Meeting of Minds 2010
Meeting of Minds is an annual, free conference for research students held on campus, this year taking place on Thursday 10 June.
The event offers research postgraduates the opportunity to present their research to an audience outside their research area, dealing with highly complex themes in a coherent, accessible form, as well as poster competition to explain research. However, this is not a normal academic conference: the main criteria spoken presentations and posters will be judged on is how well ideas are communicated. You should not need in-depth knowledge of the subject to be understood!
There are also workshops for researchers to develop communication skills and external speakers (to be confirmed), talking about what employers are looking for from doctoral graduates, what opportunities exist and what research students can do to increase their employability.
Communicating with non-specialists is increasingly important in academic, governmental and commercial fields: the public, media, research councils, sponsors, company directors and public bodies all want to know what we're working on and why. Have you got these skills?
Potential employers often ask for doctoral graduates to be able to communicate intelligently and effectively, and be able to demonstrate experience they have doing so. Conferences are a key means of developing this competency, but cost and the high level of specialism means they can be unsuitable.
As well as student speakers, there are a range of guest speakers, including Dr Tennie Videler from Vitae,the national body for skills and careers development for researchers, talking on the value of research, professional postgraduate coach Paul Toombes giving training session on the value of research skills, Dr Margarida Dolan gives a training session on 'Presenting your Research With an International Twist’ and training consultant Josie Dixon on ‘Research and Communication Skills in the Wider World'. Dr Alan Bunch of the University's Career Advisory Service will be speaking on postgraduate career opportunities and Chair of SORTED student trainers, Michael Ayers, will be delivering a session on producing conference posters.
An overview of last year's conference can be found at Meeting of Minds 2009.
