Salford PG Summer School

Our thanks to everyone who attended the College of Arts and Social Sciences Postgraduate Summer School in MediaCityUK ---- students, friends and visitors, and staff (lecturing or otherwise)!

We'll be emailing out feedback sheets shortly for your comments and recommendations, in anticipation of the 2013 event!

Full programme: College of Arts and Social Sciences - PGR Summer School 2012

MediaCity Campus, 2^nd Floor, Lecture Theatre 236

Programme:

Tuesday 24^th July 2012

10.30-11.00               Welcome by Professor Ben Light,

Associate Dean Research & Innovation

11.00-11.30               Research Workshop: Dr. Pascal Venier, Mind Maping & Concept Mapping for Researchers

11.30-12.00                Research Workshop: Dr. Pascal Venier, Getting things done for Researchers

12.00-12.30               Professor Ben Light, Postgraduate Research Update

12.30-1.30                  Lunch

1.30-2.00                    Research Presentation: Dr. Tina Patel, Researching the Agenda - What To Do With Unwelcome Truths

2.00-2.30                    Research Presentation: Zeeshan Amin, The Trojan Horse(s) of “Hello World” Culture

2.30-3.00                    Break

3.00-4.30                    Research Panel: Joe Darlington, Laura Wilson & Erin Taylor, Literature, Film and Resistance

Wednesday 25^th July 2012

10.30-11.00               Prof Jim Yip, Pro-Vice Chancellor: Research & Innovation

11.00-12.00               Research Workshop: Dr. Deborah Woodman, Survival Guide to doing a PhD

12.00-1.00                  Lunch

1.00-2.30                    Information Session: Fiona Christie, Student Life for Postgraduate Researchers

2.30-3.00                    Break

3.00-3.45                    Research Workshop: Victoria Moody, Developing Impact for Your Research

                                               

Thursday, 26^th July

10.30-11.15               Research Workshop: Victoria Sheppard

11.15-12.00               Research Workshop: Frances Bell, Ethics

12.00-1.00                  Lunch

1.00-2.30                    Research Workshop: Janet Morana, Knowledge Exchange for Research

2.30-3.00                    Break

3.00-3.30                    Research Workshop: Germaine Loader, Obtaining Research Funding

3.30-4.00                    Research Presentation: Dr. Ben Halligan, What is “Immaterial Labour”?

4.00-4.30                    Research Presentation: Daniel Cookney, Dead and Buried: The Worker and Dubstep

4.30-5.00                    Research Presentation: Dr. Phoebe Moore, Is precarity revolutionary?

Friday 27^th July 2012

10.00-11.00               Professor Huw Morris

Pro Vice Chancellor: Academic & Executive Dean: College of Arts and Social Sciences

11.00-11.30               Research Workshop: Professor Ben Light, Structuring Thesis’

11.30-12.00               Research Workshop: Dr. Ben Halligan, Viva’s, Internal Evaluations and Interim Assessments

12.00-1.00                  Lunch

1.00-1.30                   Research Presentation: Jonathan Lord, Employment tribunals barrier to justice?

1.30-2.00                   Research Presentation: Professor Ben Light, Vernacular creativity: doing graffiti with YouTube

2.00-2.30                    Information Session: Anne Sherwin, Library Services for Postgraduate Researchers

2.30-3.00                    Evaluation and Close

Manchester Uni workshop: (How) do we understand Capitalism? Reflections on critical methods

September 12-13, 2012 | University of Manchester

There is no consensus on what critical social science is, exactly. Largely it is defined as not orthodox economics or positivist social science. Rather than attempting to define what critical research is, this workshop investigates how we do critical research.

Using methods as a framework for critical analysis allow us to consider how we understand capitalism an alternative way of differentiating between forms of critical inquiry. Methods can be approached as a tool box: a series of techniques that reveal capitalism. In this case, capitalism is explored and understood using different tools of analysis that demonstrate how it emerged historically, how it changes over time, creates periods of stability and how it impacts people’s lives. Methods are also a way to format the world that make realities appear or disappear. In this case capitalism is performative, it is always engaged in experiment, a perpetually unfinished project; therefore, it is a highly adaptive and constantly mutating formation.

In short, methods are not neutral tools of analysis; they (re)create a particular view of capitalism.

