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Festival of Postgraduate Research 2012
Showcasing the next generation of world-class researchers
The Graduate School is pleased to present the eighth Festival of Postgraduate Research on 17 May 2012.
At the University of Leicester we have achieved some remarkable results. Our research has world-changing impact. A commitment to high quality and an inclusive academic culture are our hallmarks and we have gained an international reputation for developing the next generation of world-class researchers. The Festival of Postgraduate Research, presented by the Graduate School for the eighth year in 2012, is where the very best of our doctoral researchers get the chance to present themselves to the wider University, employers, and the public.
"Explaining my work to the audience gave me the chance to look at it in a different way. It has helped me see its broader applications and also how far the project has evolved since it began."
Fifty postgraduate researchers, selected competitively from the University's 1,300 member doctoral community, will be invited to exhibit their research in as a poster presentation and asked to describe their work and its real world implications to a non-specialist audience. The Festival offers fellow researchers, the wider University, employers, the media, and the general public an opportunity to meet the next generation of innovators and cutting-edge researchers.
For those who take part the Festival it is a unique opportunity to network with employers and others in their field and develop their own profile as a researcher - and for the University it's an opportunity to celebrate the strength of its postgraduate researcher community.
Highlight of the University Calendar
"I really enjoyed the day. It gave me a chance to make new contacts which may prove useful for current work and for later on in my career.
Talking about my research and getting positive feedback was really rewarding. It also gave me the chance to see what other research goes on in the University."
Over the past seven years the Festival has established itself as a highlight of the University calendar and has proven hugely popular with audiences - giving them a chance to meet and speak with researchers directly. The Festival concludes an awards ceremony - with winners for the best presentation in each discipline, a number of specialist prizes, and the Graduate Dean's prize for the best presentation overall. Many of these prizes are sponsored by employers who value the unique opportunity that the Festival provides to engage with up-and-coming researchers and hear more about the real-world applications of the work taking place across the University.
Beyond the Festival, some of the winners are then selected to represent the University at the regional poster competition organised each year by Vitae. In 2009 Andrew Irvine, winner of the Festival prize for Best Presentation in Medicine and Biological Sciences, went on to win another prize at the regional competition for his presentation on a metastasis associated protein (S100A4) and its role in cancer. In 2012 we will again be selecting prize winners from the Festival to represent the University at the regional competition to be held in Nottingham in July.
Prize winners from the 2010 Festival of Postgraduate Research. Many of the prizes are sponsored by employers who value this unique opportunity to engage with up-and-coming researchers. In 2010, Jenny Watts won the Graduate Dean's Prize for Best Presentation for her poster exploring emotional exhaustion in NHS staff.
Bookings and Further Information
This year's Festival of Postgraduate Research takes place Thursday 17 May and further details will be added here shortly.
Enquiries regarding the Festival can be addressed to festival@le.ac.uk
Postgraduate Research at the University of Leicester
The University of Leicester is one of the UK's leading universities, committed to international excellence through the creation of world changing research and high quality, inspirational teaching. In 2008/2009 we were named the Times Higher Education's University of the Year, with the judges describing us as "elite without being elitist".
