Wild Ride: Surviving and Thriving... Through the Doctoral Journey and Beyond
Wednesday 22 May 2024, Student Life Building, LJMU
#PGRFest24
The Postgraduate Research Festival is an annual event for the whole LJMU PGR Community, organised by a committee of PGRs. The 2024 event theme was the 'wild ride' of a doctoral journey, navigating bumps in the road as a researcher: dealing with adversity, unexpected challenges, and opportunities for growth and resilience. We were delighted to welcome Dr Yvonne Couch as the Festival keynote. Yvonne is an Associate Professor of Neuroimmunology in the Radcliffe Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford. She regularly blogs about science, research life and career topics for the Dementia Researcher ECR network.
The festival hosted the LJMU Three Minute Thesis Final, a poster competition, workshops for PGRs on topics from fieldwork and writing to academic careers and failure. This year participants raised £450 for The Whitechapel Centre Liverpool, thanks to a raffle for a host of exciting researcher self-care-themed prizes!
09:45-11:00 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) University Final
11:00-11:30 Break
11:30-12:30 Parallel Workshops #1: choose from 'How to Improve your Academic Writing' with Dr Conan Leavey, or 'The Doctoral Rollercoaster: the ups and downs of working in academia and the corkscrews in between' with Dr Maddy Stevens
12:30-13:30 Lunch
13:30-14:30 Poster Session
14:30-15:30 Parallel Workshops #2: choose from 'Thriving in your Fieldwork' with Dr Luiza Figueirado Passos, or 'How to be an Academic Failure' with Prof Joe Moran
15:30-16:00 Break
16:00-17:00 Keynote, Dr Yvonne Couch, Alzheimer's Research UK Fellow, University of Oxford, 'Academic Burnout: Signs, Symptoms and Sympathy'
17:00-17:30 Closing remarks, poster, 3MT and raffle prize winners
17:30-18:30 Drinks reception
The PGR Festival is taking place in person, but some elements, including the 3MT and the keynote presentation, will be available to follow remotely via Teams. Please contact PGRFestival@ljmu.ac.uk for the joining link.
Competition winners
Three Minute Thesis Competition
Judges’ Choice Winner:Jessa Mae Canas, ENR, “Computational wear analysis of shoulder replacements” (Jessa now goes through to the UK 3MT quarter finals). View presentation here.
Judges’ Choice Runner-up:Gemma Dale, LBS, “Exploring employee wellbeing and remote work. Developing an organisational framework for healthy hybrid work”. View the presentation here. View presentation here.
People’s Choice Winner: Louise Rimmer, LSS, “The song of fallen angels: telling the terrorist’s story.” View presentation here.
Poster Competition – early stage PGR category:
Judges’ winner (joint): Zoe Torsney, EDN, “Powering up or powering through? Experiences of key adults supporting autistic children via an EHCP” and Emily Williams, ENR, “You wouldn't steal a face”
Judges’ runner-up:Bethany Shackleton, BES, “Developing an approach for assessing the welfare of wild birds through the use of bioacoustics analysis”
People’s Choice Winner:Rio Foster, PSY, “Green social prescribing: can nature-based, non-clinical community assets improve children and young peoples mental health?”
Poster Competition – mid and later stage PGR category:
Judges’ winner (joint): Zoe Bell, SPS, “Exploring the perceived effectiveness of contact centre health initiatives” and Connie Pike, SJS, “Recovery ready research: a framework to ensure that the methods we adapt to research recovery communities are indeed recovery ready.”
Judges’ runner-up: Ian Eustace, NAP, “Integrated care management for patients following acute stroke: evidence synthesis and development of a novel holistic approach to stroke care”
People’s Choice Winner: Ban Al-Hasani, CBE, “Optimizing rainwater harvesting: geospatial site selection strategies for climate-resilient solutions.”
Three Minute Thesis
The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is a communications competition for doctoral researchers, originating at the University of Queensland. It challenges researchers to tell an intelligent, non-specialist audience what the research is about, why they are doing it, and why anyone should care in just three minutes.
LJMU 2024 3MT Finalists:
Jessa Mae Canas (Engineering), Computational wear analysis of shoulder replacements:
Gemma Dale (Business), Exploring employee wellbeing and remote work. Developing an organisational framework for healthy hybrid work:
Louise Rimmer (Screen School), The song of fallen angels: telling the terrorist’s story
Ingrid Boedker (Psychology), Infant sleeping location and touch-mediated mother-infant outcomes: Liverpool night-time caregiving study:
Zoe Bell (Sport & Exercise Sciences), Improving the working conditions and health of contact centre advisors:
Andrew Munro (Law), Economic and social rights and the limits of law:
Mark Arnold (Nursing & Advanced Practice), Case study: how do residents transition between their care home and the emergency department?
Naomi Walsh (Biological & Environmental Sciences), AI enhanced camera monitoring for zoological collections: assessing behaviour and welfare
David Hitchmough (Engineering), Air lubrication: is it all air under the ship?
Remi Adetayo (Education), Evaluating the integration of digital pedagogies in the Continuing Professional Development of English language academic staff: a case study of three Nigerian universities
Olivia Brennan (Law), Questions of identity: the problem of internal self-determination in international law
Ravija Ravindra Kadam (Pharmacy & Biomolecular Sciences), The quest for flawless skin: future or futile?
Libby Robinson (Education), Exploring the benefits of having a sensory hub at LJMU
Research Posters
Over 50 PGRs presented posters at the PGR Festival. This was an opportunity for PGRs to use creative skills to present research visually, and share work with a wide audience beyond schools and faculties.
