This lunchtime event is specifically aimed at Sociology and Criminology ECRs and PhDs, to address challenges and opportunities for online research in the digital age and during the current global pandemic. This second event in our U21-funded conference series draws upon interdisciplinary and innovative online research methods to offer participants opportunity to apply these to their own existing or future research endeavors. It brings together early-career academics from all U21 universities to provide a collaborative platform to think creatively about potential solutions to the new demands of (online) research in the digital age among a group of supportive peers.

This workshop will take place on Zoom on 25 February 2021 12-2 BST. After you sign up, you will receive an email with further details. We look forward to seeing you on the 25th of February.

Speakers

Dr Emma Seddon: Twitter data and Research: practicalities, ethics and opportunities

Emma Seddon is a research associate working on the Gendered Journeys project in the School of Education at the University of Glasgow. She recently finished her PhD in Sociology and Social Research at Newcastle University, where she used mixed methods to explore professional identity and professionalism in self-employment.

Dr Wendy Fitzgibbon: Photovoice in the digital age

Wendy Fitzgibbon’s first career was in the probation service. Wendy moved into academic work in 2003, completing her PhD in 2008. She has worked at University of Leicester where she has been a Reader in Criminology since 2016. With an orientation to the criminal justice area, Wendy has maintained a strong network among practitioners especially in the probation service and associated voluntary sector organisations.

Her current areas of research are Privatisation and Criminal Justice, Risk Management and most recently Visual Criminology. She has used the innovative visual methodology, Photovoice, to explore offenders experiences of supervision. She is currently writing a book entitled ‘Applied Photovoice in Criminology Research’ to be published by Routledge in 2021.

She is the author of Pre-emptive Criminalisation: Risk Control And Alternative Futures (NAPO 2004) and Probation and Social Work on Trial (Palgrave, 2011). Her latest book Privatising Justice: The Security Industry, War and Crime Control, co-authored with John Lea, was published by Pluto in April 2020.

Dr Sophie Nakueira: Opportunities and Challenges of conducting online research in the Global South

Sophie Nakueira is a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. She heads up the Africa component of the Horizon 2020 research project Vulnerabilities under the Global Protection Regime (“VULNER”), which aims to understand how the law evaluates, shapes, addresses, and produces vulnerabilities of protection seekers in practice.

Prior to joining VULNER, she taught at the University of Zurich, where she is currently a research associate. She has worked in various capacities as a researcher, visiting scholar, guest lecturer, and consultant in Uganda, South Africa, Australia, Belgium, and Germany. Nakueira’s work cuts across the fields of law, criminology, and anthropology as she attempts to understand the disjuncture between law and practice and associated effects of interactions between diverse actors and contestations between different normative orders.

Background

The global pandemic has unearthed several specific challenges with the academic setting, forcing many to alter their research and teaching methods in a short time. The current climate is particularly taxing on PhDs and ECRs, who are provided with little time, funding and training to establish or refine skills enabling them to adapt to the new demands of researching and teaching in the digital age and during a global pandemic. However, whilst the global pandemic presents many obstacles for ECR and PhD teachers and researchers, it also offers academics a key opportunity to acquire, develop, and review online teaching and research methods. For example, where qualitative data gathering methods such as in-person interviews, participant observation, focus groups, etc are not possible due to COVID-19 related restrictions, new pathways are being developed to conduct excellent research. Similarly, the demand for online teaching due to restrictions on in-person teaching leads to new, innovative methods to deliver high-quality education. This project offers a platform to engage with these challenges and opportunities, so as to increase digital literacy – and ultimately resilience - within U21’s diverse community of ECRs and PhD students. Specifically, it is tailored to early-career academics within Sociology and Criminology, to address the specific challenges that they face within their practice.

This project consists of two conferences that have been specifically designed to address two current needs within the PhD and ECR community, responding to adjustment demands in teaching and researching in the current environment. The first conference, held in October 2020, focused on the current sharp increase in online teaching demands, and aimed to develop and refine practical skills for delivering interactive and engaging online courses. Both conferences provide attendees with plenty of opportunity to network, fostering a practical, positive and collaborative environment in which to explore creative solutions.

This Event is for People Who Are Interested In:

• innovative digital research methods;

• online research of sensitive topics;

• researching criminology and sociology (online) in the 21st-century.

Funding

Although this conference is free to attend, there is a small budget available to financially support the purchase of IT infrastructure, childcare costs or other specialist needs. Should this be something you require, please reach out to Emiline.Smith@glasgow.ac.uk - we would be happy to discuss how we can support your attendance.