Graduate School Grant

Steve Bagienski, Department of Psychology

The Graduate School Fund allowed me to take part in the First Positive Psychology Summit, 2019 that took place from April 26 to April 28. The funding (£508) gave me an excellent opportunity to not only present results from my first-year experiment in collaboration with Abracademy but also deliver a workshop where I was able to collect data for an ongoing study.  The experiment involved using magic as a tool to help foster a more supportive community with first-year Goldsmiths students. 

The Positive Psychology Summit represents the applied side of research in the growing and expanding science of positive psychology.  The summit included talks on a range of topics for both researchers and practitioners.  These included academic topics like how to expand measures beyond questionnaires, advice on publishing applied research papers, implementing character strengths in education, and also more presentations such as an executive coaching masterclass, Lego-themed facilitation strategies, and more. As my career goals are to pursue academic research and extend it to real-world consulting, the conference was an ideal opportunity for my development.  I am very grateful to the Goldsmith’s Graduate School for making this a reality because I would otherwise not have had this opportunity and am excited to see what further opportunities this summit will open up.

Alessandra Caso, Department of Psychology

The Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, SARMAC, is an international conference that gathers academically interested in a variety of areas related to human memory. This year, I will be presenting two of my PhD studies to SARMAC XIII, and this will offer me a great opportunity to gather important feedback on my research. Talking, and exchanging ideas with more experienced researchers interested in my field will likely give me new insights into my own area of research. Furthermore, I believe that the study I would present will be of great interest, and I hope this will lead to potential collaboration on future research exploring the relationship between witnesses’ confidence and accuracy. Finally, I am in the final year of my PhD, and among my most important priorities there is the dissemination of findings and networking; SARMAC XIII would be a great opportunity to present my recent studies, as well as meet and talk to people I will hopefully be working with in the near future. The Graduate School helped my funding this experience and made it possible for me to attend such an interesting but expensive conference.

Vanessa Hughes, Department of Sociology

The Graduate Fund enabled me to go and present my PhD research at the British Sociological Association Annual conference 2019 at Glasgow Caledonian University. It was the first time I presented on my overall idea of the PhD and so helpful in focusing the argument of my thesis into a 15 minute presentation. The presentation was on Thursday 25 April at 11.00 as part of the 'Race Ethnicity and Migration' stream on the panel entitled 'Migration and Young People'. I received useful feedback on my presentation 'Young people subject to immigration control in the UK: A life out of control?' which will contribute to the development of my thesis as I finalise it over the next months

Laura Henneke, Department of Sociology

The New Silk Road: A 'mobile visual ethnography' of places along the Yiwu-Madrid railway

The term 'New Silk Road' describes the phenomenon of revived trading routes across the Eurasian landmass which are often related to Chinese investment in infrastructures. For my PhD project in Visual Sociology, I follow one of such reestablished routes along the China-Europe rail corridor to investigate its visible and invisible impacts on the social and built fabrics of the places it connects. My multi-sited fieldwork is ambitious yet crucial to fully fathom the complete sense of physical scale and visual appearance of the New Silk Road. By boarding trains from Yiwu, China to Madrid in Spain, I take stock at key points, which allow me to explore relevant places where the train, goods, people and the built environment get 'entangled', and thus constitute place (Ingold 2007:103). Using a set of qualitative methods, including still and moving image recordings and spatial mapping, this research adds the missing human layer of existing scholarship on the New Silk Road, which is thus far dominated by economists and political scientists who overlook socio-spatial aspects of globalisation.

Thankfully, the Graduate School Fund supports my fieldwork plans and enables me to gather experiences and material which will eventually compose an immersive exhibition as part of my final submission. Without it, my research would not stand out as much as it could from other work that is currently being done on the topic.

