October 13, 2025 • 27 mins
PGR Aileen Kimuhu talks to Professor Stacey Hynd, Dean of Postgraduate Research & the Doctoral College at University of Exeter, for advice how to handle conferences whether you're attending or presenting- including the best ways of networking to form useful connections.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:31):
Hi, ho, hello, and welcome back to the Exeter Postgraduate Researcher Podcast.
I am your host for this episode, Aileen Waitaaga-Kimuhu, a second year PhD student at the University of Exeter Law School.
And I'm not alone.
Who am I with today?
Why don't you introduce yourself?
Hi, Aileen.
Hi, everyone.
My name is Professor Stacey Hynd.
(00:52):
Stacey, I am the Dean of the Doctoral College, postgraduate research here at Exeter.
I'm also a professor in African and Global History in the Archaeology and History Department.
OK, well, I know we've met in person before, but it's lovely to meet you on this platform right now.
And thank you so much for agreeing to do this.
You're welcome.
So for the people who have not read the description or the doobly-doo for the podcast episode, I salute you.
(01:17):
But let me just explain what's going on today.
Today, we're going to be talking about conferencing and navigating the conference scene as an early postgraduate researcher.
And for our introductory question for you, Stacey, is when you think back to your early days in academia, how did you approach conferences?
(01:37):
OK, so I was one of those postgraduates who was really very nervous.
about public speaking.
I've done quite a lot of it, but it was all something that was very stressful for me.
So I had to be quite targeted and quite strategic and have those conversations with my supervisor about, okay, what do I need to be doing, where and when and which audiences?
(02:00):
Because I needed to have that time to plan ahead, to make sure that I was confident in what abstract from the paper, and then in advance of the conference itself, actually make sure I had sufficient time to prepare,
to rehearse and actually feel like I was confident enough to be able to go there on the day and feel like I could give a good account of myself and the research.
(02:22):
It's something that's, you know, I've worked at over the years and you get more confident with more experience, but it does take a bit of time to kind of to work and hone those skills in terms of presenting your research.
So what I'm hearing is that there's a light at the end of the tunnel and it does get better.
Hallelujah.
There is definitely a light at the end of the tunnel.
And I think it's one of those things that conferences are, if you just bite the bullet, you put the effort in, you take that risk, you go out there, you present your research, you actually can get so much back from that.
(02:56):
It's not just about people quizzing you on what you've done.
It's actually a space where you can get a lot of super helpful
feedback and support and make connections.
So it is, you know, it can be nerve-wracking, but it's actually a really good and useful, productive and generative thing to do.
Okay, so let's start from the very, very beginning.
(03:17):
Like for those of us who, for example, might be overwhelmed by the number of conferences that are available, how would you recommend we go about selecting the ones that are the most appropriate for us?
And how do we even like define what is appropriate at this level as well?
Yeah, that's a conversation you really should have with your supervisors, because they will have a really good sense of what the key conferences in your area are, when they're happening, because some of them are every two years, some are every one year, some are every like three years or whatever, and they'll have a good sense of how to get the right balance.
(03:54):
and where to be presenting when, right?
Because one of the things you don't want to immediately jump in and do like the biggest conference in your field for your first ever presentation.
That will not help you.
So you want to kind of build into it.
So thinking about starting small, starting local, maybe starting with a paper at a seminar in your department.
(04:17):
or at a kind of PGR conference at Exeter or another local university, just to kind of get the first few presentations under your belt a little bit.
And then thinking about, okay, let's expand, let's be more ambitious and kind of go for the bigger conferences then.
You also want to get that balance between, okay, there are some kind of key conferences in your field, the big kind of professional body ones that will be there with hundreds, if not thousands of people.
(04:43):
Those can be super useful just for getting yourself known, for getting your research out there.
But they don't always necessarily produce the best feedback or the best kind of intellectual content because often it just becomes a space for people to meet up rather than kind of get stuff.
So what you might also find is that the smaller, more targeted, more thematic workshops are actually more productive for you.
(05:10):
So you want to get a balance between what will get you
What will help you build your confidence?
What will help you get the feedback that you need to develop your work?
And then what will help you raise your profile as a researcher?
Okay, so what I'm hearing there is confidence.
What will help you build your confidence, as you said, feedback.
what specifically, if there's something that you're struggling with in your work, and you need specific feedback on that thing, maybe a conference is a good chance for you to go get feedback on that specific thing from scholars within your field.
(05:42):
And then the last one besides confidence and feedback was also, please remind me, I just did forget.
It's about getting, raising your profile as a researcher, yeah.
Just so we're all on the same page about that, why is it important to raise your profile, because speaking as an
anxious, introverted person.
I know it doesn't seem like it, but like the idea of like having to, I guess, tell people what I'm doing, it feels a bit odd.
(06:11):
It does, but unfortunately that is part of academia.
I think if you, particularly if you're wanting to find employment in the area of research that you're doing, whether that's as an academic or in a related field,
You need to be out there and building your CV basically and make sure people are aware of their research that you're doing.
