SeNSS Director's Bulletin June 2021
Dear SeNSS community,
If you are looking for good news, then this bulletin is definitely for you!
We are delighted to announce that SeNSS has awarded 40.5 new studentship awards for the October 2021 start, as well as six Post-Doctoral Fellowship awards. We look forward to welcoming the 2021/22 cohort in October!
We are also thrilled to announce that the following SeNSS-funded students have been awarded their PhDs:
Laura Jung, University of Sussex, Politics and International Relations
Paul Shuttleworth, University of Sussex, Social Work and Social Policy
Rosa Marvell, University of Sussex, Education
Ruth Flaherty, University of East Anglia, Socio-Legal Studies
Simon Oldham, Royal Holloway, University of London, Business and Management Studies
Yoo Ri Kim, University of Surrey, Business and Management Studies
As you know, this year’s annual SeNSS Summer Conference will be held virtually, from 13-16 July. The theme is Social Sciences and the Climate Emergency, and highlights of the programme are a keynote address by Prof. Lorraine Whitmarsh, a roundtable interdisciplinary discussion on the climate emergency, training sessions to equip you for working both inside and outside academia, and an employability showcase. There be plenty of opportunity to socialise, with some light-hearted fun, courtesy of the Student Forum. You will have an opportunity to present your research to your year cohort group, and to enter a poster competition (with prizes!). We will all miss the networking a face-to-face conference provides, so there will be network opportunities throughout the conference, with breakout rooms provided for one-to-one or smaller group meetings. Please be assured that there are proper breaks between all sessions to prevent Zoom burnout.
SeNSS is launching a new training series called Decolonising Research Methodologies: Theory and Praxis. Six sessions will be delivered between 16 June and 21 July 2021 by Prof Heidi Safia Mirza (Goldsmiths), Dr Suhraiya Jivraj (Kent) and Prof Divya Tolia-Kelly (Sussex). These sessions will address decolonising methodologies and discourse, decolonising research spaces, and decolonising writing. More information can be found on the SeNSS website, where you can register an expression of interest in order to be notified when registration opens.
SeNSS will be launching the supervisor phase of both the collaborative and SeNSS-Aries studentship competitions in June. SeNSS Deputy Director Fragkiskos Filippaios will be hosting a webinar on the 16 June at 14.00 where he will discuss both opportunities and will give you the opportunity to answer questions you might have. Click here to register for this webinar.
The SeNSS-IAA Business Boost continues to offer training and events until September supporting business engagement. Details of all activities are available on the SeNSS website.
The Student Forum did an amazing job organizing a very successful impact training workshop held virtually in March with over 70 students attending. Presentations were given by Prof. John Preston (Essex), current SeNSS-funded student Christy Hehir (Surrey), and Dr Ruth Flaherty, who recently completed her SeNSS-funded PhD at UEA. The event was recorded and is available on the SeNSS YouTube channel and the VLE. A social event, in the form of an online escape room, followed directly after the impact workshop. Subsequently, the SeNSS Director, Prof. Ismene Gizelis ran a follow-up workshop in April attended by 20 participants.
The student editors of the SeNSS student-led Sentio journal are very busy working on producing Issue 3, the theme of which is “Transformation”. This issue will be published in October 2021, with the launch to form part of the SeNSS Winter Induction.
Finally, the process for granting any further COVID-19 linked extensions has been transferred back to SeNSS, and the SeNSS Management Board has approved SeNSS’s “Phase 3” extensions scheme. The scheme’s key points are that students should continue to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on their work wherever possible, but that all students who require additional time to complete their research projects can apply for extensions. Details of the Phase 3 scheme will be emailed to all students shortly, as well as uploaded to the Student Handbook on the SeNSS VLE.
Best wishes,
Ismene
Prof Ismene Gizelis
Director, SeNSS DTP