appeals to is very narrow as those with families to support are not able to live on this figure.
More students being recruited to the University will mean that the meagre teaching that is already available will be greatly reduced even further.

A number of students would like the IRO to confirm the specific reason(s) why the stipend was reduced to 6k. There appears to be some discrepancy between those reason(s) previously given and the reason given on the IRO response to the survey results.

2.Email
The University’s IT policy seems to stipulate that email/Exchange accounts be revoked when a student finishes their PhD. This is an issue because:
- They may not actually be ‘finished’ and still be in the writing up stage
- Any person who wishes to contact them, e.g. on the back of an earlier publication, cannot do so and is not given a forwarding address
We need to review this policy so that students are not losing access to their contacts in the latter stages of their PhD and, it has been suggested, set up a means of forwarding mail after the account has been closed down once the PhD is actually awarded, or set up a forwarding message on revoked accounts. It would also be helpful to set up a forwarding mechanism on existing accounts, for those students who often work from home or prefer to use other email accounts/managers. There are also issues with some distance and part-time students who are not ‘eligible’ for university email accounts. This must be addressed.

3.Survey
We need a repeat of the survey from 2009, as soon as possible, in order to assess whether the experiences of research students are changing or stable, especially for new students from the Oct 2010 intake.

4.Assessment
Research students need to be provided with some detailed guidance on the new 12 month interview assessment – specifically, an outline of what we will be asked at the interview.

5.Library
There is concern that the library has now withdrawn the capability to order items from ILL online and that it is planning to implement a maximum number of ILL items per head per year. Some PhDs are very literature heavy and the current library facilities are not adequate without substantial ILL access.

6.Research Funding
The 2009 survey conducted by the IRO into the financial situation of UWS research students articulates a number of issues. Of particular relevance, one third of students reported having to subsidise study-related expenses, while another third reported that they had been unable to undertake essential study-related activities due to funding issues. We do not consider this to be acceptable. Therefore, we aim, in conjunction with the IRO and individual Schools, to confirm/ negotiate:
(i) Which level of administration (Supervisor, School, Faculty, IRO, University) is responsible for providing funding for each specific activity (e.g. conferences, research expenses etc.).
There have also been significant issues for some students, especially in the science faculty, with regards to inappropriate, poor quality or unusable equipment. We feel a level of responsibility should fall on the University to provide funding for the completion on a PhD requiring this equipment if departments/schools are not able to afford this.
(ii) The appropriate contact details for information and application of funding for each of these administrative levels and activities.
(iii) Appropriate sums of money designated by each School to fund the number of students it recruits. We are aware that there is a lack of clarity for some students, some supervisors and some schools concerning the responsibility for research costs and what constitutes adequate funding. We strongly believe that none of these costs should fall upon students. We aim to work towards providing clarity, parity and guidance for all concerned. We feel the cost of a minimum standard of one conference per research student per year should be anticipated by each School, to a minimum agreed value.
(iv) Better information should be given to supervisors and prospective supervisors about sources of external funding for research and for research students. We need to confirm what information is given at present and work to improve that given.

7.Working Conditions
The survey also reveals a lack of clear information regarding the amount of time which should be dedicated to research versus the quantity of time ‘allowed’ for external work. Recent investigations have also uncovered dissatisfaction with the inflexibility of working hours for some students. Therefore, we will work to confirm:
(i) The exact nature of the research student’s commitment to the University, including the negotiation, if applicable, of flexible working arrangements.
(ii) The exact nature of the University’s commitment to the research student in the provision of a suitable working space/desk, computer, email address and internet access. This discussion will include how part time and distance-learning students could be best supported and we will lobby for greater parity between different Schools and modes of study. This is increasingly important considering the number of new research students recruited and we feel a universal hot-desking system is unacceptable and inappropriate for most research students.
It is also essential that research students, going forwards, be given at least 2 months notice of changes to their working conditions, for example, the institution of hot-desking arrangements at their workstation or a change of office.

8. Employment Opportunities
Finally, the survey uncovers a tendency for students to work outside the University. In doing so, they take on more hours than is ideal, at relatively low rates of pay, often with no added value to professional development. We feel that the University and individual Schools should be doing everything they can to provide jobs internally to research students.
We aim, therefore, to work in conjunction with Schools and the IRO, to develop an improved system for the advertisement of internal employment among research students, in order to provide sufficient additional income and more relevant experience. This could, perhaps, take the form of a dedicated website for the advertisement of jobs suitable for research students, with standardised forms and procedures (and not be required to reapply annually for ongoing positions). We not consider the current methods, especially of teaching opportunities by word-of-mouth, to be acceptable in promoting fairness amongst students.

