Methods events
NCRM is a leading provider of social science research methods events. These events are developed collaboratively with input from strategic partners, with the aim of creating large meet-up events (online and in-person) for people both within and outside of academia, utilising methods in social science research. Examples of our large research methods events include:
MethodsCon
On 13-14 September 2022, we are hosting a large in-person event in Manchester called MethodsCon. This will be a cross-sector event featuring more than 30 sessions on methods in health and social science research. Attendees will be able to take part in workshops and interactive seminars, hear presentations from a variety of experts and collaborate with researchers from across different sectors and disciplines.
Co-production retreat, May 2023
Following extensive targeted engagement focussed on health research and social sciences, we hosted a two-day co-production retreat in Chester. At this event we brought together final year post-graduate researchers with ‘health and wellbeing’ pathway leads from various Doctoral Training Partnerships.
Twenty researchers, along with NCRM staff focused on new and emerging trends and methodologies in this interdisciplinary space. The retreat also served to create collegial connections across the DTP network, and various possible collaborations beyond the retreat are currently being explored. These include the launch of a new Methodological Special Interest Group.
2021 Research Methods e-Festival
The 2021 Research Methods e-Festival took place in October 2021. Organised by NCRM and methods@manchester, the festival featured more than 80 sessions over five days, with more than 130 speakers offering diverse perspectives on the festival’s theme: innovation, adaptation and evolution of the social sciences.
2023 Research Methods e-Festival
The 2023 Research Methods e-Festival took place between 7 and 9 November 2023. The festival programme featured 100 sessions over three days. Professor Mark Reed gave the keynote on evidencing impact before we announced the winners of the NCRM Impact Prize.
Spring, summer and autumn schools
NCRM's spring, summer and autumn schools have developed a cross-disciplinary focus. The 2015 school focused on radical interdisciplinarity, and interdisciplinarity has been inherent in all of the subsequent schools.
The 2019 summer school on visualisation included talks by speakers from fields as diverse as the history of art and materials engineering, as well as one by a professional photographer. The participants were divided into cross-disciplinary teams that worked together on exercises across the five days.
In 2021, the spring school was delivered in the format of an online Python bootcamp over five weeks, enabling an ongoing opportunity for applying learning into practice settings. In 2022, the University of Exeter hosted the NCRM/Exeter Computational Communication Methods Spring School.
The NCRM/Exeter Computational Communication Methods Spring School took place at the University of Exeter in April 2022. The programme covered approaches such as machine learning and network analysis, with speakers discusses how to apply the methods in communication research, looking at text, images and social media data.
The 2nd NCRM/Exeter Computational Communication Methods Spring School was held in April 2023, again at the University of Exeter. As with the first event, the spring school covered various computational approaches, with training available at introductory and advanced levels, catering for both social scientists and data scientists.