Mar 2025, Issue 2 View online
SCDTP and Network Update
SCDTP and Network Update
Newsletter
28 March 2025

Dear SCDTP Students, PGRs, and Supervisors,

Welcome to this week's edition of the SCDTP newsletter!

We’re pleased to share the latest updates, opportunities, and highlights from across the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership. Whether you’re preparing for upcoming events, looking to connect with fellow researchers, or exploring professional development resources, there’s plenty to discover.

Read on to stay informed and make the most of the opportunities available to you!

Meditation Sessions Update
Instinctive Meditation
Instinctive Meditation
No session in April.
Next sessions is in May,
Fridays, 1 to 1:30pm
Zoom link

There will be no wellbeing session in April, but we’re pleased to announce that sessions will resume in May and continue through June on the following dates:

  • Friday, 16th May | 1:00 – 1:30 PM
  • Friday, 23rd May | 1:00 – 1:30 PM
  • Friday, 6th June | 1:00 – 1:30 PM
  • Friday, 27th June | 1:00 – 1:30 PM

Each session introduces a different technique, so there’s no commitment required—attend as often as you like.

What to Expect

These sessions provide practical techniques for managing anxiety and stress while also helping to develop self-awareness and self-mapping.

Some sessions will focus on calming the nervous system through movement, voice work, and body awareness. These techniques promote relaxation and help create a deeper mind-body connection, allowing you to ease into a natural state of well-being.

Other sessions will explore self-awareness and self-mapping, helping you understand the patterns beneath coping mechanisms and habitual behaviours. By gaining insight into your emotions, needs, and workload, you can create more balance and clarity in your daily life.

Regardless of the session focus, all techniques offer a gentle, supportive space for you to explore what feels natural for you and your body.

Building Community

These sessions are not only a personal wellbeing resource but also an opportunity to connect with others. At the end of each session, there will be an optional five-minute space for sharing experiences, insights, or reflections. This is a confidential, supportive environment, where listening with kindness and respect is encouraged.

About Tailored Meditation

Tailored Meditation creates a safe space to explore your natural healing responses, process experiences, and reflect on what truly matters to you.

Based on both tradition and modern science, this style of Instinctive Meditation fosters a welcoming and accessible approach. Meditation has been shown to support stress reduction, anxiety management, and overall health while helping maintain a healthy work-life balance.

What Participants Say

"Sabrina explains concepts so well, making the practice really meaningful. I found this deepened my self-awareness, and I appreciated the time to ease back into the present moment after meditating." – Callum

"As a student, movement is really important for me. Sabrina reminded me of this and introduced new ways to incorporate it into my day. I now stretch, play, and move more—it’s made such a difference!" – Georgia

"Sabrina put me at ease, giving me the confidence to try something I might have dismissed. She speaks from both knowledge and experience, which made the session feel very approachable." – Jess

 

We hope you’ll join us for these sessions! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

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Latest SCDTP Blog

Click the link below to read the latest blog by our students Max Dixon and Alexia Malaj

17th March 2025
Continuous Colonial Clouds: Tear gas and the enduring legacies of Empire in Kenya and Hong Kong
Read more...
10th March 2025
First-Year Cohort Training: A Journey of Connection, Reflection, and Growth
Read more...

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DTP Network Training

Expand Your Research Skills with Short Methods Courses

Did you know that some of our SCDTP training is open to students from other DTPs? Similarly, many other ESRC-funded Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs) open their training opportunities to external students, including those from SCDTP. This means you can access a wider range of training courses to support your research development.

The Short Methods Courses Programme, offered by various DTPs, provides valuable training in key methodological areas. These courses align with some of the skills gaps identified in the TNA/DNA spreadsheet circulated in the last ESRC newsletter.

As these courses are organised externally from SCDTP, students will need to apply for RTSG funding in advance if there are any cost implications, such as course fees or travel expenses. Please note that RTSG funding cannot be applied retrospectively, so funding approval must be secured before any payments are made.

If your Training Needs Analysis (TNA) or Development Needs Analysis (DNA) highlights a methodology gap, you may find relevant courses in this programme. For full details and to explore available courses, visit: LSE Methods Short Courses.

 

This is a great opportunity to broaden your expertise and strengthen your research toolkit—take a look and see what’s available!

Other DTP Course List: 

 
Week 1 - Tuesday 6 May 2025  
Measuring Policy Positions of Political Agents by Emeritus Professor Michael Laver  
Available in-person only.
Sign up opens on 22 April 2025
 
Gap Identified in ESRC Spreadsheet DTP
Advanced Methods Training (line 8) Grand Union
Advanced research methods (line 75) White Rose 
   
Week 2 - Wednesday 14 May 2025  
Data Visualisations by Dr Daniel de Kadt  
Available in-person at the Data Science Institute and online  
Sign up opens on 30 April 2025  
Gap Identified in ESRC Spreadsheet DTP
Advanced Methods Training (line 8) Grand Union
Advanced research methods (line 75) White Rose 
   
Week 3 - Tuesday 20 May 2025  
Agent-Based Modeling by Dr Milena Tsvetkova  
Available in-person at the Data Science Institute and online  
Sign up opens on 6 May 2025  
Gap Identified in ESRC Spreadsheet DTP
Advanced Methods Training (line 8) Grand Union
Advanced research methods (line 75) White Rose 
   
