From 5 to 9 June 2023, Westminster held its third Graduate School Festival to showcase the work of the University’s Doctoral Researchers.
Each year the Graduate School Festival gets bigger and better – and this year was no different!
It once again consisted of an ambitious programme of both on-campus and online events showcasing the work of the University’s Doctoral Researchers. It was open to undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University, as well as Westminster colleagues and the external community.
The programme saw the return of some old favourites with Doctoral Researchers taking part in a series of In Conversation With… events, aimed at promoting interdisciplinary conversations, and the 3 Minute Thesis Competition, which this year saw Dr Naomi Paxton take the role of Master of Ceremonies. There were also a couple of new events including the Your Research in Action image competition and the Research Marathon which both proved to be popular additions, as did the outstanding Keynote Lecture by Professor Heidi Mirza at Regent Street Cinema.
Dr Margherita Sprio, Acting Director of the Graduate School, commented on the festival: “What a superb festival in 2023! It was lovely to see so many colleagues all in one place in what was such a show of strength for our excellent research here at the University of Westminster. The festival is such a fantastic showcase for the range of work that is produced by our vibrant community of PhD researchers and the feedback has been both positive and touching.
“Our new additions to the festival this year, such as the image competition and the research marathon, both proved to be huge successes, and these have given us further ideas to build upon for next year. Our keynote lecture in the Regent Street Cinema with Professor Heidi Mirza was brilliantly chaired by our postgraduate researcher, Stephanie Ifill, and the lively debates before and after this event, are a testament to the importance of why what we do as researchers matters in the wider world and beyond academia.
“The festival lead Dr Elle Larsson, together with the rest of the team in the Graduate School, Mike Trahair, Lesley McDonagh and Richard McCormack, all helped to make the festival the success that it was – thank you!”
Find out more about Westminster’s Graduate School and previous Graduate School Festivals.