Please see (and follow) my journey on Twitter: @Laura_Henneke

Sabrina Wilkinson, Department of Media, Communications & Cultural Studies

The Graduate School Fund provided support for my travel to Canada to interview research participants for my doctoral research. My dissertation project is about the politics of internet policy in Canada and a seminal component of this endeavour is face-to-face interviews with a range of participants involved in internet policy development, including lobbyists, members of parliament, journalists, activists, academics and regulators. During my time in Canada, I interviewed nearly forty participants and was able to attend events and regulatory proceedings relevant to my research. The support of the Graduate School Fund allowed me to focus on my research during this period and spend the time I needed in Canada to meet and exceed my personal goals for this component of my project. 

Ilaria Lombardo, Department of Media, Communications & Cultural Studies

The Graduate School has funded my ‘Levantine Arabic Intermediate 3’ course at SOAS University. The knowledge of Arabic Levantine dialect is fundamental for my PhD research on the Dheisheh refugee camp (Bethlehem, West Bank). As an undergraduate, I have studied classic Arabic and, during my time in Palestine and in the Dheisheh camp, I realised the importance of speaking dialect for having a more direct and productive dialogue with the inhabitants of the camp. I am sure my research will benefit greatly from this course.

Neda Genova, Department of Media, Communications & Cultural Studies

The Graduate School funded my participation in the biennial Summer Convention of the Association for Slavic, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies in Zagreb, Croatia, 14-16 June 2019. The bursary permitted me to attend and present a paper at the ASEEES conference, which is one of the leading international institutions supporting and disseminating research in this subject area. I was able to gain invaluable feedback on my own research from colleagues working in the field and to establish international contacts with academics who had travelled to Zagreb from Europe, Asia and North America. I also familiarised myself with the current research of a number of colleagues from Bulgaria (the country I focus on in my own PhD) and whose work I usually have little access to due to me being based in the UK.

Doninique Baron-Bonargee, Department of Art

Attending the ASAP Symposium in Hong Kong

The Graduate School Fund assisted me in attending the annual symposium for the Association for the Arts of the Present (ASAP) held in Hong Kong in June 2019. The theme of the symposium this year was ‘Old Lands, New Ground’ and my contribution addressed traditional crafts and their relevance to the ‘technological age’ in the context of artificial intelligence replacing manual tasks. The symposium, held at the Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and the Arts, offered an ideal platform for presenting my lecture-performance entitled ‘Encountering new ground in the process of fabrication’.

This was the first time I presented the Crochet Resistance Suit: a sculptural wearable sound object and the story of how it was made. I received some very constructive feedback and questions that have allowed me to think through how to develop this project into the next phase (I went on to present the lecture-performance on my return for the Annual Post-Graduate Conference at Goldsmiths University on 14 June 2019 with some amendments after the Hong Kong presentation).

The ASAP symposium had a strong focus on Asian art and art history and this was invaluable for my own PhD research which has its theoretical foundation in Asian/Japanese and Buuddhist philosophy.  I was also amongst a diverse group of academics, curators and artists so discussions and conversations were particularly relevant to my work. The intensity of the symposium timetable allowed for ongoing interaction and exchange with fellow attendees many of whom I remain in contact with.

While in Hong Kong I met an organisation running an art residency, recommended to me by a fellow Goldsmiths University researcher. I will be applying for the residency so it was a great way to introduce myself to the curator and organisers. I also took the time to visit the south part of Hong Kong island where a number of independent art galleries have opened in industrial buildings and there, I discovered many Chinese and Hong Kong artists I hadn’t previously been aware of.

Overall my trip to Hong Kong was a great opportunity to present a very important chapter in my research, to make new contacts with academics and artists with a particular interest in Asia and to get to know the ASAP organisation, with whom I hope to continue my involvement.

I wish to thank the Graduate School Fund for making this experience possible.

Amanda Macari,  Department of Media, Communications & Cultural Studies

The Graduate School Fund award of £630 enabled me to attend the 69th Annual International Communication Association (ICA) Conference in Washington D.C. (2019). ICA is one of the most prestigious academic conferences in the world on digital media and social change. I presented my research as part of a multi-person panel titled “Pushing the Boundaries: New Frontiers for the Study of Audiences to Mediated Distant Suffering and Global Inequality.” As a second-year PhD candidate, taking part in the conference was crucial to my academic journey for a variety of reasons. First, participating on the panel pushed me to organize and synthesize in-progress research for public consumption. Second, it provided me with an invaluable opportunity for community building and feedback amongst fellow panel members and conference attendees. Third, being able to attend several other panel and paper presentations at the conference allowed me to get a sense of the range of relevant current research. Lastly, the experience provided me with a more thorough understanding of research expectations after the completion of a PhD. For all of these reasons and more I have greatly benefited from my experience at ICA and am grateful for the support from the Graduate School Fund.

