IN THIS ISSUE:
Introduction
PGA Survey: Thank you!
PG Spotlight: Postgraduate Boat Party & BBQ- Tickets on sale
Deadlines/Opportunities
Events
News
Hope you’re all enjoying this lovely weather we’re having at the moment and managing to spare yourselves an hour or two outside!
The last month has been a good one for the PGA, with quite a lot going on, and two noticeably exciting steps forward.
First of all, on the 19th and 20th of July, UCLU sent three representatives to the first NUS Postgraduate Students’ Conference. We were very active in helping to set the policy direction for work on postgraduate issues on a national level. This successor to the National Postgraduate Committee is a very exciting and welcome step forward.
Secondly, the organisation of the PGA’s Summer Boat Party is in full swing, as today we release tickets online. It’s going to be a great event, and for £15 it will be a steal. The ticket also includes a Pimms reception, a BBQ, and a DJ for the four hour cruise. I hope to see you all there!
As always, if you wish to submit your own events, news or advertisements for housing, etc please send an email to d.hawk@ucl.ac.ukand remember to include important information like dates, times and contact details.
This will be my last Bulletin, as from August 1st Shawn Williams will be taking my position over. It’s been a lot of fun this year, and I am sure Shawn will continue all the PGA’s good work and have great success.
Take care and best of luck,
Billy Street
Medical and Postgraduate Students' Officer
back to top
For example, next year we will be co-hosting Rights and Advice workshops that will focus on postgraduate issues, as nearly 70% of you ranked this as quite important.
We are also working on increasing our social provision to make sure that we offer events where you can meet other postgraduates outside of your department and we’ll continue to subsidise our events.
We also want to make sure that we continue to involve the postgraduates that are not based close to the Bloomsbury campus.
Early next year, we hope to run some focus groups to get a more detailed understanding of how the PGA can better serve UCL postgraduates. In the meantime if you have any suggestions on additional comments, send us an email.
The 2009 PGA Survey Winners:
High Street Vouchers: Maartje Ament, Dept of Computer Science
Cinema Vouchers: Ryan Grammenos, Dept of Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Taste of London Festival tickets: Chris Davies, Dept of Crime Science, Jill Dando Institute
Amazon vouchers: Name withheld
An additional 10 postgraduate students enjoyed a wine tasting hosted by the Provost and Head of the Graduate School where we tasted wine blindly. Students discussed fee increases, provision for induction as well as the scent and taste of the reds and whites. Two lucky students correctly identified 2 wines out of 8 (blind tasting is not very easy!) and took home a sparkling Rose as a prize.
back to top
Tickets are being subsidised by the PGA and would normally retail for close to double this price. It is an absolute bargain and tickets will go quickly. They go on sale today online, here: http://www.suents.com/ucluevents/ so get yours now. Tickets will also be available from the Print Room Cafe soon!
Tickets are available to postgraduates and guests. So bring your partners and friends, just make sure they are over 18.
The boat leaves at 6pm from Temple Pier, so make sure you are there to board at 5:45pm!
If you have any questions please email uczxpgs@ucl.ac.uk!
back to top
Psychology Study:
You are invited to take part in research which is ongoing at UCL in the Psychology Department.
We are investigating links between attention processes and emotion and
you are invited to come to UCL for a session lasting 1 hour 15 minutes for
which you will be compensated with a payment of £10.
During the session you will be asked to complete questionnaires,
perform a computer-based reaction time task, and wear a heart-rate monitor on your hand whilst viewing some pictures. You need to be aged 18-40 and have no history of mental health problems.
If you are interested in taking part please contact Lorna Stewart at
(lorna.stewart@ucl.ac.uk) or phone (0207 679 8277) to find out more
about the study and schedule a time to take part.
Pharmacology Study
We are conducting a study on healthy volunteers looking at various aspects of how blood vessels work with the aim of furthering our understanding and
treatment of heart disease.
We are looking for people who are 18-45 years of age, healthy, non-smokers and not on any regular medications.
If you are interested please contact:
Clinical Research Nurse Jo Harris: joanne.harris@ucl.ac.uk
Michael Okorie: m.okorie@ucl.ac.ukor Shahid Muhammad: shahid.muhammad@ucl.ac.uk Leave your name and phone number and we will contact you.
You will receive £20.00 compensation for inconvenience and expenses.
