After what felt like months of planning, preparation and committee meetings via Teams, the Education, Childhood, Youth and Sport Studies Student Research Conference took place online on Saturday 21st June (yes, the hottest day of the year so far.)
The day began with Dr Alison Fox (Associate Head Of School, Research & Knowledge Exchange), who had organised the conference for the previous 3 years, symbolically handing over the baton to Dr Jo Josephidou (Programme lead for Early Childhood) who has guided us expertly through the preparations for this year. The baton was actually a pink highlighter but I did say symbolically!!!
The conference began in earnest with a Keynote presentation by Mel Green (Lecturer in Education Studies and Ed.D researcher) who shared her amazing journey through the ranks of the OU, from undergraduate to postgraduate to lecturer and now Ed.D researcher. Such an inspirational presentation (and I know the word inspirational can be overused sometimes but it is entirely appropriate here). I think we all sent her the best wishes for the completion of her thesis, which I’m sure will be amazing judging by the concepts and theoretical and personal perspectives she shared with us.
The day continued with more presentations by recipients of the CRC practitioner research award | Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies, as well as Master’s students and some insights of work being carried out by staff members.
Over lunch, participants could watch a carousel of poster presentations, although I think by then we needed a break from screens and plenty of rehydration!!
The afternoon continued with a Personal Development Planning workshop led by Charon Gates and her team, which gave us food for thought in how to plan for future learning and personal and professional development.
It was just a fabulous event that gave us the opportunity to learn, reflect and connect with others, the latter being so important for distance learning students who can at times feel a little isolated and disconnected from university life. Moreover, providing a platform for students to present their work is so empowering, and contributes towards the construction of their identities as researchers, I think.
The Conference marks the end of the academic year for me but I can’t wait to start again in October!!
