Salford postgraduate annual research conference May 7, 2009

Each year, the Research and Graduate College hosts the Salford Postgraduate Annual Research Conference (SPARC). Participation is free and open to all postgraduate research students at any stage of their research. It provides an excellent opportunity to:

* practise giving conference papers and poster presentations in a friendly environment;
* present your research to experts from industry, commerce and the professions in a poster session;
* meet other researchers working on similar areas of research but based in different Research Centres and universities;
* publish your papers.

Participants are given feedback on their presentations, which last around 15 minutes, and many choose to give papers or posters which they will be presenting at external conferences and seminars later in the year. Papers and poster presentations from all disciplines will be considered. Please note that it is not necessary to have a full paper ready by the time of the conference. Participants who wish to publish their paper in the proceedings will have time to write up the paper (see below).

All participants will be invited to attend the conference dinner on Thursday evening, free of charge.

Poster session

The poster session provides the opportunity to present your research in a poster format. The posters will be judged by a panel of experts from industry and the third sector. The first prize is £200, and the runner-up receives £100. Posters will be judged upon their clarity, as well as the ability of the researcher to explain their research to a panel not necessarily from their own discipline.

There are no specific guidelines for giving poster presentations, although it is suggested that they be presented in A3 or A2 format.

Publication of papers

After the event, students have the opportunity to publish their papers. Papers for publication will be accepted once they have been provided as a word document and are approved by your supervisor.

Participants who intend to publish are given 2-3 months to write up their full written paper.

Abstracts should be submitted by 10 April 2009 to be eligible for consideration.

Official Website: http://www.pg.salford.ac.uk/page/SPARC