Postgraduate skills and research week
Join us to explore skills development sessions and cutting-edge research
Open to all staff, students, doctoral candidates, prospective applicants and the public, our postgraduate skills and research week is your opportunity to develop key skills, explore cutting-edge research findings, and connect with our multi-disciplinary postgraduate community.
Over four days of free, online events, you will get tips, resources and support to develop your research capabilities, and hear from our accomplished alumni and renowned visiting academics. Whether you are already conducting research at the Tavistock and Portman or are interested in learning more about our research work, we encourage you to join us.
Browse the programme below, then sign up for as many sessions as you like.
Programme
We have an exciting programme of online events scheduled, including:
- Skills sessions: Join our academic and professional services staff for workshops covering practical research skills, with time for your questions.
- Keynotes: Hear our own faculty and eminent speakers from other institutions discuss their research, including advice for current and future researchers.
- Research conference: Join us for a full day of presentations and discussions, featuring a keynote speaker, current doctoral candidates and alumni.
Browse the full programme below:
Monday 9 March
| Time | Session | Lead |
| 9 to 10am | Conducting a literature search / advanced literature search | Kelly Anyfantaki |
| 10.15 to 11.15am | Critical appraisal skills | Kelly Anyfantaki |
| 11.30am to 12.30pm | An introduction to grounded theory | Dr Kate Farmer |
| 12.45 to 1.30pm | Assistive technologies for studying | Matt Lingard Anthony Farthing Sara Riley |
| 2 to 3pm | Scenic understanding: a research case | Dr Louisa Diana Brunner |
| 3.15 to 4.15pm | Cracking the code: navigating the hidden curriculum in UK higher education | Rebecca Bouckley |
| 4.30 to 5.30pm | Ontology and epistemology in a nutshell (and under 55 minutes) | Dr Brinley Yare |
Tuesday 10 March
| Time | Session | Lead |
| 9.30 to 10.30am | Planning and writing your thesis | Dr Louise Grant Dr Philip Archard |
| 11am to 12.30pm | Bridging the gap: what early career social workers need to know to support children and families* | Dr Louise Grant Dr Lisa Bostock |
| 12.45 to 1.45pm | Psychoanalysis and qualitative research interviewing: notes on the free association narrative interview method | Dr Philip Archard |
| 2 to 3pm | Academic integrity knowledge booster: writing with integrity and understanding academic conduct processes | Matthew Chuard Ellie McClory Jas Dahele |
| 3.15 to 4.15pm | Using artificial intelligence (AI) in education and research | Dr Beatriz Caballero Anthony Farthing |
| 4.30 to 5.30pm | Preparing for viva | Dr Louise Grant Dr Lisa Bostock |
*Please note: This session is being run by Making Research Count (MRC) University of Bedfordshire. It is open to MRC members only and bookings can only be made directly to the MRC Events Organiser at University of Bedfordshire mrc@beds.ac.uk
Wednesday 11 March
Research conference
Our research conference showcases the work of current research students and alumni, offering a space to share innovative, practice-based and socially engaged research. We are delighted to welcome Dr Guilaine Kinouani as our keynote speaker. Dr Kinouani is an internationally recognised scholar and writer whose work focuses on race, trauma, mental health and decolonial psychology. The day includes several workshops with current students and alumni presenting their research.
| Time | Session | |
| 9.30 to 10.30am | Welcome to the conference Guilaine Kinouani – Research as a decolonial work: afroanalytics as methodology | |
| 10.45 to 11.45am | Workshop 1 Shaista Afzal – Entanglement’s risks and rewards: exploring the experience of women social workers who are mothers Jenny Price – ‘It feels unnatural being here’: autistic secondary students’ sensory experiences Dr Charae Allen-Dellpratt – Title TBC | |
| 12 to 1pm | Workshop 2 Jenni Guthrie – Title TBC Tassaree-Jaja Wilson – When research makes a difference: educational psychologists’ experience of racial equity work Akansha Arora – Making sense of change from the middle: lived experience in postcolonial organisational contexts | |
| 1.45 to 2.45pm | Workshop 3 Amandeep Hothi – The role-in-the-mind: a psychosocial exploration of the experiences, challenges and pressures South Asian Women leaders face, in the context of leading inclusion and diversity organisational change Antonia Ogundayisi – Anti-racist practice, leadership and research | |
| 3.15 to 4.15pm | Workshop 4 Mariam Kelekun – To dream, to play, or to become psychotic. How racism may have a contribution. Dr Maddie Tait – Vulnerability and power: autoethnography as a practice-near research method | |
| 4.15 to 4.30pm | Closing remarks | |
Thursday 12 March
| Time | Session | Lead |
| 9.30 to 10am | Using ethnographic methods of participant observation to understand encounters and relationships between social workers and service users | Professor Harry Ferguson |
| 10.45 to 11.15am | Introduction to University of Essex’s library and digital services | Matt Lingard |
| 11.30am to 12.30pm | Writing an ethics application | Dr Lisa Bostock |
| 12.45 to 1.45pm | If walls could speak: a case example of the use of reflexivity in grounded theory coding | Dr Rob Fitzpatrick |
| 2 to 3pm | Doing qualitative research with children and young people | Dr Michelle O’Reilly |
| 3.15 to 4.45pm | Mini online writing retreat | Professor Mark Stein Dr Louise Grant |
| 5 to 6pm | Thinking about doing a doctorate: how to write a research proposal | Dr Anna Harvey |
Flow sessions
Flow sessions are open to current Tavistock and Portman students only, bookings can only be made by emailing DETDisability@tavi-port.nhs.uk directly.
Flow sessions will be held throughout postgraduate skills and research week and will be facilitated by Sara Riley. They will be for one-hour, online and are a group event providing a structured and focussed opportunity to work together or make your own to-do-plan. Flow sessions are helpful to support executive function and are proven to support students with ADHD or Long-Term Health Conditions through digital body doubling and establishing accountability. The sessions will create a focussed space and opportunity to check in on goals, then time to work and finally time to share and celebrate what we achieved at the end.
Who is this event for?
Postgraduate skills and research week is open to all staff, students and doctoral candidates at the Tavistock and Portman, as well as prospective applicants and the public.
Event details
- Postgraduate skills and research week 2026 will take place from Monday 9 to Thursday 12 March
- Please refer to the full programme for the timings of each session
- All sessions are free to attend and will be held online via Zoom
- You will receive the joining instructions via email close to the event date