Susan Marshall, Department of Theatre and Performance.

Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space

The Graduate School Fund gave me the wonderful opportunity to attend the 14^th Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space and participate in the ‘Material Interactions: A Journey in Movement’ three-day workshop run by scenographer, researcher and writer Donatella Barbieri, choreographer Mary Kate Connolly and costume designer Giulia Pecorari. Established in 1967, PQ is the largest international festival of theatre and stage design with 600 performances and over 800 artists from 79 countries participating in this year’s event. Its mission is to act as “a global catalyst of creative progress by encouraging experimentation, networking, innovation, and future collaborations.”[1]

Both my participation in the workshop and attending the Prague Quadrennial were fundamental to my practice-based PhD: ‘Insubordinate Costume’, scenographic costume which flouts practicalities and textual confines to embrace the role of protagonist.  The workshop explored an important aspect of my research: the relationship between materiality and invention, using the moving body as a design tool, whereas PQ gave me the opportunity to observe the use of scenographic costume by other international theatre companies and collectives and meet colleagues from my discipline. Networking is vital, especially in a niche area like costume design, which has only relatively recently become a subject for academic research. Attending PQ has strengthened the existing international connections I made while presenting at the Critical Costume Conference in 2018 and provided a platform for me to engage at a high level of critical enquiry with my international peers in refining my process towards probing my research question.

[1] www.pq.cz/what-is-pq/

Ifor Duncan, Department of Visual Cultures

The Graduate School funded my attendance and participation in the Memory Studies Association conference in at the Complutense University Madrid, 25-28  June 2019. The fund allowed me to present two papers at the highly specialised international conference. This was beneficial for my research in a number of ways. Firstly, the discussion and feedback I received from colleagues working in similar fields was productive for the direction of my project. Secondly, I was able to form new research contacts with international scholars. Lastly, attending other panels and keynotes at the conference enabled me to gauge the state of affairs in the discipline and be a part of establishing its future directions. I am grateful to the Graduate School Fund for its generous support

Dimitra Gkitsa, Department of Visual Cultures

The Graduate School Fund was a crucial financial and moral support that enabled me to attend and present part of my research in the Memory Studies Association Annual Conference in Madrid in June 2019. I received the funding (£469.28) while I was on my final year and preparing for my final thesis submission. Presenting my research to an external cohort of international researchers has been very valuable to finalise and understand better the scope of my thesis, to receive feedback on possible future research avenues after the completion of my PhD, and to situate my research in dialogue with established researchers that are working with aspects of collective memory in the visual arts.

I presented my research as part of the Memory and Arts Working Group; the panel I was part of had a strong focus on contemporary underrepresented visual practices from the Balkans and the ways they work with the complex history and collective memory in the region. As my research is also dealing with this particular geopolitical reality, this conference was a great opportunity to network, to meet scholars from the region and to discuss future potential collaborations. More crucially, the conference was a safe space to share and reflect on the ways with which personal memories and narrations can intertwine with aspects of collective memory.

I would like to thank Goldsmiths Graduate School for offering this substantial support. For more information about the conference and my research.

Jo Kenrick, Department of Psychology

I received funding support to attend the biennial conference of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition (in Cape Cod Massachusetts) and give a presentation of my work on the metacognition of highly skilled liars. The conference attracts a truly global community of academics, professionals and practitioners, and the feedback I received during my talk and informally in various break-out sessions afterwards was encouraging and stimulating and I know it will improve my work.  