Sophia Magazine Issue & Designer Wanted
We are pleased to announce the publication of Issue 3 of Sophia – UCL’s magazine for academic journalism – featuring a diverse range of articles from metabolic building materials to the decline of traditional hunting techniques in the Himalayas.
We have doubled the print run this issue, thanks to generous sponsorship from UCL's Friends' Trust and UCL Grand Challenges, so it should be easier to get hold of a print copy. Again, we will try to maintain a pile in the Postgraduate Common Room (at the back of the Print Room Café), and will also distribute copies to common areas in UCL departments. A PDF version of the magazine will be available to download from our website, below.
We are now welcoming submissions from all departments for Issue 4, the deadline will be November 1st to send a first draft and we aim to publish in mid-November. Please see our website and have a look at previous issues for submission guidelines and to get an idea of the appropriate writing style.
http://www.sophiamagazine.co.uk
Submission deadline: 1 November
Sophia magazine is seeking someone to take on the role of designer for future issues. The candidate would work together with the current designer on Issue 4, and take on the role independently from Issue 5 onwards. You should be based at UCL until at least Summer 2011 and have some experience using Adobe Creative Suite (most useful would be InDesign).
Please contact the editor, Ed Long, at editor@sophiamagazine.co.uk if you are interested in being considered for the role.
British Sign Language (BSL) Handshape Perception Study
Seeking participants in a new research project at DCAL! We are investigating the nature of specific BSL handshapes and how they are perceived. You will be shown sequences of BSL handshapes on a computer screen.
There are only 2 tasks and you have to decide which handshapes are similar. It will only take 1 hour and you will be paid £6 for your time! The study is fully confidential and has been given Ethics approval
This project is taking place at the DCAL Research Centre, UCL, 49 Gordon Sq. London WC1H 0PD
You must have English as your first language and must NOT know any sign language (fingerspelling is fine). You must be between ages 18-50
Get in touch with us!
1. Email z.sevcikova@ucl.ac.ukor call/text: 07891522297 to arrange a time slot
2. Alternatively, go to the website, follow the instructions on the screen
to register as participant and fill in the pre-screen questionnaire: http://dcal.sona-systems.com/default.asp
Research Survey, win vouchers:
Please support a groundbreaking new investigation into the information-seeking and research behaviour of doctoral students studying in the UK. The conclusions and recommendations drawn from the Researchers of Tomorrow study will help the British Library and the JISC, which runs our academic networks and supports research through online technologies, to improve their responses to the current and future research needs of academic researchers like you. It will also assist institutions like ours to adapt to changing research behaviour.
We are one of over 70 higher education institutions involved with this research project and we would appreciate it if you could find just 10-15 minutes to complete an online questionnaire, which can be found if you click on the link below:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=1l_2fOL92ZL2X8bkSJn2qLwQ_3d_3d
It is essential that as many doctoral researchers as possible take part in this survey so that the results are representative of trends and research behaviour across the UK as a whole. We will receive a copy of the aggregated results for our university, which will help us to provide you with better support in your research.
Please complete the questionnaire by Monday 13th July. Everyone who completes the questionnaire on time can be entered in a prize draw to win one prize of £250 of Amazon vouchers, a further five prizes of £50 vouchers and fifty £10 vouchers.
The research is being undertaken by The Research Partnership and Education for Change, independent research organisations contracted to undertake the study on behalf of the British Library and the JISC. Both organisations comply with the relevant data protection legislation and your answers will not be divulged to anyone else; we will not see your individual replies. You only need to provide your email address to enter the prize draw; your details will not be used for any other purpose.
Further information about the research study can be found at http://www.researchersoftomorrow.net
Demos Essay Competition:
Demos is inviting members of the public to submit an essay for our latest essay collection. Two essays will be selected from the entries and will be published. The winning authors will each win £250.
The theme of the collection is to explore practical ways that the welfare state can be restructured to create the conditions for people to become independent, powerful, self-reliant people. All politicians now favour a narrative of the ‘enabling state’ that discourages dependency, but lack policy options.
The guidelines for anyone hoping to submit are:
* essays of 1,000 words
* submission date is 27th July 2009
* essays can be about any area of the welfare state (eg health,
education, social care, older people's services, tax &
benefit, welfare to work, homelessness services)
* essays should present a specific idea, innovation or policy,
that can be implemented to help people take more control of
their own lives and become self-reliant
* all essays should answer the following questions: a) what is
wrong with the system as it is now? b) what is the new
idea/policy that can improve it? c) how will this new
idea/policy help people become more independent and
self-reliant? d) how will we know it has worked?