RSS Weekly Digest

2010-09-09T15:24:00.000+01:00

Upcoming URKTB Meeting
Please find attached the items for the agenda we will be putting forward for the upcoming URKTB meeting on the 22nd September. This has also been posted on the RSS blog, the address for which will now be permanently located at the bottom of this weekly newsletter. Please email me with any additions you wish to make or post these on the blog by Monday the 13th September.

Minutes of the last URKTB
The minutes from the last URKTB meeting in April this year have still not been approved by the board. They are therefore still in draft form and cannot be distributed outside members of the board until they are approved at the upcoming meeting on 22-09-2010. The last approved set of minutes from the meeting in February this year are attached.

Inter-Library Loan
The library has recently removed the facility to apply for Inter-Library Loan items online through SFX. If this is a facility you regularly use, we recommend that you contact the library to express an interest in having this facility reinstated.

RSS Meetings
It has been decided that the RSS should hold a regular meeting every 2 months, regardless of the absence/presence of items for an agenda. The next will be held in the first week of November and the date will be notified shortly. Heather Lambie from IRO will be joining us at this meeting, as it was felt by some members at the last RSS Meeting that the role of IRO should be clarified. Heather will, therefore, be present to discuss the exact remit of IRO and answer any questions you may have on the subject.

RSS Common Room
A number of issues were raised at the last RSS meeting regarding the common room. Firstly, could nay students who have borrowed cutlery or crockery from the common room please return it as soon as possible as we are running very low. Secondly, could you please ensure that you do not leave unwashed items in the sink and that you clean up after yourself, particularly in the case of the microwave. Finally, could we please have a new volunteer to wash the tea towels from the common room on a regular basis - please email myself or Martin Smith.

Faculty Representatives
Could those students who have been nominated/elected as student Faculty representatives please email me to let me know who you are.

IRO Funding Initiatives
I'm sure you don't need reminding, but in case you missed the email, IRO have now opened up both the 'hardship' fund and the conference/training fund for this year. For details on how to apply please see IRO. IRO have also released a document providing advice on how to apply for third sector funding for your research.

Election
The election for the position of RSS President will be held on Tuesday the 5th October. We are hoping to run this as a web-based election this year, so that those who cannot be present and those who wish to vote anonymously can do so. Could anyone who either has any issues with this format or anyone who could provide me with any assistance/expertise in organising this please email me as soon as possible. Finally, we have only had ONE nomination for candidacy for this election, so could anyone who wishes to be nominated please let myself or Barry know as soon as possible.

Induction for New Students
The induction for new students is being held on the 1st October. We will be hosting a 'pub' quiz in the Union in the afternoon and early evening, in order to get new students talking to one another. We hope that a number of you will be able to attend so that new students also get a chance to meet existing students - please email Charlie Fielding if you can attend. It is worth noting that we were unable to host this event in the canteen space outside the RSS common room, as was discussed at the RSS meeting, due to the expense of providing alcoholic drinks through catering services instead of the Union bar.

Lockers
There are still a large number of lockers available in the RSS Common room for anyone who needs one. Please contact me for keys.

2010-08-18T16:52:00.000+01:00

Survey Results
The Innovation and Research Office have released the survey results from last year. We have issued a response, both of which you should have already received. If you missed it, these are attached. We welcome your thoughts.

URKTB Meeting
The next URKTB meeting has been set for the 22nd September. We need to compile a list of research student issues to be raised and discussed at the meeting. We are already aware that some students are still concerned over the level of the stipend and, despite the fact that we will no longer be actively pursuing an increased stipend (as detailed in the response to the survey results), the Board will be informed that some students are still concerned over the level of the stipend and of the reasons they have provided for this. We will also be introducing to the Board the RSS Priority Areas for Action as outlined in the response. If you feel you have any points that you wish us to raise at the meeting, please email them to me.

