PostGrad Cafe Conference - an overview

The First PostGrad Café Conference

As many members of the postgraduate community in SOCSI are aware, the PostGrad Café is an informal discussion group where postgraduates can present aspects of their work in a supportive peer environment, reflect upon shared experiences and issues, and socialise with other postgraduates. Although the PostGrad café predominantly consists of postgraduates from the School of Social Sciences, we have recently been joined by members of other schools such as JOMEC and CPLAN, resulting in presentations that capture the interest of those studying in different disciplines, and prompting discussions regarding the shared issues at stake in interdisciplinary research.

On Tuesday 27th February, SOCSI hosted the first annual PostGrad Café Conference, which was organised by members of the PostGrad Café team both past and present. The PostGrad Café is an informal discussion group where postgraduates can present aspects of their work, reflect upon shared experiences, and socialise with other postgraduates. Although the PostGrad café predominantly consists of postgraduates from the School of Social Sciences, we have recently been joined by members of other schools including JOMEC and CPLAN, resulting in presentations that capture the interest of those studying in different disciplines, and prompting discussions regarding shared issues.

Many postgraduate students are anxious about presenting their work at formal academic conferences, and this conference was envisaged as a means of providing an opportunity for postgraduates, at various stages of the research process, to practice giving presentations in a supportive and constructive peer environment. In fact, 16 postgraduate students took the opportunity to present at the event, many of whom were presenting their research for the first time. Furthermore, 68 other students and academic staff members attended the conference held in the Glamorgan Building, to show support to their presenting colleagues, ask questions, and provide constructive feedback on the array of presentations.

The structure of the day comprised of six themed sessions, of which two ran concurrently. The first session, entitled ‘Contested Knowledges’ featured papers from 3 SOCSI students, Catherine Butler, Dennis Eady and Martin Weinel, discussing the common theme of controversy regarding the nature of knowledge in social science. The second session contained presentations from another three of SOCSI’s postgraduates: Robin Smith, Anne Foley and Vicki Eaton all presented papers on the difficulties they had encountered in their research projects in locating research participants.

The third session of the conference was themed ‘Learning for Labour’ and featured papers from SOCSI’s Gerbrand Tholen and SONMS’ Jane Ryan, discussing the role of learning in the context of knowledge economies and male undergraduate nursing students respectively. The fourth set of papers focused on technology: Jackie Needs of CESAGEN presented a paper on the experience of people at risk of genetic illness, and Alison Elderfield of SOCSI discussed social networks and mobile phone use.

A buffet lunch was provided for all of the presenters and attendees of the conference, before the final pair of postgraduate presentations. The fifth session, entitled ‘Children, Gender and the Media’ featured papers from Kelly Buckley of SOCSI who discussed the representation of the female body in celebrity gossip magazine Heat, and two presenters from JOMEC, Corbett Miteff and Ann Luce who covered cartoons and press coverage of childhood bullying and suicide respectively. The final session was themed ‘work experience’ and featured two papers: the first was by Amanda Ehrenstein and discussed workers in the visual arts, and the second was by Pam Robinson, who focused on the labour conditions in the banana fields of Costa Rica.


The successful day ended with a plenary session which took the usual relaxed and informal form of the PostGrad café. Dr. Ingrid Geesink and Dr. David Mellor reflected on their experiences of the PhD process and completing a thesis. Ingrid shared with the group her experiences of the demands on the time of a PhD student, and strategies for dealing with this. Furthermore, Ingrid highlighted one of the issues that unites all work-burdened PhD students: avoidance strategies. Ingrid’s handout of popular avoidance strategies highlighted that there are many things that the PhD student has to battle, and that often we are all experiencing the same things. David discussed the emotional labour of the PhD process, in particular his recent experience of the viva. Also, the all too common feelings of isolation and unworthiness experienced by PhD students provided a basis for a further group discussion after the plenary sessions.

The day was successful on many levels: it offered postgraduates the opportunity to present a paper at a conference within a supportive peer environment, to share views and knowledge on the subject in question, to listen to two presenters who have experienced the full process, but, most importantly, to build the foundations for a postgraduate community in SOCSI and its sister schools.

If you would like more information about the PostGrad Café Conference or any other PostGrad Café events please contact the team at postgradcafe.cf.ac.uk