written by Emma Sconce, Sarah Walton, Benjamin Archer, Charlene Cross and Daniel Haid
Since its inception in 2016, SIPS has sponsored a postgraduate researcher poster showcase. After transitioning the 2020 event to a virtual environment, further scope was available to make use of this setting for the 2021 event. Posters were displayed on the SIPS website for two weeks prior, allowing advanced voting for the Delegates Choice prize.
10 posters were displayed from postgraduate researchers across the university, demonstrating the breadth of research conducted at SHU. The event on April 21st gave presenters the opportunity to network and discuss their research with a non-specialist audience of academics and researchers. Recognising the outstanding research displayed, the judges, Professor Paul Hickman, Dr Luke Bennett and Professor Sarah Pearson, awarded the Academic Significance prize to Sarah Walton, and the Research Impact prize to Emma Sconce. Further, Dareen Assaf was awarded the Delegates Choice prize.
Emma reflected the following from her participation:
“The SIPS poster event gave me the opportunity to showcase my research to a wider audience, gaining constructive feedback on my research and presentation skills, whilst celebrating my progress. As my research is a specialist field, I found the poster a great way to combine creative ideas with a focused summary of key messages. Receiving feedback, such as avoiding the overuse of jargon in communicating research to a non-specialist audience, has been beneficial for future posters and presentations!
Being awarded the Research Impact prize is a significant moment within my research journey and an honour considering the standard of the posters displayed. To receive recognition for my research has given me a huge sense of confidence for future events. I would recommend this event to practice discussing your research outside of supervisory teams.”
Sarah also commented:
“I looked forward to presenting my first academic poster, and the SIPS Poster Showcase was a great opportunity for this. I enjoyed being able to engage with the research community and communicate my research to others from a wide range of subjects and receive valuable feedback.
Presenting my research as a poster was a great opportunity to communicate my research in a creative way, providing images of my study site and methods. The session was hosted on Zoom, with welcoming hosts and attendees, which worked well. This allowed presenters to engage and discuss their research in more depth.
To be awarded the Academic Significance prize was amazing and I have confidence going forward in my PhD. I am looking forward to next year’s showcase and seeing the development of the research community at SHU!”
The organisation team are pleased to welcome Emma, Dareen and Sarah to the organisation team for the 2022 event, of which initial planning has already begun. Thank you to the judges, and to Palgrave, Policy Press and Oxford University Press for their sponsorship!
Further information about the poster events can be found through contacting Benjamin Archer (b.archer@shu.ac.uk). If you are interested in undertaking a PhD in one of SIPS’ research centres or departments, please see here to find out more.
Image from Emma Sconce’s poster: A Novel Nordic hamstring exercise device: HALHAM, hamstring testing device.
Image from Sarah Walton’s poster, showing chironomid head capsules, one of the proxies to be used to reconstruct the Holocene climate and environmental change in south east Iceland.
The Sheffield Institute for Policy Studies 