New Initiatives Bid Form 2009
Title of project
MeCCSA Postgraduate Conference 2010
Contact person /
email address
Susan Berridge/ s.berridge.1@research.gla.ac.uk
Funding required
£500
Target Audience (please tick all that apply)
PhD Researchers X
□
Engineering □
All Faculties
Postdocs X
IBLS
FIMS
□
□
Other (please state) Masters/MLitt Students
□
Physical Sci □
Medicine
x
Education □
Arts/ Humanties
Vet med
LBSS
□
□
Provide a brief description of the project. Include the project aim, key
deliverables and why you think it is important to the development of researchers at
Glasgow (max 600 words)
This project aims to organise a 2 day postgraduate conference on behalf of the
MeCCSA (Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association) Postgraduate
Network. As the organizing committee consists entirely of postgraduate students
from theatre, film and television studies and cultural policy research at Glasgow
University, the event will provide training for postgraduates in a range of skills that
will be invaluable for our academic development and future employability.
The committee will be involved in
 arranging venue hire and catering, delegate accommodation, advertising and
conference packs
 contacting guest speakers to participate in the event and panel discussions
 working out the structure of the conference
 creating workshops and roundtable discussions
 assessing abstracts from potential delegates
The conference organizing committee will gain experience in project management
and peer review, be creative in arranging various conference events and display
motivation by setting, prioritising and meeting deadlines and goals in the lead-up to
the event. By working together closely, this committee will develop mutually
supportive working relationships with each other and with supervisors, as well as with
postgraduates from other universities that are part of the wider MeCCSA
Postgraduate network and with the conference delegates. Furthermore, we will
enhance our academic CVs, thereby showing commitment to our professional
growth.
The event is highly accessible and interdisciplinary in nature, inviting Masters, MLitt
and PhD students as well as early career postdoctoral researchers working in any
area related to media, communication and cultural studies to submit abstracts to
speak at the event. We are able to support these fellow postgraduate students in
gaining experience at distilling their own research into accessible papers, presenting
at an academic event and seeing the relevance of their work within a broader
research environment. Moreover, the event actively encourages networking between
postgraduates, creating links between different disciplines and universities. In doing
so, we will contribute to promoting public awareness and understanding of the
Please return bids to the Researcher Development Initiative at No 10 The Square
(e.adams@admin.gla.ac.uk)
research fields of media, communication and cultural studies.
We have already secured £3000 funding from the Art Design Media Higher
Education Academy (ADM-HEA) which will cover catering, venue hire and
administration costs, but we are seeking additional funding to pay for guest speakers.
In particular, we hope to organise a publishing roundtable discussion featuring
members of Glasgow University’s online postgraduate journal eSharp as well as an
academic publisher, such as Palgrave or I.B. Tauris, and a published academic
author.
This event aims to provide postgraduate delegates (and ourselves) with training in
how to write clearly and in a style that is appropriate to published articles and to
communicate individual research to a wider audience, in turn, improving their
employability. As this is an event that is relevant to postgraduate students across
disciplinary boundaries, it further enhances the accessibility and relevance of the
conference as well as demonstrating our commitment to professional development.
Following the event, there is a further opportunity for the conference committee to
gain experience in another area of publishing, namely the peer review of articles, as
we will be involved in publishing the annual MeCCSA Postgraduate Network ejournal
that features submissions from conference delegates. Thus, the publishing
roundtable discussion will provide invaluable training to aid us in this endeavour.
Which areas of the Joint Skills Statement does this project align to? (see
Appendix 1)
A
□
B
□
C
x
D
x
E
x
F
x
G
x
Monitoring and Evaluation, please describe how you will evaluate this project
As well as providing feedback forms for delegates at the conference, we will also
hold a post-event committee meeting to discuss the successes and limitations of our
conference organisation, which we will then turn into a written report for the benefit of
future postgraduate conference organisers. In September 2010, we will also present
this report at a MeCCSA Postgraduate Network meeting, which will include
postgraduates from other universities as well as members of the successive
conference committee, who will host the conference in 2011.
What is the intended timeframe for the project (include any key dates, project
start and end dates? Is it a one-off or likely to become an ongoing activity?)
June 2009 : The conference committee completed a bid to host the MeCCSA
Postgraduate Network conference at Glasgow University.
July 2009: We presented and successfully won the bid.
30th June/1st July 2010: Conference dates
March 2011: Expected publication of MeCCSA Postgraduate ejournal which
features articles by conference delegates
This is a one-off event for students of Glasgow University, but will feed into future
organisation of MeCCSA Postgraduate conferences by students at other universities.
Please provide a breakdown of costs
£300 to cover return travel to Glasgow for two guest speakers (one publisher and
one published academic author).
£130 to cover one night’s accommodation for each of these speakers.
£70 to cover any additional expenses (such as providing these speakers with meals)
Total: £500
Please return bids to the Researcher Development Initiative at No 10 The Square
(e.adams@admin.gla.ac.uk)
Please return bids to the Researcher Development Initiative at No 10 The Square
(e.adams@admin.gla.ac.uk)