Unique opportunity for PhD students in Toulouse
On the 20th and 21st of April, the University of Toulouse (UT) Capitole, held a two-day research PhD workshop, as part of the ongoing ENGAGE.EU European University Research Community activities. The UT Capitole, ENGAGE.EU team welcomed around thirty doctoral students and four senior researchers from the partner universities of the European alliance.
The aim of these workshop days was to allow the young researchers to deepen their research projects organized around the following themes:
• Health and well-being
• Social and digital eco-systems
• Social and organisational justice
Participants were given the opportunity to present a research progress paper and receive advice and feedback from peers and experienced researchers.
Benefits of participating
Amongst the seven Tilburg University PhD students were Margo Janssens (TSB) and Trinh Nguyen (TSHD). Margo is in the final stages of her project. Margo: 'We should as PhD students not always work behind our computers but also talk to people on how our research resonates with them. This PhD workshop has given me the opportunity to present my work and to see whether it is understandable for non-specialist in my area and even the general public. First-year PhD researcher Trinh: ‘My higher education trajectory has motivated me to engage in interdisciplinary research from different perspectives. Therefore, participating was the perfect opportunity to broaden beyond disciplines.’
Connecting with other PhD’s
I want to talk with others about my research, Margo explains. I want to understand how other researchers think about it. Even when they are very different from myself, it gives me insights that I can then transfer towards my topic. Therefore, conferences like this inspire me, I get different ideas from different fields. Besides presenting a paper and connecting with other junior researchers this workshop gave Trinh insights into how PhD trajectories may differ at university/institution and even at national level.
Extending the European research network
The two days of workshops included cultural activities and workshops, allowing them to share and receive more specific advice on the issues they will face as young researchers. At the end of these two days, all attendees had extended their European network and exchange ideas on topics close to their research interests, while doing so they also sowed the seeds of future collaborations!
Community building
Dr James Small, from TiU and a member of the ENGAGE.EU team responsible for organizing the workshop commented, “This is one of several face-to-face meetings that we are arranging for young and early stage researchers. The goal being, to help them to share and connect. This type of event allows people time to get to know each other. This works very well alongside how our scholars can build connections via the ENGAGE.EU digital community platform for research collaboration, that we launched recently.”