Research Students Conference - Participants View

I have recently completed a BA (Hons) in Psychology and Counselling at Swansea Metropolitan University (SMU). As a lowly third year undergrad I took a bit of a gamble in applying to attend, and submit a poster to, the University of Wales Research Students Conference 2012. However, as a mature student that had dabbled in research projects I felt the conference could be beneficial to my ambitions for higher degrees and academia.

I attended several conferences this year that had a wide variety of presentations and usual selection of freebies. The University of Wales Research Students’ Conference was quite different in that it was interactive from the outset and I found this approach extremely useful for getting to know other delegates. Overall, the quality of the external talks/presentations was very high, with relevant information throughout. Personally I found the talks outlining the progression from MPhil to PhD, and the career development talk from Vitae most useful to my objectives. However, the round-table discussions were my favourite part of the conference as they provided the opportunity to raise concerns of research students and offer potential solutions. More than anything, they allowed students to realise they’re not alone in their toils with academia and funding.

I was delighted that my poster was awarded first place in the poster competition in view of the high quality of other work, and am already finding the hard drive useful. I have yet to make a final decision on which conference to attend with the prize funds; however, the BPS Social Psychology Conference in St Andrews is at the top of the wish list. My sincere thanks to the University of Wales for the opportunity to attend the conference, and for the competition prizes. I hope to attend again next year!

Mr Paul Grey, Undergraduate at SMU
Poster competition winner, Research Students Conference 2012