Hannah Keeble: The Free School Trip from Uni
As a prize for writing a good blog about how beneficial (and fun!) it is to be a student researcher, a couple of other students and myself were given free tickets, lunch, and travel to attend the BCUR 2016 conference (the British Conference of Undergraduate Research); basically a whole day dedicated to snooping around and listening to other university students’ dissertation projects/presentations.
When we got to Manchester Metropolitan University (where it was being held) there was free tea, coffee, and basically a tropical hotel breakfast bar with pastries, melon and yogurt! We were then lectured about the eminence of Shakespeare (it was strange), and how in fact we are all basically archaeologists uncovering new knowledge about the world- it was an inspiring but crazy talk. After this we were free to go and sit in 15 minute lectures by the presenting students about his/her different pieces of work before lunch. There were about 35 all going on in the hour time that we were given, so I chose to go to one about student stress whilst trying to do statistics (something I feel I know loadssss about!), an enquiry into same gender rape convictions (apparently it’s very under acknowledged), and how male and female murderers are portrayed differently in the press (F.Y.I. ladies, we don’t come out well).
Now it was time for lunch. Listening to people makes you really hungry, and thank goodness, because we were given giant sized portions of stew, salad, mash, and the best bit- chocolate torte! It was all delicious, especially considering it was a free meal!
The last couple of hours were a mixture of poster presentations, mini lectures from more students, and another food break (more cake and biscuits which, unfortunately, I could not manage). This is where I witnessed probably the coolest two lectures of the day: firstly, the effect of seasonal change on snail stress (apparently snails can be stressed?!), and secondly, a presentation from a group of students who design and then send things into space all in aid of conservation, and get free t-shirts doing it!!
It was a pretty cool day, and as well as learning some weird new things, it helped me with my dissertation writing too! Basically a FREE grown up school trip- did I mention we got free cake and coffee?
By Hannah Keeble
