Researcher Support

Research Support - Supporting Researchers

One of the ways we support our research staff and students is by sharing relevant weblinks with them.  Indeed, Karen has a Diigo list for this very purpose. You can see Karen's Research Support List here.

Also, if you scroll down the left side of the screen, you'll see her many other lists - there could be useful material there, too.  Feel free to browse.

NB  Why not start your own Diigo account today?  Save favourites "to the cloud", on any device you own.  It's invaluable!

https://www.diigo.com/index

Conference First-Timer? Tips and Advice, Do's and Don'ts

Useful blogpost from the Journal of Victorian Culture Online -for any researcher just embarking on the conference circuit!

Four Things to Remember When Attending Conferences

The Informed Researcher

There's a new Vitae booklet out!  They're always full of commonsense suggestions, and you can read one in a coffee-break.

The Informed Researcher

Click on the link above to read it online. 

Karen has just received a few paper copies; if Royal Conservatoire staff or students would like a copy, just let her know. 

Other publications in the series are listed here.

UK Scholarly Reading and the Value of Library Resources

Academic libraries are appreciated!

A recent JISC report provides the proof libraries need - scholars and academic staff certainly do value library resources.

• Download it here - UK Scholarly Reading and the Value of Library Resources (pdf)
• No time just now? Read the brief JISC introduction to the report.

Bright Club Glasgow

Stand-up comedy for researchers - banish your conference-speaking nerves for good!: first event this Thursday night.

Twitter handle: BrightClubGLA Bright Club Glasgow

• Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/brightclubglasgow
• More about it here, a link for non-Glasgow Uni researchers

and for more info contact Zara: z.gladman.1@research.gla.ac.uk

Researchers: YOU are responsible for your career but who else can help?

Useful jobs.ac.uk careers posting.

A film about PhD students!

An intriguing article in the THE (Times Higher Education magazine) this week finds out how a popular cartoon about the secret life of research students has been turned into a film by its author.  But is it true to life?!  Read on:-

15 September 2011


When Jorge Cham adapted his hugely popular PhD cartoon for film, he eschewed animation and hired real Caltech students and academics for his comically true-to-life doctoral tales. Paul Jump reports.


Absent-minded academics and scientists who are a few base pairs short of a double helix are as much a cinema staple as maverick cops and superheroes with a troubled past. For all the recent rise in 3D film, Jorge Cham believes that researchers are rarely portrayed in ways that transcend that stereotypical dimension.  Read the whole article online here.

Support and advice for research students

Have you come across PhDChat?  I blogged about this before - you can join in the Twitter conversation with Nasima Riazat on Wednesdays, follow Nasima's tweets, read the blog or get involved in the  wiki.

Then there's The Thesis Whisperer (aka Inger Mewburn, a research support lecturer in Australia).  This is a fantastic resource - do take a look! 


And here's the THE (Times Higher Education) article which has just come out, about The Thesis Whisperer.

The [Research] Student as Customer

Does paying uni fees make you a customer?  A customer like someone who buys something in a shop?

Here's a thought-provoking blogpost on The Thesis Whisperer (an esteemed Australian research-support blog) about the relationship between student, institution and research supervisor.  The author of the post, Dr Sarah Louise Quinell, is at Kings College London, so there are interesting comments about the UK situation.

I'm a Paying Customer - read it here.

The Thesis Whisperer - first anniversary of researcher support blog

• Doing a PhD?
• Feeling isolated or in need of support?

The Thesis Whisperer is a blog for doctoral research students, by Australian academic Inger Mewburn.  This week she celebrates the first anniversary of a blog that is decidedly going places.  It's helpful, informative and friendly.  A commentator described it as providing 'big sisterly' common-sense advice to researchers.

RSAMD Music & Academic Services Librarian Karen McAulay is a recent contributor to this blog.  We're proud to be associated with such a successful and worthwhile project.

Link to anniversary posting
Link to The Thesis Whisperer homepage

Researchers' use of academic libraries

This report, published by the Research Information Network, can be read online here. It's also accessible:-

1. Via the RSAMD Moodle VLE (Virtual Learning Environment)
2. In the Whittaker Library catalogue, so you can always come back to look for it by keywords later.)

If you like this, you may like to check out the RIN A-Z of Project Reports. Hours of relevant reading matter.