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CALL FOR PAPERS: “The Evolution of Research: Adapting to Survive in the Changing World?”
Canterbury Christ Church University Postgraduate 10th Annual Conference
Friday 17th June 2011, 9.30am – 4.30pm
The CCCU Post Graduate Research Association Annual Conference has attracted greater interest and wider academic attention year upon year and for the first time proudly invites papers and attendees from a national demographic. In keeping with this organic evolution, papers are welcomed on the theme “The Evolution of Research.” The aim of this conference is to encourage post graduate students of an interdisciplinary range to present their research based on this theme to an audience of fellow academics, in a comfortable environment for debate.
The theme “The Evolution of Research: Adapting to Survive in the Changing World?” has been selected because as post graduate researchers we are in a climate whereby we inevitably have to adapt our research ideas and approaches to the changing world around us. These recurrent changes to the world affect us from the levels of technology right through to government policies regarding universities, alongside institutional and external pressures upon the very nature of research.
Papers are welcomed from all disciplines of research; to help you interpret the theme of this conference we have provided topic areas intended to help guide your ideas (below), but you are not restricted by these topics or the guidelines we offer within them. Poster presentations are also welcome. Please adapt these topics as you see fit, but should you have any questions or need clarification, please contact us. If you would like to present at the conference please follow the guidelines for applications; here you can also find more information regarding the conference.
POTENTIAL TOPICS OF INTEREST
1. Researcher Evolution
Evolving as an academic is inevitable as you journey through your PhD. You could explore how you have evolved throughout the PhD from undergraduate to postgraduate, with a discussion of the personal experiences and encounters you have experienced through your research, or an account of the pressures you may or may not have faced which might have influenced this process. You could also adapt this topic to how you have evolved from a role within the traditional workplace to an academic environment, and how this may have influenced your attitudes towards research.
2. The Evolution of Research
At the outset, research begins as an atom of an idea, which develops into an accomplished piece of work. You could discuss the natural stages of progression, with illustrations from your own research, as to how your research has evolved into a strong piece of work with the incorporation of theory, knowledge, methodologies etc. These illustrations could be supported by examples as to how and why these developments were or became necessary, or how things could have been approached differently.
3. Researcher Traits
Traits are characteristics that individuals possess, resulting from gene-environment interaction; evolution may occur when there is a variation of inherited traits within a population. Every researcher is a person with inherited traits that derive from their background, personality and values. Have your personal traits affected your research in any way? Critical consideration into the impact of your own traits is important as part of the reflective approach in your research, as they may create agendas or even induce bias. Have your traits been influenced by the environment in which you are a part, whether it be in the field of research or even the influence of your academic peers?
4. Ethics & Research
Ethics is a core academic value for researchers; guiding us in many ways, shapes and forms.
How have you dealt with ethical issues in your research, and have you had to adapt research and approaches based upon ethics? How have ethics impacted upon other core aspects of your research such as: individuality, originality, academic validity, researcher reflexivity, and institutional regulations?
5. Technology & Research
Technology can potentially have a huge impact on our research and the ways in which it is conducted. Positively, the evolution of technology has produced innovative ways in how we communicate and share our research to audiences (nationally and internationally), and also in how we approach data collection. Additionally, it has helped to produce ground-breaking research within medicine and science that impacts upon the rest of the world. On the other hand, can it be said that technological developments have caused the extinction of traditional disciplinary methodologies and other values related to research? Can positive (e.g. for speed/dependability/adaptability) use of technology obscure or compromise the resonance of how technology impacts upon every day social life (e.g. ‘netnography’)? Using illustrations from your own research, discuss issues orientated around society and the role of technology. For example, does the modern day prevalence of technology also help to present more complex social/cultural issues for research?
6. Methodology & Research
Traditionally, within qualitative and quantitative research there are boundaries and inherent approaches that researchers must be aware of adherence to. How have you positioned yourself within these methodologies – are they two completely separate approaches or can you reconcile them? How have you dealt with the challenges and restrictions of methodological traditions?
Have you and your research evolved alongside the methodological approach(es) or do you feel trapped within ‘tradition’ and feel unable to fully adapt your research objectives within these methodologies?
7. ‘Co-Evolution’ and ‘Co-operation’ in Research
‘Survival of the fittest’ is a term that is often quoted in regards to evolutionary theory. With the struggles that researchers are facing in regards to reductions of funding to universities, and in particular to certain disciplines, the survival of research may be dependent upon co-operation with other researchers and disciplines. Discuss how you have collaborated with another researcher, or even looked towards other disciplinary methods or theories to assist your own research. Offer examples of how your research has been affected by external pressures in ways which you would not have foreseen at the beginning of the research process. You can demonstrate these collaborations by presenting work with a fellow academic.
