Digital Researcher Online 2012 - 20 February 2012

Digital Researcher Online 2012 - 20 February 2012 - http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/346891/Digital-Researcher-online.html.

This is an event organised by Vitae who provide support to researchers, and which is being run online as well as the meeting itself which is oversubscribed.

This is from Vitae's description -

"Designed for both postgraduate researchers and research staff within any UK institution, Digital Researcher Online is the online programme of the oversubscribed Vitae Digital Researcher event, offering all those who could not physically attend the event the opportunity to tune in and get involved with the day's activity.
Digital Researcher Online will explore how new technologies and tools (microblogging, RSS feeds, social networking and social citation sharing) can be used to enhance your research and raise your professional profile."

"What to expect as an online participant...
10:00 - Introduction
•A short interview with Dr Tristram Hooley on Digital Researcher 2012 and the current digital landscape.10:30 - 11:15 - Morning plenary
•Join us online and tune-in to the opening plenary of Digital Researcher. During this session we'll be covering academic practice, the role of social media and intellectual property.
15:45 - 16:30 - Keynote speaker

•Prof Martin Weller, Open University - 'Digital Scholarship'."

The Digital Researcher 2012 - Go Digital 2012! - British Library - London

This Vitae event is for Research postgraduates and staff. Vitae are an organisation that provides support, resources and events to researchers. The website for a full description and booking is http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/315321/Digital-Researcher.html.

"Vitae in partnership with The British Library are running Digital Researcher 2012: an innovative, thought-provoking one day event to help researchers make the most of new technologies and social media tools in their research.

Designed for both postgraduate researchers and research staff within any UK institution, this interactive event will be held at the British Library on Monday 20th February 2012, and will provide an opportunity for researchers to think about how they undertake research and to consider whether new technologies could improve their research."

Oxford University warns of losing talented students - BBC News

This is an interesting article from BBC about how lack of funding for research could cause UK to lose out to other countries economcally. This is a warning from the Vice Chancellor of Oxford University.

Oxford University warns of losing talented students - By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15170451 -

"Oxford University's vice-chancellor has warned that a lack of funding will make it difficult to compete with international rivals.
Professor Andrew Hamilton warned that the UK's universities would struggle to compete for the best research students in the "global market for talent".
This was not only about competing with top US universities, but also China and India, said Prof Hamilton.
The UK's higher education sector would "increasingly lose out", he said.
In his annual speech, Prof Hamilton highlighted concerns about funding for postgraduate research."

I've also posted this on the Vitae Researchers blog - What's up Doc blog - http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/346441-464371/Oxford-University-warns-of-losing-talented-students.html.

Careers in Academia - September - Vitae - Birmingham 13th Sep 2011

This is a useful free careers event for Vitae. Vitae are a very helpful organisation for researchers. I'll copy and paste the details below, from their website. More information and the booking form are available on the website -
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/53174-382791/Careers-in-Academia---September-.html.

13th Sep 2011

"
This interactive one-day event is aimed at postgraduate researchers and will enable you to:

* review the current higher education environment
* meet with successful academics from a range of disciplines to hear how they advanced their academic career
*understand the balance required between skills, achievements and building your professional profile
*review where you are in your career, where you want to be and how to get there
*ask questions that you've always wanted to but weren't sure who to ask network with fellow researchers
*develop an action plan to strategically manage your career.

The research carried out by the UK's higher education sector is held in extremely high regard by the international community. In producing 8% of the world's scientific papers and 13% of the world's most highly cited works, the UK ranks second only to the USA. The UK's research staff are central to this achievement*.

Like most careers, there are many elements that are required in order to develop a successful academic career and these are not always transparent. This event addresses how to succeed in a competitive and complex research environment and will allow you to think about the pros and cons of different career options available.
"

Vitae - What makes a successful researcher? invitation to take part in a focus group June 15th London

This is a forum organised by Vitae who assist research stuents and staff in their development. Vitae will refund travel expenses for this focus group.

This is the event description and contact details copied and pasted from Vitae :-

The Researcher Development Framework (RDF) is a comprehensive new approach to enhancing the careers of researchers. It was developed through interviews with successful researchers in a range of disciplines. It encourages you to identify your strengths and prioritise your professional development. Divided into four domains and 63 descriptors it covers all the skills and attributes to become a successful researcher. The RDF enables you to consider skills and experiences that will enhance your career prospects and articulate your knowledge, behaviours and attributes to employers. It is not exclusive to people hoping to pursue an academic career (there are some frequently asked questions on the RDF).

The RDF has been incorporated into a 'Professional Development Planner' to allow you to identify the areas you want to develop further, create an action plan and record evidence of your progress. You can use it to help you plan for your long term career ambitions but also to make a feasible short term plan. The planner allows you to set targeted aspirational goals. For each descriptor there are successive phases of ability. Read the phases and decide which phase best describes you currently (with as much evidence as possible). Decide where you would like to be and come up with an action plan with realistic goals and time lines to get you there (using training, experience, practice, networking etc.)

I will be starting a pilot on using the RDF planner next week, culminating in a focus group in London on 15 June. This is a great chance for you to focus on your personal development and get help drawing up your action plan. It is also an opportunity for you to inform the development of a powerful career tool for all researchers in the UK. Your input would be invaluable in ensuring the Researcher Development Framework is an effective personal, professional and career enhancing resource for postgraduate researchers and research staff.

We’ll refund travel expenses for the focus group. Please send me an email at tennie.videler@vitae.ac.uk to take part or get some more information, ideally before 1 June.

Looking forward to seeing some of you on 15 June!

What's up doc? Blog Training Day - Attending May 12th - Birmingham

I'm delighted to have been accepted for this event, and looking forward to going on May 12th. It's a good opportunity for me.

I'll include the details below -

"Blog Training Day - a few places still left!

12 May 2011, Birmingham

'What's up doc?' is a new blog which provides a forum for postgraduate researchers to share experience, give information and tips on matters relevant to them in a fun, yet informed way.

As part of the launch we will run a free blog training day in Birmingham on 12 May. Apart from learning what makes a good blog post, we will also explore how to increase your online profile. To apply:

post an example of an article on the
'What's up doc?' blog
send an email outlining why you want to be involved, what discipline your research is in and what you would do to champion 'What's up doc?' to tennie.videler@vitae.ac.uk before 9 May.
We will select applicants based on this and reimburse reasonable travel expenses. Places are limited.

http://www.vitae.ac.uk/whatsupdoc"

What's up doc? Join the blog for postgraduate researchers - My case for an invite

This relates to my previous post of April 7th about the research blogging event in Birmingham next month. I've posted to their blog and emailed them to make my case for inclusion. This is my post to their 'What's up doc?' blog - Postgraduate Conference for Computing: Applications and Theory (PCCAT 2011). The post itself is about a different event, a computing Conference at Exeter University and the abstract of my paper for that.

What's up doc? Join the blog for postgraduate researchers

Below are details of an interesting event about blogs for and by researchers :-

'What's up doc?' is a new blog which provides a forum for postgraduate researchers to share experience, give information and tips on matters relevant to them in a fun, yet informed way.

It replaces GRADBritain, which has been a popular online magazine written by and for postgraduate researchers studying in the UK.

As part of the launch we will run a free blog training day in Birmingham on 12 May. Apart from learning what makes a good blog post, we will also explore how to increase your online profile. To apply:

* post an example of an article on the 'What's up doc?' blog

* send an email outlining why you want to be involved, what discipline your research is in and what you would do to champion 'What's up doc?' to tennie.videler@vitae.ac.uk before 25 April.

We will select applicants based on this and reimburse reasonable travel expenses. Places are limited.