Week 3 - Wednesday 21 May 2025  
Creative research methods – an introduction by Dr Eileen Alexander  
Available in-person and online  
Sign up opens on 7 May 2025  
Gap Identified in ESRC Spreadsheet DTP
Interdisciplinary methods (line 33) NINE
field methods/qualitative (line 34) NINE
   
Week 4 - Tuesday 27 May 2025  
Modern Text Analysis and NLP with Python by Dr Patrick Gildersleve  
Available in-person and online (please note in-person attendance will be prioritised as remote debugging for this course may be difficult)  
Sign up opens on 13 May 2025  
Gap Identified in ESRC Spreadsheet DTP
text analysis (line 16)  LISS
Advanced research methods (line 75) White Rose 
   
Week 5 - Wednesday 4 June 2025  
Creating Social Science Datasets using Public APIs by Dr Zach Dickson  
Available in-person and online  
Sign up opens on 21 May 2025  
Gap Identified in ESRC Spreadsheet DTP
Advanced Methods Training (line 8) Grand Union
Advanced research methods (line 75) White Rose 
   
Week 6 - Wednesday 10 June 2025  
Participatory Methods by Dr Sonja Marzi  
Available in-person only  
Sign up opens on 27 May 2025  
Gap Identified in ESRC Spreadsheet DTP
Participatory methods (line 56) SGSSS
Interdisciplinary methods (line 33) NINE
ethical and participatory tools (line 67) South West 

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SCDTP News

Potential Impact of USAID Suspension on DHS Data Access

We are aware that the Trump administration has suspended the function of USAID, which may impact access to Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data. As a first step, SCDTP would like to understand if any of our students’ projects are affected and explore how we can offer support.

If DHS data is central to your PhD research, we ask that you discuss this with your supervisory team and fill in this form by Friday 4th April 2025 to let us know:

  • Whether and how your research may be affected.
  • Whether you have considered any mitigation plans.

Form Link: https://forms.office.com/e/bvge3Lp8TC

If DHS data is not central to your research, no action is required.

Do reach out to us at scdtp@soton.ac.uk so we can offer guidance and support where possible.

 

If you would like to discuss this further with a member of the SCDTP team, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

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Other Network News
PopFest 2025: 29th Annual Postgraduate Population Studies Conference
PopFest 2025: 29th Annual Postgraduate Population Studies Conference
University of Southampton on 6 - 8 July 2025. Deadline for Papers is 4 April.
More Details here

This year’s PopFest, the conference for postgraduate students in population studies, will take place on 6-8 July at the University of Southampton.

PopFest brings together researchers from different social science disciplines, such as demography, sociology, social statistics, public health, social policy, international development, human geography, urban and landscape planning, social anthropology, gender studies and other related fields, with a focus on population studies.

PopFest is organised by PhD students, and provides a supportive learning environment for postgraduate students to present and discuss their work with their peers, and to get feedback and ideas from fellow researchers. The conference is a great networking opportunity, giving participants a chance to learn about the breadth of population research being conducted.

PopFest is organised in conjunction with the British Society for Population Studies (BSPS). This year organisation is being shared with the ESRC Centre for Population Change - Connecting Generations.

Abstract submission & bursary application deadline is 4 April 2025.

 More information & provisional timetable: https://www.cpc.ac.uk/activities/popfest_2025/

Submit your abstract: https://southampton.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3sM94rPL5474ieW

Apply for a conference bursary: https://southampton.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3lLg3lPQJDbm5sW

Part-time Postgraduate Researchers Symposium
Part-time Postgraduate Researchers Symposium
Friday 4th April 2025
Send your EOI

The University of Southampton Mobility DTP Programme Management Team are delighted to let you know there are still spaces at our Part-time Postgraduate Researchers Symposium on Friday 4th April 2025. The EPSRC Mobility DTP Programme institutions (York, QMUL, Bruel and UoS) have run link events over the last few years. This is an overview of the UoS Event:

 

Aims of the day

• Provide PGRs an understanding of how to successfully navigate part-time doctoral study alongside other commitments

• Provide supervisors and other staff working with part-time PGRs an understanding of their needs, challenges and strengths and how to support them successfully

• Reflect on strategies to support individual and cohorts of part-time PGRs to succeed in doctoral study

 

Contributors include Dr Jon Rainford, Open University – co-author of the book, ‘Thriving in Part-Time Doctoral Study: integrating work, life and research’ – Jon Rainford and Kay Guccione.

 

Audience

• Mobility DTP PGRs, academics and programme managers/PRISMS from University of Southampton and EPSRC Mobility partner institutions

• UoS part-time PGRs, CDT/DTP/DFA/DLA Managers and academics

• PRISMS and any other colleagues from across the sector interested in or who wish to develop an understanding of these issues

 

If you wish to join us, please email to express and very briefly explain your interest: ds1dtp@soton.ac.uk 

 

It is an all-day event and refreshments will be provided so please also indicate if you have any specific dietary or other requirements.

 

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Thank You for Reading

That’s all for this week’s edition of the SCDTP and Network Update!

We hope you found this edition helpful and inspiring. If you have any news, achievements, or opportunities to share, we’d love to hear from you—just get in touch! Stay connected, keep making progress, and we’ll be back next fortnight with more updates.

 

As we come to the end of this newsletter, we would like to take a moment to extend our warmest wishes to all our Muslim students, fellows, and supervisors celebrating Eid Mubarak! May this joyous occasion bring you peace, happiness, and cherished moments with loved ones.

Warm regards,
The SCDTP Team

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