Research Staff Conference 2020

Continuing the success of last year’s inaugural annual Research Staff Conference, this year’s event brings together our community of research staff working across the University of Liverpool via an action-packed day of talks dedicated to the theme of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity.

Don’t Stop Me Now  

The annual conference organised by the Research Staff Association in collaboration with the Academy has become a focal point of the organisation’s initiative to create a borderless community of researchers working across the University of Liverpool.  

Building on the previous year’s Beatles themed ‘Magical Mystery Tour’, this conference was themed ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’. The conference took place on Monday 7 December, with a focus on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity. The event included a panel of University and external leaders discussing how together we can foster an inclusive and welcoming research environment, to help maximise the personal development and professional and practice of every researcher employed at the University of Liverpool.  

Networking and community-building  

In addition to the listed programme, the conference provided the space for informal networking with conference speakers and for coffee breaks providing the opportunity for researchers to have a chat with their colleagues from across the University’s Faculties.  

Venue: The conference programme was virtual and free to all interested.  

Download the Conference Programme

Back to: Researcher Hub

Programme

Time

Activity

10:00-11:00

Keynote – Prof Anthony Hollander, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research & Impact

The Research in an Inclusive and Sustainable Environment (RISE) project aims to co-develop approaches to support all colleagues and to enable the University to maximise its research contributions in light of the pandemic. In this Keynote session, Prof Anthony Hollander will discuss the progress made to date via the RISE Project as not only has the pandemic necessitated a rapid pivot in research to tackle the crisis, it has simultaneously created new challenges in the research environment, whilst turning a spotlight on issues that already exist. Which include challenges in relation to (but not limited to): 

  • the impact of the pandemic on research activity for colleagues with significant caring responsibilities; potentially widening gender inequalities.
  • the underrepresentation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) colleagues in senior posts and across our research community
  • harnessing and focussing the enthusiasm and energy of our postdoc community to highlight long term challenges and willingness to help us respond
  • recognising the increased emphasis on the need to translate research into economic growth and social recovery in the post- COVID-19 era
  • driving innovation in how we undertake international partnership work if mobility declines due to concerns about disease transmission and carbon emissions
  • increasing our focus on research ethics, integrity and open data.

Watch the video (University of Liverpool staff only - please sign into Stream to view)

Keynote Video Icon

11:00-11:30

Break 

Networking and Bingo activity: 11:15-11:30 - Join in a fun game or two of bingo providing you with the opportunity to meet your fellow researchers online and the potential to win cash vouchers. (Open to participants nationally)

11:30-13:00

Panel discussion: Inclusivity in Academia  

  • Chaired by Prof Georgina Endfield, APVC for Research & Impact in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences 
  • Dr Diego Baptista, Diversity and Inclusion Policy Adviser on Research Culture at Wellcome Trust
  • Dr Emmanuel Adukwu, Deputy Head of Science in the Department of Applied Science & Employability Leader at the University of the West of England (UWE) Bristol, and Co-Founder of Aspiring Professionals Hub 
  • Dr Angela Obasi, Senior Clinical Lecturer at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and author of Lancet paper: ‘Equity in excellence or just another tax on Black skin?’ 
  • Dr  Shaima Hassan, Postdoctoral Researcher in Health Services Research at the University of Liverpool and representative of the UoL BAME Network
  • Dr Clara Barker, Engineer and Material Scientist at Oxford and Chair of the University’s LGBT + Advisory group. She is the recipient of the Points of Light Award from the UK Prime Minister in 2017 and has written for the Huffington Post and delivered several talks about LGBT+ issues.

Watch the video

Panel Discussion Video Icon

13:00-14:00  

Lunch Break  

14:00-15:00

Prosper session: I want to break free...from barriers to career development

This interactive session explains what Prosper means by democratising access before opening the floor to you. It also launches our recruitment for Prosper’s first postdoc career development cohort, starting April 2021.