(06:35):
It could be that actually giving a conference paper at one of the biggest conferences that enables you to meet key professors in the field who might well have a postdoc opportunity coming available, or they might know of a job opening somewhere in a related field.
It helps you both do that networking that can help you take
(06:56):
the next steps in your career.
I think that's a really useful thing to use conferences for as well.
Before we kind of move on to talk about how we navigate the conference experience itself, just one last question on preparing for conferences beforehand, which is just managing the logistics, because as we know, attending conferences, especially the further away you go, tends to be quite expensive.
(07:18):
And so I was wondering, do you know of any university resources, financial, academic, logistical, that might be able to help PGRs attend conferences?
Yeah, it's a really good question.
And I have to say that conferences are becoming more and more expensive over the last five years.
And some of them are absolutely crazy now, to the point where even professors like me are not going to conferences now because we can't afford it.
(07:43):
So you do have to be quite tactical in how you approach this.
In terms of the logistics of it, do always look carefully at whether these conferences are only in person or whether they will allow remote presentations or remote presenters to be part of panels or streams and things like that and sort of weigh that up.
(08:06):
Remote presentations, they are easier, they are cheaper, but you don't then get the in-person connection, so you miss out a little bit on that networking and that feedback that happens
around the panels and after the presentation.
So it's a qualitatively different experience.
So try to think about whether you really need to be there in person or not.
(08:30):
If you do need or want to be there in person.
then you need to think carefully through the cost.
You have to look through planning.
Okay, there will be the registration costs, there will be the travel costs, there will be accommodation, assistance.
If you're an international student, there may also be the visa costs and the additional time that you need to kind of put in for those well in advance to make sure that you get the visa.
(08:52):
We're having a lot of trouble at the bigger conferences now with people, with speakers not actually being able to get visas to travel, which is, you know,
becoming a major issue for some conferences.
So there are a lot of logistical issues around that.
In terms of the funding, this will vary on how you yourself are funded as a postgraduate student.
(09:15):
So for some of you, if you are UKRI funded through various doctoral training partnerships, you will have funds there which you can access for attending conferences as a kind of development activity for you.
If you're in even different faculties within the university have different funds and different schemes.
(09:37):
So if you're, if you're, in HASS, for example, there is a personal research allowance.
Other students on the faculties might have an RTSG that they can use for some conferences.
There may also be professional bodies in your field that have some funds for conferences.
Some of the larger conferences
(09:58):
have sort of bursaries for PGR student attendance.
These will often be directed at students from low- and middle-income countries, for example, or those who have to travel furthest.
Students will normally get reduced fees for conferences anyway to help keep the costs down a little bit.
So there are various places that you can try and look for conference support.
(10:20):
Again, that's the kind of conversation to have with your supervisors because they might have some good insider info and where those small pots of money can be located for this.
The other thing to think about is to find out the ways that you can kind of keep the costs down if you are traveling.
So, for example, looking to kind of room share with people, you know, do joint travel, these kind of things, just sensible normal questions you would take for research, all can kind of make a big difference on the costs of these conferences.
(10:51):
So it's worth thinking about.
Okay.
Well, thank you for sharing those tips.
So you've done the thing, you've submitted your abstract, you've made it in,
you've gotten the money, like you're on the plane, you're almost there.
And then whilst you're getting there, it occurs to you, oh my goodness, they're going to ask me questions about my presentation.
Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no.
(11:11):
And so my question to you then is like, how can we prepare for that?
Can we prepare for that question-and-answer session?
Because it's incredibly intimidating to be asked any questions about your work by established scholars.
Yeah, yeah, I've been there definitely.
(11:32):
Doesn't always get easier as well.
I still have people that I see in the room and think, Oh no, what were they going to ask?
I think there are a few tips that you can give yourself to help with this.
The first thing is you can actually think about almost pre-empting or directing the questions with your actual presentation.
(11:57):
So you can kind of sort of set it up almost and get people thinking in certain directions by saying, okay, here is, this is a part of the research that I'm working on in the moment.
There's a kind of key theoretical element that I'm struggling with and I'm trying to develop and I'd really appreciate your feedback and your suggestions for this.
So immediately you're kind of asking for help.
(12:19):
If you do that, people approach your paper in a different way and they think, how can I help?
What can I suggest rather than what can I ask?
That helps to flip the script a little bit on that.
You can do this.
You can also spend some time thinking through and anticipating the questions that you might get and then preparing some answers for you.
(12:43):
I always try to think,
this is a conference on this particular theme, so I'm probably more likely to get questions around that thematic area.
There'll probably be one question on my method, there'll be one question on my evidence, there'll be a question on my case study, so what would I say?
So I can't take that time to prep in advance.
(13:04):
But if you're there on the day and you get a question that you perhaps haven't anticipated, just pause.
Take your time.
You don't have to immediately, we don't expect people to immediately have the perfect answer to any question that comes into you.
So pause, say I'm just going to take a minute, scribble down some notes, think, gather your thoughts, and then respond.
(13:30):
So you can take your time to process the question, to think about it.
and then to respond.