There were two categories for prizes: early-stage researcher and mid-later-stage researcher, with Judges’ Choice and People’s Choice winning prizes for each category.
The competition brief was to create a poster with visual impact, offering a taster of the research in a way that is accessible to a non-specialist academic audience. All in fewer than 500 words!
Planning of the PGR Festival is led by a committee of doctoral researchers:
Naomi Walsh
I am Naomi Walsh, a second year PhD Researcher from the School of Biological and Environmental Sciences. My research focusses on technology solutions for zoo research, and alongside the PGR Festival Planning Team I also sit on a number of zoo research focussed committees. I look forward to working in collaboration with my fellow PGRs to deliver an exciting research festival in 2024.
Elliot Mbeta
I'm Elliot Mbeta, a first year PhD researcher with the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences on the "Misconceptions in the Treatment of Hypertension (MITH)'' Thematic Doctoral pathway under supervision of Dr Garry McDowell. I hold a MSc in Public Health (MPH-Epidemiology and Biostatistics) from University College Cork, Ireland and a BSC in Nursing. Excited to be part of the LJMU PGR Research Festival Planning Team 2024.
Irina Stadniciuc
I am Irina Stadniciuc, a first-year PhD researcher with the Faculty of Health, researching the Romanian prison experience. I am the PGR Rep for Public and Allied Health and part of the PGR Research Festival planning team. I am dedicated to contributing to a vibrant research community at LJMU.
Ingrid Boedker
I am Ingrid Boedker, a PhD student in Psychology and Neuroscience, the Principal Investigator of the Liverpool Night-time Caregiving Study, and the EDIR Officer of the RIDE Society (which stands for Respect, Inclusivity, Diversity, and Equity). I’m thrilled to be part of the team making this year’s festival fun and intellectually stimulating!
Jamil Khazri
Hi! My name is Jamil Khazri. I’ve just entered the second-year of my PhD at LJMU’s Business School. My research is based in an Atlas Mountains village in north-western Tunisia and focuses on the intersections between heritage sites, colonialism, memory and folklore. I love engaging with fellow PGR’s and feel we all have our own unique story to tell. I’m excited to learn about yours during the festival!
Remi Adetayo
I am Remi Adetayo a third-year PhD student in the Education Department of the Education and Social Justice Faculty at Liverpool John Moores University. My research title is “Evaluating the Integration of Digital Pedagogies in the Continuing Professional Development of English Language Academic Staff” and is a case study of three Nigerian universities. I have taught in Nigerian Navy schools for over 19 years in primary and secondary schools. I hold a master's from the University of Lagos, Nigeria (UOL). I have facilitated several summits for secondary school students and prefects and organised several pieces of training and programmes for teachers as the school head and principal. I also worked as a Grade 1 Staff Officer Training and Support in the Nigerian Navy Education head office before starting my PhD program in the UK. It gives me great pleasure to be part of this year’s planning committee for the PGR Festival. Looking forward to a successful outing.
I am Naomi Walsh, a second year PhD Researcher from the School of Biological and Environmental Sciences. My research focusses on technology solutions for zoo research, and alongside the PGR Festival Planning Team I also sit on a number of zoo research focussed committees. I look forward to working in collaboration with my fellow PGRs to deliver an exciting research festival in 2024.
I'm Elliot Mbeta, a first year PhD researcher with the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences on the "Misconceptions in the Treatment of Hypertension (MITH)'' Thematic Doctoral pathway under supervision of Dr Garry McDowell. I hold a MSc in Public Health (MPH-Epidemiology and Biostatistics) from University College Cork, Ireland and a BSC in Nursing. Excited to be part of the LJMU PGR Research Festival Planning Team 2024.
I am Irina Stadniciuc, a first-year PhD researcher with the Faculty of Health, researching the Romanian prison experience. I am the PGR Rep for Public and Allied Health and part of the PGR Research Festival planning team. I am dedicated to contributing to a vibrant research community at LJMU.
I am Ingrid Boedker, a PhD student in Psychology and Neuroscience, the Principal Investigator of the Liverpool Night-time Caregiving Study, and the EDIR Officer of the RIDE Society (which stands for Respect, Inclusivity, Diversity, and Equity). I’m thrilled to be part of the team making this year’s festival fun and intellectually stimulating!
Hi! My name is Jamil Khazri. I’ve just entered the second-year of my PhD at LJMU’s Business School. My research is based in an Atlas Mountains village in north-western Tunisia and focuses on the intersections between heritage sites, colonialism, memory and folklore. I love engaging with fellow PGR’s and feel we all have our own unique story to tell. I’m excited to learn about yours during the festival!
I am Remi Adetayo a third-year PhD student in the Education Department of the Education and Social Justice Faculty at Liverpool John Moores University. My research title is “Evaluating the Integration of Digital Pedagogies in the Continuing Professional Development of English Language Academic Staff” and is a case study of three Nigerian universities. I have taught in Nigerian Navy schools for over 19 years in primary and secondary schools. I hold a master's from the University of Lagos, Nigeria (UOL). I have facilitated several summits for secondary school students and prefects and organised several pieces of training and programmes for teachers as the school head and principal. I also worked as a Grade 1 Staff Officer Training and Support in the Nigerian Navy Education head office before starting my PhD program in the UK. It gives me great pleasure to be part of this year’s planning committee for the PGR Festival. Looking forward to a successful outing.