Election
In light of the fact that I am now approaching a year of Presidency of the RSS and that we have worked up a series of action points that a very small minority of students have voiced their concerns/dissatisfaction with, I have decided to open the floor to nominations for the next election. If you feel you might like to stand for Presidency of the RSS, please email me or Barry to discuss any questions you might have or just to put yourself forward. The election won't be held until after the URKTB meeting in September, so its something to think about over the next month or so.

Pub Lunch
The next pub lunch Friday will be next Friday the 27th - meeting outside the library at half past 12.

Loch Lomond Trip

2010-06-15T16:20:00.003+01:00

On Saturday (12th June) we took a trip up to Loch Lomond in the UWS people carrier. We stopped for an hour or so to see the little duckies near Balloch...

...and then drove up to have a BBQ on the beach (yum!). The weather was gorgeous, and some of us got a little burnt (Fraser, Lee...) so we decided the next stop should be a beer garden, naturally.

A couple of pints later (not for the driver of course!) we took a drive up into the hills...

And then back down and home. Lovely.

Not a bad Saturday for a fiver!

Ambisonics Symposium Report

2010-05-11T16:46:00.004+01:00

Despite some set-backs caused by volcanic ash, first year PhD students Barry Watson and Andrew Horsburgh were able to attend the 2010 Ambisonics (3D Audio) Symposium in Paris last week. The event was held at the prestigious IRCAM Centre, birthplace to avant garde forms of electronic music and their associated technologies. It featured papers from a variety of leading researchers in the field, audio demonstrations and an electro-acoustic concert utilising the impressive speaker array of the Projection Space, pictured below.

Barry presented a poster outlining his research entitled ‘Ambisonic acoustics replication for solo musicians in a digital audio workstation environment’.

Virtual Conference

2010-04-27T11:37:00.003+01:00

On Saturday 10th April, Peter J Bloomfield presented at and helped to organise the SLOODLE Moot 2010 virtual conference. It took place entirely over the Internet, in a virtual world called "Second Life", supported by a website at www.sloodle.org. The theme of the conference was anything and everything related to SLOODLE (Simulation Linked Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment), which is an international research and development project involving Internet-based educational technologies. Peter has been a Research Assistant and Lead Developer on the SLOODLE project in the past, and is doing a PhD in the same field. On this occasion he led an interactive session called "SLOODLE Usability: A Critical Walkthrough of Common User Tasks".

The linked images demonstrate the conference.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elusivepete/sets/72157623699079343/

Poster Presentations

2010-04-27T11:32:00.002+01:00

On Friday, May 7, 2010 the University of the West of Scotland is organizing a poster event for its research students. The morning will be dedicated to final year research students presenting their research (M004, Paisley Campus) and the afternoon to first and second year research students displaying a poster related to their research (Student Union, Paisley).

For the students who haven’t attended many conferences as presenters, a poster event is always a valuable opportunity to gain experience in this area. However, the biggest advantage that a university-centered event like can provide is that of networking with peers and getting to know better what other research projects are being undertaken in the university.

I have recently received numerous questions about how should one organize and present a poster. Past experience makes me believe that the most important in a poster presentation is the speaker’s ability to depict and explain his/her research project in a way that is accessible and understandable to a non-academic audience. I would argue that is recommendable to have a sound research idea (with clear objectives, research precedents, methodology and sampling) since that would support the researcher progress in his/her work. However, it is the appeal, enthusiasm and understandable argumentation that would win the attention of the audience. Moreover, I would argue that how the poster looks is less important but when designing it one should keep in mind that the poster’s role is to attract attention. Clarity, balance and color are among the elements that make a successful poster design no matter if the poster uses the traditional rectangular form (be it portrait or landscape) or chooses a different layout. The rule for less clutter applied to powerpoint presentation is valid here as well – the poster’s role is to visually support the researcher’s argument NOT to overshadow it by competing for the audience’s attention. The University of Leicester poster page provides good and sound advice with regards to how a poster can be organized.

I am still hoping to see the day when a poster presentation event would enable better and more innovative integration of new technologies and by that I do not mean allowing presenters to bring a laptop or projecting their poster instead of printing it but rather using augmented reality applications to the give the presentations a new dimension, allowing for live video and audio contact with a second researcher that is not in the room or integrating live voting (using twitter or text messages) for the posters presented.

To conclude, a poster presentation event is a networking opportunity and a chance to practice and polish presentation skills. The poster is there a visual aid but a winning presentation resides from what the researcher says and does than from what the researcher had printed.

