The PGR Development workshops are delivered by a team led by the Postgraduate Development Officer working with four Postgraduate Teaching Assistants from across the University. Teaching materials are prepared by the Postgraduate Development Officer and delivered by all members of the team. The workshops aim to provide a framework and suggestions for development in a non-prescriptive way, and are designed to capitalise on the diverse and interdisciplinary PGR population at the University of Birmingham by encouraging discussion and experience-sharing around the topics.
Georgina Hardy, Postgraduate Development Officer
Since completing her PhD in Chemistry at the University of Liverpool in 2004, Georgina has been supporting skills development for students and researchers through her career in academic libraries. She joined the University of Birmingham as Postgraduate Development Officer in 2016, and really enjoys working with the diverse, committed, and inspiring PGR population at the University. She obtained Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2020.
Matthew Bruce, Postgraduate Teaching Assistant
I’m Matthew, a third-year part-time PhD in French Studies student, looking at the portrayal of ‘anachronistic heroes’ in French comedy cinema. I have a longstanding relationship with the University, having previously completed a BA Modern Languages (French and Spanish) with Film Studies here (2013-17) before proceeding to undertake a MA by Research in French Studies (2017-2019). In the intervening period between finishing my Masters and starting my PhD, I worked for a time with Teach First tutoring languages to secondary school pupils as part of the National Tutoring Programme (2021) and, currently, alongside my PhD, I work as the part-time Marketing and Communications Coordinator of Billesley Research School, Birmingham, one of 38 of its kind in the country which disseminates evidence-based research conducted by the Education Endowment Foundation to educational leaders in the pursuit of closing ‘the disadvantage gap’. Back at UoB, I’m also a PGTA for AWAS (Academic Writing Advisory Service) in the College of Arts and Law and a Postgraduate Student Ambassador. I’m looking forward to working with peers in delivering Library Services workshops, which have proven very useful to me so far as a researcher. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and anything cinema-related!
Lucy Holehouse, Postgraduate Teaching Assistant
Lucy is a third year Midlands4Cities-funded PhD Student at The Shakespeare Institute. Her research focusses on the materiality of performing disguise on the early English stage, from 1603 to 1630. Lucy is also the editor of The Shakespeare Institute Review and a research team member of The King’s Women, a research project that explores the lives and socio-familial networks of the women associated with Shakespeare’s acting company. As a member of the postgraduate researcher development team, she is excited to discover the wide range of research topics at Birmingham and to hear how others have overcome the challenges of postgraduate research degrees.
Eloise Parr, Postgraduate Teaching Assistant
I'm a PhD Linguistics student in the Department of English Language and Linguistics, funded by the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Partnership. My doctoral research is a corpus-assisted metaphor analysis of online pregnancy discourse. I am also a founding member of the Maternal Bodies Network, a group of interdisciplinary early careers researchers who research maternity and motherhood. I have experience in learning and the dissemination of ideas from early years all the way up to my postgraduate peers and beyond. I am especially keen to use my experiences of PhD life to help and inspire others. Outside of academia, I like to play football (at a very beginner level) and video games (often football-related too).
Ben Price, Postgraduate Teaching Assistant
Hi everyone, my name is Ben, and I am a final year PhD student at the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Science. My research is focused on the cardiovascular health benefits of passive heating, such as hot baths and saunas. Currently, I am investigating whether hot water bathing after exercise has any added benefits after an exercise session. At the University, I teach for my School and for Library Services. What I enjoy when teaching postgraduate researcher workshops is the opportunity to engage in debates and gather expertise from a range of different courses and backgrounds. This does not only help to facilitate learning in important topics for the members of the workshop but also for myself which I can directly feed back into my own PhD. I would recommend the workshops to all postgraduate researchers and the open format in which they are delivered. Outside my PhD, I’m a rugby referee and a keen parkrunner!