2001 GroupMinutes of 2GC meeting 31 Oct 20011
2GC (the Steering Committee of ‘the 2001 Group’)
Meeting held on 31 October 2001 at the University of Reading
Present
QMUL:Sue Harris (SH)
Reading: Naomi Segal (NS); Victoria Reid (VR)
Southampton:Loraine Day (LD)
Surrey: Carol Sanders (CS)
Warwick: Linda Paterson (LP)
Apologies
RHUL:John O’Brien (JO’B)
Oxford BrookesValerie Worth Stylianou (VWS)
MINUTES
A2GC structure and terms of reference)
- 14 members of staff are required: 2 from each member institution (in order that if one is too busy, a second can stand in at Group meetings etc). CS will be seconded by Anne Judge.
Agreed list
HEIHoDcolleague
Oxford BrookesValerie Worth-StylianouNick Hewlett (NH)
QMULMichael Moriarty (MM)Sue Harris
ReadingNaomi Segal Hugo Tucker (HT)
RHULJohn O’Brien…………….
SouthamptonLoraine DayFlorence Myles (FM)
SurreyCarol SandersAnne Judge (AJ)
WarwickLinda PatersonLeslie Hill (LH)
ACTION: all colleagues to send NS email & phone numbers for self and colleague; JO’B also to designate alternate.
- £200 is available for each of the two meetings per year to cover travel expenses. Meetings will normally take place during Study Days.
ACTION: all who attended to send NS receipts for reimbursement.
- Re. an in-house publication, (see enclosed UCML budget and the [blue] Quarterly plan A7). NS suggested that it could be printed in Reading, given that the University has publication facilities. Also Reading’s Typography Department makes available final-year students to design cover pages, graphics etc. Over the 3 year period of HEFCE funding, it was thought that two such publications could be made.
- Re. papers given by RSs at Study Days, NS suggested papers should be informal rather than papers ready for publication. LP supported this idea because such an approach works well in the British Occitan Group.
- Re. Study Days in general, it is assumed that extra staff from the host institution’s French Department will join the event, even although if they are not directly connected with the workings of the Group. Focus to be on communication rather than research training. Problem-solving in a practical way should be addressed, e.g. (as treated at last Study Day) how to deal with your supervisor; how to overcome writer’s block etc.
- LP asked whether there was a Quorum for the 2GC meetings. It was agreed that no quorum need be applied.
- The question of research student eligibility was raised (in absentia) by VWS. Would students following M.Res./ M.Studs. courses be counted as RSs? If they were, would this mean that all M.A.s would have to be included? Would M.A. students want to be included? Should only M.A. students considering further study be embraced? It was decided to wait to see what the participation rate of targeted RSs would be, before expanding the scope of eligibility.
- LS inquired whether research students and staff from co-tutelles and cross-school researchers could participate in the group, e.g. those who came under the bracket of European Studies as opposed to French or Modern Languages. It was agreed that they could, since the idea is to include as many as possible RSs from the seven institutions.
ACTION: all when completed Research Students list and (later) sending info for database.
BYear 1 Activities
1First Study Day 2002, at Oxford Brookes on Wed 23 January
- It was agreed that 23 January was a good date.
- Afternoon: CS plans to talk for at least half the afternoon on Teaching French Language and Applied Linguistic Research. The question ‘What do postgraduates do when they suddenly get asked to teach language?’ should be addressed. LD wondered if FM might contribute, using as a basis her research on second-language acquisition. Should the day have a solely language focus, with RSs’ papers being deferred to the next meeting (CS)? Would this be over focused? Interest of postgraduates in language teaching was felt to be high (VR). SH noted that many RSs would enter academic careers as graduate teaching assistants (as she had done), in order to finance their research. If language does not span the whole day, CS thought it might be wise to have a short follow-up session at the next Study Day. LP mentioned an excellent language teaching consultant who may be willing to talk. LD pointed out that, amongst other innovations at Southampton, many people active in research are not involved in language teaching, and specialist language-teaching staff are employed in full-time posts. These two, Julie Laxton and James Minney, who both have recent PhDs, could be approached.
- Morning: It was decided that the morning should not also be spent on language teaching but on a more general exchange of ideas among RSs. NS suggested having final-year RSs speak to RSs starting or midway through research about the milestones and pitfalls of doing a PhD. Rada Getova and Vivienne Orchard might contribute to this.
ACTION: LD
- The travel expenses of 25 RSs and 10 staff will be covered (see Budget at Appendix A) to a total of £1750. This means that, in principle, funded places are on a first come first served basis; but it was felt that no interested student should be excluded. Thus if expenses go over this total, it was recommended by NS that Depts provide the extra costs; such extra costs could be averaged over the 7 departments if that was felt to be preferable. Virement between one ST and another will probably be possible.