Benefits of attending:

  • Share and discuss barriers to participating in development activities you and your peers have encountered
  • Reflect on what democratising access means to you, your identity and how you currently engage with career development, and compare this with current studies around barriers to postdoc development
  • Be the first to hear about the opportunity to join Prosper’s first postdoc career development cohort – recruitment for which opens at this event!

15:00-15:15

Break

15:15 -16:00

Networking activity

The day will come to an end with a networking session, open to researchers nationally which will allow researchers from different schools and institutions to share experiences.

The session will also include the opportunity to chat with colleagues from the Prosper team, the Research, Partnerships and Innovation (RPI) team and the Conference sponsors.

RPI provides support at every stage of the research, impact and knowledge exchange process, they help academics to apply their expertise to the external environment through effective engagement with collaborators, partners and funders.  

(Open to participants nationally)

16:00

End of day  

Download the Conference Programme (PDF, 2.15MB)

Research Staff Conference 2020 playlist

Listen to the Research Staff Conference 2020 playlist, especially created to celebrate equity, diversity and inclusion. Enjoy! 

Academy Researcher Development Inclusivity Statement

The Academy is committed to providing an environment which recognises and values people's differences, capitalises on the strengths that those differences bring to the institution and supports all staff and students in maximising their potential to succeed. In line with the Academy's firm commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, we offer all postdoctoral and research-related opportunities to develop and network irrespective of a researcher’s gender, ethnicity, age, self-identification, disability, religious affiliation, or any other criteria used to separate and define.

Academy Code of Conduct

All events organised or facilitated by The Academy follow a Conduct of Conduct irrespective of the number of participants or session format. The Academy thanks all participants in advance for your cooperation to help ensure a safe and constructive environment for everybody. View the Code of Conduct.

Conference Organising Committee   

Dr Krishanthi Subramaniam (Infection Biology and Microbiomes Department)

Dr Blanca Perez Sepulveda (Clinical Infection, Microbiology & Immunology Department) 

Dr Michael Robinson (History Department) 

Dr Filipe Braga Nogueira

Dr Frances Sherratt (Public Health, Policy and Systems)  

Dr Malaka Pulinda De Silva

Dr Katalin Ujhelyi Gomez

Dr Katherine Roscoe (Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology)

Dr Ramya Maitreyee (Psychological Sciences)

Mary Jane Monaghan

Dr Angela Midgley (The Academy)

Dr Saneeya Qureshi (The Academy)

Sponsors

Thank you to our sponsors of the Research Staff conference 2020.

Scrintal

Scrintal is a fully GDPR-compliant automated transcription and analysis tool that is designed for academic researchers to simplify their research process. The idea was born when one of the team members struggled greatly with transcribing interviews for her PhD thesis. So she decided to develop a platform that could help thousands of others in the same field.

As it is developed by researchers with the help of the Stockholm University Innovation Office, Scrintal not only helps you spend your limited time on more productive tasks instead of manual transcription, but it also has the highest security standards to ensure all sensitive data is encrypted and stored securely within the EU.

Scrintal is currently developing its analysis capabilities as a member of the Stockholm School of Economics Business Lab.

The discount code UOLRSA20 will provide a 20% discount. It is for single use only and is valid until 31 March 2021.

Facebook Reality Labs 

The Facebook Reality Labs (FRL) Team brings together a world-class team of researchers, developers, and engineers to create the future of virtual and augmented reality, which together will become as universal and essential as smartphones and personal computers are today. And just as personal computers have done over the past 45 years, AR and VR will ultimately change everything about how we work, play, and connect. We are developing all the technologies needed to enable breakthrough AR glasses and VR headsets, including optics and displays, computer vision, audio, graphics, brain-computer interfaces, haptic interaction, eye/hand/face/body tracking, perception science, and true telepresence. Some of those will advance much faster than others, but they all need to happen to enable AR and VR that are so compelling that they become an integral part of our lives.

Facebook Reality Labs and Scrintal logos