Welcome

 

...to the page of the Dundee University Young Researchers Association.

 

We are a young student-run society, founded in 2014 with the goal of satisfying our scientific curiosity by gathering in interdisciplinary teams and using our combined skills to work towards a self-chosen, common goal.

 

You will define your own project together with your team and work towards its conclusion in a given timeframe.

 

One society year approximately follows one academic year and is a step by step process starting from forming a team, attending workshops, writing and submitting a proposal, researching in your group, and presenting your results at our annual symposium. To get an idea, see the following figure. For more detail, each step is explained in more detail below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step by Step:

 

 

1. Forming a team for a project:

 

Suggestions:

 

• Your team should have 2 or more members, and preferrably not more than 6.

• Your team can - and is encouraged to - have members from very different disciplines.

• Your research project doesn't have to match your degree. Feel free to get involved in a physics project as a law student.

 

But also consider:

 

• Areas that you think are completely unrelated with your project can have an impact on it. Consider the role of ethics commitees, patent law, economics, and animation and visualisation on science... or the other way round.

• How much you can achieve within an academic year and a limited budget.

 

Where to find team members?

 

• Get some of your friends/colleagues/classmates involved.

• Come along to our talks and workshops. We regularly go for a drink and a chat afterwards. There's a good chance you will find someone.

• Post on our facebook page or linkedIN group page who and what you are looking for.

 

 

2. Writing and Submitting a Proposal

 

For some examples of previous proposals have a look at the following link:

It is attached to a poll, which is of course completely voluntary, and will take about 15min to complete.

 

We strongly encourage you to come along to our workshop about writing proposals where the results of this poll will be used in order to assess the quality of those proposals (anonymously of course).

 

A template form for your proposal is available for you to download and to fill in.

 

 

 

 

 

3. Pitching your Project

 

In order to gain support for your project you will have to convince us, and one or more academic representative of the field you project is closest to, that what you want to do is a good idea. Support can come in the form of feedback, an academic contact, funding, etc.

 

As before, we strongly encourage you to come along to our pitching training workshop in order to get some expert advice on how to get across your message and achieve the desired effect.

 

 

4. Working thoughout the Year

 

What you do during the year is entirely dependent on your individual project. Things to consider are:

 

• Your time (and probably your budget) is limited. Plan accordingly.

• Unexpected or negative results are results as well.

• Observations made by chance can entirely change the direction of your research. Consider the discovery of penicillin.

 

 

5. Presenting at our Annual Symposium

 

This is it! You have successfully designed a project, convinced the assessors to support and fund your project, you have been working on it for nearly a year, now it's time for presenting your project to a wider audience.

We will provide the space and cover the costs for printing your posters. We will also invite fellow students and members of staff. Convince them that you deserve their vote above all others and win an - as yet undisclosed - prize. Last year our winners wrote up their project for publication in the Magdalen!

 

For a video of last year's symposium, have a look here: