Hi guys, I wonder if any of us have taken part in the research seminars held by the Department/ School ? To be honest, I haven't taken part in any, mainly because I live one hour away from uni and also because I basically spend my time doing research at home.

I've taken part in Postgrad Conferences but I don't think I have the confidence for the weekly research seminar. And besides, I'm still struggling to organise my work. I've got 11 months left actually to finish. (I'm a Humanities student.) Can anyone share their views on the departmental research seminar ? Thanks.

Hi

I'm in the same position as I don't live near my university and tend to work largely from home. I'm also considering taking part in my first departmental research seminar; I've not until now taken part due to lack of confidence and wondering whether it was worth doing because I haven't completed fieldwork yet. Talking to others in the department who have participated however, I am led to believe that its actually a really good way to organise your thinking whether at an early or later stage of your PhD, and even if you don't feel particularly organised, its usually a fairly informal setting where people are most likely interested in hearing about your topic area, and may in fact help organise your thought process by offering insight and suggestions of how to enhance your research. With this in mind, I'm thinking of leading a seminar now, mostly because it might help me reiterate or refocus my research direction, and because I've been told its not nearly as scary as you think with most participants at ,or round about the same stage as yourself. Plus if you've taken part in larger postgrad conferences, the seminar series might not be as bad as you think; being usually smaller and informal in nature. Good luck!

Hi charliebrown. Do you know what you want to do after your PhD is finished? Would you like to carry on in academia?

Thanks Emma for the insight. Actually I don't have the confidence to present a huge chunk of my research to my department staff. And I am still doing some analysis. Previously in the postgrad conferences. I presented a portion of my work. And to be honest, I am quite scared of the response that I would receive from people in my department.
HazyJane, yes, I do want to carry on with academia. I hope once my thesis is complete, I will have enough confidence to talk about it :)

I would really recommend that you attend the seminars, starting as soon as possible. They will help massively towards improving your confidence. In addition, you will get valuable feedback/inspiration/ideas which can go into your thesis. Also, questions may be raised that you had never thought of before, and that can be really valubale when preparing for your viva as you have some idea what questions might come up, or at least what the most likely areas of questioning are.
People who attend these seminars are not there to embarass you or try to trip you up, they are interested in your work and want to help. And no offense, but if you have no confidence in your work 11 months from the end, why do you think it will be any different once you finish? The time to work on your confidence issues is NOW, when you've still got time to do something about it. At my university, we had a rota where each student had to present at a seminar once a year. I was petrified before the first one, but it turned out to be a really positive and helpful experience, and helped me see my work from another perspective. The more you do, the easier they become.

In which case Smoobles is right, the time is now. Actually you probably should have been attending these since first year, but it's not too late to do something about it.

In case you remain unconvinced, here are some reasons you should make the effort to attend:
1. You will learn stuff. Even if other people in your department don't work on your topic, some of them will have encountered similar methodological challenges to you. Some of them may think about problems/concepts in a different way to you, which may help develop your own thinking. You can also learn from their presentation style.

2. Networking. Networking isn't about schmoozing, it's about letting people know that you and your research exists. Academia is both a solo and community pursuit - at the end of the day, yes, you have sole responsibility for your work, but you also need to root yourself in a community of academics. If you want to find a job afterwards, people need to know who you are. Seminars are part of academic culture, which you need to embrace if that's the sector you want to work in.

3. Courtesy. Why should people bother to turn up to your talk when you finally decide to give one, if you never bothered going to theirs?

4. Peer review. Far better to get feedback on the strengths and weakness of your work from a range of people now than waiting to be grilled in your viva.

5. Understanding the research cycle. Research is never 'finished', it is always 'in progress'. Acknowledging that will help you engage in opportunities for feedback and keep things ticking along.

To be honest I can't actually think of any good reason for you not to attend, particularly if you intend to pursue an academic career.

Thanks everyone for the input. I'm looking forward to attend the research seminars soon.