Methodologies & Beyond: Engaging with your PhD

Hosted by the Geographies of Leisure & Tourism Research Group, RGS-IBG

Join us for a virtual afternoon on June 17th, 2021 with methodology workshops and different ways of thinking about your PhD and how to have greater impact in the future, the opportunity to network with other PhD’s and talk about your own research plus yoga for well-being.

Workshops:

Visual Methodologies – Dr. Tijana Rakić, University of Brighton

Although visual research methods have a long history within the social sciences and humanities, in some disciplines and fields of studies these have only relatively recently gained the status of legitimate research methods. With a view inspiring innovative research approaches both within their current PhD and future research projects, this session provides an overview of the three main types of visual research methods – namely, the collection of visual data from secondary sources for the purpose of analysis; the creation of visual data within research projects; and the reliance on visual data to elicit richer insights during interviews and focus groups (Rakić and Chambers, 2012). In so doing, the session highlights the possibilities that visual methods offer within tourism and leisure research projects, especially when these are incorporated alongside other methods and/or used to produce visual research outputs.

Tijana is an internationally established interdisciplinary scholar whose research projects, publications and interests predominantly lie within the themes of visual research methods; world heritage, tourism and national identity; tourism, leisure and art; narratives of travel and tourism; and representations of places, cultures and identities in promotional materials and popular media. Her PhD, as a part of which she also produced an academic documentary, focused on the relationships between World Heritage, tourism and national identity at the Acropolis in Athens, Greece (2009, Edinburgh Napier University). Tijana is currently the Chair of the Geographies of Tourism and Leisure Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers, as well as the co-editor of the Routledge book series titled Current Developments in the Geographies of Leisure and Tourism (with J.-A. Lester). She also leads the Tourism, Hospitality and Events Research and Enterprise Group at the University of Brighton. 

Re-Imagining your PhD –  Dr. Eveleigh Buck Matthews, University of Coventry

Eve is a Interdisciplinary Social Scientist and Lecturer in Criminology and Committee member of Gender and Feminist Geographies Research Group & Early Career Officer for the Participatory Geographies Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society. She will share her knowledge of creative methods you can apply to your PhD including free writing, different ways of thinking about and imagining your PhD.

Maximising the Real-world Impact of Your Research – Christy Hehir, University of Surrey

This workshop will explore how to achieve impact throughout your PhD journey. Christy will share her top tips on getting started with impact and how take your research far beyond its academic realms. Christy’s environmental psychology-based PhD research collaborates with leading tour operators and international wildlife charities to measure when and why tourists donate to charity. Last year she received Research England funding to transform its findings into guidelines aligning tour-operators and non-profits, entitled Making Tourism Count for Conservation. We hope you will leave this session with new ideas and enthusiasm to take your research from publication, to PR… and beyond.  

Christy Hehir is an environmental psychologist, conservationist, polar alien hunter and lecturer at the University of Surrey, UK. Her PhD and research publications examine the role tourism plays in (re)connecting people to nature and understanding the correlations between tourists’ encounters with endangered species and their subsequent pro-environmental behaviour. Christy is one of a few polar tourism researchers with experience at both poles having travelled to Antarctica with Students on Ice and subsequently to Svalbard on an expedition by the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme). Christy is the Postgraduate Representative for the GLTRG.

Yoga for Well-being – Rebecca Lee Close

Yoga can help with stress management and anxiety as well as increase productivity. Rebecca will lead on a short session guiding us through some basic positions and deep breathing. Rebecca originally trained in Canada and is trained in yin, yoga for sports, alignment, functional yoga, yoga for pain car and recently completed 500 hours of training. https://app.journeyinto.com/teachers/rebecca-close

Informal 3 Minute Thesis 

This session is an opportunity to be placed in small groups of 3-4 people with the chance to talk about and share your research with other PGR’s and hear about their research. You can share a full 3MT pitch if you want, or just chat informally about your PhD and where you’re at in your journey.

Schedule:

1:00-1:15WelcomeDr. Jennifer Holland
1:15-1:45Visual MethodologiesDr. Tijana Rakić
1:45-2:15Re-Imagining your PhDDr. Eveleigh Buck Matthews
2:15-2:45Networking coffee and break 
2:45-3:15Maximising the real-world impact of your researchChristy Hehir
3:15 – 3:45Yoga for well-beingRebecca Lee Close
3:45 – 4:15Informal 3MT 

All PGR students are welcome!

Free event but you need to register by June 15th

https://forms.gle/CR3AdrYSCnUHaohP7

Any questions please email gltrg.rgs@gmail.com

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