Why Jess Birks-Kent Found BCUR 2025 Special
Jess spoke to Reinvention about why they presented their research at BCUR 2025.
Maddy Parlato, Marketing Coordinator and Assistant Editor, Reinvention: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research, July 2025
During the 9th and 10th of April of this year, Newcastle University hosted a one-of-a-kind yearly conference known as BCUR - the British Conference of Undergraduate Research - to great success.
This conference is an excellent opportunity for students in the UK to share their academic or personal research and meet other like-minded young researchers to share insights with. The event is a showcase of every discipline, celebrating interdisciplinarity and providing an enriching experience for participants from all walks of life. Having been hosted by other institutions, including twice by the University of, the conference was passed on to Newcastle University in 2025, which upheld the academic excellence that underlines this event since its inception in 2011.
Jess Birks-Kent is studying Sociology and Global Sustainable Development at the University of Warwick and is one of Reinvention’s assistant editors. Jess attended BCUR 2025 as a presenter and shared their insights on what made BCUR such a special event. As a Sociology and Global Sustainable Development student, Jess went to Newcastle to present their research project titled “Deconstructing 'cis': an exploration of what it means to be cis without being binary”. They told us that whilst they wanted to share their research and practice engaging their audience, they more importantly “wanted to meet other undergraduates with similar research interests,” and “get their thoughts and their feedback, as well as being inspired by their work”.
As mentioned, BCUR is at its heart a multidisciplinary event, and those with an open mind will discover many facets of subjects or fields they may have never explored before. Jess echoed this, saying they “came for the sociological research and queer theory, but in the end, being able to hear about such a variety of projects was wonderful, and really helped expand my ideas around what research can be”. An example that stuck out to them was a project carried out by a group of undergraduate students they met at the conference, who created software that could identify dolphins based on their calls. “As a project, theirs is miles away from my work,” Jess commented, “but their discussion of data storage and sharing was really interesting and provided a whole new perspective on something that very much impacts me. That sense of multidisciplinary support was amazing”.
When thinking about the future of their research, Jess shared some reasons why Reinvention could act as a further springboard for young researchers. “Reinvention challenges you to ensure that you really understand what you've done”, they explained, “so that you can explain it clearly and concisely to a non-expert audience.” They also highlighted the amount of feedback this journal provides to its writers, and that this unique opportunity “provides a chance at engaging in a more focused iterative process of feedback than we're usually given [...] Reinvention is a great place to do that.”
As for their own work, Jess joked by saying that they’re “still editing my manuscript, but I do hope to publish it eventually - all I can say is watch this space!” However, if you are interested in reading more about their research or exploring any of the other presenters’ work, Reinvention recently published the long-awaited BCUR 2025 Book of Abstracts - containing all the abstracts on the presentations, installations and posters presented at the conference. The special issue is enriched by reflections from the event organisers, key figures in student research support and Reinvention’s editor, Grace Fisher, on the unexpected but meaningful impacts of student research in a constantly changing world.
You can find this newest special issue by following the link below, but until then, BCUR 2025 continues to uphold the proud tradition of celebrating student research, as well as heralding a new generation of researchers into the ever-blossoming world of academic conferences and knowledge-sharing.
https://reinventionjournal.org/index.php/reinvention/issue/view/126
Learn more about the journal and student research opportunities in IATL:
Are you a student interested in starting your research journey? Visit Student Research (warwick.ac.uk)
Are you a member of staff interested in getting involved? Visit Student Research Staff Network Meeting (warwick.ac.uk)
Interested in publishing your research with Reinvention? Find out more at Reinvention: an International Journal of Undergraduate Research (reinventionjournal.org) or get in touch via reinventionjournal@warwick.ac.ukLink opens in a new window