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Exeter Research Relay: A Chaired Inter-School Research Forum for PhD Students

Next Date: See booking site

Guidance for contributors below

What's it all about?

Communicating well as a researcher is essential, not optional. It is part of being a professional in any field. Without good oral communication skills, your PhD training is unlikely to be impressive to others. So, ask yourself these questions…

Do you want greater presentation exposure, beyond your immediate peer group? Do you want your research and the institution to be remembered in a very positive way? Do you want some oral and video feedback from expert presenters and from other research students to enhance your presentation performance in the future? Do you want to come to a specialist and exclusive presentation forum and have the chance to win a monthly prize?

If you answer “yes” to the above questions, then you should sign up for Research Relay – a bi-semester presentation forum exclusively for PhD students, with feedback from panel chairs and a video of yourself to take away. In this safe, inclusive and highly supportive and encouraging environment, you will have the opportunity to present your research for 8 minutes only, with 2 minutes for feedback. The panel will keep you strictly to time!

How can I attend?

In order to attend this forum, you must have already attended the workshop Going Global: presenting an academic conference paper. This is because we want to provide a continuum for research students to hone their presentation skills throughout their research degrees – delegates participating in Research Relay will be expected to have met a basic standard in their presentation skills already – we want this forum to provide you with “value-added” opportunities to enhance your communication skills further and for you to get detailed feedback on the day. This is a high quality forum aimed at getting you to talk competently and confidently about your research to a non-specialist audience.

Research Relay will run for about 3 hours every term with a free lunch to encourage informal networking. The PhD student who is deemed to have given the best presentation per session (based on both research student and staff feedback through the use of form), will receive a £10 gift voucher, and, with consent, have their name published in their next Graduate School newsletter and on the Graduate School website.

So, if you are keen to enhance your presentation skills in a serious way, and are not afraid to get some honest (but always polite!) feedback, then you should come along to Research Relay – passing the baton of research knowledge to a wider audience.

Guide for Contributors

1. In order to attend this session you must have already attended Going Global: presenting an academic conference paper. We will check the records!
2. Research Relay can accommodate upto 10 research students a month.
3. One week before the event, you must submit the title of your presentation to the GradSkills team.
4. You will receive feedback from both the expert panel, and other research students through the use of a form – feedback will not be public – you will have the chance to digest comments afterwards privately. So, in addition to presenting, you will also be expected to critically evaluate the presentation skills of other research students. You will also be videoed (optional).
5. You will be given just 8 minutes to present – and 2 minutes for questions. You will be given a sign of when you have just 1 minute remaining, and you will be asked to stop at 8 minutes by the chair.
6. We request that all research students present using Powerpoint – the industry standard for presentations.
7. Research students are reminded of the workshops that they have already attended and the detailed guidance that has already been provided in these sessions. We expect you toput into practice this training!
8. We expect all research students attending to work with other students and staff in a positive and encouraging way.

The Panel

Professor John Bryant (School of Biosciences)

Dr Steve Gaskin (Graduate School)

Dr Ashley Tauchert (School of English)

And other research students eligible to attend!