The SWDTP Conference 2020 will be held in Bath in November (date and venue to be announced). However, planning this event will start in early spring!
The annual SWDTP conference is a conference organised for students by students. Think you’ve got what it takes to conceptualise, organise and run a successful conference? Well, we are looking for enthusiastic and committed people to organise this years event.
The conference is free of charge and is open to all PGR students across the five SWDTP institutions, regardless of funding source. It is a great way to get conference presentation experience and meet other students, who are at different stages of their research, to share ideas and details of projects, plans and experiences.
More importantly, for the organising committee, it presents a fantastic skills development opportunity in devising, developing, planning, organising and hosting an academic conference in a collaborative and supportive setting. There are a whole raft of things to get involved in from reviewing abstracts and finding keynote speakers, to creating posters and booklets, running social media and booking facilities and not forgetting the most important element of any conference, ordering the sandwiches!
Want to be involved? Got burning ideas for themes or topics? Got an eye for detail or a flair for organising? Then don’t delay, we want to hear from you today!
It’s been a month since Chris Shaw’s keynote speech closed the 2019 SWDTP Student Conference!
I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone who made the day such a massive success, including:
The 150 people who attended this years conference, the SWDTP’s best ever attendance!
The 38 people who presented on their interests and research. We had such wide ranging topics from “Silent sex workers and secret knowledge: Communicating the unspeakable” to “Using polygenic scores to understand exposure to bullying” to “Lets talk about ducks”!
To Kelly Preece, Caitlin Knight, Tim Morris, Fiona Crawford and Professor Justin Dillon who presented riveting workshops, more information on which you can find below.
Also to Kelly Preece, Caitlin Knight and their student volunteers Maike Klein and Helen Foster Collins for their radio interviews providing a fantastic example of effective communication.
To Rob Freathy of the University of Exeter, who battled through technical difficulties to open the conference with a brilliant keynote speech on “Research, Researchers and Researching: Creating an Effective and Innovative Learning Environment”
To Chris Shaw, the Clerk of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in the House of Commons, who gave a fantastic closing keynote speech on “Giving your research impact in policy making” as well as running a workshop on “Communicating research effectively with parliament”.
Effective and Innovative Communication of your Research
Wednesday 13th November 2019 University of Exeter, St Luke’s Campus
Dear SWDTP Students,
It’s been a while since you have had an update from the committee and the work we have been doing for the conference in little under a month away.
Let me tell you where we are at the moment. There is a lot to take in… here we go:
– Abstracts: We have had an overwhelming number of abstracts submitted this year. We have now informed all those who have been successful and those were not successful this time. The quality of the abstracts were great but due to time and space we had to reject some based on the three reviewers scores. If you submitted an abstracts and haven’t heard from us then please do let us now.
– Posters: We have had a great number of posters that have been submitted so far. You do not have to register first and can bring posters on the day. However, registering means that we can reserve you a space.
– Workshops: We have at least 6 workshops happening throughout the day around the theme of communication. These workshops are not bookable in advance and are only bookable on the day. When you register and collect your credentials you will also then be able to head over to the ‘Workshop Registration Desk’ and pick 1 or 2 workshops you are interested in attending. This will based on a first come first serve basis.
– Keynote Speakers: We are delighted to announce that our two keynote speakers have all been confirmed. In the morning, Professor Rob Freathy from University of Exeter will be giving his address. At close of conference, Chris Shaw who is the Clerk in the House of Commons will be delivering his address.
– Catering: We have a great local caterer (Birch Catering) who will be supplying this year’s food and refreshments. There will be unlimited tea and fresh filter coffee all day along with orange and apple juice and a delicious buffet in the afternoon for lunch. Birch Catering will also be making fresh sandwiches and snacks with ant left over ingredients to donate to a local homeless charity.
– Reusable Cups/Water bottles: If you have a reusable cup or water bottle then please bring it with you so that we can contribute towards sustainability. If you don’t have one, don’t worry, paper cups will be provided.
– Drinks Reception: We have put on a really nice drinks reception at the end of the conference serving both soft and alcoholic drinks. There will also be bar snacks and Canapes served.
– Coach Travel: For those of you coming from Bath and Bristol, please don’t forget that there are railway works between Bristol Temple Meads and Exeter St David’s on the day of the conference. The SWDTP Conference Committee and the SWDTP team in Bristol have worked hard to try and sort this out. We have now been able to put on a FREE and DIRECT coach service from Bristol Tempe Meads straight to St Luke’s campus. The time this takes works out to be roughly the same time it would be to travel by train to Exeter St David’s and either walk or get a bus shuttle to St Luke’s. You should have received details of this from the committee. If you haven’t please let us know and we will send the information to you. Please note that spaces are filing quickly and we only have 63 spaces.
– Timetables and Programme: We are still working on the timetable and programme and the next stage for us is to look at themes from the abstracts. We have already placed papers into some themes and the committee will be looking at this in our next committee meeting. Programmes will be available online and you will also receive one in your conference pack when you register.
– Stalls and Pop-up shops: We have invited Blackwell’s the book shop to this year’s conference who will be setting up a pop-up shop. They will be selling wide selection of books relating to PhD study. They will also be offering various discounts so please visit them in our ‘Pop-up SWDTP Café’. We will also be hosting some stands from various groups and organisations, so please visit them and say ‘hi’.
I hope this gives you an idea of where we are up to. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of the committee members for their hard work. The committee members have put in a huge amount of hours so far into planning this and a lot of hours into travelling around the partnership institutions. The committee are not paid to do this and it is completely voluntary. There have been some challenges faced with room bookings, travel from Bristol and Bath and timetabling, all of which have been overcome due to the dedicated hard working conference committee. If you see any of the committee during the conference, please say hi to them and thank them for all their hard work!
The SWDTP Student Conference is an annual event, organised for students by students. The conference is free of charge and is open to all PGR students across the five SWDTP institutions, regardless of funding source. It is a great way to get conference presentation experience and meet other students, who are at different stages of their research, to share ideas and details of projects, plans and experiences. For the organising committee it presents a fantastic skills development opportunity in devising, planning and hosting an academic conference in a collaborative and supportive setting.
