News

National Postgraduate Training Days 2010-11 A series of specialist training days for new postgraduates at the British Library.

Come to one of our tailored days to learn more about the British Library's collections, meet our curators, and take part in a variety of specialist sessions and talks related to your research.

Why attend a Postgraduate Training Day?

The British Library offers specialist days, run in partnership with esteemed professional bodies, in a range of subjects including English, History, Art and Design, and Social Sciences. The days are organised to help new postgraduate researchers get the most out of our vast and unique resources. Sessions range from a general introduction to the Library's collections and services, to presentations and debates on particular topics tailored to your subject. Furthermore, it is an excellent opportunity to meet research peers, academics and the Library's own expert curators. Postgraduate Training Days can make a real difference to your research:
visit www.bl.uk/HEtrainingdays to book your place.


CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING:
11 October Social Science: Research about Societies
19 October Social Science: Government, Politics and Legal Studies
25 October Art & Design
6 December History (Medieval-18th Century)
13 December History (19th-21st Century)
1 February English (19th-21st Century)
8 February English (Medieval-18th Century

BOOKING

Price is free.
To ensure the scheme is accessible to research postgraduates across the UK,
there are also a limited number of travel bursaries available to students living outside London.

For more information about any of these training days or to book your place, please visit www.bl.uk/HEtraining days

Please note Places are limited to new postgraduate researchers.

Launch of the UK Data Archive website. Louise Corti, Essex University described the new website as having a clearer and more consistent feel, presenting a more open and contemporary image of the UK data archives role in the social sciences and research.

Since the formation of the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) in 2003, some of our long-standing users have been confused about our identity and especially how the Archive differs from ESDS. Our new image and web presence portrays an unique identity for the Archive which differentiates it from the ESDS. The Archive runs other key research data and support services, including the ESRC Census portal, the Survey Question Bank, the Secure Data Service, the History Data Service and the RELU Data Support Service. We also engage in related research and development activities supported by the ESRC, JISC, EU and other funders.

Changes to the website include:

1. a new look and feel to the site - including the logo and colour scheme

2. site navigation has been simplified and improved

3. data can no longer be searched or accessed on the UK Data Archive site. Instead the site is a portal to our varied data resources. Users are very clearly directed to the ESDS where data can be found and accessed, much as it is now

4. The Managing & Sharing pages are now called Create & Manage, and while they may look different, the content is the same

5. There is a new series of case studies submitted by users featuring how they used our data.

We are sure this will enhance user experience, but understand there may be initial inconvenience as everyone becomes familiar with the new style and layout. Apologies for any inconvenience that does arise.
Please direct any enquiries to the Archive Communications team at comms@data-archive.ac.uk

Please view website at http://www.data-archive.ac.uk

For more information on Louise Corti's RDI project please refer to http://www.rdi.ac.uk/projects/round4/56.php

An exciting new online Research Ethics Guidebook is now live, developed from a three year Initiative by Dr Janet Boddy and colleagues at the Institute of Education, University of London.

The Research Ethics Guidebook is a new website for social science researchers, developed by a team from the Institute of Education, with the support of the Researcher Development Initiative. It is a free resource, addressing ethics throughout the research process, and in particular aiming to help you find your way through the variety of regulatory processes and procedures that can apply to social science research; from grant applications to ethics review and research governance processes, and beyond. The Guidebook is intended for early career researchers, including doctoral students, but it also offers a useful resource for those who train, supervise and support other researchers. Find it on http://www.ethicsguidebook.ac.uk

Registrations for the 4th ESRC Research Methods Festival (5-8 July 2010 at St Catherine's College,Oxford, UK) are now open.

The ESRC National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) is pleased to announce that the registrations for the 4th ESRC Research Methods Festival (5-8 July 2010 at St Catherine's College, Oxford, UK) are now open.

