AHSS PhD Development Series 2023/24 | University of Limerick

MA in Technical Writing: Graduate Profile - Deirdre Ann Brogan

I worked in the science area and as my career developed I realized that I was doing a lot more writing than I thought. So when I finished up at my job, I looked for a different career path and chose technical writing.

MA in Journalism: Graduate Profile - Tara McCormack

My name is Tara McCormack and I am from County Offaly, I decided last year that I wanted to go back and pursue journalism. I have been in radio for the last eight years, I actually got into radio during my undergraduate degree at UL which was the BA in English and media, as it was known at the time.

MA in Journalism: Graduate Profile - Mostafa Darwish

Mostafa is a graduate of the MA Journalism programme and is originally from Eygpt. Mostafa describes his experience of the programme and his delight at recently winning Student journalist of the Year 2020 at the Student Media Awards (SMEDIAs).

The AHSS Graduate Research Centre held workshops and seminars for postgraduate researchers in 2023/24. The series began in September 2023 with a workshop on Irish Research Council (IRC) Postgraduate Scholarship Application Training for prospective applicants. Students were informed how to prepare for an IRC application. Successful students and supervisors shared their expertise on the subject and a Gantt workshop and a workshop on Data Management also helped students with their preparation.

Other workshops that followed included information sessions on Self Care: Managing Stress and workload while undertaking a PhD facilitated by Dr. Hilary Moss where students were provided with some simple self-care practices to incorporate into their daily work routine to assist with PhD stress and workload.

A session was held on Preparing for a Viva Voce where the ADR Dr. Christina Morin and Dr. Niamh Lenahan provided practical information on how to prepare for the viva. Students who had recently completed vivas also shared their personal experiences with their preparation, during and after their vivas.

A practical workshop on How to use AI within the Classroom offered students the opportunity to engage in hands on activities using AI tools. Using their own laptops, Dr. Maria Palomares shared tools with the students to help with research and teaching practices.

Prof. Eoin Devereux provided a workshop on The Three ‘R’s : Reviewer 2, Rejection and Resubmitting – How to Successfully Engage with Academic Publishers’ where he provided the students with helpful information on how to get published. Students were asked to bring their own published materials and share their experiences in getting published and it was great to see where these students have already published in journals and RTE Brainstorm.

This is only a short overview of the workshops provided and I want to sincerely thank both faculty and postgraduate researchers who gave of their time and expertise to assist in these workshops for the AHSS PhD community. These workshops are a great way for postgraduates to learn new skills and also a way of bringing our AHSS PhD community together.

Dr. Christina Morin (ADR)/ Dr. Niamh Lenahan, Research Co-ordinator