by Ben Archer
The Sheffield Institute for Policy Studies (SIPS) was pleased to host its 6th annual postgraduate research poster showcase, a competition open to postgraduate research students across all disciplines within Sheffield Hallam University. This fantastic annual event provides a collegial environment for presenters to discuss their ongoing research projects, network with peers and receive constructive and meaningful academic feedback. This event provides a space, in particular, for first-year PhD researchers to disseminate early findings of the research they are conducting, and showcases the broad range of research undertaken by postgraduate researchers across Sheffield Hallam University. Following the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the importance of events such as this for postgraduate researchers has been noted, particularly as a way for PhD students to combat prominent feelings of isolation that notably arose as a result of pandemic-related lockdowns.
The 2022 showcase adopted a blended approach, including an in-person launch event which took place as part of Sheffield Hallam University’s Creating Knowledge conference in June. Within the poster showcase forming part of the larger programme, conference attendees could view the posters in person and talk to the presenters in the newly refurbished Atrium in Owen Building, City Campus. The event was organised by a staff/student team including myself, Sarah Walton, Emma Sconce, Dareen Assaf, Elouise Hearnshaw, Beci Oldfield, Dr Elizabeth Scanlon and Professor Sarah Pearson.
Following the launch event, Dr Vicky Heap, Dr Laura Kilby and Dr Becky Shaw judged the posters and awarded two prizes for Research Impact and Poster Design. In addition, attendees completed the third prize for Delegates’ Choice on the day of the in-person launch event. The prizes were awarded at a virtual prizegiving ceremony several weeks later, with prizes kindly sponsored by SIPS and Bristol Policy Press.
The Research Impact prize was awarded to Harry Saxton for the research:
Unique parameter solutions to a simple cardiovascular model.
They commented that:
“The impact of the research is that we have developed a methodology to identify unique input parameters which can give us a good indication of a patient’s physiological state. A consequence of this is that surgeons will be able to use more non-invasive techniques within the diagnosis procedure making the whole thing less traumatic for the patient.”
The Poster Design prize was awarded to Veronica Rocha Riveros for the research:
Adapting existing housing stock for affordability and environmental performance in Chile.
Finally, the Delegates’ Choice prize was awarded to Charlotte Oliver for the research:
Probation supervision of people with sexual offences convictions, who commented that:
“My research looks at the experiences of people with sexual offence convictions on probation; the potential impact being a greater understanding of best practice in probation supervision and a contribution to knowledge in this previously under researched area.”
Congratulations to the three winners, and to all the presenters whose research demonstrates the breadth of research conducted by postgraduate researchers at Sheffield Hallam University. Look out for more information about these research projects as they continue to develop over the next few months/years!
For the past several years, I have played a role in organising the SIPS poster showcase, which has involved transitioning from being an in-person event to online and back into the blended approach in 2022. Following this year’s event, we are excited to announce that two new postgraduate researchers from the Department of Law and Criminology at Sheffield Hallam University, Charlotte Oliver and Zoe Rodgers, will be leading the organisation of next year’s event. We wish them the best of luck in developing the event!
For more information about 2023’s Postgraduate Research Showcase event, please contact the SERI Events Team:
! RIS Social & Economic Event Support
The Sheffield Institute for Policy Studies 