{"id":1393,"date":"2018-05-14T20:17:14","date_gmt":"2018-05-14T20:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/?p=1393"},"modified":"2018-05-15T10:42:31","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T10:42:31","slug":"postgraduate-work-in-progress-day-2018-oucswip-a-report-by-paula-granados-garcia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/?p=1393","title":{"rendered":"Postgraduate Work in Progress Day 2018 (#OUCSWiP) &#8211; a report by Paula Granados Garcia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/paula-foto-carnet.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1009\" src=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/paula-foto-carnet-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Paula Granados Open University\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>When I received an email from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrissieplastow\">Christine Plastow<\/a>\u00a0asking for help to organise this year&#8217;s Work in Progress Day at the department, I didn\u2019t hesitate for a second! My experience presenting in last year\u2019s WiP Day was so rewarding that I was sure I wanted to get more involved with this year&#8217;s event. Fortunately, I wasn\u00b4t wrong. As a co-organiser of this year\u2019s conference as well as one of the presenters, I think I speak on behalf of all the attendees when I say that the WIP day celebrated on <strong>Wednesday 9<sup>th\u00a0<\/sup>May<\/strong> by the OU Classical Studies department was especially stimulating and unique! We had the pleasure to count on three very different but at the same time complementary panels that demonstrated how varied and rich is the research carried out at the department.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/mediaplayer.open.ac.uk\/embed\/pod\/3642\/4962f2741b\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><em>\u00a0<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Christine Plastow introduces the day.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The day began with a very nice cup of coffee, where all the attendees had time to catch up with the latest news and updates and meet some new faces. Senior OU lecturer <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/e_jgraham\">Emma-Jayne Graham<\/a>\u00a0recently shared with me how great it was to meet and have a chat with so many enthusiastic students and colleagues. Indeed, in my case it was really nice to meet fellow students who started their PhDs at the same time as me and see how things are progressively developing.<\/p>\n<p>After the nice welcome, the seminar began. Christine and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Paula_LGG\">myself<\/a>\u00a0wanted to have a dynamic and approachable conference where everybody could have a chance to speak and feel welcome to share their views; as Christine said, \u2018all of us are doing some work in progress and all of us are researchers no matter the stage\u2019. We thought that it would be nice to break the ice with a group discussion on the joys and perils of post-graduate Classical Studies and how to move forward in academia. In my own experience, it is really difficult to find the chance to listen to what comes next after finishing a Classics MA or a PhD. So, it was very beneficial to have a nice conversation in a friendly environment where everybody could share their hopes and fears about\u00a0postgraduate research. Even more interesting was to hear the experiences of Christine Plastow and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/janhaywood\">Jan Haywood<\/a>. Both of them are early career researchers that have recently become part of the OU family and commented on how they got into the Classical world almost by chance, to later make it their profession.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/mediaplayer.open.ac.uk\/embed\/pod\/3642\/14d3fd22d5\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<em>Jan Haywood describes the first open discussion session.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This nice discussion led towards the first panel of the morning and perhaps the most \u2018traditionally classic\u2019 session regarding Classical Studies and Classical Reception. I am very proud myself to have chaired such a stimulating couple of presentations. First <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WebbEA02\">Elizabeth Webb<\/a>, who also contributed to last year\u2019s WIP, gave a fascinating talk titled: \u2018Collective and individual emotion: Thucydides&#8217; presentation of emotions in the History of the Peloponnesian War\u2019. Following Elizabeth, Claire Greenhalgh provoked the reflection of all attendants with her presentation: \u201cRape in the depiction of female slavery in HBO\u2019s <em>Rome <\/em>and Starz\u2019s <em>Spartacus<\/em>\u201d. Both papers raised very interesting thoughts regarding the depiction of emotions not just in Greek text but also in other visual media such as sculpture. This discussion fitted nicely with the latter debate on how current perceptions of visual violence and especially sexual violence against women have changed.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/mediaplayer.open.ac.uk\/embed\/pod\/3642\/05b94a0ae2\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<em>Liz Webb summarises\u00a0her paper on Thucydides and emotion.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>After lunch, the seminar continued with the staff spotlight panel chaired by Christine Plastow. Again, as a student, it is not very common to be able to attend presentations regarding the research curriculum of your institution and even less common to do so in conjunction with the presentations of postgraduates. Because of this, it was especially inspiring to listen to the ongoing research of the department staff. