Your new PGR Representatives!

Congratulations to our new PGR Representatives! The Research Office team is looking forward to working alongside you.

The role of the Postgraduate Research (PGR) Representative is to communicate with the PGR community and present their views and opinions to administrative and academic staff at the PGR forum, and at other appropriate forums. They are a valued voice for the PGR community and are here to make a positive contribution to our research culture and the experience of fellow PGRs. 

If you would like to contact the Reps you can email pgrrep@yorksj.ac.uk.

I graduated from York St John with a BA in Sociology in 2019 and returned to YSJ after completing my masters to work as a Research Assistant within the Interactive Games Research Group (IGRG) in 2021. My time as an RA has been spent researching the educational, social, and mental health benefits of video games. It was through this research that I developed my own interest in the spatial construction of video games and how this influences in-game social experiences, and that is what inspired my current PhD research project which I started in October this year. Alongside my PhD I am also working as an Academic Associate within the Social Science department.

Hi, I’m Ewan East, currently in the first year of my PhD in Music Composition, looking at using streaming services to compose music and how this can increase engagement with contemporary music. I’ve been back at York St John University since 2021, just finishing my masters and also studied my undergraduate degree here until 2019. I’ve trained as a secondary music teacher in between my time at York St John and I’m a keen advocate for promoting positive mental health, a key feature of my recent masters work.

I am currently a post-graduate researcher and academic associate in the School of Education, Language and Psychology at York St. John. This will be my fifth year at York St. John and I am very excited about undertaking my new role as PGR-Rep for our great school.

I am a postgraduate researcher in creative writing. My research considers how the relationship between disability and environment is explored through poetry. Outside of my study, I am a member of the Ecological Justice Research Group, and helped to establish the Living Lab. I have worked as both a research assistant and as a casual academic at York St John.

My name is Nikoletta Opauszki, a newly appointed Clinical Doctoral Fellow in the Biosciences department.  I work as a Phyician Associate in Dermatology in York Teaching Hospital and will also be conducting PhD research in the field of skin cancer.  My aim is to develop and clinically validate prognostic molecular biomarkers for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.  As a PGR representative, I am hoping to get to know most of you to support you, share ideas and experiences within the field of research.