All change for Dr Bruce Ryan

Posted on November 4, 2025 by Hazel Hall

Dr Bruce Ryan

After 13 years at Edinburgh Napier University, Dr Bruce Ryan’s role as Senior Research Fellow has come to an end. Last Friday, I joined Bruce for a special meal to mark his last day in paid employment at the University. Amongst the other guests were our (former) colleagues Dr Peter Cruickshank, Dr David Haynes, and Dr Rachel Salzano.

I worked closely with Bruce for over a decade when we were colleagues in the Centre for Social Informatics. Of the many projects on which we collaborated, three stand out: Continue reading →

A new recruit and two retirees: news of Dr Rachel Salzano, Dr Peter Cruickshank, and Dr David Haynes

Posted on October 5, 2025 by Hazel Hall

Dr Rachel Salzano

Congratulations to Dr Rachel Salzano, who starts the new academic year 2024/5 with a permanent contract as a lecturer in the Applied Informatics subject group of the School of Computing, Engineering, and the Built Environment at Edinburgh Napier University.

Rachel initially took up a fixed-term post within the Group soon after completing her PhD on public libraries, forced migrants, and culture, which I supervised from 2019 within the Centre for Social Informatics alongside Dr David Brazier and Dr Gemma Webster (now a lecturer at Dundee University). It is great news that Rachel‘s contract is now open-ended. Continue reading →

A new role for Dr Iris Buunk

Posted on August 26, 2025 by Hazel Hall

Dr Iris Buunk

All the best to Edinburgh Napier University PhD graduate Dr Iris Buunk, who has recently taken up a new position at the Service écoles-médias (SEM), DIP Etat de Genève. Iris’ new job title is Scientific Assistant and Project Manager. In her new role as a member of staff of the Département de l’instruction publique, de la formation de la jeunesse, Iris contributes to the development of digital technology, audiovisual, and documentation services for teaching staff working in primary and secondary schools in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. Iris’ new job also includes project management, research, and event organisation, as well as managing a team of around ten colleagues. Continue reading →

Congratulations Dr Marina Milosheva!

Posted on July 8, 2024 by Hazel Hall

Napier graduate pub Shakespeare Edinburgh

Shakespeare’s pub on Lothian Road was transformed into the Napier Graduate last week

Congratulations to Dr Marina Milosheva, whose doctoral degree was conferred in absentia at the Edinburgh Napier graduation ceremony at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh last Friday 5th July. Although Marina did not attend the ceremony in person, this day was a significant milestone in her PhD journey. This is because it is only from the date of the graduation ceremony that new PhD graduates are permitted to place the term ‘Dr’ before their names. Continue reading →

Community validation in qualitative research: contribution to #asist23

Posted on October 29, 2023 by Hazel Hall

ASIST 2023 poster Salzano Hall Webster Brazier

Poster by Edinburgh Napier Social Informatics Research Group colleagues presented at #ASIST23

The main programme of the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology opens today in London. Sadly I cannot be there in person with my (lucky) Edinburgh Napier University Social Informatics Research Group colleagues*. Continue reading →

All set for ECIL 2023

Posted on October 7, 2023 by Hazel Hall

The 2023 European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL2023) takes place in Krakow, Poland this coming week from Monday 9th until Thursday 12th October. Continue reading →

Community validation as a method to establish trustworthiness in qualitative LIS research: submission accepted for #asist2023

Posted on August 13, 2023 by Hazel Hall

Community validation as a method to establish trustworthiness in qualitative LIS research has been accepted for the 86th Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology. The conference takes place in London between 27th and 31st October this year.

This contribution to the conference poster session is an output from Dr Rachel Salzano‘s doctoral study. It was co-authored by Rachel and her supervision team members: Professor Hazel Hall, Dr Gemma Webster, and Dr David Brazier. Here we evaluate a novel means to determine trustworthiness in qualitative and mixed methods research, while making reference to Rachel’s doctoral study on the adoption and use of public library services by forced migrants. Continue reading →

Platform to Platform project: 2022/3 review; 2023/4 preview

Posted on August 4, 2023 by Hazel Hall

RSS Diary of the war header page Lorna Lloyd

The diary of the war is available as a podcast series from https://rss.com/podcasts/lornalloyd/

The Platform to platform (P2P) project ran between February and July 2022. In that time the P2P team met its two main aims. The first was to produce a podcast series based on Lorna Lloyd’s Diary of the war. The second was to use this new audio version of archival content (originally made available as text and images as the LornaL Blipfoto journal between 2019 and 2021) to explore modes of audience engagement with different formats of digitised archive data sets. Continue reading →

Trapped in the wrong job? Marina Milosheva offers advice in her latest contribution to ‘The Conversation’

Posted on July 25, 2023 by Hazel Hall

Marina Milosheva

What can you do when you feel like you are trapped in a job that leaves you feeling unfulfilled, or you find yourself in a role for which you are over-qualified and that does not allow you to use the full extent of your talents and skills?

Edinburgh Napier University Social Informatics PhD student Marina Milosheva addresses these questions in a new article for The Conversation entitled Why it’s so difficult to figure out what to do with your life – and three steps to take. The article is a contribution to The Conversation‘s Quarter Life series on issues that affect those in their twenties and thirties. Continue reading →

Congratulations Dr Rachel Salzano!

Posted on July 13, 2023 by Hazel Hall

Rachel Salzano at the Usher Hall just before the start of the graduation ceremony

Congratulations to Dr Rachel Salzano, who was awarded her PhD at the Edinburgh Napier graduation ceremony at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh last Friday 7th July.

I supervised Rachel’s doctoral work alongside Dr Gemma Webster and Dr David Brazier. Given that Rachel was only five and a half months into her doctoral study when the UK went into the first of the COVID19 lockdowns* in March 2020, we consider it a real achievement that she managed to complete her empirical work, write it up, and submit her thesis in October 2022, exactly three years after joining our research group.

Rachel’s doctoral study is entitled The influence of culture on perceived use of public libraries by forced migrants in Scotland and England. Continue reading →