Conference attendance is vital for so many reasons. I was able to attend both the Women in Cognitive Science panel discussion and a workshop on Barriers in the Worldwide Scientific Community which examined the systematic exclusion of international colleagues from events (such as conferences) and collaborative research projects. Both were enormously important for my development as a researcher and an academic. My lab at Goldsmiths (the Forensic Psychology Unit) is already committed to Open Science but it was interesting to learn how even this can perpetuate the same inequalities already in place if we don’t apply the principles in a way that actively considers existing privilege. E.g. creating open-source materials that are only available in one language. 

I had already noticed an uplift in the number of hits on my Researchgate, Academia.edu and Linkedin pages just from having my name in the online conference programme and after a week of face-to-face networking that interest turned into concrete connections and an increased network of other ECRs and established academics. This will be invaluable as I enter the phase of my PhD that requires approaching an external examiner and potential collaborators for Post-doctoral applications. 

Sabrina Wilkinson, Department of Media, Communications & Cultural Studies

I am very grateful for the Graduate School Fund's support for my participation in the Oxford Internet Institute's summer doctoral programme. The programme takes place every summer over the course of two weeks and brings together up to thirty doctoral researchers from around the world working in the area of internet studies. Over the course of the fortnight, I had the opportunity to hear lectures from OII faculty, take part in workshops focused on a range of computational methods and present my own research. Most importantly perhaps, I had the chance to meet and engage with a range of other doctoral students who are working on similar or complementary projects, many of whom I expect will remain a part of my academic journey for a long time to come. 

Chaturawit Thongmuang, Department of Sociology

The Graduate School Fund provided me with a cost of travel (a direct return flight from London to Bangkok). I presented a paper at the 13^th Anthropological Conference on ‘Human in Digital Era’ in my home country, Thailand between the 4th and 6th of July 2019 at Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Centre (Public Organisation). My paper titled ‘Digital Ethnography: Concepts, Methods, Debates, and Challenges for Research in Thai Society’. I presented a paper on the 5th of July at 13.00. It was grouped to present in ‘Digital Anthropology’ panel. It was an excellent opportunity to present my doctoral research on a methodological use. Digital ethnography is an emerging methodology in Sociology, Anthropology, and Data Science. Thai academic audiences were highly interested in my presentation. They gave valuable feedbacks, asked critical questions, and discussed on the issue. The feedbacks, questions, and discussion enabled me to rethink and revise my thesis before submission as well as a preparation for my viva. Moreover, I am happy that my paper will be accepted to publish in the conference proceeding. Dissemination of research finding is a goal of PhD study here.

The presentation and discussion of my paper about 30 minutes enhanced me to develop professionalism as a Thai scholar. Firstly, the conference opened an opportunity to build research networks in Thailand and widen research communities beyond the UK. Secondly, the practice of research presentation to academic audiences helped me to develop communication skill. Thirdly, the presentation of a paper in a conference room and through Facebook live was an excellent opportunity to promote Goldsmiths to audiences by introducing me as a Goldsmiths Postgraduate researcher and using a Goldsmiths PowerPoint template (please see the photos below). Thank you the Graduate School for your support. My mission was not completed without you!

Mina Radovic, Department of English and Creative Writing

 Thanks to the Graduate School I was able to travel to Amsterdam and present my research ‘Losing and Recovering Heritage through the Archive: The Case of Dvije Sirote/Two Orphans in the Silent Period of Yugoslav Cinema’ on an expert panel at the 10^th Women and the Silent Screen Conference, EYE Filmmuseum. My fellow panellists include Professor David Mayer, Professor Elena Mosconi, Dr Victoria Duckett and Helen Day-Mayer.

My participation on this panel was essential to developing my knowledge and network with the most recognized professionals in the field. The conference also provided a great opportunity for informal interaction with the panellists through luncheons, so this was an added benefit in terms of the overall experience of the conference. Being a FIAF-trained archivist, in addition to my academic expertise, was especially beneficial in terms of my contribution to the conference as I had the archival proficiency to present my research and enrich the overall quality of the panel from a practical as well as theoretical point-of-view.

As a result of attending I will be able to re-assess my methodology when it comes to researching early cinema and film cultures. Moreover, I will be able to stay in touch with the Museum in future and to develop international collaboration.

