New Student-led Transdisciplinary Discussion Group

Good evening to all,

At 4pm this Friday I'll be hosting the first meeting of an informal discussion group focused on introducing research students to some basic elements of Transdisciplinarity.

As a joint venture with the Postgraduate Research Students' Association, this group will serve several purposes; to provide a relaxed setting for new research students to discuss and debate the ways research is approached in other fields, to develop presentation and discussion skills amongst fellow students from a range of different disciplines, and to provide an extra channel through which the range of events offered by the TDC can be promoted to research students.

It is my intention to demonstrate, for new researchers, that extending the scope of one's practice to engaging other fields of study need not be an intimidating experience. I also recognise that even more experienced students can still find research to be a very solitary experience, and I feel that the collaborative environment offered by the TDC could provide a way for us to challenge that.

The first meeting will simply be to discuss what people would like to get out of such sessions - particularly regarding how often we should meet. I have been promoting this via the PRSA Facebook page and had resoundingly positive feedback welcoming the proposal. Although many people declared their interest and support, obviously the key thing I'll need to get this project off the ground is numbers. If anyone could direct me towards other channels I could use to promote the group, or has any students of their own who they feel would either benefit from or contribute well to this group, I'd be very grateful to know.

Many thanks,

David Hucklesby
PRSA Rep to the TDC Committee (and vice-versa)

Getting Social and Improving Productivity, Thu, Feb 7th 1pm

TDU Social Media Group

This group seeks to advise and support members on how social media can help them individually, for teaching, for research, for communication and collaboration and for business. In fact we will explore as many of the varying aspects of social media that the group wishes to.

As we look to develop the DMU’S transdisciplinary unit's social media group we are going to start this week with a 10 minute presentation introducing a simple but very effective web based productivity tool called evernote. The rest of the session will be assigned to drinking coffee and chewing cud on various topics related to social media.

We welcome all levels, whether they be inexperienced or regular users of social media. We are all learning whatever our level of experience. Please come along.

Look forward to seeing you at the next meeting (TDU Common Room, near Fletcher Building).

Steve and Thom