Presentation written (including a short story, references to muppets, wolves and other animals), clothes ironed, boots polished… all I need now is an early night. Leaving home at 6.30am tomorrow to travel to University of Leicester for my first conference presentation of 2015.
It’s going to be a looooooonnnnggggg day! But I am really looking forward to it – the sessions look really interesting, and very relevant to my research. In fact, I told a colleague I was going and they manage to book on too, so I ahve company for the journey – in true kermit fashion “Yaaaaaayyyyy!”
More info on the conference is available here: http://emotionalmethodologies.weebly.com/
I hope to be tweeting through the day and will write a blog entry afterwards. For those who are interested, this is what I will be presenting:
Title: Developing an academic identity – It’s not easy being ME!
Abstract: Challenging behaviour in children can be really… well, challenging! Challenging behaviour amongst researchers can be even harder to handle – for their supervisors and colleagues – and for themselves! How do you ‘handle’ a creative researcher who is reluctant to use academic language, actively welcomes emotions in research, refuses to put away their toys and insists on playing at every opportunity? What about when they influence and inspire others to do the same? Perhaps most challenging of all is my preference for first-person language in recognition that I am embedded and embodied within my research.
I will be exploring what it means to be ‘different’. Some of the questions I will be asking:
- Different from what…?
- What role does emotion play in my research?
- Does this approach affect my credibility – is it wise to be ‘childish’?
- Will my research be perceived as insignificant if it is communicated in a playful way?
I will also be asking you some key questions for you to consider about yourselves – after all, despite the title, it’s not all about me!
- What about you, how different do you think you are? What does that mean for you?
Research has greater impact at every level (personal, social and cultural) when we have the willingness to take risks, to break with the safety of tradition and to creatively be ourselves – but who is that? Perhaps I’m not being different, I’m just being ME? Let’s explore this together…