Please could all submissions be sent via email to
Jamie.Bartlett@demos.co.ukor post to Jamie Bartlett, Demos, 136
Tooley Street, London SE1 2TU
back to top
4 July,
London Pride Volunteers
If you want to be more than a spectator at London Pride this year then volunteer with the older LGBT community. Volunteers are needed to be stewards, help decorate the parade bus and the Hall at St Anne’s and serve refreshments. Email f.addison@ucl.ac.uk
7 July, 3.30–6.30pm
London Evolutionary Research Network (LERN) invites you to a debate on
Group Selection
“Is natural selection at the group level an important evolutionary
force?”
JZ Young Lecture Theatre, Anatomy Building, University
LERN: the London Evolutionary Research Network.
Contact info@londonevolution.net
12 July
Nature Conservation
Why not take up nature conservation volunteering? It's easy to learn, and rewarding for you, for local people and for the wildlife in the nature reserves we work in. Email f.addison@ucl.ac.uk
22 July, 6-10pm
PGA Boat Party
BBQ and Pimms on the River Thames. Buy your tickets for your friends and partners, available online http://www.suents.com/ucluevents/events/index.php?page=event&event_id=225725 or at the Print Room Cafe. Tickets are limited. Boat departs from Temple Pier.
£15
As always UCL events can be found here:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/events/
back to top
An MSc in Social Networking
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2009/jun/18/degree-in-twitter
The University of Wales impressive PhD packages http://www.independent.co.uk/student/postgraduate/postgraduate-study/raising-the-standard-how-prince-of-wales-scholarships-can-lift-wales-out-of-recession-1701754.html
NUS take notice of postgraduates
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/postgraduate/postgraduate-study/strength-in-unity-is-the-nus-finally-listening-to-postgraduates-1701756.html
back to top
Introduction
PGA Survey: Thank you!
PG Spotlight: Postgraduate Boat Party & BBQ- Tickets on sale
Deadlines/Opportunities
Events
News
Introduction:
Hi all,Hope you’re all enjoying this lovely weather we’re having at the moment and managing to spare yourselves an hour or two outside!
The last month has been a good one for the PGA, with quite a lot going on, and two noticeably exciting steps forward.
First of all, on the 19th and 20th of July, UCLU sent three representatives to the first NUS Postgraduate Students’ Conference. We were very active in helping to set the policy direction for work on postgraduate issues on a national level. This successor to the National Postgraduate Committee is a very exciting and welcome step forward.
Secondly, the organisation of the PGA’s Summer Boat Party is in full swing, as today we release tickets online. It’s going to be a great event, and for £15 it will be a steal. The ticket also includes a Pimms reception, a BBQ, and a DJ for the four hour cruise. I hope to see you all there!
As always, if you wish to submit your own events, news or advertisements for housing, etc please send an email to d.hawk@ucl.ac.ukand remember to include important information like dates, times and contact details.
This will be my last Bulletin, as from August 1st Shawn Williams will be taking my position over. It’s been a lot of fun this year, and I am sure Shawn will continue all the PGA’s good work and have great success.
Take care and best of luck,
Billy Street
Medical and Postgraduate Students' Officer
back to top
Postgraduate Association Survey: Thank you!
A big thank you to the 409 UCL postgraduates who took the time to fill out the PGA Survey. You can rest assured that the PGA will be responding to your feedback. The survey serves to let us know what we are doing well and what we could improve on.For example, next year we will be co-hosting Rights and Advice workshops that will focus on postgraduate issues, as nearly 70% of you ranked this as quite important.
We are also working on increasing our social provision to make sure that we offer events where you can meet other postgraduates outside of your department and we’ll continue to subsidise our events.
We also want to make sure that we continue to involve the postgraduates that are not based close to the Bloomsbury campus.
Early next year, we hope to run some focus groups to get a more detailed understanding of how the PGA can better serve UCL postgraduates. In the meantime if you have any suggestions on additional comments, send us an email.
