SGRS Postgraduate Research Conference

The StirlingGraduateResearchSchool welcomes you to the

5thAnnual Postgraduate Research Conference

Pathfoot Lecture Theatre and Crush Hall, May 5th 2009

Who can take part?

The aim of this Conference is to bring together postgraduate research students throughout the University to share their experiences and insights. This conference will also provide a chance for you to improve your communication skills, both public speaking and poster presentation.

We welcome applications from PhDstudents who wish to:

  • Give a short oral presentation (10 minutes) about theircurrent research or research proposal
  • Present a posterillustrating their research.

Who can attend?

All staff and students are encouraged to attend the presentations and view the posters. We encourage presenters to invite their supervisors and departmental colleagues to come along and support them.

Prize Money

The following prizes will be given out on the day:

For the oral presentation:

  • First prize of £200
  • Second prize of £100
  • Third prize of £50

For the poster competition:

  • First prize of £200
  • Second prize of £100
  • Third prize of £50

Below is all the information that you need to know about the conference, however please feel free to be innovative! We want this to be a chance for you to ‘try out’ presenting at a conference in a supportive environment.

A panel of judges will mark all oral presentations using the following criteria:

  • Timing
  • Structure of the presentation
  • Clarity of voice
  • Use of visual aids
  • Creativity
  • Dealing with questions.

Each criterion will be marked on a scale of 0 – 5.

A panel of judges will mark all posters using the following criteria:

  • Structure/layout/flow
  • Readability
  • Content
  • Use of colour/graphics
  • Ability to answer questions

Each criterion will be marked on a scale of 0-5.

How to apply:

Complete and return the attached registration formby email to Katharine Reibig in the Research & Enterprise Office )before April 14th 2009.

Options:

PhD students may present a talk, or a poster, or both. Please note that if you have a poster which you have already prepared for another conference, you may submit it to the SGRS conference if it meets our criteria, and is still up to date.

Useful information:

Giving a talk

Keep in mind:

  • You will have 10minutes to give your presentation. Remember your audience is non-expert so you will need to keep it simple and jargon free.
  • A computer and projector will be available for PowerPoint.
  • The audience or judges may have some questions for you after your presentation (we will allocate time for this in addition to your ten minutes of talking).
  • All PowerPoint presentations need to be emailed to Katharine Reibig by April 28th
  • We will contact you to inform you of the exact time that you will deliver your talk.

The SGRS are running two seminars on how to give a presentation on March 5th (2-4pm)‘Giving talks about your research’ and March 17th (2-4pm) ‘Conference Presentations’ which you may sign up for on WebCT.

Submitting a poster

There are no set guidelines for the style of your poster so you can be as creative as you want to be. The poster boards will fit a maximum size of A0 (105.5 x 70.5 cm)landscape, so please use this as a guide. Come with your poster completed and ready to be displayedon the morning ofMay 5th 2009before the conference starts. We will provide Velcro for you to stick your poster to the boards.

Your poster must include the following: your name, department, year of study, poster/PhD title and email address.

If you already have a poster prepared for another conference, you may use that for the SGRS conference. Please ensure that the above details are included.

It is expected that you will stand by your poster during the poster session and be prepared to speak about your research and answer questions.

There are myriad web resources which provide guidance on how to make a good poster

and the SGRS are running a training session on March 17th‘The Academic Pin-up: how to make a superb poster’ and March 18th & 19th ‘Creating a Poster using PowerPoint’ which you may sign up forvia WebCT.

A few key tips are to make sure that your poster is:

(a) readable (b) legible (c) informative (d) well organised and (e) to the point!

Try not to get bogged down in intricate details– remember your audience will not be experts in your field. Studies show that you have only 11 seconds to grab and retain your audience's attention so make the key points prominent and brief. Those who are particularly interested will seek you out and chat with you at length.

Abstract

You must submit a short abstract of your talk and/or poster. If you wish to do a presentation and a poster, you should submit an abstract for each. It is our intention to make this available electronically after the conference.

The abstract should be 100-150 words in length, in Arial font, size 12, and the text should be left justified. The title should appear first, and be in Bold Arial 12, your name, department and year of study should be on a separate line, in Arial 12, the body of the abstract should then follow. If there is more than one author, please underline your own name. You may include keywords on a separate line. You can view abstracts from previous conference on the SGRS WebCT page.

Conference Day:

  1. Come to the Pathfoot Crush Hall for registration by09.00am
  2. Timetables for the day will be sent out in advance.

Registration Form

Please return this form to:

Katharine Reibigin the Research & Enterprise Office before April 14th.

Name:
Department:
Year of study:
Supervisor’s name:
Title of your presentation :
Please indicate whether you intend to give a talk and/or a poster (tick box)
Yes / No
10 minute talk about my research
Poster presentation of my research
Yes / No
Do you require Powerpoint?
Do you require other AV equipment? Please specify
Abstract – please indicate if for poster or talk (see guidelines)

If there any times on May 5th 2009which are NOT convenient for you please give times below. We will try and accommodate this in our schedule.

In the meantime please contact Katharine Reibig if you have any queries