NEWS - PRESS RELEASES

Judges and presenters gather at the close of the Festival.

A lesson in friendship, hospitality, peace and life at the Festival of Postgraduate Research

More than 200 visitors attended the annual display of cutting edge research by doctoral researchers at the University of Leicester. The Festival of Postgraduate Research showcased fifty-one of the University’s best postgraduate researchers on Thursday 24th June 2010. The top prize was taken by Jenny Watts with her poster ‘Are nurses "all cried out?" Exploring emotional exhaustion in the NHS’, which details the emotional strains that nurses undergo whilst carrying out their duties.

In its sixth edition, the Festival of Postgraduate research showcased the variety and quality of research currently undertaken at the University of Leicester. The competitively chosen presenters displayed posters that explored a wide range of research subjects, such as the case for achieving world electricity co-operation, the use of urban green spaces, punishment in Kent workhouses, the use of stem cell therapies for hearing loss and explosions in the sun, amongst others.

The Festival brought together the University of Leicester and over forty external organisations, who got involved in the event by acting as judges or sponsors of the many prizes awarded.

One visitor commented: “At our company we are in the business of funding, protecting and encouraging research and innovation. The research being undertaken at the University of Leicester and the people carrying it out are clarly exciting and from a broad spectrum of fields. I am delighted to be here to listen and learn from the exhibitors.”

The Festival of Postgraduate Research offers students a chance to develop their communication skills and make new contacts within and outside the University:

“(I got) a chance to showcase astrophysics and that we’re not all geeks wrapped up in our own little world! Also, that astrophysics has a real-world application”

Fergus Wilson, winner of the Development and Alumni Office Best Presentation in Science and Engineering

“I gained so much not just from talking but crucially from listening to what other people said about my research. This has lead me to rethink how I can use my research and opened up a mass of implications that would never have occurred to me. So really it was invaluable.”

Heidi Ashton, winner of Business Money Box Peer Recommendation Prize and Enterprise and Business Development Best Presentation in Arts, Law and Social Sciences

The event also brings together various areas of the University as a community, as attested by academic and administrative staff:

“In my job I feel it is important to encourage our research students and it is useful to have the lay explanation of the work they are doing”

Denise McKnight, Graduate School

“(The event is) Splendid! Busy with lots of visitors asking questions and getting knowledge and enthusiastic answers.”

Prof. Douglas Tallack, College of Arts, Humanities and Law

The grand finale of the day featured popular historian Bettany Hughes, who is a research fellow at King’s College, London and President of the Joint Association of Classical Teachers. She has written and presented a number of documentaries for television including ‘When The Moors Ruled Europe’, ‘Helen of Troy’ and ‘The Spartans’. She has recently been awarded the 2009/10 Naomi Sargent Education Award for Broadcasting Excellence, a prize selected by the public. In her address, Bettany talked about the value of perseverance and self belief as the key to a successful career. Her passion for communicating her research has been marked and driven by the value of friendship, and an appreciation of ‘ta erotika’, the lovely things. With great humour, Bettany captivated her audience by sharing her first experiences meeting sceptical BBC executives, gaining a research grant that took her to Sparta, and finally realising her dream of producing History documentaries. “To piece, to life, and love” is the message that she conveyed, encouraging the University of Leicester researchers to believe in themselves and the value of their work to the greater world.

The winners and runner ups of the Festival of Postgraduate Research will have the chance to represent the University of Leicester at Vitae’s Regional Poster Competition at Nottingham Trent University on the 5th July. The regional event will feature over 90 researchers from across 13 universities from the Midlands.

A full list of winners follows below. Further information about any of these projects or about the sponsoring companies is available on request.

Winners and finalists for Regional Competition

Student’s Union Highly Commended Prize

Brooklynne Fothergill

The Bird of the New Dawn: The disease impact of 1,000 years of turkey husbandry

i-Qube Commended Prize

Nikolaos Dietis

A new hope for cancer pain relief!

Retec Interface Commended Prize

Yvonne Foster

Surviving post-16 transitions: youth biographies

Executive and Management Connexions Highly Commended Prize

Joanna Wood

Developing a test to predict side effects of chemotherapy in patients with colorectal cancer

Business Money Box Peer Recommendation Prize

Heidi Ashton

The Final Curtain? Problems facing dancers in career transitions

University of Leicester’s Media Prize

Matthew Tonkin

The usual suspects: How can we identify serial offenders and their crimes?

Development and Alumni Office Best presentation in Science and Engineering

Fergus Wilson

The Cosmic Burps of Dying Stars

Enterprise and Business Development Best presentation in Arts, Law and Social Sciences

Heidi Ashton

The Final Curtain? Problems facing dancers in career transitions

Grant Thronton Best presentation in Medical and Biological Sciences

Murtaza Salem

Preventing Stroke is No Joke!

The Graduate School Master Prize for Best Presentation

Jenny Watts

Are nurses "all cried out?" Exploring emotional exhaustion in the NHS

Also going to Vitae Midlands Hub Regional Competition is:

Gemma Robinson

To die or not to die: a TRAIL of death

The University of Leicester's Festival of Postgraduate Research develops research postgraduates' ability to communicate research effectively to non-specialist audiences. The event engages employers and other external organisations, and helps to build the profile of PhDs. Further information about the Festival can be found on the website at: www.le.ac.uk/gradschool/festival or by contacting Dr. Monica Latham, Postgraduate Events Manager, on 0116 252 2721 or map21@le.ac.uk.