The Graduate School Funding helped me to attend a training workshop in Neurocognitive methods in infant and toddler research at the University of Utrecht, in the Netherlands, 8-12 June 2019. The summer school is organized by Dr Carlijn van den Boomen and sponsored by Dynamics of Youth, which mainly supports research on child development. The summer school goal is to inform early researchers with frequently applied methods in brain, cognition and behaviour research with infants and toddlers.

Zehra Karademir, Department of Psychology

The summer school started the Baby Brain and Cognition Symposium, which is about the developmental cognitive neuroscience, focusing on development in the first years of life. The course was a week and trained early researchers in gathering, handling and analysing data sourced neurocognitive methods. We had method lectures, such as EEG, eye tracking and behavioural techniques. Besides, every day we had subgroup discussions, talked about issues and problems we came across with the other participants and tutors. There was a plenary discussion with the lecturer, to ask questions about a particular technique. My PhD research investigates whether infants can perceive primary emotions in music. Also, how family music environment influence on this skill. Currently, I run a behavioural study to examine infants’ preferences. Working with infants is challenging; you need to adapt your techniques during the study. So, attending this course taught me how to overcome theoretical and practical issues with study design, data acquisition and analyses. Also, it is an excellent networking opportunity for me to meet other PhD students around the world. We exchange ideas, and I received valuable feedback from them. I appreciate the support I received from the Graduate School; it covered my course fee, accommodation and travel expenses.

Lucia Llano, Department of English and Creative Writing

I attended the conference "Afterlives of Slavery", hosted by Goldsmiths' Centre for Caribbean and Diasporic Studies, in July this year in order to give a paper and listen to others.  It was an extremely fruitful experience, making me engage with my work in a different way and allowing plenty of opportunities for debate and to meet other people - some who I have known for some time, others who I met on this occasion.  I am grateful for the grant given to me by the Graduate School that allowed me to attend this conference.

Sum Pok (Shawnea) Ting, Department of English and Creative Writing

The £500 support from Graduate School is contributing to the registration fee of the summer school at the University of Helsinki (in August 2019) which cost €900.

Attending the summer school in my field (English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)) was highly recommended by my supervisor. The theme of the course covered the latest conceptualisation of ELF as a manifestation of multilingualism, which is also one of the latest research trends in the field. Different methodologies were also covered in the course, such as Conversation Analysis, corpus linguistics, and ethnography, which are relevant to enhance my research skills. Moreover, in the academic presentation session at the end of the course, I presented part of my PhD project, which expands the field into a new research context that is yet to be explored – the healthcare context, and showed fellow (student) researchers the potential of investigating it. Therefore, participating in the summer school not only gave me knowledge and skills that are beneficial for my current study and future development, but also allowed me to contribute to the field too. I would not be able to achieve all these without the funding from the Graduate School. Therefore, I am grateful for the contribution that Graduate School made to support my research.    

Alastair White, Department of Music

ROBE wouldn't have been possible without the support from the Graduate Fund and we are all so grateful for the support you have given us.
ROBE is a one-act opera which premiered at The Place in London as part of Tete-a-Tete: the Opera Festival on 6th August, 2019. Supported by Help Musicians UK, the Hinrichsen Foundation and the Goldsmiths Graduate Fund, Music Research Committee and Music Department, it was shortlisted for a Creative Edinburgh Award for Collaboration and is currently being recorded for a CD release in 2020. The opera proceeds from the conceit that virtual reality has existed since the dawn of time, in that books, theatres - even the clothes we wear - are examples of machines which transform and augment our perception of the world. Through this, ROBE uses the intersections between dance, fashion and opera to explore how the implications of future technologies such as A.I. and cyberspace may have their origin in ancient, forgotten pasts. An experiment in the application of contemporary materialist philosophy to compositional practice, the creation of the work was fundamental to the development of new approaches to contemporary opera.
“White's music has an intriguing elaboration to it, with instruments and voices executing striking arabesques, jagged and angular, and the resulting textures successfully evoked the strange abstract world of cyberspace, creating a real sense of non-reality…The performances from all concerned were excellent.” - Robert Hugill, Planet Hugill

