Huddersfield Business School holds Annual Research Conference

Last week, Huddersfield Business School hosted its 7th Annual Research Conference, running from the 25th to the 27th of April. This year’s conference had a special significance as it was the first opportunity since January 2020 for the School’s researchers to come together to share their work. The Annual Research Conference provides academic staff and postgraduate research students with the opportunity to present research on a wide range of topics through workshops, papers, and poster presentations.

All sessions were engaging and informative and provided staff the chance to reconnect with colleagues from all departments. Over the three-day conference, around 120 academic, professional service staff, and postgraduate research (PGR) students attended the sessions with around sixty papers presented across twenty parallel sessions, alongside several plenary sessions and workshops. 

The conference began on Tuesday morning with an opening address from Professor Stuart Roper who provided attendees with an overview of the event and the upcoming sessions. There were various paper presentations throughout the day, and the diversity was demonstrated for, example by us listening to Dr Omar Khaled Abdelrahman's work on the trade and consumption of 'vintage' objects, and a plenary session for attendees to ask questions about building research for journal publication. The day finished with workshops, one of which was a beginner’s guide to building research impact.

The second day of the conference consisted of various paper presentations and workshops. PGR students had the opportunity to display their research through 5-minute thesis presentations and a research poster session on The Street in the Business School. Both sessions were very well attended. Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Lisa Du-Lieu, took part in the poster session, presenting her research into the Lived Experience of D/deaf Employees in the Workplace. Lisa Du-Lieu said: “The poster session was a fantastic opportunity to meet other researchers in similar and dissimilar sectors. I made useful contacts and received wonderful feedback on my research. I am looking forward to delivering a paper on the research’s progression at next year’s conference.” 

 

The final day of the research conference saw more paper presentations, including, for example, Professor Eleanor Davies and Anne Gregory's research on the emotional toll of the pandemic on health communicators. There were two plenary sessions. One included an in-depth look at the benefits of academic staff participating in Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), and a presentation from Luke Salkeld, Commissioning Editor at The Conversation, about publishing engaging articles for the channel. The three-day event ended with a conference dinner at The Keys, where staff came together to celebrate the hard work everyone contributed to the conference. 

This year’s research conference was a fantastic way to welcome new staff that have joined Huddersfield Business School since the pandemic by portraying the important research conducted within the School. Gillian Mooney, Research and Impact Officer, said: “It was incredibly exciting to meet colleagues, old and new, and learn about the cutting-edge research going on in the School. The atmosphere throughout was incredibly positive, and I am going away feeling enthused about the future of research at Huddersfield Business School.” 

Professor Stuart Roper, Associate Dean (Research & Enterprise), added: “This year’s research conference was particularly important due to being the first face-to-face research event in over two years. The conference allowed our academics and PGR students to present the research they are working on to receive feedback, which will assist them with developing journal publications. We enjoyed a lively PGR poster session in The Street, and the PGRs research ideas received great feedback. The conference was well attended and featured some interesting papers together with workshops on areas of strategic importance. I am very much looking forward to next year’s conference in 2023. Thank you to all staff and students for participating in the event.”