Dr Lyndsey Middleton on the move

Dr Lyndsey Middleton

Dr Lyndsey Middleton

Congratulations – and good luck – to Edinburgh Napier University 2020 PhD graduate Dr Lyndsey Middleton as she embarks on the next stage of her career.

Lyndsey has recently transferred from her Senior Assistant Statistician post at the Scottish Government into the role of Senior Statistical Officer within the Capital and Borrowing Statistics team in the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). This also means a switch of work base for Lyndsey from Edinburgh in Scotland to Darlington in England.

In her new role, Lyndsey will oversee some key tasks associated with the publication of statistics in the quarterly live tables and also annual data, including a statistical bulletin. She will also undertake data-related tasks such as quality assurance of the materials sent to, and data collected from, local authorities.

Further to this, Lyndsey now has some line management responsibilities, and opportunities for work-related travel for team days, networking, and learning events. She snapped the shot of the River Thames below on her return journey home to the north of England after her first work trip in her new role to the London office of the MHCLG last Wednesday 3rd December.

River Thames London

The River Thames, London. Photo credit Dr Lyndsey Middleton.

What can you do with a PhD? Ten answers from graduates who completed their doctoral studies between 2015 and 2023

One of the questions most often asked of doctoral students is What are you going to do when you finish your PhD? For some students it is also one of the most dreaded, especially when it comes from family members or friends who barely understand the title of the doctoral research in question. An obvious, and truthful, answer is ‘No longer work on my thesis’. However, this isn’t really a suitable response. The questioner is interested in hearing about ‘proper’ job ambitions, and the value of these to a successful future career. Continue reading

Funded Social Informatics PhD opportunities at Edinburgh Napier University: apply by 15th January 2023

If you would like to study for a PhD from October 2023, the Social Informatics Research Group at Edinburgh Napier University is currently advertising the following projects:

  1. Behaviour change for cybersecurity: Increasing awareness and reducing susceptibility – supervised by Dr JP Vargheese
  2. A new model for information literacies of community representatives – supervised by Dr Peter Cruickshank
  3. Online safety and digital literacy – supervised by Dr David Haynes
  4. Organisational learning and agile coaching – supervised by Dr Pritam Chita and Dr Peter Cruickshank
  5. Policy changes for inclusion of disabled students in HE – supervised by Dr Debbie Meharg
  6. Privacy and identity in the metaverse – supervised by Dr David Haynes
  7. Trust, risk and digital identity for digitally-unsure citizens – supervised by Dr Peter Cruickshank

Continue reading

An afternoon of advice on studying part-time for a PhD

LIRG logoLast month on 18th November 2022, I was delighted to take part in an event deigned for those interested in undertaking part-time doctoral studies.

The speakers at Routes and experiences of doing an LIS PhD were brought together by the committee of the Library and Information Research Group (LIRG) of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) to provide insight into the experience of undertaking a PhD while working, as well as provide practical information on topics such as making an application for a PhD place, and the different routes to earning the title of ‘Doctor‘. Continue reading

New roles for Social Informatics PhD graduates Buunk, Middleton, Mowbray, and Ryan

What can you do with a PhD from the Centre for Social Informatics at Edinburgh Napier University? Find out here with news of four former PhD students who graduated between 2018 and 2020. Continue reading

An internship with the Scottish Government for Marina Milosheva

Marina Milosheva

Marina Milosheva

Today marks the start of a full-time internship for Centre for Social Informatics PhD student Marina Milosheva. For a period of 13 weeks, Marina will be working at the Advanced Learning and Skills Analysis Unit within the Scottish Government. This Unit is a part of the Scottish Government’s Learning Directorate. The work undertaken within the Unit focuses on the improvement of the lives of children and young people in Scotland through raising educational standards.

The title of Marina’s internship is ‘Evidence review as part of the evaluation of the Developing young workforce programme (2014-21)’. It is administered through the Scottish Graduate School of Social Scottish Science (SGSSS) internship scheme.  Continue reading

Goodbye 2021, hello 2022

fireworksEdinburgh Napier University opened its doors again this morning after the Christmas break. This, however, is metaphorical reopening for me. As record numbers of Covid19 cases are reported in Scotland (and the UK as a whole), I will be continuing my research and PhD supervision activities off-campus from home. Continue reading

Updated Centre for Social Informatics flyer (v13) and an opportunity to join us

Centre for Social Informatics flyer version 13A new version (V13) of the Centre for Social Informatics flyer is now available from the Social Informatics blog on the Edinburgh Napier University web pages. Please follow the link to read about the work of our research group, including details of research expertise, funders, recent PhD completions, and recent publications. The flyer also profiles the thirteen academic and research staff within the research group, alongside our nine current research students.

Normally we wouldn’t publish a new version of our flyer at this time of year. Instead we would wait until after our next intake of PhD students in October. However, some of our staff have recently changed titles/job roles, so we wanted to reflect their achievements in the document now. Continue reading

An internship with Marine Scotland for Katherine Stephen

Marine Scotland Scottish Government logoToday Centre for Social Informatics PhD student Katherine Stephen starts a 3-month paid internship with Marine Scotland. The internship has been organised through the Scottish Graduate School of Social Scottish Science (SGSSS) internship programme, and is funded by the Scottish Government. Continue reading

Newly published and available online from Emerald ‘Workplace information literacy: a bridge to the development of Innovative Work Behaviour’

Middleton Hall workplace information literacy innovative work behaviour behavior article headerWorkplace information literacy: a bridge to the development of innovative work behaviour is an article that I recently co-authored with Dr Lyndsey Middleton. It is now available as a PDF from the Journal of Documentation. (The manuscript of this paper is also available on the Edinburgh Napier repository for those who do not have subscription access to the Journal of Documentation). Continue reading