The Vice-Chancellor awarded six prizes of £500 in recognition of the high calibre of student research taking place across the University to:

·         Adil Alwahaibi

·         Lisa Kuhn

·         Andrew Simpson

·         Andrea Stennett  

·         Susan Wagland

Also the Graduate School prize of £250 for the best poster presented by an early stage researcher was awarded to Teewara Suwan.

Previously on Eventbrite it was down as the 25th April but that was an error which has now been corrected.

We are sorry if you booked and thought that the screening was on the 25th April. 

We hope to still see you there.

Based on Jorge Cham’s popular comic strip about research student life, Piled Higher and Deeper.

All Brunel research students and postdoctoral research staff are invited to attend: please book your ticket here.

**Ticket and Brunel ID required for entry. No exceptions.**

Doors open at 6:30pm

Movie starts at 7:00pm (running time: 1h 05mins, released autumn 2011)

To book: http://thephdmoviebrunel2013.eventbrite.com/# 

If you have any special requirements, please contact us in advance via graduateschool@brunel.ac.uk

What's it all about?

Watch the trailer!
Read an interview with Jorge Cham on the Scientific American website
Or, if you are prepared for a prolonged dip in productivity, dare to browse through the PhD comics archive!

The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) launches at Brunel today. If you're a research student, PRES is your chance to rate your experience at Brunel.  More than 31,000 students from 102 UK institutions took part the last time PRES was run.

What is PRES?
PRES is a national survey including most UK universities and all subjects, in which students report on their experiences at university. All students on research programmes (home/EU and international) are eligible to participate. Eligible programmes include PhD, New Route PhD, MPhil, EdD and DrPH.

Why is it important?
Your responses will help the University to continue to provide better support in the areas that really matter to you, like providing improved working conditions, improving access to research resources, extending support for skills development and career advice and much more.

How do I take part?
You will receive an email from the University in your Brunel account with your personal login details.

Alternatively, you can enter from the Brunel PRES website (www.brunel.ac.uk/pres2013) and take part. You will need the following login details:

Username: your student ID number (first 7 digits)

Password:your YEAR of birth (e.g. 1985)

Students completing the survey are eligible to enter a prize draw to win an IPAD or Amazon vouchers.

The survey will ask you questions about your research programme, and your answers are based on how you rate your experience. The survey should take you less than 15 minutes to complete, and your responses are really important to the University. Thanks in advance for taking part!

The Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) launches at Brunel today. If you're a Masters, PGCE or PG Diploma student, PTES is your chance to rate your experience as a Brunel student. Last year 54,640 postgraduates from 83 institutions participated in the survey including more than 1000 from Brunel.

What is PTES?
PTES is a national survey including most UK universities and all subjects, in which students report on their experiences at university. All students on taught postgraduate programmes (home/EU and international) are eligible to participate.

Why is it important?
Your responses will help the University to continue to provide better support in the areas that really matter to you, like providing more open access computers, opening the Library 24/7 during term time, extending academic skills support, improving assessment feedback and much more.

How do I take part?
You will receive an email from the University in your Brunel account your personal login details.

Alternatively, you can enter from the Brunel PTES website (https://surveys.brunel.ac.uk/ptes2013) and take part. You will need the following login details:

Username: Your student ID number (first 7 digits)

Password: Your YEAR of birth (e.g. 1989)

Students completing the survey are eligible to enter a prize draw to win an iPad, Amazon vouchers or Graduation Ball tickets.

The survey will ask you questions about your course, and your answers are based on how you rate your experience. The survey should take you less than 15 minutes to complete, and your responses are really important to the University. Thanks in advance for taking part!

Coming soon: The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey 2013

The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) will launch at Brunel in early March.

The Specialist Research Institutes in collaboration with the Graduate School held a highly successful research student event on 28 November 2012. The event was an opportunity for research students to showcase their work in a multi-disciplinary environment.  The day was well attended, with 39 registered attendees and 31 student presenters from across the Specialist Research Institutes including Brunel Institute of Bioengineering (BIB), Institute for the Environment (IfE); Wolfson Centre (Wolfson), Experimental Techniques Centre (ETC), Health Research Economics Group (HERG) and Brunel Centre for Advanced Solidification Technology (BCAST).