8. Faith & Research
Evolution of research implies that researching is a scientific or a logical process. However, this is not true to all researchers, as often we are led by our intuition, feeling and instinct. Faith and feelings towards an issue can spark the idea for a research project, whilst following an instinct can lead to exciting, new and original research that could not have been foreseen – even within the best planned research. Discuss with illustrations from your own work how faith has inspired your research and the progress of it. Can human emotion be incorporated successfully into the research process?
9. Originality and Creativity –VS– Instrumental Research
As previously suggested, in academia we are facing struggles regarding funding and changes regarding policy that will have an inevitable affect upon us as researchers. In order for your research to survive and be disseminated to the outside world, has creativity and originality been compromised for the sake of research being instrumental and having a purpose within the outside world? Discuss the ways in which you have tried to produce original, innovative and creative research, but also balance it with a sense of purpose, and the reasoning which guided you within this decision-making process.
10. The Future of Research
Concentrating upon the uncertainty of the immediate and long-term future regarding the role of universities and academic research, how do you see the future prospects of this situation? Where do you see your research in the future, and how do you picture yourself as a researcher? Will future researchers find themselves mired within deeper pressures to evolve and adapt their ideas and research to engage with the demands placed upon them? Will researchers embrace each other’s ideas and approaches, becoming a closer community or are we facing the possibility of extinction…?
11. Any topic of your choice
CONFERENCE DETAILS AND APPLICATIONS
This conference is free for everyone, and coffee and a light lunch will be provided on the day.
If you wish to present at the conference, please email your abstract of 200-300 words to the organisers of the conference (see below for contact details). Please note that presentations should last for 20 minutes, and there will be a 10 minute Q&A session afterwards. Abstracts should include your name, institution, research topic and discipline, email and telephone number. Please specify whether you will need any particular facilities or requirements. The deadline for proposals is: Friday 27th May 2011. (Applicant submissions will be reviewed and notified by 4th June 2011). If you wish to attend the conference without presenting, please email the organisers.
Conference Contacts: Laura Doherty (laura.doherty111@canterbury.ac.uk) & Robert McPherson (robert.mcpherson147@canterbury.ac.uk)
CALL FOR PAPERS: “The Evolution of Research: Adapting to Survive in the Changing World?”
Canterbury Christ Church University Postgraduate 10th Annual Conference
Friday 17th June 2011, 9.30am – 4.30pm
The CCCU Post Graduate Research Association Annual Conference has attracted greater interest and wider academic attention year upon year and for the first time proudly invites papers and attendees from a national demographic. In keeping with this organic evolution, papers are welcomed on the theme “The Evolution of Research.” The aim of this conference is to encourage post graduate students of an interdisciplinary range to present their research based on this theme to an audience of fellow academics, in a comfortable environment for debate.
The theme “The Evolution of Research: Adapting to Survive in the Changing World?” has been selected because as post graduate researchers we are in a climate whereby we inevitably have to adapt our research ideas and approaches to the changing world around us. These recurrent changes to the world affect us from the levels of technology right through to government policies regarding universities, alongside institutional and external pressures upon the very nature of research.
Papers are welcomed from all disciplines of research; to help you interpret the theme of this conference we have provided topic areas intended to help guide your ideas (below), but you are not restricted by these topics or the guidelines we offer within them. Poster presentations are also welcome. Please adapt these topics as you see fit, but should you have any questions or need clarification, please contact us. If you would like to present at the conference please follow the guidelines for applications; here you can also find more information regarding the conference.
POTENTIAL TOPICS OF INTEREST
1. Researcher Evolution
Evolving as an academic is inevitable as you journey through your PhD. You could explore how you have evolved throughout the PhD from undergraduate to postgraduate, with a discussion of the personal experiences and encounters you have experienced through your research, or an account of the pressures you may or may not have faced which might have influenced this process. You could also adapt this topic to how you have evolved from a role within the traditional workplace to an academic environment, and how this may have influenced your attitudes towards research.
2. The Evolution of Research
At the outset, research begins as an atom of an idea, which develops into an accomplished piece of work. You could discuss the natural stages of progression, with illustrations from your own research, as to how your research has evolved into a strong piece of work with the incorporation of theory, knowledge, methodologies etc. These illustrations could be supported by examples as to how and why these developments were or became necessary, or how things could have been approached differently.