Edward Dixon, Institute of Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship (ICCE)

I am grateful for the assistance to the tune of £473.90 I received from the Graduate School Funding Scheme to support my attendance at the EMES PhD Summer School at the Glasgow Caledonian University. The PhD Summer School, which took place from June 22-25, 2016, is the only one of its kind to cater to the development needs of Post Graduate Research Students in the field of Social Entrepreneurship, Social Enterprise and Social Economy. It brought together students from across Europe, Central America, Asia, Africa, North America, South America and the Caribbean. It gave me the opportunity to meet, share ideas with and receive valuable feedback on my research from the scholars in the field of study. I used the funds granted to cover cost of registration to the Summer School; accommodation at the Glasgow Caledonian University for 3 nights, inclusive of meals, and return travel by train to Glasgow, Scotland.

Sarah Charalambides, Department of Visual Cultures

PhD candidate Sarah Charalambides received a contribution towards the costs of presenting papers at the following conferences in June and July 2016:

• AAH (Association of Art Historians) Summer Symposium. Gender in Art: Production, Collection, Display.Loughborough University, 8-9 June 2016
• SWIP (Society for Women in Ethics) UK Annual Conference. Precarity: Passion, Rage, Reason. University of Brighton, 16-17 June 2016
• London Conference in Critical Thought. The Affective Life of Austerity, Precarity and Vulnerability. Birkbeck, University of London, 24-25 June 2016
• Gender Work and Organization Conference. Precarious Work in Knowledge Societies: Exploring Gendered Power Relations. Keele University, 29 June - 1 July 2016

All four conferences were highly significant events concerning key academic debates on feminist art, gender and precarity. My research into contemporary feminist art practices and methodologies that interrogate the normalisation of unstable, insecure and flexible labour conditions in neoliberal, post-Fordist capitalism found fertile ground for debate and expansion. Presenting my papers at these conferences allowed me to contribute to and learn about the most recent advances in my field of research and gave me the opportunity to advocate my PhD project as well as to develop and improve my academic presentation skills. As I am only a partially funded postgraduate student, financial contributions are very significant for me. Therefore I would like to thank the Graduate School Fund for its generous support.

Rachael Thomas, Department of English and Creative Writing

I was generously funded by the Graduate School to present my work at the University of Kent's 'Thinking Through Fiction' conference at their Canterbury campus.  It was a two-day interdisciplinary event of panels, round tables and forums which enabled people to present papers and perform readings across an array of focuses.  I was introduced to Spider Fiction, Particle Fiction, novel-writing as (new age) religious practice, and a moving critique of Southern Gothic.  There was an evening event at The Parrot (a pub established in 1370!) of readings and a buffet.  This gave me the chance to develop an invaluable network of people who are doing some fascinating things with and within fiction. 

I presented my work at the end of the second day, giving a demonstration of how first-person narration acts on place in my novel-in progress.  I came away from the conference with some interesting critique on my writing, advice and support from those further along their career paths, more confidence in presenting my work to an audience, an overwhelming amount of inspiration from my fellow presenters, a reading list, and vital new connections.  As of October 2016 I will be an AHRC CHASE scholar, and I am excited to be part of a consortium that facilitates such a diverse and welcoming intellectual exchange. 

Marl'Ene Edwin, Centre for Caribbean and Diaspora Studies, Department of English and Creative Writing

I was awarded £500 by the Graduate School to help organise an international conference titled 'Caribbean and Diasportic Dialogues in the University'.  This three day conference challenged the limited visibility of Carribean and Diaspora Studies in many higher education institutions and interrogated the ways in which the precarious presence/absence of indigenised black thought, currently being highlighted primarily through protest within, for example, higher education culture in countries like the UK, might be transformed.  The theme of the conference fostered and developed multi- and interdisciplinary conversations exploring critical, theoretical, historical and creative questions in a number of related fields that together contribute to Carribbean and Diaspora Studies. 