The occasion was opened by Dr Kate Hone, Director of Brunel Graduate School, who noted the strategic role the Specialist Research Institutes play in the University through their high quality research. She also emphasised the important role of the institutes in training the next generation of researchers within their specialist disciplines through their doctoral programmes.

Presentations covered a range of interesting topics from ‘The Effect of Cold Weather on Mortality In the Republic of Ireland between 1984 and 2007’ to Fabrication of Multiplex Point-Of-Care Device for Better Screening And monitoring of Diabetes’ and the quality of contributions was extremely good. Chairs for the event were; Prof Dmtry Eskin (BCAST); Dr Joanne Lord (HERG) and Dr Edwin Routledge, IfE.  Both student participants and research staff enjoyed the event and recommend that it become an annual occurrence.

The International AMPS (Assessment of Motor and Process Skills) Symposium

Rigshosital, Copenhagen, Denmark.

The AMPS Symposium takes place every four years and is the only International conference to be dedicated to the occupational focus of Occupational Therapy. The opening lecture was presented by Professor Anne Fisher, Umea University, Sweden entitled “Implementing occupation-focused and occupation-based services: A mandate for occupational therapy”. This set the tone of the conference and reminded delegates how essential it is for occupational therapy assessments and interventions to be viewed through ‘an occupational lens’ and remain occupation based and focused. The conference was organised into themes. I presented the very early findings of my research, ‘Of what benefit is mental health rehabilitation’ in the session entitled ‘mental health’.

To present at an internal conference for the first time was an exciting experience and I really enjoyed the opportunity to meet with fellow occupational therapy researchers who share my interest in using the AMPS in mental health. The feedback I received on my presentation will be extremely useful as my work progresses.

I take this opportunity to thank the Vice Chancellor Award scheme for the generous support I have received.

6th International Rubber Glove Conference and Exhibition, 4 - 6 September 2012, KLCC International Conventional Centre, Malaysia

The sixth IRGCE 2012 was held over three days from 4-6 September 2012 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC). It serves as the landmark point of convergence for key players within the rubber glove and its related industries, as well as a common platform for the latest industry news and updates, innovations and developments, whilst fostering closer industrial rapport amongst them.

We were invited as speaker to present our research finding on lignocellulosic bio-refinery. The topic of our presentation is “Anti-oxidant from lignocellulosic waste: A bio-refinery from waste product under
bio-alcohol and Kraft pulping production.” This piece of finding is well fitted into the theme of the
conference which themed as Innovation for Sustainability for rubber and chemical industry. The
project is actually a collaboration project between Brunel University and two others international
industrial partners – Synthomer Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia and Innventia AB, Sweden.

The presentation summarised our research progress from laboratory idea to real time application screening at industry and was very well received by the conference audients. We managed to make more new contact from research institutes and industrial. An emulsion polymer manufacturer is quite keen on
the project that we are working with.

This has also created a good future career platform for me. In conclusion, this is a very fruitful trip and I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to my PhD supervisors, PhD sponsor – MOSTI, Malaysia, Brunel Graduate School and Brunel School of Engineering and Design on the financial support to make this project success.

Prepared by Thian Hong Ng

Here's a report from a winner of the Vice-Chancellor's Travel Prize.

"The Vice-Chancellor's Travel Prize gave me the opportunity to attend the conference Innovations in Wave Modelling (InnoWave2012), held at the University of Nottingham in September 2012. Senior academics and research students from Engineering, Mathematics and Physics were joined by industry practitioners in the splendid setting of the university's leafy campus, and it was widely agreed that the attendees' diverse backgrounds and their presentations gave everybody the chance to obtain an insight into thus far unfamiliar topics. Personally, I particularly enjoyed the presentations on Boundary Element Methods, which I use in my own research project. I learnt a lot about approaches which are used in the Engineering community of which I had not been aware of so far. Vice versa, my own presentation, which was about Adaptive Time Domain Boundary Element Methods (TD-BEM) for Scattering Problems, was met with interest, and I received some interesting feedback on it that shall be valuable for my future research.

The organisers had arranged accommodation for all attendees at a student hall on campus, so that all meals were taken together, and there also was a small bar on site. We therefore had the chance to discuss not only in the short intervals after each presentation, but also in these informal settings, which further provided excellent opportunities to socialise.

Overall, it was a great pleasure to attend InnoWave2012, and I am very grateful for the Graduate School's generous support."

The Introductory Guide for Researchers is now available.

