The department conducts Research Colloquium for the Postgraduate students The event brings students together to share their research across disciplines and Schools. The Colloquium has a number of academic and social objectives that include:
AIM
To impart quality research and development skills with hands-on-experience in research and experiential learning
Objectives
• To provide a venue for students to present their work, in a supportive environment, to a wide audience including their peers, supervisors.
• To foster peer-support and networking between students and staff across the Department
• To provide an opportunity for interaction and discussion amongst researchers and supervisors who embrace different approaches to research.
• To provide an exciting and professional venue for post graduate students to present their scholarly work, and to promote the importance of research skills within both academic and professional forums
The Context
Knowledge Base of students: As they do not have a research paper in the undergraduate programme it is a great challenge to bridge the gap between the knowledge and skill they have on research and knowledge required for the research colloquium
The colloquium offers an opportunity for post graduate students to present research in the current areas. While faculty and community members attend the colloquium, only students present.
The Practice
Two hours of every week is dedicated for the research colloquium. Weekly seminar attendance by students is mandatory. Faculty are expected to attend and participate in two sessions.
At the first of these sessions they will present the context for their research question, at the second they will support their respective students in presenting their research design and at the last session they will support student presentations of findings and implications. Faculty-student presentations will be approximately 45 minutes. The audience are encouraged to give feedback. The research colloquium overall develops the students
Subject specific networking skills - students will be required to attend the full programme of events, and to think actively about intersections and interfaces between the represented disciplines. Students will be required to respond to and reflect on how their research connects with other research undertaken in their discipline. In particular, by incorporating the theme of knowledge transfer and research accessibility, speakers will be asked to address the theme of the outreach of research explicitly. The development of this skill will be demonstrated by participation in the event.
Abstract-writing Skill - the ability to condense research themes into a short summary and to write to the requirements of an event will be developed and demonstrated by the submission of an abstract. All postgraduates in the Department will be invited to submit a 200 word Abstract (in advance of Colloquium to the Colloquium Committee). Students submitting an abstract but not intending to give a paper can be offered feedback on their abstract for further skills development.
Oral presentation skills - all students offering papers and chairing panels will gain experience of oral presentation demonstrated by participation, and all attendees are encouraged to develop this skill by offering questions. Students giving papers will have to respond to questions appropriately and work with the chair of the session. Peer review will be used to ensure that speakers gain the maximum benefit from their participation: it will provide all speakers who agree to be reviewed with anonymous comments and assessment of their presentation (generally and in terms of specific features such as use of visual aids) from members of the audience. In addition, this will develop the skill of active listening among audience members, and may help to stimulate more reflective questions. Chairs of sessions will develop skills including offering questions and introducing speakers.
Technical skills developed will include:
• MS PowerPoint (compulsory)
• Handouts (optional)
• Other A/V aids (where appropriate)
• Use of microphones (optional)
Writing for publication Skill - by submitting an abstract students are encouraged.to follow APA style. They will also help students to develop the skills of writing concisely, following style guides and where appropriate, learning about and dealing with copyright issues and plagiarisms. Working with an editorial team and working to deadlines are further aspects of writing for publication and dissemination of research, of which students will gain experience. This set of skills is demonstrated by the published (or publishable) output.