ACTION on First Study Day 2002: CS to liaise with VWS and FM.
2Start planning second SD (with Guest Speaker?)
aSH offered to host the event at QMUL. It was impossible to finalize a date as SH has not yet been told the dates of the exam period, at which time booking a room may be problematic. Likely dates were Monday 10 June; Tuesday 11 June; or Friday 14 June. SH will contact the Group once she knows. ACTION: SH
bThe format will probably be: 10-10.30 reception/coffee; 10.30-12.30 block 1; 12.30-2 lunch (with general meeting); 2-4 block 2.
cSmall rooms should be made available for RSs breaking up into groups to give papers in an informal setting. £350 is available to spend on guest speakers, who could be brought over from France. Suggestion made to have publishing as the theme. Possible speakers: Michael Moriarty (MHRA student publications), Malcolm Cook from Exeter (editor of MLR) to provide input from a ‘journal’ perspective.
3Start up supply teaching’ database at Reading – how to use it
VR has been appointed as RA and work will begin soon. A report of progress will be given at the January Study Day. It was agreed that the teaching availability covered should include, as well as FT staff and RSs, sessionals and those who send in cvs to depts who can’t always employ them.
4Start planning in-house publication
A smaller working group (WG) should be set up for the in-house publication comprising 2 staff and 2 students. Selection of this working group is to be deferred until the first Study Day.
5Update list of all research students (PhD/ MPhil) at the seven HEIs
- NS is to send out the latest version of the list of RSs (attached to these minutes as Appendix B). It is urgent that this list be brought up to date. Even if RSs are living abroad, it is still desirable that their details be registered on the list in order that their areas of study are made available for future teaching offers. ACTION: all: deadline Fri 16 Nov 01
- It was agreed that it would be acceptable to register address details on the supply teaching database unless any particular RS objected. These details will be sought by VR once she begins setting up the website and database. ACTION: VR
6Staff research seminars – to be held during Study Days?
This item will be treated at a later meeting. It was felt that such seminars – to be workshop-style exchange of ideas in progress rather than formal papers – could be set up once Study Days were being run by RSs rather than staff.
CJune Event
The Group has to provide a paper or presentation for the CILT/LTSN/UCML etc Event on Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies in Higher Education (24-26 June 2002). Potentially pertinent areas of the event’s remit might be, under subsection 3 of the programme, ‘Mergers, partnerships and collaboration’, or, under subsection 4, ‘Resource-based learning’. CS may be in a position to contribute a paper. ACTION: NS in liaison with CS & others
DGeneral Discussion
Re. recruitment problems of students at all levels in relation to collaboration of HEIs
The chief difficulty was felt to lie in the contradiction between the competitive mindset of HEIs keen to attract what applicants there are and a more collaborative approach. Means of attracting potential students collaboratively were discussed. One suggestion was to have Visit Days for all local schools to come to one HEI and for staff and students of other participating institutions to be present. This would both sell ML/French in general and heighten awareness among potential applicants of the particular strengths of particular institutions (e.g. translation strong at Warwick, linguistics at Surrey). CS recommended that 14-year-olds be better targeted and also that pupils should be informed of the wealth of courses (also those unrelated to the humanities) which offer language components. The Year Abroad opportunity in Language degrees could be an effective marketing tool, although care should be taken not to intimidate pupils who are afraid of it. The suggestion of organising a regional Postgraduate Fair was made, but was felt to fall outside the remit of the Group. SH told the meeting of the practice at Queen Mary to have a cohort of postgraduates address 4th Year undergraduates to inform them of research opportunities. CS bemoaned the failure of some departments to communicate to potential postgraduates what actual research was in progress. LP suggested that university Careers Services might be approached for funding events in this area.
APPENDIX A2001 Group HEFCE grant budget
item£ per annum
A POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH TRAINING
Travel
Travel for 25 students to 2 Study Days @ average £25 per head 1250
Travel for 10 staff to 2 Study Days @ average £25 per head 500
Travel for staff to Committee meetings (average pa) 300
= two 2GC meetings in period @ £200 each
+ five WG/WG2 meetings in period @ £100 each
Materials
Stationery, computer consumables etc 340
Telephone, postage etc 300
Other
2 Study Days room hire, technician, catering etc (@ £20 per student) 1000
Production of in-house publication (2 in period @ 1500; average pa) 1000
Provision for Guest Speaker to one SD pa (travel + maintenance) 350
TOTAL per annum 5040
TOTAL for three-year funding period 15,120
B SUPPLY TEACHING DATABASE
Staffing
RA1 grade research assistant: weekly 7h @ £12ph, 45w pa 3780
Technician advice (average pa) 500
Travel
Pool for travel costs for teaching exchange scheme 800
Materials
Stationery, computer consumables etc 340
Telephone, postage etc 300
TOTAL per annum 5720
TOTAL for three-year funding period 17,160
GRAND TOTAL for both schemes for funding period 32,280
APPENDIX B2001 Group RS list as at 1 November 2001
NB all items in red need completing: amendments to NS
deadline Friday 16 November 2001 please!
Table 1 subdivides RESEARCH STUDENTS by field
HEI
/ pre-1800 / mod lit/cult / hist/pol / ling / totalOxford Brookes / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0 / 6
QMUL / 1.5 / 8.5 / 0 / 1 / 11
Reading / 2 / 5 / 5 / 0 / 12
RHUL / ? / ? / ? / ? / ?
Southampton / 0 / 1 / 4 / 2 / 7
Surrey / 0 / 0 / 0 / 5 / 5
Warwick / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 1
total ex RHUL / 6.5 / 18.5 / 9 / 5 / 42
Total with RHUL / ? / ? / ? / ? / ?
Table 2lists all postgraduates alphabetically
name
/ HEI / email / field / yearATTWOOD Douglas / Soton / xxxx / 20c hist / RS1 (PT)
BASOALTO-CACHART, Catherine / QMUL / / 20c cinema / RS5 (FT)
BERGERON Guillaume / Reading / / Med lit / RS2 (FT)
BIRLEY Susan / Reading / / 20c pol / RS4 (PT)
BRATSIOTIS Nicolaos / Reading / c/o / 20c pol / RS5 (PT)
CAFFARI , Marie / QMUL / xxxx / C20 lit. / RS7 (FT)
COX Marilyn / Brookes / xxxx / Pre-1800 / RS4 (PT)
FEUILLÉE-KENDALL Pascale / Reading / / 20c law / RS4 (PT)
SARR Fode / Surrey / / 20c lit (franc) / RS1 (PT)
FOUREAUP / Surrey / / ling / yr co+Paris3
GARNETT Helena / Brookes / xxxx / mod lit/cult / RS4 (FT)
GANEM Adela / Soton / xxxx / Ling (Sp) / xxxx
GETOVA Rada / Soton / / hist/pol / RS3 (PT)
HANDYSIDE, Fiona / QMUL / / C20 culture / RS3 (FT)
HOPKINS Susan / Reading / / 19c lit / RS3 (PT)
HUBBLE, Rebecca / QMUL / xxxxx / C20 thought / RS5 (FT)
JACOBSEN, Matthew / QMUL / / C20 film / RS1 (FT)
KENNY, Deborah / QMUL / xxxxx / 17c/20c phil / RS4 (FT)
LESIC-THOMAS, Andrea / QMUL / a.lesic-thomas@qmul / C20 lit. / RS5 (FT)
LEWIS, Ann / QMUL / / C18 lit. / RS1 (FT)
MORREY Douglas / Warwick / / 20c film / RS3 (FT)
NEWLAND Jane / Soton / xxxx / Period? lit / RS1 (PT)
ORCHARD, Vivienne / QMUL / / (submitted) / RS9 (FT)
PAGE Jacqueline / Surrey / / Ling/cult sts / xxx
PARKS Lori / Reading / / cult studs / RS1 (FT)
PETIT, Elsa / QMUL / / Ling. / RS4 (FT)
PRESS Erica / Soton / c/o / hist/pol / RS3 (PT) susp
RAINES-MORELLE Marie-Jo / Surrey / / Ling/soc / RS1 (??)
REID Victoria / Reading / / 20c lit / RS1 (FT)
RICHARD Laurence / Soton / / ling / RS4 (FT)
ROBERTS Helen / Reading / / Med lit / RS3 (FT)
ROBERTS Hugh / Brookes / xxxx / Pre-1800 / Rs2 (FT)
SAITO Susan / Brookes / xxxx / Pol/soc / RS3 (FT)
SHAULES Joseph / Soton / xxxx / ling / RS1 (PT)
SOILIHI Rafiki / Reading / / 20c pol / RS3 (PT)
SOMERVILLE James / Reading / c/o / 20c pol / RS9 susp (PT)
TURBERFIELD Peter / Reading / / 20c lit / RS2 (PT)
TYNE Henry / Surrey / / ling / Yr co+Paris10
WYKES, Sarah / QMUL / / C20 lit. (Fr/Sp.) / RS9 (FT)
YOUNG Morag / Brookes / / mod lit/cult / RS1 (PT)