Advanced Qualitative Methods (AQualM) Away Day

The inaugural WRDTP Advanced Qualitative Methods Away Day brings together doctoral students and established scholars to engage with cutting-edge debates in qualitative methodology. The day will include keynotes by Professor Kate Reed, Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester, and Professor Rachel Holmes, Professor of Cultural Studies of Childhood at MMU.

Call for Parallel Session Abstracts:

In this call, we invite doctoral students from all WRDTP institutions to for a presentation focused on the research design of their projects. We particularly welcome submissions that foreground methodological thinking, including attention to methodological decision-making, generative developments, and the reflective navigation of opportunities and challenges during the research process.

Presentations will be organised into parallel session panels, and will be supported by a dedicated discussant, who will offer critical and constructive feedback.

Topics addressed in the abstracts may include, but are not limited to:

• Qualitative research design, including the articulation of research questions or problematics, epistemological and ontological commitments, and the rationale through which methodological choices are made;
• Engagement with qualitative methods, examining how specific methods are taken up, adapted, or enacted in processes of data generation and/or analysis in response to conceptual, empirical, ethical, or institutional conditions, and innovations in methodology;
• Reflexivity, positionality, and de-centering, addressing the role of the researcher, relations of power, and the co-constitution of knowledge, subjects, and research practices within the research design;
• Engagement with research ethics, focusing on ethical relations with different communities and groups, including consent, power, co-production, participation, representation, refusal, care, and ethical decision-making as an ongoing, situated practice.

Submission details:

• Please use to submit your abstract no later than March 6th.
• Abstracts should be no longer than 500 words (including references).
• Abstracts should include a title and outline the research focus and context, the main aims and research questions, and the aspects of the methodology, methods, or overall research design to be discussed in the presentation.

Key dates:

• Abstract submission deadline: Friday 6th March;
• Notification of acceptance: Tuesday 31st March;
• Presenter registration deadline: Wednesday 6th May;
• Away Day: Wednesday 20th May at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Important:

• This is an in-person event at Manchester Metropolitan University (lunch and refreshments will be provided for all attendees).
• This event is open to members of WRDTP partner institutions only.
• You may attend the event without presenting/submitting an abstract, but abstract submissions are encouraged (by the deadline of Friday 6th March).
• When booking, we ask that you use your institutional (.ac.uk) email address and complete all fields of the booking form. Thank you for your understanding.
• Bookings (for both presenters and non-presenters) will close at 9.00am on Wednesday 6th May.
• If you are notified that your abstract has been accepted, but find that you are unable to book a place via Eventbrite, please contact [email protected] so that a member of the team can register you.

Please note: The WRDTP is committed to sustainability and to reducing the waste from excess catering at events. A key challenge here is non-attendance at events. From October 1st 2025, the WRDTP will be changing the way we manage the non-attendance of PGR students who have booked place/s at WRDTP Training events. Any PGR student who does not inform the WRDTP (via [email protected]) that they will not be able to attend a WRDTP event at least 3 working days before the event takes place will have the cost of their place deducted from their RTSG (if a WRDTP-funded student), or have this charged to their department (if not funded by the WRDTP). This will allow us to better plan for events and to avoid catering waste. Thank you in advance for your cooperation on this matter.

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