3. Researcher Traits
Traits are characteristics that individuals possess, resulting from gene-environment interaction; evolution may occur when there is a variation of inherited traits within a population. Every researcher is a person with inherited traits that derive from their background, personality and values. Have your personal traits affected your research in any way? Critical consideration into the impact of your own traits is important as part of the reflective approach in your research, as they may create agendas or even induce bias. Have your traits been influenced by the environment in which you are a part, whether it be in the field of research or even the influence of your academic peers?
4. Ethics & Research
Ethics is a core academic value for researchers; guiding us in many ways, shapes and forms.
How have you dealt with ethical issues in your research, and have you had to adapt research and approaches based upon ethics? How have ethics impacted upon other core aspects of your research such as: individuality, originality, academic validity, researcher reflexivity, and institutional regulations?
5. Technology & Research
Technology can potentially have a huge impact on our research and the ways in which it is conducted. Positively, the evolution of technology has produced innovative ways in how we communicate and share our research to audiences (nationally and internationally), and also in how we approach data collection. Additionally, it has helped to produce ground-breaking research within medicine and science that impacts upon the rest of the world. On the other hand, can it be said that technological developments have caused the extinction of traditional disciplinary methodologies and other values related to research? Can positive (e.g. for speed/dependability/adaptability) use of technology obscure or compromise the resonance of how technology impacts upon every day social life (e.g. ‘netnography’)? Using illustrations from your own research, discuss issues orientated around society and the role of technology. For example, does the modern day prevalence of technology also help to present more complex social/cultural issues for research?
6. Methodology & Research
Traditionally, within qualitative and quantitative research there are boundaries and inherent approaches that researchers must be aware of adherence to. How have you positioned yourself within these methodologies – are they two completely separate approaches or can you reconcile them? How have you dealt with the challenges and restrictions of methodological traditions?
Have you and your research evolved alongside the methodological approach(es) or do you feel trapped within ‘tradition’ and feel unable to fully adapt your research objectives within these methodologies?
7. ‘Co-Evolution’ and ‘Co-operation’ in Research
‘Survival of the fittest’ is a term that is often quoted in regards to evolutionary theory. With the struggles that researchers are facing in regards to reductions of funding to universities, and in particular to certain disciplines, the survival of research may be dependent upon co-operation with other researchers and disciplines. Discuss how you have collaborated with another researcher, or even looked towards other disciplinary methods or theories to assist your own research. Offer examples of how your research has been affected by external pressures in ways which you would not have foreseen at the beginning of the research process. You can demonstrate these collaborations by presenting work with a fellow academic.
8. Faith & Research
Evolution of research implies that researching is a scientific or a logical process. However, this is not true to all researchers, as often we are led by our intuition, feeling and instinct. Faith and feelings towards an issue can spark the idea for a research project, whilst following an instinct can lead to exciting, new and original research that could not have been foreseen – even within the best planned research. Discuss with illustrations from your own work how faith has inspired your research and the progress of it. Can human emotion be incorporated successfully into the research process?
9. Originality and Creativity –VS– Instrumental Research
As previously suggested, in academia we are facing struggles regarding funding and changes regarding policy that will have an inevitable affect upon us as researchers. In order for your research to survive and be disseminated to the outside world, has creativity and originality been compromised for the sake of research being instrumental and having a purpose within the outside world? Discuss the ways in which you have tried to produce original, innovative and creative research, but also balance it with a sense of purpose, and the reasoning which guided you within this decision-making process.
10. The Future of Research
Concentrating upon the uncertainty of the immediate and long-term future regarding the role of universities and academic research, how do you see the future prospects of this situation? Where do you see your research in the future, and how do you picture yourself as a researcher? Will future researchers find themselves mired within deeper pressures to evolve and adapt their ideas and research to engage with the demands placed upon them? Will researchers embrace each other’s ideas and approaches, becoming a closer community or are we facing the possibility of extinction…?
11. Any topic of your choice
CONFERENCE DETAILS AND APPLICATIONS
This conference is free for everyone, and coffee and a light lunch will be provided on the day.
If you wish to present at the conference, please email your abstract of 200-300 words to the organisers of the conference (see below for contact details). Please note that presentations should last for 20 minutes, and there will be a 10 minute Q&A session afterwards. Abstracts should include your name, institution, research topic and discipline, email and telephone number. Please specify whether you will need any particular facilities or requirements. The deadline for proposals is: Friday 27th May 2011. (Applicant submissions will be reviewed and notified by 4th June 2011). If you wish to attend the conference without presenting, please email the organisers.
Conference Contacts: Laura Doherty (laura.doherty111@canterbury.ac.uk) & Robert McPherson (robert.mcpherson147@canterbury.ac.uk)