Normally, the chair will take questions around, so there'll be two or three questions that build up, so it gives you that little bit of time just to think through things.
The other thing is that if you get a question that you really genuinely don't know the answer to, that's okay.
(13:51):
No one expects everyone to have the answer to every question that comes to them.
You can, in fact, just around and say, Oh, actually, I hadn't thought about that, but that could be really useful.
Can I think about then, can I come back to you at the end of the session to talk about this?
And immediately you flip it.
It's like, okay, this wasn't a challenge.
(14:12):
This was a help.
You're going to be my source of help.
And so you flip around that way.
The key thing is just don't be defensive.
Almost all of the questions you get, they're asked out of interest.
You know, you have a field room of academics.
We're a bunch of geeks.
We just want to know stuff, okay?
So they're asking to get more information for themselves to help them think through the problems that they're working with.
(14:33):
So just in that spirit, this is about kind of sharing and learning from each other rather than a kind of defensive, you know, examination or a test or anything like that.
So yeah.
I mean, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to share, but like...
I'm not sure if I'm allowed to share, but I remember when I went for my first conference as a PhD student, and all these very established scholars were asking me questions.
(14:56):
It dawned on me, as you said, that it wasn't an attack, despite what my nervous system was telling me.
Everyone was very interested, and they were geeking out as much as I was.
And for the first time, in a really long time, I was in a room surrounded by people who were interested in my work, and it wasn't just me, and that's incredibly affirming.
So yeah, also treat, just for me as a novel, novice person, treat the question-and-answer session as like a chance for you to kiki with friends, like to have those deep conversations that you've been wanting to have.
(15:29):
It's like you've got some experts there who are there for you to, you know, to pick their brains, get their thoughts.
So yeah, absolutely.
OK, so then our next question, this one comes from Anna Maria and Sophie.
Hi, guys.
I hope you're doing well.
So they ask, how can we network more efficiently?
I'm going to break it up.
So how can we network more efficiently?
(15:49):
And then the second part is, especially if you're an introvert.
Which, yeah, heavily cosign, double on that.
Yeah, definitely.
It speaks to my personal experience there.
Okay, so how can we end that work more efficiently?
(16:09):
So the key thing for me, and I'm someone who is quite introverted and has chronic illness and has to kind of manage their energy quite carefully during conferences.
So what I always try to do is to kind of take a look at the conference programme and then work through, okay, what panels do I need to go to?
What papers?
(16:29):
Where are the speakers
Where am I going to see these people when?
And have that kind of lined up I thought knowing okay I have to think about these people that day then those people then that day.
So I've got a plan in my head.
I always try to sort of get there in advance to sort of, to smile and say hi to the speakers and make those connections before they're speaking and then hang around a bit afterwards.
(16:54):
It's not always the case that, actually it's good to ask questions in the panels and you get them to recognize you.
But actually, if you can be there at the end just to have a quick conversation with them afterwards and say, I really loved your paper.
The stuff you're working on is super exciting.
Would it be possible to grab a coffee, to have a chat?
(17:15):
Do you have time for the next few days?
Make sure you've got your WhatsApp or whatever, take their number, exchange, and then set that up.
I find that's a really good way of doing that and just being prepared to take the initiative to say, I'd like to have a conversation, because people always do, right?
(17:35):
They might not have the time right then, but they're there at a conference to meet people and to talk.
Just have the confidence to go up and say, Could we have a coffee?
Could we have a chat?
That does make a difference.
Then if you're there for a panel yourself,
make sure that you're not immediately running away afterwards, but you set something up in the aftermath of the panel to sort of say, okay, we've had the papers.
(17:58):
That was really exciting.
We've met each other.
Can we go now and have lunch or find a room somewhere where we can just talk through things and actually plan the next steps?
Okay, this was a panel that went really well.
These were the key themes coming out of it.
What's the next conference and do we want to propose a panel together for that one?
Or could we think about co-authoring something or where are the connections?
(18:22):
So always try to think through, okay, what is the next step?
What kind of connections do you want to build with these people?
What do you want to get out of that networking?
And if you can have that, that's kind of a really important thing as well.
Okay, because you also when you were talking, you mentioned like making use of the informal time between talks and between stuff.
(18:43):
Is that also like a really good way to network as well as the dinners and the lunches and the stuff?
Yeah, definitely.
I would say that actually, probably better to do that informally rather than through the formal dinners and things I tend to find.
I think the kind of
(19:04):
I think the formal do’s, those are expensive.
I mean, it just adds to your costs.
And actually, they're more structured in a way.
So what you tend to find is that the kind of the groups where you want to kind of get together to have proper conversations with a kind of core group of people in a working on a particular area, that always happens outside those kind of formal sessions.
(19:27):
So do that to set up those lunches, set up those coffee breaks afterwards.
And that's where you really get to know, to get to meet people and do that kind of thing.
So those kind of in-between spaces are absolutely critical for networking at a conference.
Okay.
And because you'd also mentioned about like doing your work before the conference to see which ones, which papers you wanted to attend or which seminars or which panels you wanted to attend.
