Population Geography Research Group » Social Science

Teaching quantitative methods: the challenge and how to meet it

Dan — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:28:46 +0000

The Royal Statistical Society are hosting a workshop on developing undergraduate quantitative methods teaching in sociology, social policy, politics and international relations, social anthropology and other social science subjects beyond economics and psychology.

It will take place on Friday 23^rd October at the Royal Statistical Society, Errol St, London from 09.30 to 16.30.

Those speaking at the workshop include ESRC Chief Executive Ian Diamond, Sharon Witherspoon MBE, Nuffield Foundation and Patrick Sturgis of the National Centre for Research Methods. The leaders of the pilot projects established by the ESRC to explore ways of encouraging undergraduate social science students to make greater use of quantitative methods and improve their skills will also present their results

There is no charge for attending the workshop, but places are limited and prior registration is required. A buffet lunch will be provided.

To register please return the attached registration form by email to:

john.macinnes@ed.ac.uk

Travel expenses up to a maximum of £75 can be reimbursed for a limited number of participants from outside the Greater London area unable to find funding from their own institutions.

If you would like to apply for this funding please indicate this on the registration form.

More information: Workshop programme and Workshop registration form

Lectureship in Social Science for Medical Humanities, Durham

Dan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:12:08 +0000

The position of Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Social Science for Medical Humanities is available at the University of Durham. The post is a joint appointment by the Department of Geography and Centre for Medical Humanities in Durham, with the first 3.5 years being based in the Centre for Medical Humanities and thereafter a permanent position in the Department of Geography.

Enquiries to Sarah Atkinson: s.j.atkinson@durham.ac.uk

Further information available here.

Research workshop: Rethinking Migration

Pablo Mateos — Tue, 19 May 2009 10:58:47 +0000

Rethinking Migration. New Glances on Migration/s

Research-Workshop, Sept, 29th and 30th 2009, Graz/Austria

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Research-group Migration at the Centre for Cultural Studies (University of Graz, Austria) invites you to submit an abstract (3000 char. incl. space) for the Research Workshop “Rethinking Migration. New glances on Migration/s” in September 2009.

Proposals from Research-groups, PhD-Students (especially teams) as well as Post-Doc-Researchers (for presentations as well as for posters) are welcome to be submitted to stefan.benedik-karner@uni-graz.at

Deadline: June, 10th, 2009

Certain theoretical approaches towards phenomena of migration tend to result in specific focusses, which are fostering certain issues and problems as well as hiding others. This research-workshop is based on the assumption that the dominance of social sciences in Migration Studies still is supporting concepts of multiculturalism. Hence,

seemingly static identities (ethnical, religious, gender, class or others) and binary structured images (“push” vs. “pull”) persist.

New approches dealing with concepts such as hybridity, transition, diaspora oder community, Gender, Intersectionality, Postcolonial, Subaltern Studies etc. challenge these perceptions: Migrations become visible beyond teleological conceptions. Thus current approaches emphasise decentral characteristics (e.g. in biographies), not only

when speaking about migratory experience. Consequently transnationality, transculturalism and multilingualism are considered to be the norm – fragmented lifes in transition and similar perceptions of space and frontiers are no longer marginalised.

The aim of the planned research-workshop is to discuss current approaches on migratory movements in historical as well as present perspectives and to examine possibilities and limits of different migration theories. The workshop is open to any research-projects on

migration/s (done in teams or by individuals), PhD-students as well as Post-Docs are invited to outline their position within current theoretical debates on migration in short presentations (app. 20 min) or posters.

The following focusses are to be followed (among others):

– Cultural representation of migration/s (imagination/narrative invention of “migrants” and their communties, (gendered) discourses, visualisation, processes of negotiation and functions of migration discourses)

– Social practices (plural self-ascriptions, labour and migration, “global division of labour”, gendered scopes of action)

– Participation and Empowerment, bureaucratical treatment of migration/s

stefan.benedik-karner@uni-graz.at , Deadline for proposals: June 10th, 2009

PhD studentship in demography

Pablo Mateos — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:56:46 +0000

The newly established ESRC Centre for Population Change at the University of Southampton is pleased to announce a new PhD studentship in demography.

The studentship would suit a person with good computing skills and an interest in demographic measurement, who has, or expects to have, a postgraduate degree in demography, or a related social science or quantitative discipline, or equivalent experience.

The project is part of a wider programme of research into the determinants of recent fertility and partnership trends in the UK. The specific purpose of the PhD project is to generate updated time series of period parity progression indicators for Great Britain. It is an ESRC +3 studentship linked to the ESRC Research Centre for Population Change, where the student will work under the direction of Professor Máire Ní Bhrolcháin. The PhD project will use the combined file of General Household Survey maternity histories, supplemented by own child reconstructions in the most recent period, to extend previous sets of estimates and will evaluate these measures against alternative estimates and sources.

