We’re currently planning short films showcasing PGR in Humanities and are looking for volunteers to share their stories.

We hope these films will bring together several stories through a collection of short interviews and visuals of your experiences. Your story will also be featured on our website in an article format.

We’re keen to hear all your ideas about what we should feature, but the general themes we’ve chosen are:

1. Community

We believe we’re a large, diverse and social group of researchers, with a real sense of community. Our students are friendly, warm, accessible and supportive. We look out for each other. We inspire and motivate each other. We share ideas. We respect and value others’ individual contributions, working in partnerships with our wider academic community.

For this film, we’re looking for PhD students who want to share something about the PGR community that they feel is special, unique or has helped them in some way. We’d like to film things such as

• a reading group
• working environment/office space
• social areas on campus
• areas of Manchester off campus if you think these should be featured
• a great student supervisor relationship

2. Training and Development

We work hard to provide opportunities for personal and professional development at every turn, giving you the best chance at the career you desire. Students have had funded field work taking them across the globe. They’ve attended and helped organise conferences right here in the heart of Manchester and travelled overseas. Every year we bring together students from across the Faculty to showcase their work and be recognised for their achievements.

For this film, we’re looking for students who have

• attended an interesting conference either in the UK or overseas
• been awarded additional funding to undertake fieldwork or trips associated with their research
• been part of any conference committees or groups organising events for PGRs
• won any awards for posters or presentations they’re particularly proud of
• been on a placement or exchange
• benefited from methods@manchester or artsmethods@manchester workshops or summer schools

We’re also keen to hear from students who have interesting career ambitions; students who maybe don’t see themselves going into academia and are using their PhD towards another career path, or have come to study part way through their career and hope to use their PhD to help with that in some way.

3. Impact

As researchers, we think critically to tackle issues, big and small. We’re always looking to make an impact with everything we do. We’re ambitious and motivated to always do better. We think and work locally, nationally and internationally. Even when we feel we’re only pushing the limits of human knowledge just a little bit, it feels good to be on the edge. We are socially conscious and give back to our community. We volunteer.

For this film, we’d like to hear from students who

• feel their research is making a difference
• are involved in volunteering or charitable activities
• are conducting research linked with industry or local charities/companies
• are conducting research with an international outlook
• have achieved a higher impact publication
• have graduated from their PhD and are using their research “out in the world”

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If you’d like to contribute please email beth.piggott@manchester.ac.uk with a brief overview of your story or experience as soon as you can.

Many thanks in advance for your help and support in promoting the Faculty. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

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