Ana ADI

Looking back and looking ahead

2009-12-21T13:04:00.000Z

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Research Students' Society!

It has been quite an eventful year for the RSS in many ways. We have seen positive change and progress in some areas, and red-taped frustration in others! On the whole I believe it has been a good year. Some highlights from 2009:

Worked with IRO to conduct a large-scale survey of research students' financial situations.
Regained our affiliation with the UWS Students' Association.
Gained representation on various committees, including URKTB and SRC.
Confirmed "equal pay for work of equal value" rights for all research students employed at UWS.
Worked with IRO to improve the research students' common room.

Our main hope for the year ahead is probably to see the results from the financial survey disseminated and acted-upon. We are also keen to ensure that the payment rights for research student employed by UWS are upheld.

Finally, we will be seeing a complete change of leadership in 2010 as our new Office Bearers take over. Lisa Garnham was elected to be our new President, and Grzegorz Majewski was elected to be our new Secretary. Best of luck to them both!

Please contribute for kitchen supplies

2009-12-10T14:25:00.001Z

This is a quick reminder for all research students who make use of the kitchen facilities in the research students' room (F102a) on the Paisley campus. The shared tea + coffee, and items such as dish cloths and washing-up liquid, are not paid-for by the University. We need to buy them ourselves, so we would appreciate contributions towards the cost.

Thanks!

RSS elections coming soon

2009-12-07T15:27:00.000Z

The Research Students' Society is organised by two 'Office Bearers': a President and a Secretary. Each year in December the society elects individuals to serve in these posts for the following year. Any research student at the University is eligible (although it usually helps to be based on the Paisley campus).

The elections for the 2010 Office Bearers will be taking place shortly, and research students are invited to nominate themselves. A vote will be taken at the quarterly RSS meeting on 18th December 2009. Anybody unable to attend the meeting is welcome to inform us of their vote via email in advance of the meeting.

Responsibilities of the positions generally include attending a few University meetings, organising social events, and liaising with staff and research students. Some of the major issues we have fought for in the past include studentship stipend level, and payment for research students who teach. We also have the great opportunity to help new research students as they adjust to PhD-life.

If this is something you would like to do, then please get in touch by Friday 11th December. Let us know who you are, and which position you would like to volunteer for. (You are welcome to volunteer for both, although you can only be elected to one of them.) You can email the current President here:

Peter.Bloomfield@uws.ac.uk

Details of the self-nominated individuals will be emailed out to the society on Monday 14th December, so that members can consider their voting options.

Upcoming presentations: Peter R. Bloomfield

2009-11-23T16:54:00.001Z

This week, I will be presenting a complete overview of my PhD so far at a Computing Departmental Seminar in UWS:

Title: "Re-blending learner centred design: Integrating VLE and MUVE technology"
Date: Wednesday 25th November 2009
Time: 4pm-5pm
Venue: D126, Paisley Campus

Everyone is welcome to come along, whether you are from the School of Computing or not. The presentation won't involve any complicated maths or computer code, so technophobes are reasonably safe! :-)

Next week, I will be giving another presentation as part of the PhD evening talk series. I will be focusing on one particular aspect of my research. Once again, everybody is welcome to come along:

Title: "Discussion boards in a 3d environment"
Date: Wednesday 2nd December 2009
Time: 5pm-6pm
Venue: D126, Paisley Campus

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Any Research Student at UWS is welcome to notify us of upcoming presentations and publications, whether they are internal or external. We will do our best publicise your work on our blog. Contact the RSS President for more information.

What about other postgrads?

2009-11-16T14:36:00.000Z

Are you a Postgraduate Taught (PgT) student here at UWS? If you are looking for a group which represents you during your time doing a Masters (or similar) qualification, then please contact the President of the Students' Association:

president@sauws.org.uk

Currently, a condition of our funding is that the Research Students' Society is simply one 'branch' of the "Postgraduate and Research Student Society", which was established as a 'STAR group' by the SAUWS a few years ago. However, there are no Postgraduate Taught students currently organising the other branch.

We can't practically organise that side of things ourselves ("full time" to a PhD student means "full time"!), although we are very willing to stay in touch with such a branch if it forms. It would be a good opportunity for PgTs to find out more about life as a PgR (Postgraduate Research Student), and decide if they would like to take their studies to the next level. We also have talks periodically given by our PgRs about various research areas which may be of interest to PgTs, and I'm sure many PgTs would be able to give interesting talks too.

