RMeS Network Event: Re-Imagining Your Research

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Re-Imagining Your Research:
Embracing the Future and Regaining Creativity

When? Friday 25 September 10.00-12.00
Where? via Zoom
Registration? via website
Please register no later than Wednesday 23 September. When registering for this event, please let us know if there is anything in particular that you would like to talk about so that we can add your points to the agenda.

 

Next to (self-)discipline, doing research requires creativity and imagination. In times of COVID-19, where researchers are bound to their own laptop, books, and headsets, creativity does not seem to be sparked easily in an environment that does not seem to change much. Although a lot of ideas can come from our own coffee mugs, one might miss the imagination that was sparked by taking walks over the campus, meeting and talking to colleagues in front of a (cheap) coffee machine, and the many strolls that you took to the library. Starting or finishing research seems to have become harder as new creative insights do not seem to come easily, but deadlines for conference papers, PhD chapters and complete dissertations remain. Can we still get enough creative insights when our futures in academia seem quite monotone and tiresome for the next couple of months?

In this network event, we invite PhDs and RMas to re-imagine finding creativity in the process of doing their research. In this session called “Re-Imagining Your Research,” guest speakers dr. Etienne Augé (principal lecturer at Erasmus University Rotterdam) and prof. dr. Susan Schreibman (professor of Digital Arts and Culture at Maastricht University) will help us see and act upon the opportunities the current situation brings for our research. As put by dr. Augé: “Any crisis can also be seen as an opportunity. With major changes happening worldwide, it is also time for academia to think about the future, and not just focus solely on past and present. It’s time to embrace the future and prepare for it. Ready?”

This network event will consist of two types of activities.

  1. Both guest speakers will speak about the challenges and opportunities for doing research in times of crises. Dr. Etienne Augé will talk about how future studies can help scholars to prepare better futures for them, but also for societies. Prof. dr. Susan Schreibman will address how experimental research online nowadays could give a more practical approach to digital humanities.
  2. Participants will meet and exchange ideas with other PhDs and RMas, and jointly reflect on the current and future possibilities of doing research in times of COVID-19.

Besides the two activities, the PhD council would also like to know if there are any topics that you are curious about, or other things that you would like to address during the network event. When registering for this event, please let us know if there is anything in particular that you would like to talk about so that we can add your points to the agenda.

The event will take place on Friday 25 September 10.00-12.00 via Zoom. You will receive a link to the Zoom call in due time after registering for this event. Please register no later than Wednesday 23 September.

For any question of any kind, please contact us via RMeS-fgw@uva.nl

We are looking forward to meeting you!

The RMeS PhD Council (Rashid, Constanza, Bjorn, Dulce, Jeroen, Welmoed, Zexu)