Congratulations Dr Alicja Pawluczuk!

Alicja Pawluczuk Gemma Webster

Dr Alicja Pawluczuk and Dr Gemma Webster

Congratulations to our Centre for Social Informatics colleague Dr Alicja Pawluczuk! Alicja was one of nine School of Computing PhD graduands at the Edinburgh Napier University graduation ceremony at the Usher Hall yesterday afternoon.

Alicja’s PhD is entitled Youth digital culture co-creation: measuring social impact in Scotland. The purpose of the research was to develop knowledge of social impact evaluation of youth digital projects in Scotland. Dr Gemma Webster was Alicja’s Director of Studies, her second supervisor was Dr Colin Smith, and I was her third supervisor. For further information about the specifics of the research questions, outcomes, theoretical contributions, and recommendations from the work, please see Alicja’s #digiIMPACT page on her web site at www.alicjapawluczuk.com.

Following the graduation ceremony, several of Alicja’s colleagues and fellow PhD students joined her at Café Grande in Bruntsfield to toast her success. Continue reading

Congratulations to Katherine Stephen for an excellent Masters dissertation on metaskills

Katherine Stephen

Katherine Stephen

Congratulations to our PhD student Katherine Stephen, who last week learnt that she was awarded 80% for the Masters dissertation component of her 1+3 PhD. Katherine’s studentship is a collaborative award funded by the ESRC and Skills Development Scotland, and comprises a Masters year at the University of Edinburgh (2018/19) prior to three years of doctoral study at Edinburgh Napier University (2019/22).

Katherine’s Masters dissertation took the form of an extended PhD proposal, and thus has the same title as her doctoral study: Metaskills maturity for future workplaces. The work that she completed for the dissertation last year included a small pilot study entitled Metacognitive experiences of artificial intelligence in the workplace.

In her dissertation Continue reading

RIVAL at the Royal Society of Edinburgh Awards Reception 2019

The RIVAL poster on display at the Royal Society of Edinburgh Awards Reception 2019

Last week, on Monday 9th September, I participated at the Royal Society of Edinburgh‘s (RSE) Annual Awards Reception. Each year this event provides a snapshot of the creative and innovative projects that are supported by the RSE and its partners: the Scottish Funding Council, Scottish Enterprise, BBSRC, STFC, BP, IBioIC and Fullbright. Continue reading

Bookings fill up fast for RIVAL events 2, 3 and 4

RIVAL logoFollowing the success of the ‘taster’ Research, Impact, Value and Library and Information Science (RIVAL) project event on July 11th 2019, most of the places for the set of three network events on 7th November 2019, 19th March 2020, and 9th July 2020 have been booked. Continue reading

RIVAL Network event 1: review and resources

#lisrival RIVAL event 1 delegate badgesLast Thursday 11th July 2019 Dr Bruce Ryan and I hosted the first of four Royal Society of Edinburgh funded Research Impact Value and Library and Information Science (RIVAL) network events. Thirty-five people in total came to Edinburgh Napier University’s Sighthill campus for a day of presentations, discussion, and networking. Continue reading

Follow #lisrival today to join the first RIVAL Network event remotely

Today Dr Bruce Ryan and I are hosting the first of the four Royal Society of Edinburgh funded Research Impact Value and Library and Information Science (RIVAL) network events at Edinburgh Napier University’s Sighthill campus. Continue reading

Event review: Bridging the gap between theory and practice roundtable, City University, 25th June 2019

Delegate at #oatap roundtable

Delegates at the roundtable event (photo credit Lyn Robinson)

Last week on Tuesday 25th June 2019 I was delighted to be one of approximately 40 invited library and information professionals and library and information science (LIS) researchers brought together to discuss the relationship between theory and practice, and to identify ways in which the theory/practice gap can be bridged. Continue reading

Closing the researcher-practitioner gap: an exploration of the impact of an AHRC networking grant

Hazel Hall, Peter Cruickshank & Bruce Ryan

Paper co-authors Hazel Hall, Peter Cruickshank & Bruce Ryan

A new article entitled ‘Closing the researcher-practitioner gap: an exploration of the impact of an AHRC networking grant‘ is now available from Emerald as an EarlyCite paper in the Journal of Documentation. Those with subscription access can download the full pdf from the journal’s web site. The manuscript is also available to download free of charge from the Edinburgh Napier University Repository. I co-authored this work with my Centre for Social Informatics colleagues Peter Cruickshank and Bruce Ryan. Continue reading

Newly published: ‘The social impact of digital youth work: what are we looking for?’

Media and Communication journalAmongst the articles just published in the latest issue of Media and Communication is a paper that that I co-authored with my Centre for Social Informatics colleagues Alicja Pawluczuk, Dr Gemma Webster, and Dr Colin Smith. The article is one of the outputs of Alicja’s doctoral study.

In ‘The social impact of digital youth work: what are we looking for?‘ we explore the ways in which digital youth workers perceive and evaluate the social impact of their work. The analysis draws on data collected in twenty semi-structured interviews with digital youth workers in Scotland in 2017. Continue reading