Tag Archives: conference

100 Commonwealth Early Career Travel Grants 2013 Announced

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The Association of Commonwealth Universities has announced 100 Early Career Academic Grants for staff at ACU member Universities. Although the details state this is focused primarily at Early Career Researchers, it also highlights that it will welcome anyone who fulfills the eligibility criteria. Applications are due by 31st May.

This scheme is predominantly aimed at early career academics that have not had the opportunity to work, study or travel outside of the UK.

  • Applicants will have discretion over what the grant is used for, but it must involve a visit to academic peers in a Commonwealth country outside their home region. In most cases, this will involve attendance at a recognised academic conference in their discipline. Potential hosts should be either an ACU member university in the country to be visited, or the organiser of a recognised academic conference.
  • Grants can be used to cover travel costs, conference fees, accommodation and subsistence, and, where appropriate, small-scale purchases of materials for use in future teaching or research.
  • Round 1 of applications is for visits to be made between August-December 2013.
  • Each Early Career Academic Grant will be up to GBP 2,000 in value.
  • Under no circumstances will the total value of the grant exceed that stated on the offer letter.
  • Grants will be paid in a single instalment to either the grant holder’s home institution, a host institution in the country to be visited (provided that the institution is an ACU member), or a named conference organiser. Successful applicants will be asked to nominate a recipient of funds.
  • Grant holders will be asked to provide an account of expenditure and a brief report (no more than 500 words) on how their grant has been spent.
  • The ACU reserves the right to publish the names of successful applicants on the ACU website and in ACU publications. By applying for a grant, the applicant gives consent for such publication in the event that his/her application is successful.

For more information, and to apply, please visit the ACU’s website or contact Research and Income Generation Support at Research and Enterprise.

Architecture student’s essay claims international Berkeley prize

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Sophia BannertA Lincoln student is celebrating international acclaim after winning the 2013 Berkeley Prize Essay Competition, awarded by the University of Berkeley in California.

Sophia Bannert, who is a third year Architecture student at the University of Lincoln, was named as a winner in the Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Design Excellence after submitting her essay. It was selected by judges out of 152 student entries from 26 different countries.

The international competition was established in 1998 by the Department of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley College of Environmental Design, to promote the investigation of architecture as a social art.

Each year the Essay Competition focuses on a topic important to the understanding of the interaction between people and the built world. This year, undergraduate students around the world wrote on ‘The Architect and the Accessible City’, with Sophia’s winning essay entitled ‘A Day in the Life of a Wheelchair User:  Navigating Lincoln’.

Her innovative study explores the challenges faced by wheelchair users navigating around historical cities such as Lincoln.

Sophia said: “I am honoured to have won first prize in this prestigious competition, and I intend to pursue this topic further in my future career. There is a real need for architects and designers to address the problems of rapid and unplanned urbanisation and increased longevity.

“Architecture is an inherently social art and the changing social structures of our communities need to be reflected in our built environment. We need to cherish differences; not discriminate against them. “

Sophia is currently writing another paper on the topic with her tutor Dr Amira Elnokaly, Senior Lecturer at the University of Lincoln’s School of Architecture, which will be published by the Royal College of Art and presented at the international Include Asia 2013 conference in Hong Kong later this year.

Dr Elnokaly said: “At the Lincoln School of Architecture we are absolutely delighted with Sophia’s achievement. It is a fantastic accolade, and international competitions such as this enable our students to display their wide range of talents. They provide great opportunities for the students to explore new themes, and our presentation on inclusive design at the Include Asia 2013 conference will be another valuable experience for Sophia.”

For more information and to read Sophia’s essay on accessible architecture in Lincoln, visit: http://berkeleyprize.org/competition/essay/2013/winning-essays/bannert-essay.

Elizabeth Mitchell - PR OfficerElizabeth Mitchell - PR Officer
E-mail: emitchell@lincoln.ac.uk
Telephone: 01522 837650

 

Annual conference celebrates pioneering postgraduate research at the University of Lincoln

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Postgraduate Student Conference at Riseholme Park

Postgraduate students will be exhibiting their work in a celebration of research across the University of Lincoln, as it hosts its seventh Annual Postgraduate Student Conference.

The conference, which will showcase discoveries being made, applied and critiqued by current postgraduate research students, will take place on Thursday 18th April at the Riseholme Park Conference Centre within the University’s Riseholme Park Campus.

Throughout the conference, postgraduate students will present a multitude of innovative research projects to delegates, through presentations, displays and art exhibitions. The one-day event will be opened by a key note speech from Distinguished Professor of Social Research, Stephen McKay, which will provide important insight into ‘The Craft of Research: A View from the Social Sciences’.

The conference will also include a series of workshops and instructive Q&A panel sessions, hosted by Professor Mike Neary, the University of Lincoln’s Dean of Teaching and Learning and Director of The Graduate School.

Professor Neary said: “We are looking forward to celebrating the research undertaken by our postgraduate students here at the University of Lincoln. The conference seeks to demonstrate that the spirit of research is not the preserve of any particular subject or discipline, but is what all researchers share in common and constitutes what is essential about higher education – ‘the idea of the University’.”

Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Scott Davidson, added: “Research is what distinguishes universities from other kinds of educational institution and here at the University of Lincoln we actively promote the excitement and value of research endeavour to all our students. Among our postgraduate students there is a truly astounding range and depth of high quality research and we are looking forward to seeing this showcased at our Annual Postgraduate Student Conference.”

The Annual Postgraduate Student Conference is part of Postgraduate Week 2013, which takes place from Monday 15th – Friday 19th April, as a celebration of the entire postgraduate community at the University of Lincoln. This year’s programme includes presentations, advice sessions, career and library workshops and evening debate opportunities regarding “The Future of Academic Publishing”. The week will conclude with an evening drinks reception and quiz night, hosted at the Graduate School.

