Sgoil Cheumnaichean Saidheans Sòisealta na h-Alba
In collaboration with the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities (SGSAH), SGSSS is delighted to announce the launch of Spring into Methods 2025!
The Spring into Methods programme brings together arts, humanities and social science doctoral researchers from across Scotland and offers sessions providing an interdisciplinary and in-depth approach to learning a specific research method. These interdisciplinary workshops are open to all doctoral researchers aligned with SGSAH and SGSSS, regardless of funding status.
Workshops will take place between Monday 21 April and Friday 16 May 2025. The deadline for students to apply is 31 March 2025, 4pm.
To apply, please complete this form and select a maximum of two workshops you would like to attend, ranking them by order of preference. You will be asked to provide a short statement (300 words) justifying your choices.
We will notify students on the week of 11 April on the outcome of their application.
Wed 4th Dec 2:00pm – 3:00pm Online Event Location: Details sent when you RSVP
If you’re interested in delivering any of these event types for Spring into Methods 2024/25, come along to this short, informal online webinar where you’ll have the chance to ask us questions and discuss your idea.
To RSVP, please click here.
Explore the use of site visits and video recordings in crafting liminal spaces using the research method of place-oriented experiential techniques. Using a process-based model of literary place-making, this session will introduce students to emerging concepts in creative writing and engage with liminal places as an immersive method for emotional engagement with place.
Organisers: Dr Lexie Angelo and Dr Sam Le Butt
Date: 22 April, 9-5pm
Venue: Edinburgh Futures Institute (Room TBC)
Join us for a two-day exploration of feminist research methods!
This workshop is for everyone with an interest in the practice, processes, and potential of feminist research methods. Feminist Research Methods is a participatory and interdisciplinary workshop introducing postgraduate researchers to advanced issues in feminist research methods, offering inspiration, space for critical reflection and practical toolkits for your own research methodology.
In this workshop, participants can expect to encounter hands-on learning about researcher positionality, the politics of feminist knowledge, intersectionality, decoloniality, power relationships, participatory methods, feminist writing, queer sharing and creative methods conducted with collaborators. This workshop is for everyone who is open and eager to explore how to do feminist research!
You will learn from an interdisciplinary team of feminist researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh, Stirling, Strathclyde and Queen Margaret University. You will encounter practical workshop activities grounded in real-world feminist research projects, within and beyond the university. You will have the opportunity to explore questions of sharing and representing feminist research, including in activist collaborations and creative practice.
We have convened this workshop based on the success and experiences of the past four years.
Here’s what some of our workshop participants have noted over the years:
‘To future workshop attendees, I thought there would be several segments of this intensive workshop programme that would not be applicable or interesting to me. I was so surprised to find that every session was interesting, useful and inspiring.’
‘Attending the Feminist Research Methods workshops during the first year of my PhD has been transformative for my PhD and has fundamentally shaped how I approached my research design.’
‘It was the first time I have ever been taught by Black and Asian scholars, and about intersectional and decolonial perspectives. How have I made it to a PhD without having this, I have no idea, but what a pleasure it was.’
If you want an introduction on doing feminist research and want to know more about the range of methods and approaches you might employ, come and attend Feminist Research Methods.
Organised jointly by Dr Radhika Govinda (The University of Edinburgh), Jennifer Mackay (Queen Margaret University), Dr Maddie Breeze (University of Stirling) and Dr Yvette Taylor (University of Strathclyde).
Dates: 29 & 30 April, 9.30-4.30 pm (each day)
Venue: Queen Margaret University, Piano Bar Conference rooms
These ‘advanced’ online-taught qualitative interviewing workshop will provide Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences doctoral students with an opportunity to focus in more depth on some of the key theoretical issues in their interviewing practice. To consider ethical approaches in depth and how oral history methodology and theory can enhance your practice. The series will also cover how to undertake successful interviews remotely (phone and online). The format will allow participants to develop their interviewing practice through discussion of specific problem issues and scenarios. The 2025 workshops are designed for those PG students using oral interviewing techniques who have already accrued some practice in interviewing. They should also have ideally undertaken prior interviewing practical OR oral history training. The latter is not compulsory though.
