Midland Graduate School DTP student Julia Fernando from Aston Business School is currently overseas undertaking her PhD fieldwork in Uganda. Julia has created a blog to document her experiences and reflections while abroad – you can following her journey here: http://juliafernando.strikingly.com

Global Food Security has launched a new research communication competition for UKRI-funded PhD and postdocs called Speak Up for Food Security. To reflect the multifaceted nature of the global food security challenge GFS is keen to engage early career researchers from a range of different research backgrounds whose research is linked to, or has implications for, food security.

Finalists will be invited to a two-day research/science communications training course in London, all expenses paid. The winner will be invited to speak with GFS and Dr Adam Rutherford (BBC presenter) at Cheltenham Science Festival 2019.

The competition is open to all UKRI-funded PhDs and post-docs whose research feeds into the food security challenge (directly or indirectly).

The closing date is 24 February 2019 and more information can be found here: https://www.foodsecurity.ac.uk/activities/speakup/

The Midlands Graduate School is delighted to offer a number of Collaborative Studentships involving research or other activities with a variety of different external organisations for entry in October 2019.

Additionally, the MGS is also offering a number of Joint Studentships for entry in October 2019. Students will be fully registered and hosted at one of the Midlands Graduate School institutions, but will have a second supervisor at another MGS institution.

Please see here for details regarding the different Collaborative and Joint projects available and information on how to apply for them.

Postgraduate Ethnographic Writing Workshop 2019

Each year the Writing Across Boundaries Project runs an intensive, two-day, residential workshop for social science PhD students in their third year to explore analytical and practical approaches to writing and offers participants an opportunity to reflect on the writing process itself as a form of social science thinking.

The next Writing Across Boundaries workshop will take place on the 4th and 5th of April 2019 at The Lindisfarne Centre, St Aidan's College, Durham University.

Eligible Participants

The workshop is for PhD students in the social sciences in their third year of study, who:

• Are interested in the practice and product of ethnographic writing as a particular way of conveying a contextual understanding of lived reality by drawing on a range of specific methods including, for instance, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, archival research, visual analysis, life-histories and surveys.

• Are at the point of translating this data into written out-put for a thesis; and
• Have completed their fieldwork and have data that they have begun to process

Programme

The provisional programme for the workshop will be available soon, but we are delighted to confirm the participation of Professor Bob Simpson (Durham) and Dr Sarah Winkler-Reid (Newcastle).

How to Apply

There are only 30 places available on our 2019 workshop. If you are interested in attending please complete our online application form by Monday, February 4th 2019 (5pm). Candidates will then be contacted by the Project Team by Friday, February 22nd 2019 (5pm) as to whether they have been selected to join the workshop. (Please note a slight change in dates from earlier announcements).

The online application form requires a letter of support from your principal supervisor to be attached. This letter is crucial in evaluating your application, as it is important that the needs of participants are closely matched as possible to the style and content of the workshop.

Applications received after the deadline will not be accepted.

Costs

The workshop registration is free for those from our regional and Northern Irish universities (Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Teesside, Sunderland, Queens and Ulster). For those from outside the Northern Ireland and North East Doctoral Training Partnership, we are charging £60. This includes lunch on both days and an evening hot buffet on the 4th of April.

There will be limited overnight accommodation available at one of the Durham University Colleges, on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of April if needed, for £52 per night. If you accept a place on the workshop, you will be provided with a link to book your own accommodation online. Unfortunately we are not able to assist with accommodation or travel costs for any of the participants.

Further Information

Please contact Cathrine Degnen on cathrine.degnen@newcastle.ac.uk , or Tom Yarrow on t.g.yarrow@durham.ac.uk , if you require any further information about the Writing Across Boundaries workshop.