At the next quarterly meeting of the Research Students' Society, we will be discussing this issue (it should occur around mid-December). A vote will be taken regarding our continued affiliation with SAUWS. The decision may be that the funding as a STAR group is not worth the restrictions imposed, in which case we will disaffiliate. At that point, we may seek to gain funding as a social society, or simply revert to being completely self-funded.

Watch this space for details!

PhD Evening Talks: "Wines with a little bit of POP"

2009-11-16T12:25:00.002Z

Iain McLellan will be giving a talk this week on the topic of "Wines with a little bit of POP". Everyone is welcome to attend, whether you are a member of staff, a student, or an interested outsider. We will have the opportunity to 'decant' to a local pub afterwards for discussion of the subject-matter.

Date: Wednesday 18th November 2009
Time: 5pm
Venue: D126, Paisley campus

The PhD evening talks are organised by the UWS Research Students' Society. Attending these is a great opportunity to learn something new, and to find out what other research students are working on. And delivering a talk is a great experience, and useful practice for future research events. Please get in touch with us if you would like to be involved.

The subsequent talk will be on 2nd December: "Discussion boards in a 3d environment", by Peter R. Bloomfield. More details will follow nearer the time.

Workshop presentation by Peter R. Bloomfield

2009-11-06T13:10:00.002Z

(After some consideration, I decided not to write about myself in the 3rd person for this...!)

I am a PhD student in the UWS School of Computing, and will be conducting a workshop session next week at the National Workshop on Learning in Immersive Worlds. The event is on Wednesday 11th November, and is organised by the Learning Innovation Applied Research Group of Coventry University.

My session is entitled "Breaking out: Getting web-based learning activities and materials into Second Life using SLOODLE". It will look at how the open source SLOODLE project helps to take learning materials and activities (such as documents and chatrooms) from the flat world of the web, and make them accessible and usable in the immersive (3d) virtual world Second Life. The relevance of this to education, and the potential future it has, will be discussed.

-Peter R. Bloomfield

[Any UWS Research Student is welcome to announce forthcoming presentations and publications on this blog. Send details to the RSS President if you would like to do this.]

Please keep the common room clean

2009-10-27T10:11:00.000Z

The research students' room (F102a) on the Paisley Campus is a privilege which the university has granted us. It is very important that we each take responsibility to make sure we leave it clean and tidy.

This includes:

Washing, drying, and putting away dishes and cutlery as soon as possible after use
Putting rubbish in the bin
Cleaning surfaces and appliances if you spill something
Disposing of old food before it goes bad

Please make sure you take responsibility for the room so that we can all continue to enjoy it. Thanks!

Research student successes: Ana ADI

2009-10-06T09:40:00.000+01:00

Our colleague, Ana ADI (PDF), now in her 3rd year of her PhD has obtained this summer a prestigious grant from the Olympic Studies Centre which allowed her to travel to Lausanne and undertake primary research at the International Olympic Committee. The postgraduate programme is highly competitive, only seven grants being awarded this year. Ana’s PhD examines the Beijing Olympic Games of 2008 from a new media and communications perspective, investigating China's image in relation to the online human rights debate.

(Click "Read more" to continue reading...)

While in Lausanne Ana also attended the International Olympic Committee’s first ever forum on Sport, Peace and Development. Her review of the forum was published recently in Culture @ the Olympics (PDF).

After her grant in Lausanne, Switzerland, Ana received an invitation to attend the 17th Postgraduate Session of the International Academy held in July in Olympia, Greece and participated to a two-weeks long summer school in Beijing on Media Regulations in the Era of Convergence in August.

Have you got a story of achievements or successes as a research student at UWS? If so then send them to the President of the UWS Research Students' Society.

Research Students' Party: Friday 9th October

2009-10-05T11:58:00.001+01:00

All UWS research students (new and old) and their supervisors are invited to the research student party this week:

Date: Friday 9th October
Time: 5pm - 8pm
Venue: Students' Union, Level 1

If you plan to attend, then please inform Charlie or Heather at the IRO.

Virtual Tour: Paisley Campus

2009-10-02T16:08:00.003+01:00

A Virtual Tour of Paisley campus was presented at the Research Students Induction today. As promised, here is the link to view it online:

http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhd4fjpw_7cx2dbggn

If you are unable to view it, then please let me know (add a comment to this post) and I will make it available in an alternative format.