This workshop seeks to be innovative in its content and format. Participants will discuss and debate how they ‘do’ research—either for their present project or life’s work—rather than give methods papers as such. The two days will cover different methods like participant observation, ethnography, archival, textual and discourse analysis, interviews (elite, semi-structured and random); as well as methodological approaches like: actor-network theory, reflexivity, critical empirical research, feminist methods, historical materialism, everyday and cultural economy.

Confirmed Participants: Yuval Millo (LSE), Nicola Smith (Birmingham), Chris May (Lancaster), Ben Rosamond (Copenhagen), Samuel Knafo (Sussex), Chris Rogers (York), Claes Belfrage (Liverpool), Dani Tepe (Sheffield)

Above all this event seeks to be a creative space to reflect, discuss and debate the role of methods or methodology in (your) critical research. If you are interested in attending please contact:j.montgomerie@manchester.ac.uk

Note: any UK PhD student (without institutional support) interested in attending please indicate this in your email and I will TRY to secure funds to cover your travel expenses.

CfP: The Future, and Praxis of Decent Work

 from Salford's Dr Moore-Carter:

The Future, and Praxis of Decent Work conference
14 – 15 February 2013

International Center for Development and Decent Work, Kassel University, Germany
www.icdd.uni-kassel.de

COST Action IS0902: Systemic Risks, Financial Crises and Credit
http://www.worldfinancialcrisis.eu/
British International Studies Association, International Political Economy Group
http://www.bisa-ipeg.org/

Call for papers.

The Financial and Economic Crisis: A Decent Work Response report prepared by the International Institute for Labour Studies and the Employment Sector and Policy Integration and Statistics Department Geneva in 2009 indicates that the Decent Work Agenda should provide a policy framework to stem crises by placing employment and social protection at the heart of ‘extraordinary fiscal stimulus measures’ which can both protect vulnerable people, and reactivate investment and demand in economies.

The International Labour Organisation’s World of Work Report 2012 forecasts a global unemployment rate of 6.1 per cent in 2012, with total world unemployment rising from 196 million in 2011 to 202 million in 2012. In this context, and with the rise in austerity measures which cannot guarantee growth but which have already triggered social disruption and harm, this conference will explore the concept of decent work and search for a praxis of decent work in all countries, all contexts, and for all people.

Guy Ryder, an experienced trade unionist, was elected as the ILO’s new Director General on 28th May 2012, to take office in September, and he has stated his commitment to prioritise people and the world of work (Ryder, 2012).  In June 2012, India, Brazil and South African signed a long term Declaration of Intent in a number of areas including development and cooperation, and labour, which is explicitly designed to further the Decent Work Agenda, aiming toward creating jobs, guaranteeing rights at work, extending social protection and the promotion of social dialogue, with gender equality as a core objective. These types of initiatives indicate a continuation of the relevance of a concept that was coined by Juan Somavia, Director General 1999 – September 2012, but the global climate of strained governance continues to challenge the possibilities for decent work in developed and developing countries alike.

The ILO’s new Director General faces a Eurozone crisis, rising unemployment, a spate of emergency crisis-driven labour policy deregulation that has often not been passed with consent from relevant social partners, and the dramatic rise in precarity and nonstandard employment which impacts lives in all corners of the world. Several governments across the European Union, including Portugal, Spain, Hungary, and the United Kingdom, have recently passed emergency labour motions and reforms using the rationale of austerity to decentralise collective bargaining, disempower temporary workers, and increase working time for less remuneration, in many cases via Memoranda of Understanding passed in consultation and consent with the Troika (the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF) (Clauwaert and Schomann, 2012). Nonetheless the ‘international consensus’ remains committed to securing ongoing decent work, and labour law is expected to provide the theatre for appropriate labour standards and rights despite labour law modernisation (Faioli, 2010).

The conference invites papers around these issues, which may involve questions around the workings and structure of the International Labour Organisation, the world of work in the current context of global recession, issues surrounding social unrest as linked to rising unemployment, and the nature of international labour standards. The concept of decent work is in crisis and this conference is a call for praxis around these issues. (Moore-Carter)
Invited and confirmed participants include delegates from the ICDD, the International Labour Organisation, and the Global Labour Institute. Conference will take place at the ICDD in Kassel.