The University’s Graduate School promotes the development of postgraduate activity and champions the interests of postgraduate students throughout the University. The University of Lincoln is currently home to over 1,300 postgraduate students.

The Annual Postgraduate Student Conference is open to all staff and students at the University of Lincoln, and will take place from 9am to 5pm on Thursday 18th April, with registration open from 8:30am. For more information, and to register for your free place, visit: www.postgraduateconference2013.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk.

If you would like further information regarding the conference or Postgraduate Week, please contact the Graduate School at graduateschool@lincoln.ac.uk.

Story credits:

Elizabeth Mitchell - PR OfficerElizabeth Mitchell - PR Officer
E-mail: emitchell@lincoln.ac.uk
Telephone: 01522 837650

 

 

Medieval conference to uncover secrets of Lincoln’s famous bishop

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Medieval Lincoln

Lincoln will play host to some of the UK’s most esteemed historians, as they gather for the city’s celebrated annual medieval conference.

‘New Perspectives: Religious Life in Medieval Lincolnshire’ will be hosted by the Lincoln Record Society and will take place at the Lincoln Cathedral Centre on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th April 2013.

The annual conference provides the opportunity to join international historians as they celebrate the medieval heritage of the city and its monuments. This year, the University of Lincoln’s Dr Philippa Hoskin will take centre stage as one of the key note speakers.

Dr Hoskin, Programme Leader for MA Medieval Studies and Senior Lecturer in History in the School of Humanities at the University of Lincoln, will reveal a new perspective on “Robert Grosseteste and the Dangerous Clerks”, as she opens the second day of the conference.

Dr Hoskin has led ground-breaking new research into the famous Lincoln bishop, which will be presented at the conference for the first time. She will describe new findings about Robert Grosseteste’s attitudes to the education and qualifications of his clergy, and unveil the truth behind his time as head of the Lincoln Diocese. Her talk will bring fresh evidence to light, and suggest that his current reputation may not be entirely correct.

Dr Hoskin said: “I’m delighted to be a part of this conference here in Lincoln. ‘New Perspectives: Religious Life in Medieval Lincolnshire’ will showcase the enormous amount of important scholarly work being done on the religious history of medieval Lincolnshire at the moment.”

She will be joined at the conference by Sara Mederos, a graduate student also from the University of Lincoln’s School of Humanities, who will deliver a public talk entitled “Untying the Knot: Canon Law and the Marriage of Christina of Markyate”.

Lincoln’s famous medieval legacy and rich historical resources attract academic minds from across the country, and this year visitors to the conference will enjoy the expertise of academics from the universities of Glasgow, Leeds, Nottingham, Cardiff, York and Keele.

New Perspectives: Religious Life in Medieval Lincolnshire will take place on 12th – 13th April 2013 from 9am. Attendance at the conference costs £10, or £8 for members of the Lincoln Record Society. For more information and to book your place, please contact conference organisers Alan Kissane or Marianne Wilson.

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Elizabeth Mitchell - PR OfficerElizabeth Mitchell - PR Officer
E-mail: emitchell@lincoln.ac.uk
Telephone: 01522 837650

 

 

Top primate researchers swing into Lincoln for annual meeting

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A macaque, which is a species of primateSome of the world’s leading primatologists will convene in Lincoln, UK, for the annual spring meeting of the Primate Society of Great Britain.

The University of Lincoln is hosting this event for the first time and will welcome around 60 researchers and students to its main Brayford Pool campus on 2nd and 3rd April 2013. The theme of the meeting is ‘Primates and Beyond: Comparative Socio-Ecology and Cognition’.

The PSGB’s spring meeting aims to bring together scientists and students working on different topics and different animal species. Traditionally, it has been assumed that non-human primates are closer to humans than any other species in their cognitive abilities and social structures. For this reason, primatology research has often been viewed as distinct from research into other animals, such as dogs, birds and dolphins.

However, recent studies, including work by academics from the University of Lincoln’s School of Life Sciences and School of Psychology, are starting to erode some of these distinctions.

Dr Bonaventura Majolo, Reader in Lincoln’s School of Psychology and an expert on the socio-ecology of primates, is one of the researchers leading this movement towards closer integration between disciplines. He is one of the organisers behind this year’s PSGB meeting.

Dr Majolo said: “It’s a tremendous privilege for the University of Lincoln to be hosting the annual spring meeting of the Primate Society of Great Britain.
“These are exciting times for researchers and students interested in the cognitive capacities of all animals. A great deal of progress has been made in recent years towards better understanding the role of convergent evolution and the fact that differences between species in their cognitive skills and social structure cannot simply be explained in terms of the shared evolutionary history these species have had. For example, some species with very different evolutionary history, ecology and anatomy –dolphins, elephants, some primates and bird species – share a similar social organisation. These species also have similar peace-making mechanisms or aspects of social cognition that they do not share with many of their more closely-related species.”

One of the keynote speakers at the conference will be Dr Anna Wilkinson, Senior Lecturer in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Lincoln. Dr Wilkinson’s work is revealing new insights into the cognitive abilities of a variety of species, including pigeons and tortoises.

Other speakers include Professor Kevin Laland from the University of St Andrews and Professor Julia Ostner from Georg-August-Universität Göttingen in Germany.

The Primate Society of Great Britain (PSGB) is a UK learned society affiliated to the International Primatological Society and the European Federation for Primatology. It was founded in 1967 to promote research into all aspects of primate biology, conservation and management. The PSGB holds two scientific meetings a year, a winter meeting, usually held in London, and a spring meeting, held at different venues around the UK.

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Ian Richards - PR OfficerIan Richards - PR Officer
E-mail: irichards@lincoln.ac.uk
Telephone: 01522 886