First Research Abroad Festival 2018 Event

Time:: 09:00 - 16:00
Date:: 14 April 2018
Venue:: Building 65 Lecture Theatre B (1201) Avenue Campus University of Southampton SO17 1BF

For more information regarding this event, please email Paty Romero de Mills and Adriana Patino-Santos at [email protected] .

Event details

The Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics would like to open an opportunity for returning students to showcase their year abroad research (YARP or ISM) with their fellow students and other members of the MLL staff during one day: the first Research Abroad Festival, 2018. The festival seeks to bring together experienced student-researchers and sojourners to be, who are about to embark in a similar journey. There will also be a space for students to exhibit photographs, videos and narratives of their experience.

There is little doubt that living abroad for an extended period of time is a transformational experience in more than one way. The achievements, challenges and once-in-a-lifetime encounters sojourns experience enrich their personal and professional profile in unexpected ways. However, these alleged gains are not exclusive to students of Modern Languages; students of other disciplines who also have the opportunity to study abroad or young people who organise gap years before or after university can also benefit from a period of residency in a foreign country in similar ways. In this context, the extended pieces of research the undergraduate students of languages at the University of Southampton conduct during their year abroad (YARP or ISM) is a unique opportunity open almost exclusively to them, since this exercise clearly distinguishes them not only from other sojourns, but from other students of languages around the country who are not expected to carry out a prolonged and systematic research project of this kind. The high quality investigations we obtain year after year, as well as the positive comments our students' work often receive from internal markers, supervisors and external examiners are testimony of the great potential these projects have to serve as evidence of the extent to which our students develop linguistically and professionally during their year abroad.

We believe that this festival will be formative for everyone. On the one hand, those who will present will have the opportunity to use their creativity and all the resources that they consider necessary to share their research findings effectively, providing in this way clear evidence of their readiness to participate in the world of work. At the same time, those who are planning to go abroad will enjoy the opportunity to be inspired by their fellow students' work.

FORMS OF PARTICIPATION:

Conference paper: A ten-minute presentation followed by ten minutes of questions/comments from the audience.
Research Poster: One one-sided A1 page (approx. 23.4 x 33.1 in) summarising aims, steps and findings of your research.
Photograph and reflective narrative (150 words max.)
As an attendee only (non-participant or exhibitor).

All presentations, posters and narratives should be written in English.

Photographs and narratives: Please send ONE photograph accompanied by a 150-word reflective narrative about the experience, lesson, gain or moment of realization you are trying to illustrate with your image. Please notice we are NOT interested in perfect Instagram-style images; we are looking for images the common tourist could have never obtained because, unlike you, they have not had the opportunity to develop a deep, close relationship with the host community or city/town where you lived. We are looking for a photograph that could be the answer to (one or some of) the following questions: What did I take from this experience? How has it changed my understanding of the place/community where I lived, of the place/community where I was born, of our world; of myself as a linguist, of myself as a specialist in cultures, of myself as a person?

Your abstract should contain:

A title
Main research aims
A brief contextualization or theoretical background.
Methods used to gather and analyse the data.
Main findings and conclusion.
A self-evaluation of main personal or professional gains this academic experience provided you with.

If you prefer to submit a different piece of creative work (drawing, piece of music, etc.), you are welcome to do so, simply let us know.

TWO-STEP APPLICATION PROCESS:

Step 1 - Everyone, including attendees only (non-speakers/exhibitors), please register via our Eventbrite page confirming your attendance and specifying in which way you would like to participate. Refreshments will be available, so your confirmed attendance will help us to avoid waste.

Step 2 - Submit your application via email to Paty Romero de Mills ( [email protected] ) and Adriana Patino-Santos ( [email protected] )

DEADLINE:

Please note the deadline to submit your proposal is 4pm on Thursday 18th January 2018.