It provides essential information for all research students and contract research staff.

The guide contains information about:

· The Graduate School resources and facilities

· Personal and professional development opportunities

· Induction for research students and contract research staff

. Step-by-step guide to booking onto training events

. Prizes and awards

. Additional resources

All of this is key information that we feel researchers will need while being at Brunel University and a part of the Graduate School.

Pick up a copy of this guide from the Graduate School Main Reception or download a pdf from the link below:

Graduate School Introductory Guide for Researchers (pdf)

You can also contact us at: Graduateschool@brunel.ac.uk

Graduate Learning and Teaching Programme

The Graduate Learning and Teaching Programme (GLTP) is designed specifically for Graduate Teaching Assistants at Brunel and provides a theoretical and practical underpinning to professional teaching in Higher Education.

The programme comprises:

• 2-day introduction,
• six 2 hour sessions on six topics, plus
• two support workshops.

Based on learning that takes place during the programme and practical learning that takes place when undertaking GTA duties, delegates are expected to produce evidence that will enable them to make an application to the Higher Education Academy to receive recognition as Associate of the Higher Education Academy.

The programme will run twice a year, once starting January and once starting in September of each year. Delegate numbers will be limited to 40 on each intake.

As numbers are limited for this programme delegates must apply for this workshop using the link at the bottom of this page. The closing date for applications is Thursday 4 October 2012. All applicants will be informed as to whether or not they have got a place on this programme by Wednesday 10 October 2012. Those who do not have a place on the September programme will automatically be placed on the waiting list for the January programme.

To apply, GTAs must:

· Be able to attend all of the sessions and support workshops, and

· Be teaching during the Term they undertake the programme*

*It is important that GTAs who start the programme are teaching during that Term as you will be required to submit feedback that you receive on your teaching practice. If GTAs are not teaching, they will not be able to produce this evidence.

Further details and application form can be found on the Staff Development website.

Each winner is entitled to claim up to £500 in expenses towards attending and presenting at a national or international conference. These awards are made possible by the Vice-Chancellor's prizes, available through the Graduate School, to support student research. 

Congratulations to the winners below!

Sara Anjomani Virmouni, School of Health Sciences and Social Care, Ataxia Research conference, London

Rachel Dadswell, School of Health Sciences and Social Care, Int'l AMPS Symposium, Denmark

Federica Guglielmo, School of Social Sciences, Annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, USA

Sarah Harman, School of Arts, Connecting Sexual Ethics and Politics, Belgium

Thian Hong Ng, Wolfson Centre, Int'l Rubber Glove Conference and Exhibition, 6th IRGCE, Malaysia

Corine Wood-Donnelly, School of Social Sciences, Fifth Polar Law Symposium, Finland

Lina Pednekar, School of Health Sciences and Social Care, Int'l Complement Workshop, Greece

Click here for more information on research prizes, and to apply.

Join us at the next Language Café - India!

After a successful Language Café launch in June, the Graduate School and Brunel International are delighted to announce that we’ll be hosting another Language Café on Tuesday 31 July. We would like to invite all students who are staying around the campus over the summer to join us! Staff are also welcome to attend.

Our Indian hosts will:

• Introduce you to the diversity of the Indian culture and languages
• Teach you some key words and phrases
• Prepare some FREE authentic drinks and snacks for you to try

Please also invite all your friends who may be interested, as this is a great opportunity to experience Indian culture first-hand!

When? Tuesday 31 July 2012, 5pm - 6:30pm

Where? Russell Building (1st Floor)

To attend, RSVP at http://languagecafe31july2012.eventbrite.com/

We are also seeking hosts for future Language Cafes, so if you are interested in sharing a foreign language and culture, please contact either charlotte.zittel@brunel.ac.uk or katharina.stirland@brunel.ac.uk

• Come and find out about Spanish and South American culture
• Learn some key words in Spanish
  
• Try some FREE authentic snacks and drinks
• Hosted by students from Spain and South America

Please also invite all your friends who might be interested: this is a great opportunity to experience Spanish and South American culture at first-hand!

When? 5pm - 6:30pm, Tuesday 19 June

To attend, RSVP at http://languagecafe19june2012.eventbrite.com/

We are also seeking hosts for future Language Cafes, so if you are interested in sharing a foreign language and culture, please contact either charlotte.zittel@brunel.ac.uk or katharina.stirland@brunel.ac.uk

A week of seminars and resources to support you in planning, preparing and writing your Masters Dissertation run by the Graduate School and ASK! For all Master’s students. No pre-registration required - just turn up to the sessions of interest. Look out for flyers with the timetable - copies will be available in the Graduate School.

