Developing the next generation of researchers

Our Postgraduate Research Celebration gave us the chance to mark the wonderful achievements of our students and the academics who support their work.

The celebration saw the unveiling of our new Supervisor of the Year Awards to recognise the hard work of our academics in supporting and encouraging our postgraduate student community. We also heard from researchers themselves with our first Doctoral Inaugural Lectures.

The awards attracted a large number of nominations from students and our Dean of Postgraduate Research and Education Professor Martyna Sliwa chaired the selection panel which also included our Deputy Dean of Postgraduate Research Training and our deputy deans of Postgraduate Research and Education. They had the hard job of narrowing the nominations down to a winner for each Faculty and an overall winner for the University in 2018.

The winners were:

• Prof Ismene Gizelis (Department of Government) – Supervisor of the Year for Social Sciences
• Dr Leanne Andrews (School of Health and Social Care) – Supervisor of the Year for Science and Health
• Dr Susan Oliver (Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies) – Supervisor of the Year for Humanities
• Dr Marie Juanchich (Department of Psychology) – Overall Supervisor of the Year 2018

Doctoral researchers share their experiences

Their awards were presented at a special celebration event which recognised the achievements of postgraduate research students and staff during the academic year. Doctoral Inaugural Lectures by recent graduates from all three Faculties, Dr Tuesday Watts, Aviah Day and Dr Saranzaya Manalsuren, showcased the diversity of postgraduate research carried out at Essex.

“The Doctoral Inaugural Lectures highlighted the diverse range of research areas at Essex. It was delightful and inspiring to hear about the experiences of our recent doctoral students of their postgraduate research study, about how the doctoral degree has allowed them to develop and progress professionally, and about the plans they have for the future,” said Professor Martyna Sliwa.

Committed to world-class research

Our Vice-Chancellor Professor Anthony Forster welcomed everyone to the event: “Essex is a dual-intensive University – Gold-rated in the Government’s Teaching Excellence Framework and in the top 20 for research in the Research Excellence Framework – and we are fundamentally committed to ensuring that our world-class research, and the transformative education we deliver, complement and feed into each other.

“In the case of postgraduate research education, in particular, these two pillars of our University’s mission meet, as we cultivate future generations of cutting-edge researchers who, throughout their lives, will strive to make the world a better place.”

You can see all the photos from the event in our Flickr album.