A Pre-Conference PhD Workshop
12th-13th April 2016, Lancaster University
An invitation to apply
PhD students are invited to join us for a Workshop from lunchtime on Tuesday 12th April and ending as the main conference begins, at lunchtime on the 13th.
The focus of the workshop will be fieldwork on Lancaster University Campus, using the University as a site to explore some of the topics and methods central to the DEMAND Centre programme. Built in the 1960s, the campus is a complex mixture of over 100 buildings of different ages. The campus is both a place of home and a place of work, a place of teaching and research, a conference centre, a hotel, a sports centre and more. A broad range of social practices constitute the university, and its associated energy demands. Higher education has seen dramatic changes since the 1960s, and the Campus, its infrastructure, services and functions have grown and adapted too. As such the Campus offers an interesting and exciting site to explore a range of themes, including what energy (including energy implicated in transport) is for, why demand changes across time, the relationship between institutions, infrastructure and patterns of practice, issues of timing, synchronisation and peak demand. Fieldwork groups will be encouraged to explore a variety of concepts and try out different methods.
There will be opportunities to talk about ‘how not to write a thesis’ and ‘life after PhD’ in small group chats with DEMAND researchers. The fieldwork will be interspersed with talks from academic and non-academic speakers. Findings from the fieldwork will form a modest lunchtime exhibition at the main conference.
Getting to know one another and the Campus is central to the programme. Far more engaging than a book of abstracts, the workshop will set the scene for the main conference and be academically challenging and enjoyable. We hope you can join us!
Who is invited to apply?
We invite applications from PhD students from all disciplines who are dealing with issues of energy demand in their research. There are 20 places available. Fees for attendance are £98. This includes attendance at the PhD workshop and main conference, accommodation on 12th, 13th and 14th April (so including the main conference) and all catering. This is subsidized by the Research Councils UK through the DEMAND Centre. Participants must arrange and pay for their own travel. Participants will be required to do some reading before the workshop and will be expected to actively engage in the workshop and conference programme.
We encourage applicants to also submit an abstract to the main conference, but this is not a requirement. .