Keynotes were delivered by Professor Paul Gilroy, Professor Ann Phoenix and Professor Cecile Wright. Conference handbook, panels and bios for all presenters can be found at https://caribbeananddiasporic.wordpress.com/

The event was attended by academics and postgraduate students from local, national and international HEI's.  This event provided the students on the organising committee with invaluable skills which will be highly beneficial to their careers.  The postgraduate students who attended gained a valuable insight into the themes addressed by the conference note.  On a more personal note, at the time I did not realise how the conference would shape my frame of mind enabling me to successfully pass the PhD viva the day after the conference ended.  Overall this was an extremely successful event and I extend my warmest thanks to the Graduate School for their support. 

Karen Morash, Department of Theatre and Performance 

PhD candidate and playwright Karen Morash staged her full length play Playground in a professional production on the London fringe.  The production formed an important part of her research into traditional versus collaborative methodologies in dramatic writing.  The play ran 28 April- 1 May 2016 at the London Theatre, New Cross.  The Graduate School supported Morash's innovative research by providing funds for items essential to the full staging of the play, including stage props, costumes, and design materials. 

Edwina Peart, Media and Communications

Edwina was granted £600 to pilot a listening session featuring the life work of the late, great Gregory Isaacs.  This is fundamental to her research which uses his music to explore the value and role of reggae music.  Group listening (primarily sound systems and the radio) has played a vital role in reggae's development and propagation and great claims are made for this communal format.  Therefore it is imperative that techniques are developed to embrace and interrogate this.  Edwina said the funding allowed her to do just that.  She hired the venue, Brilliant Corners, which houses high end aduio equipment specifically tuned for vinyl.  She hired video and audio recording equipment to capture the session and enable full transcription of the discussion.  She was also able to offer her respondents light refreshments.

Edwina felt the session worked very well.  Attendance was good, with a great mix of male/female participants.  It also attracted music personnel of various descriptions, fans and a fellow music researcher.  The venue was perfect, small enough to be intimate and encourage conversation, whilst producing a magnificent full sound.  She was able to have a discussion with participants about the music and the strengths and weaknesses of the data gathering instrument.  She also asked both participants for any further suggestions they might have about how to capture listening.  Edwina said these responses and the pilot generally have fine-tuned her approach and will be taken forward as she plans future sessions.  

Anita Strasser, Visual Sociology

Engaging in Urban Image-making was a one-day symposium hosted by the Centre for Urban and Community Research (CUCR) at Goldsmiths, 28 April 2017.  Anita co-organised the symposium with Gill Golding (Board member of the International Visual Sociology Association) and generously supported by the Graduate School Fund, CUCR, OpenVizor and Urban Photographers Association.  It brought together practitioners from 4 different organisations: Goldsmiths' Sociology department, Photojournalism London College of Communication, Urban Photographers Association and London Independent Photography.  Its purpose was to begin a cross-organisational dialogue about how we engage with urban life in our image-making practices in the 21st century.  It was a fully-booked and packed out event with very diverse, insightful and thought-provoking presentations and discussions that addressed how image making can support our understanding of some of the complexities associated with contemporary urban life.  Due to its success, we hope to make this into an annual event.  For more information, please visit: engaginginurbanimagemaking.wordpress.com

www.anitastrasser.com

Bianca Ivanof, Department of Psychology

The ASSC22 represents the foremost conference in consciousness research and, this year, it took place in Krakow, Poland, between June 26and 30. The Graduate School Fund (£600) allowed me the opportunity to attend it and disseminate my research as part of a poster presentation, thus enriching my knowledge of and expertise in my field and ticking a crucial box of my experience as a PhD student in the Psychology Department at Goldsmiths, University of London.

The conference included keynotes, symposia, workshops and one-on-one mentor-student sessions that spanned over every field in consciousness research. I study the sense of agency, which refers to the sense of being in control of our actions and their consequences in the outside world, and which was one of the most popular topics at the conference. This enabled me to gain valuable feedback from my peers, come into contact with the most recent work of my superiors and get the feel of what might lie ahead for me after I successfully complete my PhD thesis. I am very grateful to have had this opportunity and thank Goldsmiths, University of London and the Graduate School for their generous gift.

