Thesis Twitter Conference 2012

Thesis Twitter papers are available here

Congratulations to the winners!

First prize: Alexander Wright with his Thesis Twitter paper “Automatically improving patient selection for chemotherapy”

Second prize: Cassey McRae with her Thesis Twitter paper “Improving the success rates of in vitro fertilisation (IVF): Can we predict the best eggs to fertilise?”

Commendations:

Scott Cole with his Thesis Twitter paper “Using your past to imagine your future: The ability to imagine plausible events in one’s lifetime and its link with human memory”

Audrey Thorstad with her Thesis Twitter paper “Tudor Castles: Lineage, local politics and martial prowess”

Jeremy Harmer with his Thesis Twitter paper “Is internet privacy dead?”

——————————————————————————————————————-

Following the success of previous Thesis Twitter competitions held by the University of Canterbury, the University of Auckland and the University of Otago, the inaugural University of Leeds Thesis Twitter Conference will be held on the 11th of December, 9am to 5pm. You can catch the action here.

The Thesis Twitter Conference provides a platform to engage an audience outside of your research field. It also allows you the opportunity to hone your skills in communicating your research concisely and clearly. Hopefully you will receive feedback and make new connections that you will maintain throughout your research career.

The Rules

• You must be a University of Leeds Postgraduate Researcher
• You must register for the event by 5pm on the 7th of December. Register at- https://www.survey.leeds.ac.uk/uoltweetyourthesis/
• You are allowed a maximum of 6 tweets. Each tweet can be a maximum of 140 characters.
• Number each of your tweets
• End each tweet with #UoLTweCon
• The first tweet should be the title of your thesis
• The final tweet should sum up your work to date
• You can tweet about a part of your research or your full project
• Links to extra text explaining your research is not allowed
• Links to videos, images and bibliographical information may be included
• Postings will be stored and displayed online after the competition
• Claire Savy from the SDDU office will be overseeing the event and retweeting entries as they come in

The Prize!

For the winner and runner up of the crowd favourite, cash prizes of £100 and £25 will be awarded, respectively. Crowd favourite will be decided by a poll. This poll will be open after the conference ends at 5pm. Voting will remain open for 24 hours. When voting please select your three favourite Thesis Twitter papers. To vote follow this link https://www.survey.leeds.ac.uk/thesistwitterpoll.  Exciting news! Winners will be announced on Wednesday the 12th of December prior to a screening of the PhD movie! Get more information and book your ticket here.

#UoLTweCon Tips

• You can tweet your thesis any time within the competition (9am-5pm).
• It is helpful to give a tweet prior to your thesis tweet entry to announce it is beginning. This can also stop two papers being tweeted simultaneously.
• To ensure your tweets are in the right order, draft them in advance in word and then copy and paste them into twitter.
• Follow thesis tweets via the hashtag #UoLTweCon or follow @UoLPGconference
• Discussion of papers is encouraged. Any questions should include the hashtag #UoLTweCon

An Example

This mock #UoLTweCon paper is an example from the University of Canterbury. The brevity removes the subtlety of the thesis (this is to be expected!), but it pretty much represents the gist of their case.

1. Running with the beat: The relationship between running pace and music tempo #UoLTweCon

2. Do people run faster when listening to faster (higher cadence) music? Do people match the rhythm of their feet to the rhythm of the music? #UoLTweCon

3. Recreational runners completed a fixed course while listening to music of their choice. Running speed and cadence and music tempo recorded. #UoLTweCon

4. Runners did match foot speed to music tempo – faster tempo, more foot strikes (more steps taken). But faster tempo was correlated with slower speed. #UoLTweCon

5. Listening to fast tempo music resulted in runners taking more footsteps but running more slowly overall. #UoLTweCon

6. If music is to benefit training, runners need to work on foot speed and long stride length when listening to fast tempo music. #UoLTweCon

For updates, further examples of previous entries and tips for the conference follow our twitter feed Follow @UoLPGconference

If you are unsure of how to use Twitter check out this useful video. If you have any queries please contact Claire Savy (c.savy@adm.leeds.ac.uk)

Whilst as a general rule, it is important to raise the profile of research through public dissemination, there can be situations where it may be inappropriate or even dangerous to publicise research. For instance, in some cases when working with vulnerable people the dangers of publication to the individuals or general group involved, might outweigh any benefits. In addition, the University is obliged to consider reputational risk and risk to students and researchers. It is also important not to disclose any information that is subject to a confidentiality agreement. Please consider carefully whether it is appropriate to tweet your research, and if uncertain please ask for further advice.

We are grateful to the University of Canterbury for sharing their information.

The organisers reserve the right to cancel this competition or alter any of the rules at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, and if circumstances arise outside of its control.