Friday 21-07-2023 - 08:47

As the new DTA reps, we meet to discuss how we can advocate for other researchers and make the PhD experience as positive and supportive as possible.

Researching and writing a PhD can be a lonely experience. Being a DTA Rep gave me some much-needed contact with other researchers. At our first meeting we planned events and social occasions, how to gather stories about the work of the other researchers – whether they’ve just begun or whether they are drawing to a close on their journey – organise careers fairs and catch up with DTA Alumni.

Fitting this work around our study is a challenge, of course, but it helps you to focus on the bigger picture of what research is all about: learning from each other, collaborating and helping the other researchers along the way.

Here’s what other DTA reps have to say:

“I am at Leeds Beckett University in the Carnegie School of Sport and my research is based in the Centre for Sport and Social Justice. My work is focused on women in voluntary rugby leadership roles assessing the breadth of experiences across England. I am interested in using intersectional approaches to research, focusing on identifying and challenging how and why gendered inequalities persist. I am keen to be a rep for the DTA as I love the idea of getting to work with PhD students from a broad range of different disciplines to develop a productive and collaborative space where we can all develop together. I have really enjoyed hearing about all the plans for the development of the DTA programme and can’t wait to get stuck in to helping make them happen!” Kate Marks

“Hi everyone! My name is Cristiana and I’m on the 3rd year of my PhD, investigating the role of gold nanoparticles in radiotherapy treatments, at Sheffield Hallam University. The pandemic has really shown me how human connections are important, and that’s the reason I got involved as a rep: to be able to better connect with everyone and, hopefully, be able to organize some nice events for us all to enjoy together!” Cristiana Matos

What are the values of the DTA: Diverse, interdisciplinary and collaborative

The last time DTA reps and researchers met in person was at the Wellcome Collection, London for the Autumn Connect. We watched a presentation about the colonial history of coffee and also its potential in a sustainable future while sitting inside one of the largest science history collections in Britain. A barista was on hand to serve us espressos from his sustainable coffee company, bringing a practical element to Prof Jonathan Morris’ (University of Hertfordshire) academic research.

Why do we mention this? Because like in the presentation, the inclusion of global past injustices that connect us to the solutions of the present embody the values and interdisciplinary practice of the DTA.

Altogether there are ninety-eight researchers, spanning several universities across Britain, across four years of study.

Our research is global, as are our languages.

Our backgrounds and ages are diverse. Our subjects vary widely, from the impacts of long COVID to environmental law, from the history of energy to fine tuning present technology. Some of us are buried in archives and papers.

Some of us are based in laboratories, and others are out doing field work with participants. Yet we are all working to bring this research together to help promote the UN Sustainable Development Goals – and just as importantly critiquing the goals themselves.

As DTA reps we hope to bring us all together, socially and supportively, as well as helping facilitate the potential of our interdisciplinary and collaborative research as a whole cohort.

An overview of some of the varied research topics of the new DTA researchers.

What next?

We want to hear what everyone is doing and help amplify your research – whatever stage it’s at.

We’ll be in contact with everyone in the new year to:

• write up your stories and research journeys for social media
• organise a hybrid careers fair
• arrange social events
• design surveys so you can help shape the DTA

Contact us: We have Twitter and Instagram accounts – which we encourage you to follow. We promote the events we plan on there, but also we’d love to hear from you and celebrate your successes. Send us videos clips, snippets of information, sentences about your research that made you excited. Did you just read something interesting in a paper? Or write a line in your PhD that meant something to you? Do you have a snippet of information that you think everyone should know?

Send it to Tanya at th621@pgr.aru.ac.uk

You can follow us on Insta and Twitter or send us an email dtareps@unialliance.ac.uk.

Looking forward to working with everyone throughout 2023,

Tanya (Tanya Hawkes, DTA Future Societies, Anglia Ruskin University)