Intended learning outcomes include:
– providing students with deeper knowledge of remote interviewing methodologies
– develop an understanding of oral history theory and a more critical awareness of the theoretical challenges that researcher navigate in their research around memory and composure.
– An appreciation of the legal and ethical obligations, including issues around managing trauma in interviewing.
Organisers: Dr Yvonne McFadden and Dr Alison Chand
Dates:
Week 1: Tuesday 6th and Wednesday 7th May 9.30am-1.30pm
Week 2: Tuesday 13th and Wednesday 14th May 9.30am-1.30pm
Venue: Online via Zoom
Are you considering conducting your doctoral research online? Drawing on the researchers’ own experiences of conducting online qualitative research, this session will cover the opportunities and challenges of conducting online research and equip early-career researchers with an understanding of the practicalities of conducting online research. We will cover a range of topics, including ethical considerations, effective recruitment strategies, safeguarding, data handling, and ways to manage the emerging challenges of fraudulent or spam participants. Understanding the steps that you can take to ensure you are responsive to the potential for spam participants will help you to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by online qualitative research. You’ll benefit from the insights of experienced guest lecturers and participate in lively discussions based on real-world examples from facilitators across diverse disciplines within the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at The University of Edinburgh.
This workshop would suit early-career researchers eager to explore best practices in this dynamic field and no prior experience of online qualitative research is necessary. The workshop offers new perspectives for those unfamiliar with online interviewing, will support those actively developing research plans, and will provides those collecting data the chance to refine protocols, enhance data rigour, and troubleshoot challenges. Ultimately, the event provides skills beneficial for any researcher engaged in online qualitative methods, ensuring robust and ethical research—key elements regardless of discipline.
The hybrid workshops (2x 3.5 hrs) will share real examples from ongoing research projects – asking attendees to reflect on the scenarios and to consider how they may prevent and respond to spam participants. The interactive workshops, offered in-person and online, will include a mix of pair-work, small-group (breakout) discussions, and delivered content. We provide all materials and readings in advance, and recordings of lectures, along with additional resources, will be available for your convenience. Join us to expand your research toolkit and connect with a vibrant community of scholars. The workshops will not cover the analysis of data.
Draft programme:
10-11am: Part 1
11-11.15am: Break
11.15-12.30pm: Part 2
12.30-1.15pm: Lunch and networking
1.15-2.30pm: Part 3
Organisers: Dr Sarah Foley and Dr Stewart McDougall
Dates:
7 & 8 May, 10-2.30pm (Each day)
Venue:
Edinburgh Futures Institute (7 May in room 1.40 & 8 May in room 1.50) and online (via Teams)
This one-day workshop invites participants to engage creatively and critically with Participatory Action Research (PAR) through the arts education practice of A/r/tography. The workshop affords participants an opportunity to practically apply a creative-relational research method that embodies not only what can be reported but what is ‘felt’ at their sites of research. The workshop is inspired by Lascik et al.’s (2022) “Walking with A/r/tography. A/r/tography is a creative-relational research method that utilises narrative through the arts and nature as a method of inquiry to connect theory, practice and research rooted in arts education practice.
The workshop facilitators have extensive experience in applying creative research methodologies as early career researchers working on the REALITIES project. Individual creative practice and group discussions will be encouraged throughout the day.
This workshop is open to students and early career researchers from any discipline. No prior knowledge or experience of participatory action research and/or A/r/tography is required; we welcome students to bring their own research experiences and interest in creative methodologies.
Regarding accessibility, the workshop will primarily be held at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, which is fully accessible, with the afternoon walking session taking place in the nearby Meadows Park. The paths are paved and well maintained in this area; however, we will design an accessible walking route so that it is suitable for wheelchairs and to consider those who may have mobility issues. If walking proves difficult, there are multiple benches in the park, if participants prefer to sit and apply a/r/tography in the natural environment without the walking aspects to participate.