Paper abstract deadline: 15 November 2012
Send 200 word abstracts, with complete affiliation details to: decentworkconference@gmail.com
Notification/programme: early December 2012
Paper deadline (if available): 1 February 2013

Organisers:
Dr Phoebe V Moore-Carter (Salford University, IPEG Convenor)
Dr Charles Dannreuther (COST and University of Leeds)
Christian Möllmann (ICDD Kassel University)

Remembering David Sanjek

(From Rick Sanjek)

Dear cousins, family and friends:

David Sanjek reached his final resting place on Memorial Day weekend in Timberlake Cove in Plymouth VT, as was his wish.

He had worked for eighteen summers at Camp Timberlake, mostly as the director of the waterfront.

One of his campers who lives in New York, Colin Mitchell, graciously carried David’s ashes to a gathering of staff and alumni, all friends and colleagues of Dave’s. 

In Colin’s words:

“I have pulled together 131 photos from Dave's memorial.  These have been gathered from many of the people in attendance:

www.photobucket.com/dave_sanjek_farm_and_wilderness_memorial

(Colin is the big guy in the Aloha shirt in the pictures)

“The event was broken into 3 parts, each captured in the pictures.  The first part was gathering all of the people who had come from near and far into a single place (the Timberlake Trading Post).  Many of us had not seen each other in 20+ years, so there are many pictures of people greeting each other and catching up on each other’s lives.  This is the first 68 pictures.  The next 16 pictures cover the 40 minute Quaker Meeting for Worship that was held in Dave's memory.  The remaining pictures document the days final activities, including placing Dave's ashes to rest in the water in Timberlake cove, just off the docks where Dave ran the waterfront for many years.  We sang songs as a group and individually, and some even went for a spontaneous swim with Dave after the ashes had settled.  The final picture is a nice shot of the cove where Dave rests, taken from the waterfront docks.”

As you all know, Dave’s life was immersed in knowledge and music and he spoke eloquently like a skilled musician immersed in the art of language that came out in long improvised riffs of dramatic, cohesive and symmetrical proportion.

As Irving Berlin once wrote, “The song is ended, but the melody lingers on…”

For me, Dave’s melody will linger on forever!

Salford Cultural Studies professor appointed leadership fellow for community research programme

Salford academic, George McKay, has been appointed to a three-year leadership fellowship by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for a programme focusing on community cultures and understanding.

George, Professor of Cultural Studies, and Director of the University’s Communication, Cultural and Media Studies Research Centre at MediaCityUK, will be joint academic lead of the Connected Communities research programme with Professor Keri Facer of the University of Bristol, in close collaboration with AHRC staff.

The programme aims to encourage the potential for communities to increase participation, prosperity, sustainability and health through improving connections between research, stakeholders and communities.

Professor McKay’s studies broadly encompass cultural politics, ranging from popular music to the cultures of social movements, and from festivals to gardening. His acclaimed 2011 book Radical Gardening: Politics, Idealism & Rebellion in the Garden was a ‘Book of the Year’ in the Independent on Sunday and his AHRC-funded book Shakin’ All Over: Popular Music and Disability is due for publication in 2013.

He is currently involved in a European jazz research programme, funded by Humanities in the European Research Area, and an AHRC project on community gardening, as well as being lead organiser of the 2012 International Association for the Study of Popular Music conference at MediaCityUK in September.

Professor McKay said: “To work centrally with the Connected Communities programme and its ever-widening constituency of scholars, community partners and creatives is a really wonderful opportunity. I’ve long been committed to working with community artists and social activists, writing with them as well as about them, and am hugely enthusiastic about learning more, and helping shape great new opportunities in research, knowledge exchange and engagement.”

As well as working with the AHRC on the future shape of the programme, Professor McKay’s fellowship includes a substantial element of personal research time, in which he will be working on projects around community music, disability arts and festival culture.

Vice-Chancellor, Professor Martin Hall, said: “Connected Communities is a great project that will have wide-reaching impact. I can think of no one better than George to play a leading role in this.”
Professor Mark Llewellyn, AHRC’s Director of Research, welcomed the appointment of the leadership fellows, saying: “These are key posts for the intellectual and strategic development of the Connected Communities programme. Professor McKay and Professor Facer bring a wealth of knowledge, expertise and experience to these roles and we look forward to working closely with them on the further development of the programme.”

Connected Communities is a cross-research council programme, led by AHRC in close partnership with the Economic and Social Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Medical Research Council and Natural Environment Research Council.

