SGSSS Ten Year Celebrations
During the 2021/22 academic year, the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science is celebrating our 10-year anniversary. Over the past decade we are proud to have supported almost 1000 students through their doctoral studies. Through our internship programme, we have invested over 35 years of research work into Scotland’s academy. We have quadrupled the training available to our students and strengthened delivery of methods training, career planning and well-being events, working closely with Student Representatives and colleagues at all 16 HEIs in Scotland with a social science base.
Over the coming academic year, we will be delivering 10 keynotes to celebrate 10 years of SGSSS. The keynotes will coincide with our major training events and are intended to provide a forum for reflecting back on the contribution Scottish social science has made over the last 10 years to academic debate and policy development, and to consider the critical role of social science in taking the opportunities and addressing challenges facing Scotland over the next decade.
SGSSS is celebrating the talent of our social science community by launching a blogging competition.
All blogs (subject to screening) will be available on our national online platform Social and the ten best blogs will receive an award of £100 and their blog will be featured on our website.
The competition is open to any social science post-graduate student studying at a Scottish University and we invite broad interpretations of our title: Realising our Potential: What lies ahead for Scottish Social Sciences?
The blogs can be inspired by your research and discipline, or could focus on doctoral research more broadly. The question is a starting point and we encourage students to submit work that captures their own work. In turn, the concept of Scottish and social sciences can be interpreted broadly: we welcome work with an interdisciplinary focus for example, or draws on research produced overseas.
- Blogs should be 1000 words long, and we will host as many as we can on Social. Ten winners will have their blog published and promoted on our 10-year Celebration website as well as Social and win £100 in vouchers.
- Blogs can be uploaded onto a dedicated celebration space in Social, anytime between the 21 February and the 01 April. The ten winners will be announced by 02 May 2022.
Details on upcoming keynotes to be provided shortly.
Details on the SGSSS 10 Year Celebrations – Letter Writing Scheme will be published within the coming weeks.
Past Keynotes
Mentees Benefits
- Explore different disciplines and learn how interdisciplinarity benefits the world of research;
- Dedicated time to focus on career options and planning with access to a knowledgeable sounding board for testing out ideas
- Increased professional networks and points of contact via the mentor, and the other mentees and mentors in the programme cohort
- Increased self-awareness, awareness of the transferability of research skills, and confidence in joining new work environments
Mentors Benefits
- Management and leadership development: self-awareness, active listening, challenging, motivating others, building commitment to action, coaching
- Increased professional networks, via the mentee, and the other mentees and mentors in the programme cohort
- Appreciation of the skills and experiences of PhD researchers and the benefit they can bring to private sector organisations
- Satisfaction of helping others who are transitioning from academic research into other sectors and/or research opportunities
The perspective and advice offered by an expert from a different academic discipline allowed me to develop new views and approaches, and consider future possibilities in a different light.
I’ve enjoyed doing this and have found my mentee to be an engaging discussion companion and of course it’s good to be able to hand on some relevant experience and to know that it counts.
Event Calendar
Keynote: Languages of Care: Beyond Expectations of Resilience
Keynote: Taking the Carbon out of Transport: How might data help us?
Launch of blog competition
…with much more to be announced over the coming weeks!