(19:54):
I guess just so that it's important that everyone hears this, do you only have to go to the panels or presentations that are relevant to your paper or your research topic?
Or can you go to the ones you're just like generally interested in?
You can go to whatever you like.
Can we isolate that audience?
Can we just isolate that audio clip and just like, yeah.
Go, go with God.
(20:15):
Go, go to whatever papers you are interested, and you don't always have to be super focused on the exact topic, the exact methodology, the exact case study you're working on.
You could actually learn a lot.
from visiting other panels that are just of interest, you might pick up really useful suggestions or connections, or get new insights into how to work on the material that you have.
(20:42):
So do that, you know, these conferences, they are kind of intellectual smorgasbord of different people, different ideas.
So eat across the buffet for that one, just look at what interests you, you can really get so much about doing it that way.
And the other thing is don't actually just look at the kind of the academic papers as well.
(21:03):
For the bigger conferences in particular, there will often be sort of side things happening, which might be kind of art performances.
Or what's increasingly happening now is that you will also get publishers there as well.
There might be a kind of a book stall at various things.
There may also be workshops.
(21:27):
on getting published instead of writing your first article, those are super useful to get involved.
So sign up for those if those are available.
Have a talk with publishers, have a talk with editors so you can get some insights into that kind of publication element as well.
And that's the other kind of added bonus to some conferences.
It's not just about meeting the other academics, it's also about meeting those publishers and editors as well.
(21:54):
Okay, I guess, because we've been dancing around this question a while, especially in the beginning when we were talking about like...
our funding opportunities and everything.
And it's just just given the increasing cost of travel, the climate crisis, ongoing uncertainty around the future of academia as I want to call it an industry, but that feels like the wrong word.
(22:17):
How do you see the role of conferences evolving in the future?
Because we need to think for the present and for the future as well.
Yeah, that's a really good point.
I think conferences will remain because they are so crucial for our academic network and for making connections and building research across different institutions and across different countries internationally.
(22:46):
But what I'm hoping will happen is that more and more conferences will be digital or hybrid to make them more accessible.
Certainly for myself, I work in sort of research in Africa.
So for me, it's always the challenge of, how do we bring African researchers to the UK?
(23:07):
How can we help them find funds to do that?
Is it always ethical to travel across the US for...
a 20 minute paper to meet a few people.
I don't actually think it is.
And there've been quite a few occasions recently where I've thought, no, I'm not going to do that.
I'll see if I can do it remotely and if I can't, I won't attend and I'll connect with those people in some other spaces.
(23:33):
A lot of conferences are trying to be more sustainable in their approaches.
with the organization, with the kind of catering, encouraging people to travel by train, all these kind of things.
But that side of things, the sustainability, the cost, it should very much be part of your decision-making process when you decide what conferences to attend and where and how for that side of things as well.
(24:02):
Okay.
We're coming towards the end of this lovely conversation.
Honestly, it's been a blast.
Actually, not entirely dissimilar from the kinds of conversations you tend to have at conferences, eh?
Connecting the dots.
There we go.
But as we come towards the end and as we're trying to wrap up, what's one key piece of advice you'd like people to remember?
(24:23):
One key piece of advice.
I would say...
that for conferences, the key advice is to prepare in advance, but be prepared to be flexible on the day.
Okay.
(24:43):
You want to spend the time developing your paper, you're writing it up, preparing it, practicing your public speaking skills so that you feel confident that you can go out there, you can do your best, we can really represent yourself as a researcher and your research effectively.
But it will not go entirely to plan.
(25:06):
There will be some things that, there will be some IT wobbles, there will be some questions you hadn’t anticipated.
Something will happen.
So you just need to be flexible.
You need to be prepared to say, okay, no presentation I give will ever be perfect.
I will say something wrong.
I will get my slide in the wrong biz.
It will happen.
But that's okay.
You know, if you misspeak, that's what happens when people have conversations.
(25:30):
You know, we use lexical furthers.
You know, we kind of struggle to answer things sometimes.
That's all okay.
No one expects everyone to be perfect at a conference.
But it's just about putting yourself out there to make those connections.
I sort of think that, no, my research is significant.
It's important.
I've got something of value to say that others will want to hear.
(25:52):
I want to go out there to get their feedback to learn and to enhance my research from them.
So yeah, I think that's the key key tip.
Just.
Build your confidence slowly.
Be prepared, but also just be flexible and enjoy it whilst you're there because you get to meet some really, really, really interesting people and make new friends, make new connections and see some fabulous places hopefully so.
(26:16):
So yeah, oh, and always pick the conferences with the good food.
really important.
And if you don't know how good the food's going to be, bring snacks.
Sorry, that was not what I expected you to say.
But on that very practical.
(26:37):
an actionable tip.
I will love and leave you guys.
Thank you so much for listening.
Stacey, thank you so much for being here.
It's been a blast.
This episode of the Exeter Postgraduate Researcher Podcast was written and presented by me, Aileen Waitaaga-Kimuhu, featuring Stacey Hynd.
