Guidance for Researchers: 2023 Spring-Summer workshops

This session will highlight the key elements of statistics that are used as part of the research journey. We will explore descriptive statistics as well as inferential statistics, but most of all the session will aim to demystify the jargon that is often a barrier to both the understanding and carrying out of quantitative research. Key features include:

1. Descriptive Statistics – measures of the average and the spread
2. Inferential Statistics – What is a p-value and why does it matter?
3. Using computer software to analyse date – a brief overview of the use of SPSS and Excel

Speaker: Philip Dee from the Academic Development Department (ADD) within HELS. Philip has worked at BCU for nearly 20 years and in that time has developed his support role from ‘academic’ topics to include numeracy and statistics. He has a PhD in Nuclear Physics and has since ‘translated’ his research knowledge in order to offer support in the faculty of HELS to research-active staff and students and is currently an active supervisor up to PhD level. Philip has recently completed a degree with the Open University in Mathematics and Statistics and is a member of the Royal Statistics Society (RSS). He maintains a YouTube channel which supports aspects of academic support, numeracy and statistics.

This event took place on Monday 26th June 2023, 10-11.30 In person on City Centre Campus -- Curzon B, Room 282 (accessible via lifts or staircase from the ground floor of Curzon B, next to the IT Help Desk).

Presentation slides were enclosed below. The recording could be found via  the ADD YouTube channel.

A new series of 3 sessions on quantitative research skills have been developed to expand on this workshop and made available for the 2023 autumn term. Get in touch with Guojin Liu or Philip Dee if you have any questions. Thank you.

This workshop will provide you with an opportunity to meet Special Collections Librarian Nancy Jackson. She will present a selection of rare and culturally significant items which represent different collections within the University Archive & Special Collections Centre. We will share opportunities for research at the Centre, while showcasing publications which exhibit a range of different bindings, paper and printing techniques. You will be provided with opportunities to browse the items in-person and to ask questions about the items, collections and potential links to your research interests.

The session can be viewed online and you can follow-up with an appointment to visit the items in the University Archive & Special Collections Centre. Join us to discover how resources within these collections could be incorporated into your teaching and support your research.

Speaker: Nancy Jackson is our University Archive & Special Collections Centre Librarian at Birmingham City University. Nancy is an experienced teacher, having completed a PGCE prior to work at BCU in addition to having acquired her Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education while working at BCU. Nancy would be glad to discuss items you may wish her to present to your students or which you would like to incorporate into your existing teaching. Nancy is keen to support and facilitate research in the University Archive & Special Collections Centre, wherever possible matching your research interests with items in our exceptional collections.

Time: Tuesday 27th June, 10-11.30am. Format: In person in Curzon Room 272, with online option. Book your place via the Library Events. 

Presentation slides will be shared below post-event. A Special Collections Menu is enclosed below for your information.

The Workshop that took place on Tuesday 21st March, 10-11.30am aimed to help you create an account with EndNote Web and show you how to use EndNote to cite and manage your references. Key features included:

1. How to import and export references into EndNote from a range of sources.
2. Creating a library of references and manage your library by creating groups.
3. Organizing your references.
4. Using EndNote with Word, selecting BCU Harvard as a bibliographic style and inserting citations into a document.

Speaker: Jagjit Marwaha from IT services

If you are interested in attending this workshop in the future, get in touch by using the Booking a Workshop button below.

The Workshop took place on Thursday 23rd March 2023, 9.30-11am. Its video recording will be made available here soon.

Keeping on top of the disparate sources of information in order to ensure you are constantly abreast of changes in your subject area can be time consuming and overwhelming. Here we will introduce you to the idea of aggregators which, as online tools, will help you organise the many strands of information you need to monitor into a simple newsfeed for your own use.

Speaker: Andrew Sayer is a Learning, Teaching and Research Librarian at Birmingham City University, working with the School of Health Sciences to deliver Information Literacy sessions to all levels of students and staff. Andrew has worked at Birmingham City University for over 20 years in various roles for Library and Learning Resources.

If you are interested in attending this workshop in the future, get in touch by using the Booking a Workshop button below.

This workshop that took place on 28th March 2023, 10-11.30 aimed to provide you with an opportunity to meet Special Collections Librarian Nancy Jackson. She presented a selection of rare and culturally significant items which represent different collections within the University Archive & Special Collections Centre and provided researchers with opportunities to browse the items in-person and to ask questions about the items, collections and potential links to your research interests.

Speaker: Nancy Jackson is our University Archive & Special Collections Centre Librarian at Birmingham City University. Nancy is an experienced teacher, having completed a PGCE prior to work at BCU in addition to having acquired her Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education while working at BCU. Nancy would be glad to discuss items you may wish her to present to your students or which you would like to incorporate into your existing teaching. Nancy is keen to support and facilitate research in the University Archive & Special Collections Centre, wherever possible matching your research interests with items in our exceptional collections.

Presentation slides and Menu of materials on display during the workshop can be found below.

If you are interested in attending this workshop in the future, get in touch by using the Booking a Workshop button below.

The workshop that took place on 30th March 2023, 10-11.30, explored the current open access requirements of research funders, the Research Excellence Framework and Birmingham City University's policy on open-access. The Gold and Green routes to open access were explained and the role of our ePrints institutional repository and our Pure current research information system (CRIS) were discussed in supporting green-route open-access compliance and improving discoverability and re-use of our research outputs. Presentation slides can be found below. 

Speaker: Professor Keith A Osman is the Director of Research Excellence, based in the University's Research Office in RIEE. The Research Excellence team led by Keith supports important aspects of the university's research environment including policy and strategy development, open access, research information, research ethics, integrity and impact. Keith coordinated the University's submissions to REF2014 and REF2021 and is the institutional lead on the implementation of Pure. 

If you are interested in attending this workshop in the future, get in touch by using the Booking a Workshop button below.