Queen Mary Postdoc Conference 2023

Postdoc Life - Speakers will be sharing their experience and expertise in a number of facets of Postdoc Life, beyond the research. This session will include an opportunity for you to engage with speakers, to speak with your postdoc peers, and to make recommendations about what future support for postdocs should look like.

Chaired and presented by:
Dr Tom Mitchell (PDRA - WHRI) and Dr Sam Wallis (PDRA - BCI)

Speakers:

• Dr Nik Ogryzko - Senior Talent Programme Manager - URKI
• Dr Marjolein (Lein) Schaap - Research Programme Manager - CRUK
• Dr Pamela Swiatlowska - Postdoctoral Research Assistant - SEMS
• Dr Sarah Jasim - Research Fellow - Care Policy and Evaluation Centre - LSE

Research Talks - Five Queen Mary Postdocs have qualified and will speak for up to 10 minutes about their research. The talk needs to be accessible to a general audience. A Judging Panel Award and a People's Choice Award will be handed out during the closing reception.

Speakers (order to be confirmed):

• Dr Isobel Alice Blacksell - William Harvey Research Institute
• Dr Alexander Cresswell-Boyes - Institute of Dentistry
• Dr Hannah Silva - School of English and Drama
• Dr Anna Surace - William Harvey Research Institute
• Dr Kawther Hashem - Wolfson Institute

Postdoc Career Stories - A panel discussion featuring former and current Queen Mary researchers and others speaking about their career journeys from their postdoc stages.

Speakers:

• Dr Ivan Damnjanovic - Senior Design Engineer - Sky
• Dr Lorenzo de la Rica - Research Programme Manager Grand Challenges - CRUK
• Dr Marie Yvanoff Rajab - Patent Scientist - Origin Ltd
• Dr Maame (Afua) Nikabs - Inclusive Language and Culture Specialist, and Entrepreneur
• Dr Natalie Pankova - Business Consulting and Corporate Advisor
• Dr Matthew Caley - Senior Lecturer - Blizard
• Dr Xuekun Lu - Lecturer in Green Energy - SEMS

Multiple opportunities to Network with postdocs and research support staff from across The University throughout the day including a poster session (see other tabs) and catered lunch and closing reception.

For the most up-to-date programme including speaker biographies, visit the Conference page at bit.ly/PostdocConference2023 (hosted on SharePoint).

This conference was organised by Queen Mary Postdocs, Researcher Developers from the Queen Mary Academy, and Careers Advisors from Careers and Enterprise.

In addition to celebrating the lives, culture and hard work of postdocs across Queen Mary, we plan two major outputs as part of this conference.

• The discussions of the various issues impacting postdocs from the Postdoc Life session will produce recommendations oh how The University can better support postdocs in the near future. These will be reported to senior colleagues at The University later this year.
• A postdoc-designed SharePoint resource that will enable Queen Mary postdocs to search for peer support across the university. When postdocs register for this conference, they can opt-in to contribute part of their registration data (which includes research expertise keywords, 'Postdoc Life' keywords, social media and contact information) to form the first version of this searchable database that will be maintained Researcher Development and future Conference organising committees.
• The Careers Stories will be written up as a series of postdoc career journey case studies to start a growing resource as inspiration for Queen Mary postdocs. 

The programme of this event was conceived by Queen Mary postdocs to celebrate postdoc lives and contributions, whilst enabling a forum to gather information on important issues impacting postdocs.

Postdoc Life

This will highlight several issues impacting the employment and experience of postdocs, and will include insights from current and former Queen Mary postdocs, as well as representatives from large funding bodies. Our community will get an opportunity to discuss these issues and propose changes to improve the postdoc experience.

Poster Sessions

Postdocs can submit a poster as a 'shout out' to the community to promote networking, and encourage collaboration and peer support. Unlike standard research posters, we encourage postdocs to use these as a means to connect with your peers, to share your expertise, get feedback or input into a research proposal, find a collaborator, or share any other aspect of 'Postdoc Life' that you'd like to connect with other researchers about.

Templates and additional information (and deadlines) are available through the Conference site, and we will take care of the printing and costs involved with these posters. 

Research Talks

We invite postdocs to enter to present a 10-minute research talk intended for a general audience. Think of this as an opportunity to develop a public-engagement talk based on your research. Speakers are competing for two £300 prizes*. One awarded by a panel of experts, and one as a people's choice award from those present in the session. Additional information (and deadlines) are available on the Conference site.

Do you support Queen Mary postdocs in some way?

Research and researcher support colleagues throughout The University can submit posters to signpost their services to postdocs. We have prepared an easy template for you to download that features information to help other conference delegates reach you, including any Social Media information you choose to share, a picture, your table location (at the conference), and a QR-code that we'll generate, that will link people to your Conference profile. We will also take care of the printing and costs involved for you. 

Your team can also send a delegate or to set up an exhibitor's table, if you'd like an opportunity to reach out to postdocs during the networking sessions planned for this conference. For more information, please contact Dr Rui Pires Martins.