The 2009 PGA Survey Winners:
High Street Vouchers: Maartje Ament, Dept of Computer Science
Cinema Vouchers: Ryan Grammenos, Dept of Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Taste of London Festival tickets: Chris Davies, Dept of Crime Science, Jill Dando Institute
Amazon vouchers: Name withheld
An additional 10 postgraduate students enjoyed a wine tasting hosted by the Provost and Head of the Graduate School where we tasted wine blindly. Students discussed fee increases, provision for induction as well as the scent and taste of the reds and whites. Two lucky students correctly identified 2 wines out of 8 (blind tasting is not very easy!) and took home a sparkling Rose as a prize.
back to top
PG Spotlight: PGA Boat Party, tickets now on sale
The Postgraduate Association is excited to offer postgraduates a chance to cruise down the River Thames on Wednesday 22 July (6-10pm). Enjoy a Pimms reception & a BBQ (veggie options available) for only £15.Tickets are being subsidised by the PGA and would normally retail for close to double this price. It is an absolute bargain and tickets will go quickly. They go on sale today online, here: http://www.suents.com/ucluevents/ so get yours now. Tickets will also be available from the Print Room Cafe soon!
Tickets are available to postgraduates and guests. So bring your partners and friends, just make sure they are over 18.
The boat leaves at 6pm from Temple Pier, so make sure you are there to board at 5:45pm!
If you have any questions please email uczxpgs@ucl.ac.uk!
back to top
Deadlines/Opportunities
Psychology Study:
You are invited to take part in research which is ongoing at UCL in the Psychology Department.
We are investigating links between attention processes and emotion and
you are invited to come to UCL for a session lasting 1 hour 15 minutes for
which you will be compensated with a payment of £10.
During the session you will be asked to complete questionnaires,
perform a computer-based reaction time task, and wear a heart-rate monitor on your hand whilst viewing some pictures. You need to be aged 18-40 and have no history of mental health problems.
If you are interested in taking part please contact Lorna Stewart at
(lorna.stewart@ucl.ac.uk) or phone (0207 679 8277) to find out more
about the study and schedule a time to take part.
Pharmacology Study
We are conducting a study on healthy volunteers looking at various aspects of how blood vessels work with the aim of furthering our understanding and
treatment of heart disease.
We are looking for people who are 18-45 years of age, healthy, non-smokers and not on any regular medications.
If you are interested please contact:
Clinical Research Nurse Jo Harris: joanne.harris@ucl.ac.uk
Michael Okorie: m.okorie@ucl.ac.ukor Shahid Muhammad: shahid.muhammad@ucl.ac.uk Leave your name and phone number and we will contact you.
You will receive £20.00 compensation for inconvenience and expenses.
Sophia Magazine Issue & Designer Wanted
We are pleased to announce the publication of Issue 3 of Sophia – UCL’s magazine for academic journalism – featuring a diverse range of articles from metabolic building materials to the decline of traditional hunting techniques in the Himalayas.
We have doubled the print run this issue, thanks to generous sponsorship from UCL's Friends' Trust and UCL Grand Challenges, so it should be easier to get hold of a print copy. Again, we will try to maintain a pile in the Postgraduate Common Room (at the back of the Print Room Café), and will also distribute copies to common areas in UCL departments. A PDF version of the magazine will be available to download from our website, below.
We are now welcoming submissions from all departments for Issue 4, the deadline will be November 1st to send a first draft and we aim to publish in mid-November. Please see our website and have a look at previous issues for submission guidelines and to get an idea of the appropriate writing style.
http://www.sophiamagazine.co.uk
Submission deadline: 1 November
Sophia magazine is seeking someone to take on the role of designer for future issues. The candidate would work together with the current designer on Issue 4, and take on the role independently from Issue 5 onwards. You should be based at UCL until at least Summer 2011 and have some experience using Adobe Creative Suite (most useful would be InDesign).
Please contact the editor, Ed Long, at editor@sophiamagazine.co.uk if you are interested in being considered for the role.
British Sign Language (BSL) Handshape Perception Study
Seeking participants in a new research project at DCAL! We are investigating the nature of specific BSL handshapes and how they are perceived. You will be shown sequences of BSL handshapes on a computer screen.
There are only 2 tasks and you have to decide which handshapes are similar. It will only take 1 hour and you will be paid £6 for your time! The study is fully confidential and has been given Ethics approval
This project is taking place at the DCAL Research Centre, UCL, 49 Gordon Sq. London WC1H 0PD
You must have English as your first language and must NOT know any sign language (fingerspelling is fine). You must be between ages 18-50
Get in touch with us!
