01 October 2024
Circle U. Summer School reinvigorated passion for PhD research, King's student says
King’s PhD candidate recently attended the Circle U. Summer School in Belgium and shares her experience on the four-day long course centering 'Language in Education Research'.
King’s PhD candidate recently attended the Circle U. Summer School and shares her experience on the four-day long course.
The summer school titled ‘Language in Education Research: Ecological and Mixed Method Approaches’, took place over four days in Belgium. The student decided to undergo the course as a supplement to her PhD studies at King’s. We asked her what she took from the course, why it was valuable and whether she would recommend it to other PhD candidates.
What did you learn from the summer school?
The lectures and workshops covered the most fundamental elements of educational research, such as ecological approaches, mixed methods, design-based research, classroom-based research and statistical analysis.
How do you believe the course will benefit your PhD research?
Since my research is based in a classroom, I had a great opportunity to consider how to make my study more ecologically valid. Additionally, my research requires collaboration with teachers using mixed methods. Therefore, I found the lectures on “design-based research” and “mixed methods” particularly impressive.
Would you recommend the summer school to other PhD candidates and if yes, why?
I highly recommend the Circle U. Summer School to other PhD students and researchers. The summer school reinvigorated my passion for my PhD research journey. It provided an opportunity to meet many other researchers and share our collective experiences, including our concerns and difficulties. I gained momentum and motivation by listening to the stories of others, as well as sharing mine with them. I also had the opportunity to briefly present my research and the feedback that I received was invaluable.
This course was amongst three other summer school offerings by Circle U.: Rethinking Global Health in Louvain-la-Neuve; Empowering Climate Action: Policy, Communication & Agency at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Democratic Governance and the Politics of Poverty at the University of Oslo.
Students can anticipate similar opportunities in the new year from Circle U. Summer School which will be found on their website.