Workshop Schedule:
9 – 12:30 – Morning Session (Introduction to each other and our research journeys, introduction to PAR, Introduction to A/r/tography)
12:30 – 1:30 – Lunch Break
1:30 – 5:00 – Afternoon Session (Walking/Outdoor Activity, Creative exercise based on walk and sharing with bigger group and then sharing final reflections/questions)
Organisers: Dr Scott Davis and Dr Alexandra Jundler
Date: 8 May, 9-5pm
Venue: Edinburgh Futures Institute (room TBC)
How does your research fit into emergent post-disciplinary spaces in Academia? This 1-day workshop is a co-production of the Advanced Research Centre (University of Glasgow) and the Binks Hub (University of Edinburgh). We will draw upon our collective expertise in interdisciplinary, participatory and artistic and creative research methods to guide you through hands-on creative and artistic approaches that you can use to research, analyse, communicate and make sense of your research project in post-disciplinary contexts. Over the course of the workshop we will use creative methods to deepen our understandings of inter- and post-disciplinary approaches to academic research.
We will draw on:
All four workshop leads are very experienced in the delivery of these kinds of workshops and will design the sessions to ensure that participants will need no prior experience of, or knowledge about, post-disciplinarity, zine-making, curation or creative writing in order to participate fully.
Organisers: Dr Lisa Bradley, Dr Mindy Ptolomey, Rhiannon Bull, and Dr Jimmy Turner
Date: 8 May, 10-4pm
Venue: Edinburgh Futures Institute (room 1.60)
Co-production and knowledge mobilisation are two of the most current and exciting approaches for doing research and communicating outputs. Both are powerful tools for understanding and facilitating positive change across society. When used together, there is potential to produce robust and important outputs that can influence developments and improvements across policy and practice.
Co-production can be described as a process that involves the production of an output jointly with another or others. Genuine co-production truly understands the users for whom the project is intended to benefit, and this includes, as examples, understanding the environment, policy, barriers, facilitators that need to be taken into consideration. During workshop 1, learners will be guided through the co-production process including considering how to develop a co-production project, how to define the best approach to fit the context, troubleshooting, and developing co-produced outputs. In workshop 2, learners will be introduced to knowledge mobilisation which is a central component on the pathway to impact, and provides an excellent framework for sharing and implementing outputs that have been developed using co-production. Learners will be introduced to what knowledge mobilisation is, key components of successful knowledge mobilisation, and putting the learning into practice by writing a knowledge mobilisation for their own research projects.
Both sessions will be highly interactive, and learners will be encouraged to input throughout, including engaging in collaborative activities.
Organisers: Dr Sarah Morton and Sarah Janac
Date: 13 May, 9-5pm
Venue: TBC
Enhance your research skills with expert-led training on measurement, data management, and open science practices! Are you a PhD student choosing or developing a measurement tool but you’re not sure where to start? Do you wish you knew more about foundational research skills, such as open science practices and data management? Are you excited about interdisciplinary training opportunities? You’ve come to the right place!
Measurement is at the heart of empirical research across disciplines. In the social sciences, surveys and measurement tools are widely used to assess opinions, behaviours, and attitudes. Alongside effective measurement, open science and proper data management are essential for ensuring research transparency, reproducibility, and integrity.
About the Event: This Spring into Methods training event is designed to provide doctoral students from all disciplines with:
Session Overview
Session 1: Foundational Skills
Data Management Using Open Science Learn how open science principles apply to your research and explore efficient, accurate, and transparent data-handling techniques.
Session 2: Measuring What Matters
Understand why rigorous measurement is crucial and learn how to develop a reliable and valid scale step by step.
Session 3: Hands-On Measurement Modelling
Apply your knowledge to conduct a measurement model on a mock dataset (or your own), guided by expert instruction (or use this time to develop your own survey questions)
Session 4: Open Q&A and Practical Application
Work hands-on with your dataset, refine your measurement models or survey items, and receive personalised feedback from the facilitators.
Accessibility & Format
Hybrid event – Attend in-person or online
Recorded sessions – Re-watch the material anytime.
Closed captioning – Available for online participants
Hands-on, interactive learning – Work with real datasets using university-provided or personal devices
No advanced prior knowledge is required—just basic familiarity with datasets and statistics. Whether you’re developing a new survey, hoping to improve your research transparency, or refining data management techniques, this event will equip you with the skills needed to conduct high-quality scientific research.
Organisers: Dr Rachel Plouffe, Effie Marathia and Adrian Kakinda
Dates: 12 & 13 May, 9-5pm (Each day)
Venue: University of Dundee (room TBD) or online
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