It was produced by Kelyn Luther for the Researcher Development and Research Culture team at the University of Exeter.
(27:00):
Thank you for listening.
And don't forget to be kind to yourself today.
Hi, ho, hello, and welcome back to the Exeter Postgraduate Researcher Podcast.
I am your host for this episode, Aileen Waitaaga-Kimuhu, a second year PhD student at the University of Exeter Law School.
And I'm not alone.
Who am I with today?
Why don't you introduce yourself?
Hi, Aileen.
Hi, everyone.
My name is Professor Stacey Hynd.
(00:52):
Stacey, I am the Dean of the Doctoral College, postgraduate research here at Exeter.
I'm also a professor in African and Global History in the Archaeology and History Department.
OK, well, I know we've met in person before, but it's lovely to meet you on this platform right now.
And thank you so much for agreeing to do this.
You're welcome.
So for the people who have not read the description or the doobly-doo for the podcast episode, I salute you.
(01:17):
But let me just explain what's going on today.
Today, we're going to be talking about conferencing and navigating the conference scene as an early postgraduate researcher.
And for our introductory question for you, Stacey, is when you think back to your early days in academia, how did you approach conferences?
(01:37):
OK, so I was one of those postgraduates who was really very nervous.
about public speaking.
I've done quite a lot of it, but it was all something that was very stressful for me.
So I had to be quite targeted and quite strategic and have those conversations with my supervisor about, okay, what do I need to be doing, where and when and which audiences?
(02:00):
Because I needed to have that time to plan ahead, to make sure that I was confident in what abstract from the paper, and then in advance of the conference itself, actually make sure I had sufficient time to prepare,
to rehearse and actually feel like I was confident enough to be able to go there on the day and feel like I could give a good account of myself and the research.
(02:22):
It's something that's, you know, I've worked at over the years and you get more confident with more experience, but it does take a bit of time to kind of to work and hone those skills in terms of presenting your research.
So what I'm hearing is that there's a light at the end of the tunnel and it does get better.
Hallelujah.
There is definitely a light at the end of the tunnel.
And I think it's one of those things that conferences are, if you just bite the bullet, you put the effort in, you take that risk, you go out there, you present your research, you actually can get so much back from that.
(02:56):
It's not just about people quizzing you on what you've done.
It's actually a space where you can get a lot of super helpful
feedback and support and make connections.
So it is, you know, it can be nerve-wracking, but it's actually a really good and useful, productive and generative thing to do.
Okay, so let's start from the very, very beginning.
(03:17):
Like for those of us who, for example, might be overwhelmed by the number of conferences that are available, how would you recommend we go about selecting the ones that are the most appropriate for us?
And how do we even like define what is appropriate at this level as well?
Yeah, that's a conversation you really should have with your supervisors, because they will have a really good sense of what the key conferences in your area are, when they're happening, because some of them are every two years, some are every one year, some are every like three years or whatever, and they'll have a good sense of how to get the right balance.
(03:54):
and where to be presenting when, right?
Because one of the things you don't want to immediately jump in and do like the biggest conference in your field for your first ever presentation.
That will not help you.
So you want to kind of build into it.
So thinking about starting small, starting local, maybe starting with a paper at a seminar in your department.
(04:17):
or at a kind of PGR conference at Exeter or another local university, just to kind of get the first few presentations under your belt a little bit.
And then thinking about, okay, let's expand, let's be more ambitious and kind of go for the bigger conferences then.
You also want to get that balance between, okay, there are some kind of key conferences in your field, the big kind of professional body ones that will be there with hundreds, if not thousands of people.
(04:43):
Those can be super useful just for getting yourself known, for getting your research out there.
But they don't always necessarily produce the best feedback or the best kind of intellectual content because often it just becomes a space for people to meet up rather than kind of get stuff.
So what you might also find is that the smaller, more targeted, more thematic workshops are actually more productive for you.
(05:10):
So you want to get a balance between what will get you
What will help you build your confidence?
What will help you get the feedback that you need to develop your work?
And then what will help you raise your profile as a researcher?
Okay, so what I'm hearing there is confidence.
What will help you build your confidence, as you said, feedback.
what specifically, if there's something that you're struggling with in your work, and you need specific feedback on that thing, maybe a conference is a good chance for you to go get feedback on that specific thing from scholars within your field.
(05:42):
And then the last one besides confidence and feedback was also, please remind me, I just did forget.
It's about getting, raising your profile as a researcher, yeah.
Just so we're all on the same page about that, why is it important to raise your profile, because speaking as an
anxious, introverted person.
I know it doesn't seem like it, but like the idea of like having to, I guess, tell people what I'm doing, it feels a bit odd.
(06:11):
It does, but unfortunately that is part of academia.
I think if you, particularly if you're wanting to find employment in the area of research that you're doing, whether that's as an academic or in a related field,
You need to be out there and building your CV basically and make sure people are aware of their research that you're doing.
(06:35):
It could be that actually giving a conference paper at one of the biggest conferences that enables you to meet key professors in the field who might well have a postdoc opportunity coming available, or they might know of a job opening somewhere in a related field.
