Tag: networking

Categories
Academic

Creating ‘Networking Buzz’

2dzvOq5Enjoyed this piece, as I’m always looking for ways to connect people up and make the most of that knowledge – let’s stop reinventing the wheel, and put our heads together:

The forty delegates were asked to submit information in advance both about their own research interests and about the specialist areas that they wanted to know more about. After the first couple of talks, there was a “speed dating” round, where each was paired up for 10 minutes with four people with very different knowledge bases.

Even this created an immediate “buzz”, said Dr Carazo Salas, and “at the next set of talks questions came from all over the room, not just the usual couple of rows at the front”. A second “dating” round made even more direct use of the “wish lists” to bring together people with highly developed skills in a research method such as intravital imaging or microfluidics and those who wanted to learn about that method.

Read full article.

Categories
Academic

The value of conferences?

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/813592

Really interesting post in Times Higher Education – the right conferences can leave you on a real high, but I’ve also been to the type described here – which sees only selfish & impolite behaviour…

Participating in conferences, symposia and other scholarly forums is a recognised element in the job description of any academic. In the era of regular and intrusive research evaluation exercises, being the recipient of an invitation to give a keynote address is a valuable addition to the curriculum vitae as an indication of esteem; there is also a chance that it could be leveraged into an aspirational form of “impact”. In the absence of the ego massage of such an invitation, an academic may nonetheless feel the heavy hand of research management pointing to the professional networking potential of conference participation and the banal necessity of professional visibility. Personal commitment to their subject, and their career, will also impel most academics to seek the opportunity to present a paper to an appropriate scholarly audience. It is therefore readily apparent that there are significant pressures that lead academics to commit to presenting an academic paper.

Intellectually, such opportunities hold out the possibility of testing one’s data and analysis before a critical audience of peers. Through such dialogues, academics may belatedly and serendipitously discover what they are really trying to say. Or, they may find themselves crushed as long hours of preparatory work result in the revelation of a foundational flaw in their method or argument. More typically, however, they are likely to feel that they have extended the visibility of their work, and themselves, and gleaned valuable insights into their paper’s strengths, weaknesses and potential for elaboration.

Read full story.

Categories
Academic

Work the room?

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/732128
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/732128

Interesting. Networking has always been part of academic life, but there’s clearly been a shift from finding those ‘of similar mind’ to those who can help fund your work…

A significant number of academics feel it is not part of their job to help businesses bring their research to market, according to an investigation into attitudes to knowledge transfer.

Such activity is high on the political agenda, with David Willetts, the universities and science minister, challenging institutions to increase their income from knowledge transfer by 10 per cent over the next three years.

However, scholars often think they do not have the skills to network with the business leaders who could turn their research into a new product or service, according to a PhD thesis written by Kristel Miller, a teaching fellow in management at the University of Abertay Dundee.

About 40 per cent of the researchers questioned who were working with the university to commercialise their work said they felt they had been “forced” to do so, Ms Miller told Times Higher Education.

Read the full story.

Categories
Digital Event

Thinking Digital Conference #TDC11

Thinking Digital 2010
I had my eye on this conference for 2010, but didn’t have the time or the money.  I would have been particularly keen to meet @briansolis (author of Engage, which is awaiting me on my bookshelf) and @documentally (well, again, for @documentally), but it was not to be! Thankfully @jas produced a great blog post about #TDC10, and I look forward to watching all the videos he has included!

Thinking Digital 2011
Thanks to my work with CODEC, I (and @pmphillips) will be going to #TDC11, and I’m really looking forward to it, even though I have no idea what the programme is yet! I tweeted about having booked my tickets, and shortly after received a Tweet from @herbkim welcoming me to the conference – he then clearly checked out my website and I received the following Tweet: “@drbexl I am a big fan of polymaths and polymaths tend to be big fans of @ThinkingDigital :-)”

What is Thinking Digital About?
If you’re wondering what Thinking Digital is about, read below (courtesy of @herbkim, the organiser):

“Thinking Digital is an annual conference where the world’s greatest thinkers and innovators gather to inspire, to entertain, and to discuss the latest ideas and technologies.

Defining exactly what to expect at Thinking Digital isn’t easy. We pride ourselves on the eclectic nature of our schedule. One moment you’ll be experiencing a first UK appearance of Live Mesh (as attendees where treated to in 2008) and the next you’ll be hearing about the science behind creating a million dollar perfume from a world class expert.

But what you can always count on is getting the chance to hear talks by, and build relationships with, some of the most thought provoking, influential and inspirational figures you’ll ever meet.

The conference is run by Codeworks, a not-for-profit organisation set up to support, develop and help grow the digital industries in North East England. Thinking Digital is not intended to make a profit, and any extra revenues generated will be used to support the region’s digital sector.”

Categories
Life(style)

Seat me next to the irritating talker, please

What This is About:
Just stumbled across ‘Plinky’, a site which provides random questions, to which you can provide an answer in any way you choose (and it just demonstrates the different ways in which people’s minds think!). I linked it to this blog, and next thing I know, it’s posted what I’ve written… (and the prompt acts as the blog title) that’s one way to get creative with the blogging (was actually trying to work out how to post the days tweets as a blog, not worked that one out yet!). Unfortunately it doesn’t post images or give an option to add labels/keywords, but I can (and am) re-editing afterwards to add those elements, although where possible leaving the article as is! Done a couple of entries, but don’t want to a) use them all up b) overwhelm with entries!

The Upload from Plinky:
Talk, talk, talk…

Sitting in silence ALL day would drive me completely up the wall, although if they distracted me from taking photos out of the window they’d be in trouble! I’ll pretty much talk to anybody and can find interest in most conversations… although the irritating voice may get to me in the end… maybe I’d have to try and pace my conversation to theirs!