ISSEME 2023 was preceded by the Postgrad and ECR workshops on Tuesday 27 June, sponsored by ISSEME and organized by James Paz and Eleni Ponirakis. After a selection procedure, a group of young researchers in the late stages of their PhD or ECRs were invited to attend a workshop on sharing research through publication and outreach. The attendees had been selected for the quality of their research, with priority given to those with financial, geographical or other EDI related difficulties. All attendees were invited to stay on for the conference free of charge and were given a stipend to cover transport and accommodation for the week. There followed a full day with a networking session and sessions on publishing in peer-reviewed journals, publishing monographs and sharing your research.
Networking
The first session was an opportunity for everyone to get to know each other and to begin to create their own networks. Using playing cards, groups were assigned at random and each group of three or four was given time to introduce themselves, talk about their research and discuss what they hoped to get out of the day, before being reassigned to new groups and new people. By lunchtime, all the participants had had time to talk to each other and share their experiences and questions.
One of the best parts of the day for me was: “the networking hour … I found it useful and interesting to share the interests and preoccupations of ECR with my peers.” ~Workshop participant
Journal publishing
After lunch we were incredibly fortunate to have the expertise of Rosalind Love, Rory
Naismith and Georgia Priestley of the journal Anglo-Saxon England (Cambridge University Press), who explained the peer-review process, and the dos and don’ts of writing a paper for publication in a journal.
The best part of the day for me was “hearing from the editors at ASE and having their input on publishing in journals. The process of submitting to high-ranking journals is now not only more transparent, but actually feels less daunting.” ~Workshop participant
Book Publishing
The next workshop was generously offered by Meredith Carroll of Manchester University Press. Beginning with expert tips on how to adapt your work from thesis to monograph and then further advice on how to pitch your ideas for monographs or edited collections. Meredith has kindly offered to share her PowerPoint slides, and these will be up on the website shortly.
The best part of the day for me: “I found every talk really informative, especially the one from Manchester University Press — lots of really useful info! Thank you.” ~Workshop participant
Manchester (Photo: Fatima al Moufridji)
Sharing your research
The final workshop was a lively session where Jennifer Neville and Megan Cavill shared their expertise on impact and outreach, beginning with clear definitions of what these terms mean in terms of the REF. Attendees were then put into groups to share their ideas about how to make their research accessible and relevant to a broader public.
“I thought the public engagement session was the best part because it really challenged me to think about how to sell my research to others as something beneficial and so on beyond the academy. I found this helped me understand how to break down the steps in planning an activity, from its audience to organisations.” ~Workshop participant
Moufridji)
Moving forward
We asked attendees for suggestions for future workshops. In addition to requests for more workshops like these, requests were made for workshops on funding, getting a job and time management. We will be looking at all of the suggestions moving forward.
We would like to thank the wonderful speakers who gave so generously of their time, the ECRs and Postgrads who participated with so much enthusiasm and application, and of course to the University of Manchester for making it possible. We would also like to thank Fatima al Moufridji for taking such great photos.
For those of you interested in publishing, you will find useful tips on book publishing from MIP (Medieval Institute Publications) and Meredith’s slides from MUP. There is also information on publishing papers in Anglia in a European context as well as contact details on the conference’s website.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please email eleni.ponirakis3@nottingham.ac.uk.
Gallery (Photos: Fatima al Moufridji)
