Training

EUROTAST embarked on an ambitious educational programme for its PhD students working across multiple disciplines. Rather than focussing primarily on international conferences as a platform for learning and presentation, the network used its symposia programme as an opportunity to integrate complimentary training on the nuances of exploring this history, in addition to formal skills development.  The programme included:

2013 TRAINING

  • 26/09/13 – Career Development Workshop 4: Postdoc Grant Writing (Interdisciplinary): Lead by Chris Sturrock (Administrative Coordinator, SCIENCE Research and Innovation, University of Copenhagen) and Katja Pedersen (Research Consultant, Nature and Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen)
  • 25/09/13 – Career Development Workshop 3: Job applications and résumé’s
  • 24/09/13 – Career Development Workshop 2: Understanding employer needs and expectations: Session included face to face discussion with potential employers
  • 23/09/13 – Career Development Workshop 1: Skills assessment and the logic of the job search process: Lead by Mike Wenøe (Careers Adviser, Humanities faculty and student services, Copenhagen University)
  • 15/05/13 – Slavery Memorial Site Visit: Guided tour of the Musée de Bretagne and visit to Mémorial de l’abolition de l’esclavage in Nantes. Visit also included discussion with  representatives of advocacy group Anneaux de la Mémoire.
  • 13/05/13 –  Language & research: Interrogating the use of language to describe and define specific ethnic, cultural and historically racialised communities in PhD research across the sciences and humanities.
  • 13/05/13 – About Race: Historical and anthropological perspectives: Exploring the historical and contemporary modes of racial categorisation underpinning PhD fellows research on the transatlantic slave trade. Discussion organised and led by Myriam Cottias (Centre International de Recherches sur les Esclavages, CIRESC), Véronique Boyer (Mondes Américains) and Odile Hoffmann (Unité de Recherches “Migrations et Société”, URMIS).
  • 01/02/13 – 07/02/13 – Archaeology Field School on St. Eustatius (Dutch Caribbean): Practical archaeological field school for the EUROTAST fellows at an enslaved African village site associated with an 18th century sugar plantation. The fieldwork was supervised by SECAR archaeologist Ruud Stelten, and Professors Corinne Hofman and Menno Hoogland from Leiden University, Netherlands. This training course introduced fellows to basic field techniques and provided a unique opportunity to work on an archaeological site linked to colonial slavery in the Caribbean. Organised by the Sint Eustatius Center for Archaeological Research (SECAR) on the island of Sint Eustatius, Netherlands Caribbean, in cooperation with Leiden University.
2012 TRAINING
  • 08/11/12 – The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database as a resource for research: Resource overview exploring key datasets, research techniques and possibilities for contribution and development. Also included practical research exercise. (Resource available HERE)
  • 08/11/12 – Communication and professional presentation skills workshop: Exploring basic communication skills including “Branding” yourself / writing and speaking clearly about what you do/ Conferences 101 / Basics of Powerpoint and other technologies.
  • 14/06/12 – Introductory Media Training for PhD fellows: Day course with Screenhouse media, who specialise in supporting scientist engagement with the media. Training included learning how to speak to diverse audience, finding unique research stories, writing press releases to encourgae media interest, and negotiate the common pitfalls and challenges of working with media. As part of the day fellows were also given unique access to a state of the art, professional TV studio set up at the University of York’s Department for Theatre, Film and Television (TFTV). Here they practiced TV interviewing, and hands on camerawork and production skills.
  • 13/06/12 – Starting and finishing a PhD: Overview workshop detailing formal logistics and requirements for the completions of a doctoral thesis, within the context of an EU Initial Training Network.
  • 13/06/12 – The Ethics of characterising difference: Special workshop given by Professor Fatimah Jackson exploring the ethical considerations for acquiring and using biological data from people of African descent and their historical ancestors.
  • 13/06/12 – Unsettling the Dust: What to expect from Slavery Research: Workshop focused on the process of uncovering challenging histories and data linked to slavery
  • 13/06/12 – Hard to swallow?: Representing the unrepresentable: Special roundtable discussion led by Professor Helen Weinstein on museum responses to slavery, particularly focussed on the International Slavery Museum ‘immersion’ film on the middle passage.
  • 13/06/12 – Introducing Google Services: Technical workshop introducing Google educational platform, and generally exploring how this communication technology can be used to build network synergy.
  • JUNE 2012 – Professional Media Training for Postdoc: One-month intensive media training with Historyworks, who provide public engagement media products and skills development for historians, educators, universities and heritage organisations. Training included developing interview techniques, recording and editing audio to make podcasts, stills photography to illustrate presentations and websites, and introductory video capture and edit to make shorts for presentations and websites.