Click here for more information...

Click here to download the PDF version of MDW 2012 timetable!

The Institute for the Environment, the School of Health Sciences and Social Care and the Wolfson Centre for Materials Processing were represented among the winning entries.

Congratulations to research students Natalie Crawley, Gemma Bourne, Jessica Pickles, Halime Derya Arican and Thian Hong Ng, winners of the Vice Chancellor’s Prizes of £500. Special congratulations also to Sue Wagland, winner of the Graduate School Award of £250 for the best entry by an early-stage researcher (0-12 months through their research, or the part-time equivalent). These students achieved the highest scores for their posters, judged on the first day, and for the oral defence of their posters, judged on day two.

Natalie Crawley, research student in the Institute for the Environment, won a Vice Chancellor’s Prize for her poster, Assessing the Effects of Chronic Thermal Stress on the Stickleback, Gasterosteus Aculeatus. Natalie reflects, “The conference was an invaluable experience in terms of gaining feedback on my research and practicing effective communication, particularly to those outside your specific field.”

The Graduate School was pleased to welcome a higher of number participants than ever before to this year’s conference, with registration up by nearly 30% on the previous year. The general viewing session also proved popular, with around 150 staff and students dropping in to view the poster exhibition and to talk to students about their research.

Photos from the conference can be viewed on the Graduate School Facebook page. You can also find out more about the entries by reading the abstract list, which can be accessed from the event webpage (Brunel login required).

The winning posters will be on display in the Graduate School (opposite the Lecture Centre) until 1 April, so please visit us to view them. Drop in on a Tuesday between 10:30 – 12:30 and you can also join us for Coffee Morning.

Summary of Prize Winners

Vice Chancellor’s Prize Winners

Natalie Crawley, Institute for the Environment

Poster title: Assessing the effects of chronic thermal stress on the stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus

Supervisors: Prof John Sumpter and Dr Andrew Johnson

Gemma Bourne, School of Health Sciences and Social Care

Poster title: A Novel Approach for the Identification of Genes Involved in Human Premature Ageing

Supervisors: Dr Ian Kill and Dr Joanna Bridger

Jessica Pickles, School of Health Sciences and Social Care

Supervisors: Prof Robert Newbold and Dr Amanda Harvey

Halime Derya Arican, School of Health Sciences and Social Care

Poster title: Parasitic Influences on the Host Genome Using the Molluscan Model Organism Biomphalaria Glabrata

Supervisors: Dr Joanna Bridger and Dr Anthony Tsolaki

Thian Hong Ng, Wolfson Centre for Materials Processing

Poster title: Anti-oxidant from wheat straw: A bio-refinery from waste product under bio-alcohol

Supervisors: Prof Jim Song and Dr Karnik Tarverdi

Graduate School Award

Awarded for the best poster presentation by an early-stage research student, 0-12 months through their research, or the part-time equivalent.

Sue Wagland, School of Health Sciences and Social Care

Poster title: Cytotoxic activity of Indian plants on breast cancer cells

Supervisors: Dr Mariann Rand-Weaver and Dr Gudrun Stenbeck

What is PTES?
PTES is a national survey including most UK universities and all subjects, in which students report on their experiences at university. All students on taught postgraduate programmes (home/EU and international) are eligible to participate.

Why is it important?
Your responses will help the University to continue to provide better support in the areas that really matter to you, like providing more open access computers, opening the Library 24/7 during term time, extending academic skills support, improving assessment feedback and much more.

How do I take part?
You will receive an email from the University in your Brunel account with full details of how to participate.

Alternatively, you can go directly to the Brunel PTES website (https://surveys.brunel.ac.uk/ptes2012) and take part. You will need your student ID number (first 7 digits) and your year of birth (4 digits) to log on.

Students completing the survey are eligible to enter a prize draw to win an IPAD or £25 Amazon vouchers.

The survey will ask you questions about your course, and your answers are based on how you rate your experience. The survey should take you less than 15 minutes to complete, and your responses are really important to the University. Thanks in advance for taking part!

