The new PGR Society is here

On the 2^nd of November, on the upper floor of Student Central, a great number of students gathered, chatting away about this and that. Even at a first glance you could tell that something exciting was happening and, indeed, this was the very first social meeting of the newly established Postgraduate Research (PGR) Society of The University of Huddersfield! Students from different schools within the University attended to show their support towards the society and to each other, and to discuss what the society could do for them.

In the first part of the get-together, students took some time to get acquainted with each other and get refreshments (including free pizza!), after which the event was ‘officially’ opened by the society’s committee members. After playing some games and chatting lively some more, Emanuel Haruna, the Students Union’s Education Officer, gave a speech where he talked about his work and his support of the PGR community in general. One of the Emanuel’s goals is to support the establishment of a PGR network of active and enthusiastic students.

Those of you doing a research degree, or planning to do one, may be struggling with or be worrying about isolation. Research takes a great amount of time and effort and this brings with it a lack of socialising and just chilling out. One of the reasons for creating the PGR society was to combat this potential isolation by providing students with a community they can be a part of, established by like-minded people with experiences similar to theirs. It is the hope of this society to provide both a relaxing social environment for its members as well as improve the educational experience they have. So far they have done well, as far as the social goes, and certainly seem to be succeeding in establishing that common ground from which an active and friendly community can grow.

So, what is it that the society can do for you? First and foremost – listen to what you need. The second half of the social was dedicated to precisely that – what students expected and wanted the society to be for them. Committee members asked a few important questions in that regard, provoking a discussion among those present which produced some great results in terms of communicating students’ suggestions. An example of such a question is what could the society use an SU grant for, and here are a few of the ideas given by students:

• Providing incentives for researchers to use to help them reach more participants in their projects.
• Create a grant for best viable project which benefits the University and/or the PGR community.
• Software workshops – learning how to use software PGRs don’t normally have access to but can be useful in their projects.
• School outreach – postgrads to showcase what doing a postgraduate degree is like to college students.

There were plenty of other suggestions about the society’s potential activities in general, such as trips, socials, debates club and many more! The community seems to be shaping out well and after the very first social it is already starting to get fleshed out.

You may be interested to learn that at the time of the social about 250 postgraduate researchers had joined the society! The committee commented that they expect to soon have double that number and keep growing!

Researchers from both Master’s and PhD levels are welcome to join this friendly community! And if what you have read so far is still not enough of an incentive for you to join the society, you should be happy to learn that there are some great perks you’ll have access to as a member. Curious what those are? Sign up and find out!

If you haven’t already, you should also join the PGR community on Facebook.

And just because we are all really cool, here is a group photo at the end of the meeting. No way you can resist joining such a diverse friendly community now