This ESRC award pays all University tuition fees, plus an annual maintenance stipend, set at £13,290 for the 2009-2010 academic year.

Further details of the project, of eligibility and of how to apply, are available at http://www.southampton.ac.uk/socsci/socstats/funding/cpcstudentship.html

Informal inquiries may be made to Professor Máire Ní Bhrolcháin (M.Ni-Bhrolchain@soton.ac.uk)

The deadline for applications is the 15th May 2009.

Interviews will be held on 28th May 2009.

Reader/Soc. Sci. for Medical Humanities – Univ. Durham

Pablo Mateos — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:35:19 +0000

Reader/Soc. Sci. for Medical Humanities – Geography – University of Durham

The Centre for Medical Humanities and the Department of Geography seek to appoint a Reader in Social Science for Medical Humanities from 1st September 2009 or as soon as possible thereafter. S/he will be based for the first four years in the Centre for Medical Humanities, a unique research centre funded by The Wellcome Trust at Durham University, in a predominantly research post. Thereafter, the successful candidate will have a permanent position with the normal balance of research, teaching and administration in the Department of Geography.

More information: https://jobs.dur.ac.uk/jobdtls.asp?Session_in=&Uid=&vref=3097

The successful candidate will show a good theoretical and practical understanding of one or more of the following topics relating to the interactions of the arts and humanities with health, medical practice and wellbeing: the place of creativity in human flourishing and wellbeing; practices and policies that aim to promote wellbeing and health through arts based practices relations between flourishing, embodiment, wellbeing and health relations between the sciences, the arts and medical practice explorations of public engagement within medicine, arts and other forms of social policy with a view to enhancing wellbeing and health

The successful applicant will have knowledge and skills which provide the capacity and aptitude to work in a multi-disciplinary team which includes medical, social science and humanities scholars and arts practitioners; a good grasp of current theoretical and empirical agenda within contemporary health practice; and the capacity and aptitude for public engagement with key institutions and user groups.

Applicants must state how they will contribute to the four year programme of work of the Centre for Medical Humanities in terms of research themes, international excellence and recognition, experience in recruitment of doctoral students and existing esteem indicators. The letter of application must include a personal research plan, which supports and enhances the research strategy of the Department.

The successful candidate will join one of the leading centres of geographical scholarship in the world. With 58 academics, 31 researchers, 16 professional support staff, 33 administrative and technical staff, 123 postgraduates, and 579 undergraduates, we teach and research across the discipline from Antarctica to Bangladesh, from spatial theory to flood modelling, and from GIS to the social economy. Our aim is to create and sustain a world class research and teaching environment with top class laboratories and IT facilities in a supportive and collegial atmosphere. The Department was founded in 1928 and remains among the strongest in the country. It was ranked joint first nationally in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise and the quality of our teaching has been rated ‘excellent’ by an external Quality Assessment Audit. Recognition extends to the most recent university guides, which consistently place the Department of Geography at Durham in the top flight. Our strength lies in all the people who work in the Department and in the students who study here.As well as the Centre for Medical Humanities, there are opportunities to become involved with other interdisciplinary University Institutes that engage in health-related research: the Wolfson Research Institute; the Institute for Hazard and Risk Research.

The successful candidate will have an established international profile for their work on relevant aspects of wellbeing, health and the humanities, of a standard commensurate with the department’s recognition as one of the leading research centres in the recent Research Assessment exercise. S/he will be able to attract and supervise graduate students, continue to build a portfolio of publications of the highest quality, and be able to secure the necessary research funding for her/his research and provide excellent teaching in the undergraduate programme.

Salary:

£46,278 – £52,086

Contract:

Non fixed-term, Full-time

Hours:

notionally 35 hours per week

POPFEST 2009 – Call for papers

Pablo Mateos — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:13:51 +0000

We would like to draw your attention to Popfest 2009, the 17th annual conference of postgraduate students in Population-related studies. Popfest 2009 will be taking place from the 2nd July to the 4th of July 2009, and will be hosted by the Population At LSE research students at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Popfest is organised by postgraduates, for postgraduates, and is an event which aims to give researchers in Social Science, Demography, Human Geography, Social Anthropology, Social Statistics, Development, Health, Social Policy and other related fields, a relaxed and supportive forum to meet and present their research.

Popfest 2009 is now ready to accept abstracts for papers and posters. We welcome contributions from postgraduate students studying any aspect of population.

Please forward this on to anyone who you feel might be interested in participating in this event.

Deadline for submission of abstracts: 20 April 2009
Deadline for registration: 08 May 2009

The conference registration fee for Popfest 2009 is £25 which covers all conference materials, lunches on 6th and 7th of July, refreshments, and a conference dinner.

For further information and on-line abstract submission please visit our conference website: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/BSPS/postgraduates/PopFest.htm