Further details of the Connected Communities programme are available at
http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/connectedcommunities.aspx

Salford noise academics see "Reverberations" published

"Reverberations: The Philosophy, Aesthetics and Politics of Noise", edited by Salford's Michael Goddard and Benjamin Halligan, and Paul Hegarty, has just been published by Continuum.

The book is cross-disciplinary and assembles a number of approaches to address and define, explore and apply noise across a variety of media. The book includes chapters from scholars of international standing (Brian Massumi, Felicity Colman), the anonymous GegenSichKollectiv, as well as up-and-coming writers. Salford PhD researcher and music journalist Dan Cookney's chapter ("Sshhhh") explores the noises of library spaces, drawing on several experimental excursions into civic arenas of silence, and Halligan's chapter ("'As If From the Sky': Divine and Secular Dramaturgies of Noise) examines and theorises the soundscapes of Hollywood 70s science fictions, of the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, and of playwrights Beckett and Chekhov. The book represents a radical intervention in fields across the humanities and social sciences.

Table of contents available here

UK amazon via here; US amazon via here (available as soft cover, hardback, kindle version)

The books is the first of two collections arising from the international conference Goddard and Halligan convened at Salford in Summer 2010, "Bigger than Words, Wider than Pictures: Noise, Affect, Politics". "Resonances: Noise and Music" is forthcoming from Continuum, in 2013, edited by Goddard, Halligan and Salford's Nicola Spelman.

[Salford noise conference: Hegarty, noise practitioner Mattin, Halligan, Stephen Lawrie of The Telescopes, Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai, Prof Sheila Whiteley. Below: noise conference gig.]

"With a fantastic range of topics, the editors have produced a strong collection that extends well beyond sound studies. The collection includes a wide range of writers, and offers just what we need in order to understand contemporary media and aesthetics: theoretical problematisation. Start from noise, with Reverberations, and find brilliant cartographies of noise in aesthetics, the social, and philosophy." - Dr Jussi Parikka, Reader in Media and Design at Winchester School of Art, author of Digital Contagions and Insect Media

Johnny Marr to be given honorary degree by Salford

He found fame with legendary Manchester band The Smiths, and now Johnny Marr’s outstanding achievements in a music career spanning four decades have been recognised with the granting of an honorary Salford degree.
The influential guitarist and songwriter, whose distinctive sound has been credited with changing the face of British guitar music and inspiring a generation of indie bands across the world, will receive a doctorate of arts on Thursday 19 July as part of our graduation ceremonies.
Born in Ardwick in 1963, Marr taught himself the guitar at 11 and as a teenager started writing songs and playing in various bands in Manchester. At 17 he decided to form a band and approached Steven Morrissey from Stretford, a singer four years his senior and a well known figure around the Manchester punk scene.
The pair christened their new band The Smiths and a new chapter in pop music history began. From 1982 until 1987 The Smiths embarked on a career of unforgettable shows and record releases and, through Marr’s original and dazzling musicality and Morrissey’s unique outsider world view, they redefined British guitar pop.
After disbanding The Smiths, Marr started a prolific career as a co-writer and collaborator with a number of hugely significant groups and musicians such as Talking Heads, The The, Bryan Ferry, Beck and Electronic, as well as discovering new local talent Oasis. He has been cited as an influence by many more bands, including Blur, Radiohead and Manic Street Preachers.
In 2005 he joined Modest Mouse and achieved his first US number one album, before moving back to the UK in 2010 to join The Cribs for their first UK top ten LP Ignore The Ignorant. In 2011 Marr scored his first film soundtrack called The Big Bang, and then recorded the soundtrack to the film Inception with legendary composer Hans Zimmer.
He joined Salford in 2007 as a visiting professor in popular music. His regular masterclasses have helped to inspire a new generation of musicians joining a long line of successful bands to have studied at the University.
Marr said: “I’m very pleased to be given an honorary degree by Salford University. I've enjoyed working with the students in my capacity as visiting professor and hopefully we can find some more opportunities for creative work in the future.”

PhD scholarship available at Salford

Universities as Cultural Intermediaries

University of Salford - School of the Built Environment (SOBE),

Centre for Sustainable Urban and Regional Futures (SURF) (www.surf.salford.ac.uk)
Bursary: £13,590 p.a. (plus full payment of UK/EU Tuition Fees)

Full: http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AER166/phd-studentship/