It helps you both do that networking that can help you take
(06:56):
the next steps in your career.
I think that's a really useful thing to use conferences for as well.
Before we kind of move on to talk about how we navigate the conference experience itself, just one last question on preparing for conferences beforehand, which is just managing the logistics, because as we know, attending conferences, especially the further away you go, tends to be quite expensive.
(07:18):
And so I was wondering, do you know of any university resources, financial, academic, logistical, that might be able to help PGRs attend conferences?
Yeah, it's a really good question.
And I have to say that conferences are becoming more and more expensive over the last five years.
And some of them are absolutely crazy now, to the point where even professors like me are not going to conferences now because we can't afford it.
(07:43):
So you do have to be quite tactical in how you approach this.
In terms of the logistics of it, do always look carefully at whether these conferences are only in person or whether they will allow remote presentations or remote presenters to be part of panels or streams and things like that and sort of weigh that up.
(08:06):
Remote presentations, they are easier, they are cheaper, but you don't then get the in-person connection, so you miss out a little bit on that networking and that feedback that happens
around the panels and after the presentation.
So it's a qualitatively different experience.
So try to think about whether you really need to be there in person or not.
(08:30):
If you do need or want to be there in person.
then you need to think carefully through the cost.
You have to look through planning.
Okay, there will be the registration costs, there will be the travel costs, there will be accommodation, assistance.
If you're an international student, there may also be the visa costs and the additional time that you need to kind of put in for those well in advance to make sure that you get the visa.
(08:52):
We're having a lot of trouble at the bigger conferences now with people, with speakers not actually being able to get visas to travel, which is, you know,
becoming a major issue for some conferences.
So there are a lot of logistical issues around that.
In terms of the funding, this will vary on how you yourself are funded as a postgraduate student.
(09:15):
So for some of you, if you are UKRI funded through various doctoral training partnerships, you will have funds there which you can access for attending conferences as a kind of development activity for you.
If you're in even different faculties within the university have different funds and different schemes.
(09:37):
So if you're, if you're, in HASS, for example, there is a personal research allowance.
Other students on the faculties might have an RTSG that they can use for some conferences.
There may also be professional bodies in your field that have some funds for conferences.
Some of the larger conferences
(09:58):
have sort of bursaries for PGR student attendance.
These will often be directed at students from low- and middle-income countries, for example, or those who have to travel furthest.
Students will normally get reduced fees for conferences anyway to help keep the costs down a little bit.
So there are various places that you can try and look for conference support.
(10:20):
Again, that's the kind of conversation to have with your supervisors because they might have some good insider info and where those small pots of money can be located for this.
The other thing to think about is to find out the ways that you can kind of keep the costs down if you are traveling.
So, for example, looking to kind of room share with people, you know, do joint travel, these kind of things, just sensible normal questions you would take for research, all can kind of make a big difference on the costs of these conferences.
(10:51):
So it's worth thinking about.
Okay.
Well, thank you for sharing those tips.
So you've done the thing, you've submitted your abstract, you've made it in,
you've gotten the money, like you're on the plane, you're almost there.
And then whilst you're getting there, it occurs to you, oh my goodness, they're going to ask me questions about my presentation.
Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no.
(11:11):
And so my question to you then is like, how can we prepare for that?
Can we prepare for that question-and-answer session?
Because it's incredibly intimidating to be asked any questions about your work by established scholars.
Yeah, yeah, I've been there definitely.
(11:32):
Doesn't always get easier as well.
I still have people that I see in the room and think, Oh no, what were they going to ask?
I think there are a few tips that you can give yourself to help with this.
The first thing is you can actually think about almost pre-empting or directing the questions with your actual presentation.
(11:57):
So you can kind of sort of set it up almost and get people thinking in certain directions by saying, okay, here is, this is a part of the research that I'm working on in the moment.
There's a kind of key theoretical element that I'm struggling with and I'm trying to develop and I'd really appreciate your feedback and your suggestions for this.
So immediately you're kind of asking for help.
(12:19):
If you do that, people approach your paper in a different way and they think, how can I help?
What can I suggest rather than what can I ask?
That helps to flip the script a little bit on that.
You can do this.
You can also spend some time thinking through and anticipating the questions that you might get and then preparing some answers for you.
(12:43):
I always try to think,
this is a conference on this particular theme, so I'm probably more likely to get questions around that thematic area.
There'll probably be one question on my method, there'll be one question on my evidence, there'll be a question on my case study, so what would I say?
So I can't take that time to prep in advance.
(13:04):
But if you're there on the day and you get a question that you perhaps haven't anticipated, just pause.
Take your time.
You don't have to immediately, we don't expect people to immediately have the perfect answer to any question that comes into you.
So pause, say I'm just going to take a minute, scribble down some notes, think, gather your thoughts, and then respond.
(13:30):
So you can take your time to process the question, to think about it.
and then to respond.
Normally, the chair will take questions around, so there'll be two or three questions that build up, so it gives you that little bit of time just to think through things.
The other thing is that if you get a question that you really genuinely don't know the answer to, that's okay.
