Welcome to our weekly update highlighting news and upcoming events for the PGR community for the week ending Friday 26 February 2021.
In our update this week:
- Induction – Let’s Talk about Supervisory Relationships
- RDF planner drop-ins | 2 & 4 March
- Library Research Support Sessions
- Survey – Student Experiences of Imposter Phenomenon
- PubhD – 17 March 2021 and opportunities to speak at other sessions
- Online Literary Event | Friday 5 March 1900-2000
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1. Induction – Let’s Talk about Supervisory Relationships
Following on from our Induction/Welcome session and the Ethics briefing, we’d now like to invite our new PGR students to the third session in the series.
The quality of your relationship with your supervisor or supervisors can be crucial to the progress of your doctorate. There are some common student: supervisor relationship issues for doctoral students in all disciplines. In this session, we will draw on scenarios to stimulate discussion and signpost to a range of resources to support the management of the supervisory relationship. We will offer supervisor and doctoral programmes management perspectives to help you to identify effective practices and behaviours for managing supervisory relationships.
This session is open to all SHU Doctoral Students at any level of study, but will be particularly useful for new doctoral researchers. It will be led by Dr Nicola Palmer and Professor Doug Cleaver from the Doctoral School Team and Professor Lisa Hopkins from SERI with input from SHU Postgraduate Research Tutors in a range of subject areas.
Please book your place at the event via the booking link provided in the Friday email. You will also find information there about the pre-task that needs to be completed prior to attending the session.
This session is for doctoral students only and not open to supervisors. Separate training is offered to supervisors as part of the Supervisor Development Course and in other bespoke sessions. Please see the doctoral training part of the Doctoral School Blog site.
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2. RDF planner drop-ins | 2 & 4 March
As part of the RF1 process, new doctoral researchers will need to use the RDF planner online tool to undertake a skills audit and plan some priority areas for development. These drop-in sessions are provided to show you how the tool works and as an opportunity for you to ask any questions you might have about it. No booking necessary.
Tuesday 2 March | 1100-1130 – link provided in the Friday email
Thursday 4 March | 1500-1530 – link provided in the Friday email
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3. Library Research Support Sessions
The Library Research Support are running sessions for all researchers on a number of topics:
Finding and managing information
Research data management
Reference management tools
Open Access
Being an influential researcher
Getting published
Full details and booking information at their Events page.
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4. Survey – Student Experiences of Imposter Phenomenon
Are you a postgraduate/PhD Sheffield Hallam University student? Do you identify as being from a BAME background?
Do any of statements below describe how you sometimes think or feel?
- People around me think I am more capable than I am. It’s only a matter of time until I get found out
- My achievements are mainly down to good luck or other people’s help
- I find it hard to understand how I got on to a postgraduate/doctorate course
- When I make a mistake I am worried it will expose me as a ‘fraud’ or let people know I don’t know what I am really doing
The statements above are associated with something described as ‘Imposter Phenomenon’ (IP), and it is surprisingly common amongst students. However, relatively little is known about how it impacts students from BAME backgrounds. If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above questions, we would really like to understand more about your experiences. Participating in the study involves completing an anonymous online questionnaire. You will be invited to complete a brief standard measure of IP, and then respond to some questions about your own feelings/experiences of IP. It is expected to take no more than 15-20 minutes to complete.
It is hoped that the findings will contribute to a better understanding of how feelings of academic belonging and IP may be experienced by postgraduate students from BAME backgrounds. This knowledge will help inform future approaches at SHU to improve the experiences of postgraduate BAME students.
The link provided in the Friday email will take you the survey. You will be provided with full information before deciding whether you wish to take part.
Participation is voluntary and all information is anonymous.
Please contact the project lead for further information about the study:
Dr Laura Kilby: l.kilby@shu.ac.uk ,Psychology, Sociology & Politics
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5. PubhD – 17 March 2021 and opportunities to speak at other sessions
The next PubHD is on Wednesday 17 March and there are already 2 speakers lined up. If you’d like to attend, you can get your ticket via Eventbrite on https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pubhd-sheffield-online-march-2021-tickets-142217637783
If you would like to present at an event, you will need to send across a 100 word abstract to pubhdsheffield@gmail.com and the team will get back to you. You can let them know if you’d like to present this month (send it in by 1 March) or are looking for a spot in April.
More details including FAQs are on the PubhD Sheffield website
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6. Online Literary Event | Friday 5 March 1900-2000
Yvonne Battle-Felton has provided information about a literary event which may be of interest:
Book-able Space, African-American Lit-Literary Salon (US Embassy London) | Friday 5 March | 1900-2000 GMT – Featuring Malawi’s Sisters by Melanie S Hatter. Reading followed by live Q&A. To watch live or join in by Zoom, Go to Bookable Space African-American Lit-Literary Salon on Facebook.
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If you would like to highlight any events that might be of interest to the SHU PGR community, share any good news stories or wish to request any specific development sessions that would appeal to cross-disciplinary PGR students or supervisors, please get in touch via doctoralschool@shu.ac.uk We’re always pleased to hear from you.
You can find upcoming events in the doctoral school calendar (including the weekly PGR Focus Thursday and PGR Virtual Café events – Link to join Virtual Cafe | https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/doctoralschool/events/
As the lockdown situation continues, the need is as great as ever to look after our physical and mental health and each other. Please stay connected. You can find help and information about supporting your wellbeing via the University website on https://www.shu.ac.uk/wellbeing
Best wishes,
Nicola, Elizabeth and Liz