Post removed at request of SAUWS

2009-10-01T12:29:00.003+01:00

This post has been removed at the request of the SAUWS as a condition of our funding.

If we decide in a vote at our next quarterly meeting to continue affiliation to the SAUWS, then this message will be removed completely. If we choose to disaffiliate then the original post will be restored.

Access other libraries using SCONUL Access

2009-09-29T17:01:00.001+01:00

Research students sometimes find that the resources in their UWS campus library are not sufficient. For example, they may not have the book you need, or the journal archive may not date back far enough. Facilities such as Inter-Library Loans are often useful, but sometimes not enough.

An alternative solution is SCONUL Access:

http://www.access.sconul.ac.uk/

According to the website:

SCONUL Access is a reciprocal access scheme, granting borrowing privileges to many types of library users working or studying at participating higher education libraries in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

To use this scheme, you need to fill-in an application form, and get it authorised at your UWS campus library. (Click here for more information about accessing other libraries using SCONUL Access.)

More information about other services offered by the UWS library is available here:

http://www.uws.ac.uk/schoolsdepts/library/services.asp

"Table Talk" for International Students

2009-09-25T15:16:00.000+01:00

We have quite a few international research students here at UWS. Any of you who are based at the Paisley campus might like to know about "Table Talk". It is a weekly event throughout the semester, held in a nearby church hall. It is a chance for you to meet other international students and to practice your English.

Weekly every Tuesday, 7.30pm to 9.30pm.
Place: "Central Baptist Church", Lady Lane, Paisley

I have put some information about this in the Research Students' Room (F102a) in front of the notice-board. There is also some information on the Table Talk blog.

Please note, this is not organised by the University. It is organised by "Friends International", which is a Christian organisation. However, the events are aimed at people of any faith (or no faith at all).

Pub Lunch Friday: 25th September 2009

2009-09-22T11:12:00.004+01:00

We are approaching the last Friday of the month, meaning it's time once again for Pub Lunch Friday. The usual arrangements apply this month:

Date: Friday 25th September 2009
Time: 12.30pm
Place: The Wallace (St. Mirren St, Paisley)

Our usual pub (The Wallace) is a friendly place with good food at reasonable prices, and there's usually enough seating for us. It is easy walking distance from the Paisley campus. For anybody who does not know the way, we usually meet outside the University Library a few minutes beforehand and walk round there together.

All Research Students are welcome to join us. If this is your first time coming to an RSS social event, then don't be intimidated... we are all quite nice really! If you don't know any of us, then just look for somebody resembling my picture:

I'll be outside the library from about 12.25pm onwards. Hope to see you there!

Welcoming new Research Students

2009-09-22T10:38:00.006+01:00

Enrolment is coming up soon for new Research Students at UWS, so we would like to welcome you and invite you to be involved with the Research Students' Society.

You don't need to do anything to be represented by us. In fact, you can ignore us completely if you want to! But you are always welcome to get in touch with us if you have any problems or questions at all, or if you would just like to socialise a little.

Click "Read more" to find out more about us...

Activities
We organise 3 main activities as a society:

Social -- opportunities to get to know other research students, including our monthly "Pub Lunch Friday" and our annual Christmas meal
Research -- a programme of talks throughout the trimester, giving you a chance to find out what other research students are doing
Business -- quarterly meetings of the society to discuss important issues and take necessary actions

If all you want to do is come to the social events, then that is OK... but we would love to see you at the other events too. Information about events is usually sent out via email (contact Peter to be included on the mailing list), and hopefully it will be posted here in future too.

Facilities
There is a Research Students' Common Room available for your use on the Paisley campus, all day, every day. It is room F102a, and you can access it from the Snack Bar on the ground floor of F block. A security combination is required to access the room. Again, contact Peter for information, and please do not share the code as the room is for use by Research Students only.

The Common Room has recently been improved a lot (thank you IRO!), and includes some great facilities for relaxing and making your lunch.

And Finally...
Being a Research Student isn't always easy. There are ups and downs, lots of challenges to face, and sometimes a lot of isolation. Remember that we are here to support each other as a community. Everybody involved in running the Research Students' Society is a research student too, so we know what you are facing.

Please do get involved with the society if you are able to. We would be delighted to get to know you.

-Peter R. Bloomfield
Society President