Rationale
Coventry University’s Research Hootenanny is a vibrant mix of activities to showcase research excellence, to celebrate our researchers’ successes and to explore new ways to undertake and to share research – locally, nationally and internationally. The aim of the Research Hootenanny was to bring together the research community, staff and postgraduate researchers, in-person to make new connections and share ideas for future research.
Held over five consecutive days at Elm Bank, the sessions were organised into themes that contributed to developing a positive research culture. Skills workshops were run by members of the ReCap team to develop postgraduate researchers, various knowledge and information sessions run by external and internal research staff and the ‘Trials & Tribulations’ theme provided an insight into the different research journeys of experienced scholars.
Participation and Programme
The week-long series of events were originally planned as in-person only but, as a result of the rail and other essential services strikes across the UK, it was decided to record some sessions and/or host them in a hybrid format as long as the content allowed this and the facilitators consented. Consideration was also given to feedback about DCAD 2022 which resulted in the start time for each day being 10am so that PGRs and staff travelling from further afield would not miss out.
In total there were 28 sessions running throughout the week each with a duration between 1 – 3 hours long and a combined total of 269 attendees. Of the four hybrid sessions during Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, half of attendees joined via Teams (n=32) or 17% of the total number of attendees over those three days.
Due to the interactive nature of the majority of sessions it was not possible to revise them to suit a hybrid format, however, this did not reduce engagement. For example, the ‘Alternative Guide to PG Funding‘ and and ‘Smarter Notetaking’ workshops were the most popular events on the days they were run. As were the ‘Outstanding Supervision Team Awards’ and ‘PGR Social’; this is despite of the latter sessions all being held on ‘strike’ days.
Feedback
Between the 6th and 15th of February, attendees, registered non-attendees and unregistered non-attendees were invited to contribute to an online evaluation survey. Overall, the survey recorded feedback from 19 respondents who attended at least one session and 2 who did not attend.
Over 50% of respondents indicated that the sessions they attended during the week were ‘mostly’ or ‘very’ beneficial. Furthermore, as can be seen below, 78.9% of participants described their overall satisfaction as 4 out of 6 or above.
Of the two respondents who did not attend, one was unable to do so due to the rail strikes which were held at the end of the week and one could not attend in person due to ill health. Both felt that their involvement could have been facilitated with the inclusion of as “many hybrid and recordings as possible as that would really make a big difference” (ICC, Respondent 3).
Most valuable aspects of the Research Hootenanny:
Consistent praise was received for the ‘Smarter Note-taking’, ‘Transferable Skills for Researchers’ and the ‘Career Journey out of Academia’:
“… the Better Notetaking session was of high value as it changed my perspective on taking notes.“
(CTPSR, Respondent 12)
“Career Journey out of Academic – It was awesome! So useful to get the perspective of someone who stayed in academia for a while and then left for a non-academic role.“
(HWB, Respondent 14)
How did attendees describe the Research Hootenanny?
Respondents were asked to select up to three words to describe their experience the Research Hootenanny. In the world cloud image, below, the larger the word in the ‘cloud’, the more respondents selected that word as an appropriate way to describe their experience.
Attendee Comments
“Topics and speakers were really interesting and extremely useful.”
HWB, Respondent 14
“Please continue I am sure it is very useful for so many students.”
(IRBES, Respondent 20)
“Very interesting and useful events. Thank you very much.”
(IRBES, Respondent 10)
Recommendations based on the feedback
| Theme | Feedback | Recommended Action |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | “as a part-time distance learner it would have been beneficial to be able to join in with a few more options online” “It would be more beneficial if the sessions were spread out over two weeks… I was only able to take an hour or two out of each day.” “Some sessions were offered in a hybrid format, but not many, and some clashed with some other previous commitment.” | Offer hybrid sessions wherever possible Record more sessions to make them available after the event Reconsider the scheduling and spread session out over a longer period of time |
| Audience Participation | “ice breaker as there were some new students and other pre-formed groups, it was hard for some people to be interact with others.” “the award “ceremony” was a bit awkward with no award it felt a bit rushed” “Give more time for the Better Notetaking session… to facilitate more practice with the method he was teaching and spark more discussion between participants.” “Some of the workshops (oral presentation skills, finding literature online) were rather basic and provided no new information to me.” “I only started in January so probably a little early. Even a month later may have been better.” | Consider perceptions of the audience and how to engage them better Engage with potential audience in advance to determine what they will gain from attending Reconsider the timing of events so that they do not alienate or overwhelm new PGRs |