Weekly update

Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) 4th March - 17th May 2019
Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) 19th March - 14th June 2019

If you need further support please contact Nicole Mulholland via n.mulholland@qub.ac.uk or the Graduate School at graduateschool@qub.ac.uk.

Both surveys will take less than fifteen minutes to complete! Thank you for your feedback.

The aim of Peer Proofreading sessions is to allow all postgraduate students to improve the quality of their academic writing. Each workshop is facilitated by a network of professional staff, external instructors and student assistants who will offer advice and guidance on academic writing  and proofreading strategies. Students will be able to apply these techniques to help improve their own written work.

Participants will learn to:

• Identify errors and inconsistencies in their work
• Master the skills needed for effective academic writing
• Improve editing and proofreading skills
• Develop multidisciplinary peer networks

Please bring samples of your own work to use in each session.

This series of workshops has been designed specifically for our international students who do not have English as a first language and consists of five half day sessions that address the following important areas: (1) Critical thinking and writing; (2) Accuracy in English; (3) Conventions of academic English: (4) Editing and proof-reading your work; (5) Plagiarism: what it is and how to avoid it.

All workshops take a communicative and interactive approach to learning: pair and group work is encouraged. Handouts are provided for students taking part.

The fifth session is Plagiarism: what it is and how to avoid it.

Pre-course information:
Ideally, participants should have already registered with and familiarised themselves with TurnitinUK.

Course description:
Many students may not be fully aware of what constitutes plagiarism, nor have the strategies to avoid it. This workshop aims to ensure that participants can be more confident in the integrity of their academic work.

The workshop includes an explanation of what constitutes plagiarism, accidental or otherwise, and a demonstration and exploration of what the TurnitinUK Originality Report identifies as ‘matching’ text in its database. It encourages participants to regard TurnitinUK as a writing development tool, NOT simply a plagiarism checker. 

Issues identified are used as a basis for an introduction to the essential strategies for avoiding plagiarism: what patchwriting is; the stages of effective summarising and paraphrasing, and a brief overview of editing direct quotations. A helpful academic website is also provided, which allows participants to reuse phrases in their academic writing that do not constitute plagiarism. Practice materials are included.

Participants will spend time identifying their audiences e.g. from academics, funders to potential employers in the public, private and third sector organisations and adapt their research message accordingly.

The workshop will focus on how to:
• Identify key audiences and define key messages
• Outline the benefits and risks of using social media
• Build an effective social media strategy
• How best to deliver a message using social media platforms.

'Conversation is a meeting of minds '

Join us on the first and third Tuesday of the month to share and discuss some of our best readings. To make sure every voice is heard and every member really enjoys the meetings, at the end of the session a different member picks up a book (or a novel, or a thriller, or a poem etc.) which may also gives us the opportunity to get out of our comfort zone and get inspired!

We, then, discuss their salient and most interesting aspects, what we loved or what we did not, what caught our attention, what parts were the most or least original. The aim of the Book Club is to share our passion in reading getting some time out from our academic works; share our ideas while spending time with new people and making sure we are enjoying our time together.

The club provides a safe and warm channel to exchange and challenge ideas, encouraging self-expression while enhancing your critical thinking.

Session Dates:
Feb (12, 26)
March (5, 19)
April (2, 16)
May (7, 21)
June (4, 18)

Camilla Long is a facilitator with the people-development agency that she co-founded in 2015, Bespoke Communications. Camilla's career began in Tokyo as a software developer, moving into a capital-markets sales role and the larger world of banking. She launched a disruptive stock-market trading product that went on to become Europe’s leading electronic trading platform!

Camilla moved to Ireland in 2008 and launched two start-up businesses in quick succession. Neither lit the world alive, but were great fun and the best business education that time could buy! A contract at Ulster University followed, where she enjoyed developing a wide-ranging training programme for external businesses.

Camilla loves challenging people to bring out their best selves. Passionate about the power of education to change outcomes, she works frequently with young people to open up opportunity. In this talk, Camilla will discuss how you can push yourself out of your comfort zone, moving on from the mediocre, and how to bring your best self to your brightest opportunities.

Drop-In PG: I will be in Teaching Room 9 every Tuesday of term time from 10am-4pm. Please feel free if you have any questions or queries at all. If you have any queries outside of this time, keep an eye out for the Students’ Union box and comment cards that you can fill out in the Graduate School. I also send a Monthly PG Newsletter so keep an eye out for this for all of the up-to-date QUBSU information!

Elections: Would you like to be the next Postgraduate Student Officer? If so, nominations are open to put yourself forward to become a student leader between Mon 7 Jan – Wed 13 Feb. You can find out about all of the roles, read about why to stand and put yourself forward and stand for election.

If you can see yourself running for any of the roles available, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me. You can also contact change@qub.ac.uk to find out more!

Parents’ and Carers’ Network: We have launched a brand new network for students with dependants. If you're a parent or carer, please join by filling out this form. We'll keep you up to date with info and events relevant to you. We're also launching a student-wide survey to assess the needs of students with dependants at Queen's. If you're a student parent or carer, please fill out this survey and if you know any students who would fit the bill, please send on to them.

The Graduate School recruits for Community Assistants periodically and will advertise on the Weekly Update as and when posts become available.

Guidance and 1-2-1 Appointments


Career Consultations at the Graduate School
Partake in a thirty minute confidential career consultation with a qualified Employability and Careers Officer.

Postgraduate Research Consultant
The Graduate School’s Postgraduate Research Consultant, with an interdisciplinary background in Psychology, Education and Gesture Studies, offers career support and guidance to PhD students and early career researchers at QUB.

Now available: new and innovative learning programmes aimed at developing future-ready and resilient researchers, who perform confidently in a currently challenging employment market.


Researcher Development Consultant
Appointments with the Researcher Development Consultant at the Graduate School offer PhD students career support and guidance. Topics that can be discussed at these appointments include:

• Careers after the PhD
• How to transfer academic skills to non-academic work environments
• Review of job application documents
• Interview Preparation

Graduate School Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Entrepreneurship and innovation consultations give you the opportunity to discuss the following:

• Ideas you have to start a business or social enterprise.
• Support with setting up a business.
• Advice on where to get started as an entrepreneur.
• Guidance on specific support you need.
• Signposting to opportunities for finance and investment.
• Information on the Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur visa.
  
  

CV Clinic at the Graduate School
A fifteen minute confidential CV assessment with a qualified Employability and Careers Officer.

Would you like feedback on your current CV? This CV Clinic will assess your CV’s layout and content. If you are applying for an immediate job, please bring the relevant information with you to this appointment. A job description and person specification will enable staff to provide criteria-specific guidance.

Please note, your CV can be presented on paper or on your own laptop. Documents on mobile/smart phones or USBs will not be reviewed.