This is the biggest social science research methods event of the year in the UK, with over 60 sessions, more than 200 presenters and 800 delegates. As at previous festivals, an impressive line up of presenters will speak about issues at the cutting edge of developments in social science research methods. The Researcher Development Initiative will be contributing several research training sessions and also mounting an exhibition to raise awareness of RDI and some of the outputs and resources of its projects which both researchers and research trainers may find useful.

This biennial festival aims to engage social scientists across a wide range of disciplines and sectors and at different points in their research careers, and aims to stimulate interest, raise issues, highlight opportunities and showcase new developments.

Early bird fees of £50 per day apply from 1 March until 16 April. From 17 April onwards registrations cost £60 per day. Reduced fees for full-time students. For further information and to book your place, please see http://www.ncrm.ac.uk/TandE/other/RMF2010/

We look forward to seeing you in Oxford!

An exciting new online Ethics Resource is now live, developed from a three year initiative by Professor Christine Milligan and colleagues at Lancaster University

Built around eight core themes, the website provides a wide range of resources designed to help new social science researchers increase their knowledge and understanding of the processes and practices involved in undertaking ethically sound research. The discussion, case studies and examples within this website will also provide a useful set of resources for those involved in the teaching and training of ethics in social science research. http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/researchethics/index.html

Business Schools Collaborate to Promote Collective Learning through the AIM Targeted Initiative

Three Business Schools - at the Universities of Surrey, Kingston and Oxford Brookes - are working together to support early career management researchers with developing research grant proposals. This joint effort has been arranged under the 'targeted initiative' forming part of AIM (Advanced Institute of Management) Research's strategically focused RDI project. Researchers from all three business schools have already taken part in a preparatory workshop. There they formed 'learning sets' for mutual support, and have each stared drafting their proposal. They are being encouraged to continue supporting each other via email. Participants will come together again for a workshop on 30th March 2010. There they will receive expert inputs on developing a convincing argument, and will explore how they could use the knowledge they are gaining to support other novice proposal writers in their business schools. Subsequently, at a final workshop in June 2010, they will work together in their learning sets on finalising their proposals. The targeted initiative enables such advanced training to be delivered in the locality of business schools, creating conditions for fuller participation and more sustainable collective learning than is possible with national provision.

For more information on this project please refer to http://www.rdi.ac.uk/projects/round3/32.php

RDI Round 4 Projects Announced

Round 4 of the RDI scheme is now under way. A total of 13 new projects have been funded in the latest round. Together, they will address a range of ESRC priorities for developing the UK infrastructure for social science research training and researcher development. While most projects address new topics for RDI, a minority are continuations of those funded under earlier rounds. Individual projects are due to start from April 2010 onwards, and are scheduled to run for up to three years.

For more information on these projects please refer to http://www.rdi.ac.uk/projects/round4/

Launch of 'The International Dimension in Social Research'

This late afternoon cafe-style launch event is being held at the British Library in London in May 2010 to raise awareness among researchers from academic and non-academic sectors of opportunities for incorporating an international dimension into social research. Keynote speakers will present highlights from their experience of working in international settings, and identify issues of importance and relevance for international social research. One outcome from the event will be an agenda of questions that can be addressed in the training modules.

For more information on this project please refer to http://www.rdi.ac.uk/projects/round4/50.php

Access to Geo-Refer project materials via the ESRC Census Programme

The Geo-Refer projects are now complete, but the project materials continue to be used in workshops run by other initiatives, particularly those advertised by the ESRC Census Programme. See https://www.census.ac.uk/News/Workshops.aspx.

For more information on this project please refer to http://www.rdi.ac.uk/projects/round3/37.php

Researcher Development Gateway established for Management Researchers

The British Academy of Management (BAM), with ESRC support, has established an electronic gateway containing up-to-date information about training opportunities and other resources for management researchers at all stages of their career. See
http://www.managementresearcher.ac.uk/site/cms/contentChapterView.asp?chapter=1

For more information on this project please refer to http://www.rdi.ac.uk/projects/round3/40.php