(13:51):
No one expects everyone to have the answer to every question that comes to them.
You can, in fact, just around and say, Oh, actually, I hadn't thought about that, but that could be really useful.
Can I think about then, can I come back to you at the end of the session to talk about this?
And immediately you flip it.
It's like, okay, this wasn't a challenge.
(14:12):
This was a help.
You're going to be my source of help.
And so you flip around that way.
The key thing is just don't be defensive.
Almost all of the questions you get, they're asked out of interest.
You know, you have a field room of academics.
We're a bunch of geeks.
We just want to know stuff, okay?
So they're asking to get more information for themselves to help them think through the problems that they're working with.
(14:33):
So just in that spirit, this is about kind of sharing and learning from each other rather than a kind of defensive, you know, examination or a test or anything like that.
So yeah.
I mean, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to share, but like...
I'm not sure if I'm allowed to share, but I remember when I went for my first conference as a PhD student, and all these very established scholars were asking me questions.
(14:56):
It dawned on me, as you said, that it wasn't an attack, despite what my nervous system was telling me.
Everyone was very interested, and they were geeking out as much as I was.
And for the first time, in a really long time, I was in a room surrounded by people who were interested in my work, and it wasn't just me, and that's incredibly affirming.
So yeah, also treat, just for me as a novel, novice person, treat the question-and-answer session as like a chance for you to kiki with friends, like to have those deep conversations that you've been wanting to have.
(15:29):
It's like you've got some experts there who are there for you to, you know, to pick their brains, get their thoughts.
So yeah, absolutely.
OK, so then our next question, this one comes from Anna Maria and Sophie.
Hi, guys.
I hope you're doing well.
So they ask, how can we network more efficiently?
I'm going to break it up.
So how can we network more efficiently?
(15:49):
And then the second part is, especially if you're an introvert.
Which, yeah, heavily cosign, double on that.
Yeah, definitely.
It speaks to my personal experience there.
Okay, so how can we end that work more efficiently?
(16:09):
So the key thing for me, and I'm someone who is quite introverted and has chronic illness and has to kind of manage their energy quite carefully during conferences.
So what I always try to do is to kind of take a look at the conference programme and then work through, okay, what panels do I need to go to?
What papers?
(16:29):
Where are the speakers
Where am I going to see these people when?
And have that kind of lined up I thought knowing okay I have to think about these people that day then those people then that day.
So I've got a plan in my head.
I always try to sort of get there in advance to sort of, to smile and say hi to the speakers and make those connections before they're speaking and then hang around a bit afterwards.
(16:54):
It's not always the case that, actually it's good to ask questions in the panels and you get them to recognize you.
But actually, if you can be there at the end just to have a quick conversation with them afterwards and say, I really loved your paper.
The stuff you're working on is super exciting.
Would it be possible to grab a coffee, to have a chat?
(17:15):
Do you have time for the next few days?
Make sure you've got your WhatsApp or whatever, take their number, exchange, and then set that up.
I find that's a really good way of doing that and just being prepared to take the initiative to say, I'd like to have a conversation, because people always do, right?
(17:35):
They might not have the time right then, but they're there at a conference to meet people and to talk.
Just have the confidence to go up and say, Could we have a coffee?
Could we have a chat?
That does make a difference.
Then if you're there for a panel yourself,
make sure that you're not immediately running away afterwards, but you set something up in the aftermath of the panel to sort of say, okay, we've had the papers.
(17:58):
That was really exciting.
We've met each other.
Can we go now and have lunch or find a room somewhere where we can just talk through things and actually plan the next steps?
Okay, this was a panel that went really well.
These were the key themes coming out of it.
What's the next conference and do we want to propose a panel together for that one?
Or could we think about co-authoring something or where are the connections?
(18:22):
So always try to think through, okay, what is the next step?
What kind of connections do you want to build with these people?
What do you want to get out of that networking?
And if you can have that, that's kind of a really important thing as well.
Okay, because you also when you were talking, you mentioned like making use of the informal time between talks and between stuff.
(18:43):
Is that also like a really good way to network as well as the dinners and the lunches and the stuff?
Yeah, definitely.
I would say that actually, probably better to do that informally rather than through the formal dinners and things I tend to find.
I think the kind of
(19:04):
I think the formal do’s, those are expensive.
I mean, it just adds to your costs.
And actually, they're more structured in a way.
So what you tend to find is that the kind of the groups where you want to kind of get together to have proper conversations with a kind of core group of people in a working on a particular area, that always happens outside those kind of formal sessions.
(19:27):
So do that to set up those lunches, set up those coffee breaks afterwards.
And that's where you really get to know, to get to meet people and do that kind of thing.
So those kind of in-between spaces are absolutely critical for networking at a conference.
Okay.
And because you'd also mentioned about like doing your work before the conference to see which ones, which papers you wanted to attend or which seminars or which panels you wanted to attend.
(19:54):
I guess just so that it's important that everyone hears this, do you only have to go to the panels or presentations that are relevant to your paper or your research topic?
