she/her
This is my profile page for the 2021 event. To see my profile page for the 2023 event, click here
In September 2021, I graduated from my BSc (Hons) Sociology degree at the University of Plymouth with a first. My first-class undergraduate dissertation — ‘An Exploration into How Professional Women Perceive Ambition and the Notion that they Must ‘Think Male’ to Succeed in their Careers’ — gave me experience in evaluating literature, undertaking primary research (interviewing) and analysing data. Alongside my studies, I worked as a Senior Leader for the Peer Assisted Learning Scheme (PALS) at the university and due to our success, my team and I were asked to give a talk at the South West Peer Learning Conference (2020) on ‘Building and Sustaining a Peer Learning Community’. At university, I have worked as a Unibuddy Ambassador, International Buddy, PALS Training Co-Facilitator and Student Ambassador, as well as volunteering to write for my course’s newsletter, the ‘Sociology Gazette’. Now, I am working as a Research Assistant for the Methodological Innovations (MI) supporting the conference and helping to develop the website. In the future, I hope to work in social research as a career. My key interests are in gender equality, disabilities and education.
My role as Research Assistant included managing the technological elements of the MI conference. I began by explaining to delegates how Stream A and B’s sessions would run simultaneously on Zoom. This gave me an opportunity to develop my public-speaking experience, and I reassured delegates that I could help them with any digital issues they may have, such as not being able to join the self-selecting breakout room I had created. Following the conference, I am working with Julie and Gayle to create a website that captures the value of the MI event and of using innovative methods in social research. Helping with any technological issues that arose during the conference enabled me to develop my digital skills and creating a website was an entirely new experience for me. I had never used WordPress before or thought about which headings, hyperlinks and visuals should go on a website. Working with Julie and Gayle has provided me with invaluable experience, for which I am very grateful.
Featured on this website are the reflective pieces I have written about my experiences of attending each session at the conference. As sessions ran simultaneously, I watched the video recordings for the sessions I did not attend on the day, enabling me to experience all of the insightful talks from the event. Listening to the sessions has broadened my idea of what social research can be, allowing me to gain a greater understanding of the variety of methodological considerations made when conducting research. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to each of the talks, as it was amazing to meet and learn from people who could explore social issues and help others in such a variety of different ways. Hearing about diverse and important topics such as autism, multiculturalism and mental health was thought-provoking and often moving. I particularly enjoyed the interactive nature of the conference as the discussions that followed each talk meant other delegates and I were able to ask questions to hear more about the powerful topics explored. It has encouraged me to attend more conferences in the future to further expand my understanding of social research and to learn more about important social issues.
Thank you so much to Rob Giles for all his help with the site.