Melissa Ware, School Postgraduate Research Administrator
School of Engineering
Science, Agriculture and Engineering
What did you do?
A Postgraduate Research Student Away Day has been held for the past two years to inspire community and social activity among students who come from a wide variety of research areas and expertise as well as countries, cultures and religions.
Who is involved?
The PGR student representatives in CEGS prepare an official agenda and proposal that is then submitted to the PGR Director and Head of School. The PGR Board of Studies, PGR Secretary and School Programmes Manager are also involved in discussing and organising the event.
How do you do it?
Each year, the PGR Away Day is discussed at the PGR Board of Studies meeting(s). The PGR BoS Student Representatives are responsible for providing the School Manager/PGR Director with an agenda for the PGR Student Away day, which is then authorised.
The event is mainly organised by the students, who book a venue, arrange travel and get all PGR students involved in the away day. Away days are held at off-campus locations and involve an overnight stay. One yeat the event was held at Kielder; another at Consett with visits to the Beamish Museum, Hadrian’s Wall and the Derwent Reservoir.
Activities generally include a mix of sightseeing (which allows students to explore the North East of England) and team-building activities (such as outdoor activities, quiz games, and murder mysteries). Students stay overnight in a local youth hostel. Some funding is provided by the School; students pay the remainder of the costs themselves. Average costs in total are approximately £35/student.
Why do you do it?
The away day creates good working relationships between the students and enables students who are less sociable to interact in a low-key environment. It also enables students to discuss their areas of research and promotes School networking.
Does it work?
Each year, we have received extremely positive feedback from our PGR students. The student representatives feedback at our PGR Board of Studies meetings. Based on past successes, students currently anticipate 25 students signing up for this year’s event.
Contact details
Melissa Ware, School Postgraduate Research Administrator