The Research Student Poster Conference will take place next week. All Brunel staff and students are invited to visit the conference on 14 March to speak with current research students about their work, and to view posters summarising their research.

The event will be open to visitors in the Newton Room, during the hours of 10am - 5pm on Wednesday 14 March.

You can also find out more by Viewing the current abstract list (login required).

For more information: www.brunel.ac.uk/research-student-poster-conference

We also want your help, and we want to encourage everyone (staff, postgraduates and undergraduates) at Brunel University to make, and bring in a snack dish (more than one, if you wish!) from the country of your origin at this event. Please let us know in advance via email graduateschool@brunel.ac.uk if you wish to enter this competition. We’ll provide the drinks, so all that’s required is for you to bring along snack dishes!!!

A prize will be offered to the best snacks dish! The winner of this competition will receive two free meals tickets which consist of main course, dessert and drink at More Food Hall. This is the chance to show your passion and creatively with food, so, don’t miss out. Remember… regrets are made of what you didn’t do in life! So, what you waiting for… Join us!

Click here for more information if you are planning on bringing in a snack dish

Click here for more information if you wish to attend as visitors

The conference was organised by the University of Manchester and University of Sheffield’s newly formed Materials Research group. Drawing students from across UK, the conference had participants from the field of metallurgy and materials science, and the students were from their first to their final year of PhD. Invited speakers included renowned professors such as Professor Harry Bhadeshia as well as distinguished heads of research labs from various industries such as Tata Steel.

Students from BCAST had also been invited to participate in the conference: Magdalena Nowak, Zen Cassinath, Simon Jones, R Ritwik and Feng Yan were among the participants. Driving from Brunel University to University of Sheffield during the wee hours of the day, the group reached the venue in time for registration as well as to meet and greet distinguished professors from the field of metallurgy and materials science, as well as to meet students working in this field.

There were three parallel sessions going throughout the day due to the large number of presentations. The sessions included research on iron and steel, and advancements in metallurgy, with over 70 presentations being scheduled. There was also a poster session alongside the presentations. It was a unique event where students and professors in the field could gain knowledge on the ongoing advanced research in the field of metallurgy in the UK.

There were several guest lectures on Careers after PhD delivered by representatives from small, medium and large companies such as Rolls Royce. At the end of the presentations, the professors who were grading each presentation had a prizegiving ceremony for the Best Newcomer in Research, as well as a Best Presentation of the Day award for the students, which brought about immense excitement among the participants.

R Ritwik was awarded the Best Presentation of the Day for his work on Rheological Behaviour of Molten Metals. Describing his work as “someone who knows what he is talking about”, Professor Phil Prangnell of the University of Manchester awarded a prize of a £50 book voucher. A student from University of Sheffield was awarded Best Newcomer in Research for his work on Nickel Super-alloys.

It was a successful day for the students of BCAST, who not only caught the attention of various research groups and organizations with their diverse and well documented presentations, but also “shone” in the field of metallurgy and materials development in the UK.

Report by R Ritwik, PhD student, BCAST 

The event will take place on 13-14 March 2012, in the Hospitality Suite. The Conference, organised by the Graduate School, aims to bring together researchers from all Schools and Institutes to showcase the high calibre of student research across campus.

It provides a multidisciplinary platform for research students to showcase their work, offers an impetus for professional development, and an opportunity for public engagement and for networking with staff and students across the University. This annual event acts as a focal point for the research student community, encouraging collegiality and the communication of ideas and expertise across disciplines.

Five Vice Chancellor's Prizes of £500 each will be awarded. A Brunel Research Society prize will also be awarded, based on votes submitted by visitors.

All Brunel staff and students are welcome to visit the Conference to view the posters, between 10am - 5pm on Wednesday 14 March.

Eligibility

All research students who are currently enrolled at Brunel University are invited to enter (PhD, MPhil, EdD, EngD, DrPH and New Route PhD).

How to participate

1. Download and read the Entry Guidelines (PDF)
2. Register online at posterconference2012.eventbrite.co.uk by 20 February 2012
3. Submit your abstract by 2 March 2012
   

Related training

• Preparing Research Posters
  
• Posters in PowerPoint (Drop-In)
  
• Presenting to Non-Academic Audiences

Registration deadline: 5pm, Monday 20 February 2012
Abstract deadline: 5pm, Friday 2 March 2012

Download Conference Programme (PDF)