Frances Ryan takes the stage
Hot on the heels of fellow Edinburgh Fringe performer Clare Taylor, last night it was the turn of Edinburgh Napier University research student Frances Ryan to step up to the microphone. Frances delivered an invited presentation at The Banshee Labyrinth (fringe venue 156) under the banner of the Edinburgh Skeptics.
Clare, Pam, and Susan on stage in the yurt (photo credit Jo Young)
Last Thursday Edinburgh Napier University microbiologist Dr Clare Taylor and her co-presenter Dr Pam Cameron (NovoScience) welcomed a sell-out audience to the yurt in Edinburgh’s St Andrew Square at their Fringe show Women! Science is not for you! Over the course of an hour they highlighted evidence to show how the gender balance in science careers shifts in the favour of men the further you look up the career ladder. They discussed the reasons for this, considered whether or not this is a problem, and debated possible strategies to bring about change. A key question is how to stem the flow of wasted talent that escapes from the “leaky pipeline” of women in science, as identified in the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Tapping all our talents report of 2012.
The Edinburgh festivals are now well underway in Scotland’s capital city. I love this time of year, and try to fit in as many shows as possible around my work commitments. One week into the Fringe I have already seen ten shows, and I have plenty of tickets for several more between now and 25th August. I am particularly looking forward to two performances, both of which are highly relevant to my work at Edinburgh Napier University.
iDocQ, the annual doctoral colloquium for students studying for PhDs in information science and other related disciplines, took place this year on 27th June at the University of Glasgow. It attracted participants at all stages of doctoral study, with students travelling to Glasgow from as far away as Aberystwyth to join in the activities on the day.
Dr Nicole van Deursen
Many congratulations to Dr Nicole van Deursen of the Centre for Social Informatics, who graduates with her PhD from Edinburgh Napier University at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh today.
Nicole’s thesis is entitled HI-risk: a socio-technical method to identify and monitor healthcare information security risks in the information society. The doctoral work was supervised by Professor Alistair Duff and Professor Bill Buchanan.
Professor Blaise Cronin
Dr Blaise Cronin, Rudy Professor of Information Science, Indiana University is Visiting Professor to the Centre for Social Informatics at Edinburgh Napier University. Next week he will be on our Merchiston campus to deliver a presentation entitled “Beethoven vs. Bieber: On the meaningfulness of (alt)metrics” (abstract below) as part of the School of Computing/Institute for Informatics and Digital Innovation Tech Talk series.
We are currently advertising a fully-funded PhD studentship hosted by the Centre for Social Informatics, (my research centre within the Institute for Informatics and Digital Innovation) at Edinburgh Napier University. (The actual advert can be found on jobs.ac.uk and the Edinburgh Napier University vacancies web site.)
From Wednesday 25th to Friday 27th June the Information Science pathway of ESRC Scottish Graduate School of Social Science information science pathway is hosting three days of activities offered free of charge to PhD students in Information Science and related disciplines (with travel bursaries available to students registered at Scottish universities that are members of the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science).
The Institute for Informatics and Digital Innovation (IIDI) is currently advertising four funded PhD places to start in October 2014. The full advertisement can be found at jobs.ac.uk and on the Edinburgh Napier University vacancies web site. The closing date for applications is 31st May 2014, with interviews expected to take place on 19th June 2014.
8 members of the Centre for Social Informatics tweeted the talk – including Frances Ryan, Christine Irving, Leo Appleton & Jan Auernhammer pictured here
It’s rare that all the members of the Centre for Social Informatics (CSI) manage to gather together at the same place at the same time. However, we almost managed it last Thursday when we attended the inaugural professorial lecture of our CSI colleague Dr Alistair Duff. Apart from one PhD student and one researcher (who was at a conference in Finland presenting two papers, including one that I co-authored), there was a full turn-out of the academic staff, researchers, and research students of CSI at the event, all eager to hear what Alistair had to say about The information society and its challenges. Two PhD students made special journeys to attend the event from afar: Leo Appleton caught the train up from Liverpool and Nicole Van Deursen flew in from Spain.
Hazel Hall 