Maria Cristina Cioffi, Department of Psychology

The iCog3 'Sense and Space' conference in London (Senate House) lasted 2.5 days, and had twenty-one presenters.  Two-thirds of them were philosophers and the rest were scientists from different fields of research.  In each session there were two speakers and a general discussion.  The speakers included both established and junior researchers and all communications were very friendly and helpful. 

The topics ranged from traditional philosophical problems such as the explanatory gap, phenomenal presence, demonstrative reference, to empirical questions such as attention, cross-modal spatial illusions and oral refferal.  The conference was successful in bringing researchers together to discuss different ideas.  It also created a perfect environment for people to make connections for future collaborations.  The organisers plan to edit a volume that is partially based on the conference and a book proposal is already under review, adding extra value to the conference.  We thank the Goldsmiths Graduate School for its sponsorship.

Louise Rondel, Department of Sociology 

I applied for funding from the Graduate School in order to attend an advanced training workshop in Advances in Diary Methods for Qualitative Researchers at the University of Southhampton.  THis workshop trains participants in gathering, handling, analysing and reporting data sourced through solicited diary methods.  My PhD research examines the costitutive relationship between bodies and cities looking at how our embodied experience shapes the spaces we live in and vice versa.  To interrogate this relationship I am exploring the interactions that go on in hair and beauty salons and I will be using solicited diaries as a method of asking my participants to write a journal and use photography and film to document their experiences at beauty salons.  Using diary methods I will be able to focus on my research participants' embodied, emplaced, multisensory experiences of city life.  THis cross-disciplinary workshop will look at the practical and ethical as well as the methodological issues which will be crucial in designing my fieldwork.  It will enable me to hone my methodoloical skilsl whilst engaging with students and academics from across the UK working in different disciplines.

Kerry McCall Magan, Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship (ICCE)

I requested finance to cover the cost of presenting a paper in the Arts Management Research Stream at the European Sociological Association (ESA) conference in Prague, 25-28th August 2015.

The ESA is full of all sorts of research and is a very stimulating place to encounter all different types of people and different types of research.  A biennial monster conference takes place in different European cities in every alternate year.  The inbetween year is when the Midterm get togethers happen for each of the Research Networks (and Streams).  With 32 different Research Networks and 10 different Research Streams, it can often be difficult to locate exactly what you want or who you want to see or hear and equally difficult to choose which network or stream to submit your papers to.  Previously, I have attended the ESA conerence in Turin and also in Geneva.  It has taken me a bit of time to work out which networks I would like to be part of.  I tend to choose Sociology of Consumption or Sociology of the Arts because the authors in these networks have research interests closest to mine. 

This year, I was invited to help organise the Arts Management Research Stream with Assistant Professor Constance DeVeraux, Director of LEAP Institute for the Arts in Colorado State University, USA and Junior Professor Dr. Nina Zahner from Leipizig University.  We programmed approximately 20 papers across 3 days in Prague.  We drew from academia as well as cultural practice for the Research Stream. It went really well and the feedback we received has been very positive. The presentation of my paper ‘Birds of a feather: an analysis of cultural participation in Ireland’, went well and it’s always good to stand up and ‘own’ your research. Being supported financially by Goldsmiths Graduate School fund to travel there meant that I was able to take part as a conference participant and as a Research Stream organizer.  This opportunity meant a lot to me. I reconnected with people I had previously met and I also met new people- some of whom, I had been really keen to meet. All identified me as part of the esteemed Goldsmiths community of researchers.

Pip Swallow, Department of Theatre and Performance

I was very lucky to receive funding from the Graduate School to compliment my PhD studies in Theatre through purchasing playtexts and theatre tickets.  The money also went towards my travel around the country to various archives, theatres and festivals.  It meant so much to me to have the ability to research in this way, especially being a self-funded student.  It gave me the ability to attend the breadth of work necessary for my subject and removed the stress of getting to events I wouldn't otherwise have had access to.  The Graduate School Fund gives students with limited resources the ability to fulfill a broader and more indepth research that otherwise would be off limits.