Five years of qualitative innovation: an NCRM showcase

The National Centre for Research Methods will be holding its sixth residential training event for early career researchers on 3-5 November 2010 at Jury's Inn Southampton.

This year’s Autumn School will be a celebration of some of the qualitative work conducted under the remit of NCRM over the last five years, focusing particularly on methodological innovations relating to researching space, place and mobility; on visual methods; and on the use of sensory data. Participants will be introduced to a range of examples of innovative qualitative developments and will be encouraged to think about what these might potentially offer to their own research. 

Programme and presenters

The Autumn School will be led by Professor Sue Heath (University of Manchester) and will kick off with a presentation by Les Back, Professor of Sociology at Goldsmiths College, University of London, in which he will reflect on why the social sciences need to broaden the range of qualitative tools available to researchers. Other sessions will include presentations from researchers based at past and present NCRM nodes, including the former ‘Qualiti’ node at Cardiff University, the former ‘Real Life Methods’ node at the Universities of Leeds and Manchester, the Realities node at the University of Manchester and the QUIC node at the University of Surrey. There will also opportunities for participants to discuss some of the methodological challenges arising from their own work - and of course plenty of time for socialising and networking!

Target audience

The NCRM Autumn School is targeted at post-doctoral early career researchers from across the UK social science community who are employed in research-led contracts and who often do not have the same opportunities to participate in training events as PhD students and junior lecturers. Sessions will not assume expert knowledge, but some familiarity with qualitative research will be an advantage. 

Apply for a place

There are 30 fully-funded places available (to include accommodation, all meals, and reasonable travel expenses to and from Southampton). Priority will be given to NCRM researchers, but around half of the places will be available by open competition. All applicants should complete and return the registration form (link below) by Friday 17th September and applicants for the open competition will be notified whether their application has been successful shortly after this date. Full details of the final programme will also be sent to successful applicants at this point.

Registration form