1. Email z.sevcikova@ucl.ac.ukor call/text: 07891522297 to arrange a time slot
2. Alternatively, go to the website, follow the instructions on the screen
to register as participant and fill in the pre-screen questionnaire: http://dcal.sona-systems.com/default.asp
Research Survey, win vouchers:
Please support a groundbreaking new investigation into the information-seeking and research behaviour of doctoral students studying in the UK. The conclusions and recommendations drawn from the Researchers of Tomorrow study will help the British Library and the JISC, which runs our academic networks and supports research through online technologies, to improve their responses to the current and future research needs of academic researchers like you. It will also assist institutions like ours to adapt to changing research behaviour.
We are one of over 70 higher education institutions involved with this research project and we would appreciate it if you could find just 10-15 minutes to complete an online questionnaire, which can be found if you click on the link below:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=1l_2fOL92ZL2X8bkSJn2qLwQ_3d_3d
It is essential that as many doctoral researchers as possible take part in this survey so that the results are representative of trends and research behaviour across the UK as a whole. We will receive a copy of the aggregated results for our university, which will help us to provide you with better support in your research.
Please complete the questionnaire by Monday 13th July. Everyone who completes the questionnaire on time can be entered in a prize draw to win one prize of £250 of Amazon vouchers, a further five prizes of £50 vouchers and fifty £10 vouchers.
The research is being undertaken by The Research Partnership and Education for Change, independent research organisations contracted to undertake the study on behalf of the British Library and the JISC. Both organisations comply with the relevant data protection legislation and your answers will not be divulged to anyone else; we will not see your individual replies. You only need to provide your email address to enter the prize draw; your details will not be used for any other purpose.
Further information about the research study can be found at http://www.researchersoftomorrow.net
Demos Essay Competition:
Demos is inviting members of the public to submit an essay for our latest essay collection. Two essays will be selected from the entries and will be published. The winning authors will each win £250.
The theme of the collection is to explore practical ways that the welfare state can be restructured to create the conditions for people to become independent, powerful, self-reliant people. All politicians now favour a narrative of the ‘enabling state’ that discourages dependency, but lack policy options.
The guidelines for anyone hoping to submit are:
* essays of 1,000 words
* submission date is 27th July 2009
* essays can be about any area of the welfare state (eg health,
education, social care, older people's services, tax &
benefit, welfare to work, homelessness services)
* essays should present a specific idea, innovation or policy,
that can be implemented to help people take more control of
their own lives and become self-reliant
* all essays should answer the following questions: a) what is
wrong with the system as it is now? b) what is the new
idea/policy that can improve it? c) how will this new
idea/policy help people become more independent and
self-reliant? d) how will we know it has worked?
Please could all submissions be sent via email to
Jamie.Bartlett@demos.co.ukor post to Jamie Bartlett, Demos, 136
Tooley Street, London SE1 2TU
back to top
Events:
4 July,
London Pride Volunteers
If you want to be more than a spectator at London Pride this year then volunteer with the older LGBT community. Volunteers are needed to be stewards, help decorate the parade bus and the Hall at St Anne’s and serve refreshments. Email f.addison@ucl.ac.uk
7 July, 3.30–6.30pm
London Evolutionary Research Network (LERN) invites you to a debate on
Group Selection
“Is natural selection at the group level an important evolutionary
force?”
JZ Young Lecture Theatre, Anatomy Building, University
LERN: the London Evolutionary Research Network.
Contact info@londonevolution.net
12 July
Nature Conservation
Why not take up nature conservation volunteering? It's easy to learn, and rewarding for you, for local people and for the wildlife in the nature reserves we work in. Email f.addison@ucl.ac.uk
22 July, 6-10pm
PGA Boat Party
BBQ and Pimms on the River Thames. Buy your tickets for your friends and partners, available online http://www.suents.com/ucluevents/events/index.php?page=event&event_id=225725 or at the Print Room Cafe. Tickets are limited. Boat departs from Temple Pier.
£15
As always UCL events can be found here:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/events/
back to top
News:
An MSc in Social Networking
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2009/jun/18/degree-in-twitter
The University of Wales impressive PhD packages http://www.independent.co.uk/student/postgraduate/postgraduate-study/raising-the-standard-how-prince-of-wales-scholarships-can-lift-wales-out-of-recession-1701754.html
NUS take notice of postgraduates
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/postgraduate/postgraduate-study/strength-in-unity-is-the-nus-finally-listening-to-postgraduates-1701756.html
back to top