Or can you go to the ones you're just like generally interested in?
You can go to whatever you like.
Can we isolate that audience?
Can we just isolate that audio clip and just like, yeah.
Go, go with God.
(20:15):
Go, go to whatever papers you are interested, and you don't always have to be super focused on the exact topic, the exact methodology, the exact case study you're working on.
You could actually learn a lot.
from visiting other panels that are just of interest, you might pick up really useful suggestions or connections, or get new insights into how to work on the material that you have.
(20:42):
So do that, you know, these conferences, they are kind of intellectual smorgasbord of different people, different ideas.
So eat across the buffet for that one, just look at what interests you, you can really get so much about doing it that way.
And the other thing is don't actually just look at the kind of the academic papers as well.
(21:03):
For the bigger conferences in particular, there will often be sort of side things happening, which might be kind of art performances.
Or what's increasingly happening now is that you will also get publishers there as well.
There might be a kind of a book stall at various things.
There may also be workshops.
(21:27):
on getting published instead of writing your first article, those are super useful to get involved.
So sign up for those if those are available.
Have a talk with publishers, have a talk with editors so you can get some insights into that kind of publication element as well.
And that's the other kind of added bonus to some conferences.
It's not just about meeting the other academics, it's also about meeting those publishers and editors as well.
(21:54):
Okay, I guess, because we've been dancing around this question a while, especially in the beginning when we were talking about like...
our funding opportunities and everything.
And it's just just given the increasing cost of travel, the climate crisis, ongoing uncertainty around the future of academia as I want to call it an industry, but that feels like the wrong word.
(22:17):
How do you see the role of conferences evolving in the future?
Because we need to think for the present and for the future as well.
Yeah, that's a really good point.
I think conferences will remain because they are so crucial for our academic network and for making connections and building research across different institutions and across different countries internationally.
(22:46):
But what I'm hoping will happen is that more and more conferences will be digital or hybrid to make them more accessible.
Certainly for myself, I work in sort of research in Africa.
So for me, it's always the challenge of, how do we bring African researchers to the UK?
(23:07):
How can we help them find funds to do that?
Is it always ethical to travel across the US for...
a 20 minute paper to meet a few people.
I don't actually think it is.
And there've been quite a few occasions recently where I've thought, no, I'm not going to do that.
I'll see if I can do it remotely and if I can't, I won't attend and I'll connect with those people in some other spaces.
(23:33):
A lot of conferences are trying to be more sustainable in their approaches.
with the organization, with the kind of catering, encouraging people to travel by train, all these kind of things.
But that side of things, the sustainability, the cost, it should very much be part of your decision-making process when you decide what conferences to attend and where and how for that side of things as well.
(24:02):
Okay.
We're coming towards the end of this lovely conversation.
Honestly, it's been a blast.
Actually, not entirely dissimilar from the kinds of conversations you tend to have at conferences, eh?
Connecting the dots.
There we go.
But as we come towards the end and as we're trying to wrap up, what's one key piece of advice you'd like people to remember?
(24:23):
One key piece of advice.
I would say...
that for conferences, the key advice is to prepare in advance, but be prepared to be flexible on the day.
Okay.
(24:43):
You want to spend the time developing your paper, you're writing it up, preparing it, practicing your public speaking skills so that you feel confident that you can go out there, you can do your best, we can really represent yourself as a researcher and your research effectively.
But it will not go entirely to plan.
(25:06):
There will be some things that, there will be some IT wobbles, there will be some questions you hadn’t anticipated.
Something will happen.
So you just need to be flexible.
You need to be prepared to say, okay, no presentation I give will ever be perfect.
I will say something wrong.
I will get my slide in the wrong biz.
It will happen.
But that's okay.
You know, if you misspeak, that's what happens when people have conversations.
(25:30):
You know, we use lexical furthers.
You know, we kind of struggle to answer things sometimes.
That's all okay.
No one expects everyone to be perfect at a conference.
But it's just about putting yourself out there to make those connections.
I sort of think that, no, my research is significant.
It's important.
I've got something of value to say that others will want to hear.
(25:52):
I want to go out there to get their feedback to learn and to enhance my research from them.
So yeah, I think that's the key key tip.
Just.
Build your confidence slowly.
Be prepared, but also just be flexible and enjoy it whilst you're there because you get to meet some really, really, really interesting people and make new friends, make new connections and see some fabulous places hopefully so.
(26:16):
So yeah, oh, and always pick the conferences with the good food.
really important.
And if you don't know how good the food's going to be, bring snacks.
Sorry, that was not what I expected you to say.
But on that very practical.
(26:37):
an actionable tip.
I will love and leave you guys.
Thank you so much for listening.
Stacey, thank you so much for being here.
It's been a blast.
This episode of the Exeter Postgraduate Researcher Podcast was written and presented by me, Aileen Waitaaga-Kimuhu, featuring Stacey Hynd.
It was produced by Kelyn Luther for the Researcher Development and Research Culture team at the University of Exeter.
(27:00):
Thank you for listening.
And don't forget to be kind to yourself today.
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