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/eltonteb\">Elton Barker<\/a>\u00a0kicked off the session with his introduction on \u2018Homer\u00b4s Thebes\u2019. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joannapaul\">Joanna Paul<\/a>\u00a0followed with a brilliant presentation on her work on the receptions of Pompeii under the title \u2018In search of the lost city: ongoing explorations of Pompeii and its contemporary reception\u2019. The session continued with the Roman experts of the department including Ursula Rothe\u00b4s fabulous exposition on &#8216;The toga in the Roman culture&#8217; and Emma-Jayne Graham\u2019s presentation about \u2018The thingliness of Roman religion\u2019. Finally, Christine Plastow attracted the audience\u00b4s attention by speaking about &#8216;Space, place and identity in the Athenian forensic oratory\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>The final session of the day was thematically oriented towards Digital Humanities and Digital Classics. It highlighted the active role that the Open University has recently taken in collaborating with Digital Humanities projects. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/digitalshrew\">Sarah Middle<\/a>\u00a0opened the panel speaking about her work on \u201cLinked ancient world data and user research: methods, frameworks and challenges\u201d. It was followed by my own presentation on one of the sections of my PhD research, the development of a Linked Open Database of coins from the Iberian Peninsula. The closing paper for this session was delivered by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rhymesontheroad\">Francesca Benatti<\/a>, OU Research Fellow in Digital Humanities. In her presentation, Francesca highlighted the supportive role that the OU Digital Humanities group has developed with so many resources and opportunities for training available for postgrad students. I found it really interesting to hear about the many DH projects in which the OU collaborates including <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Pelagiosproject\">Pelagios<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Hestiaproject\">Hestia<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ClassicsConfide\">Classics Confidential<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheUKRED\">The Reading Experience Database<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OpenArtsArchive\">Open Arts Archive<\/a>. These three presentations showed how useful digital resources can be when applied to humanities research and especially classics. Most of the attendees demonstrated their interest in the digital world and showed\u00a0how engaged they were by asking really thought-provoking questions regarding Linked Open Data and the dissemination of digital research.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_E1016.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1397 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_E1016-1024x941.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"574\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_E1016-1024x941.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_E1016-300x276.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_E1016-768x706.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_E1016-624x574.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Francesca Benatti presents on digital tools, resources and projects.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In my subsequent conversations with the delegates, all of them highlighted the high standard of all the presentations and how much they enjoyed the friendly environment and the possibility to share their views and thoughts. I think that one of the most remarkable features of this year\u2019s WiP Day is how the students\u00b4 current work was nicely intermingled with the staff research agendas and all of that framed by a warm conversation on how to develop a career in Classics. I would also like to acknowledge here the brilliant work of OU lecturer <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jesshughes61\">Jessica Hughes<\/a>\u00a0who recorded and tweeted small voxpops of some of the attendees speaking either about their collaboration in the event or their current work in progress. These short recordings were a step forward with regard to the visibility of the session. As <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sianbeavers\">Sian Beavers<\/a>\u00a0remarked at last year\u2019s WiP Day, perhaps in the future we will be able to record the seminar and make it available for those who can\u00b4t attend in person. I am aware that Sian wanted to be there this year but couldn\u2019t make it for personal reasons, we missed you!<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps, most of all, this day was an opportunity for interesting discussion and for students and staff to get to know each other a little better and keep building a stronger community within the department and the OU in general. I want to express my eternal gratitude to Christine Plastow for making everything so easy and to all of the speakers and attendees for making such a fantastic\u00a0day where everybody had a voice. It has been a wonderful and very enriching experience for me and I hope to see you all again at next year\u2019s WiP Day.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>by Paula Granados Garcia<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I received an email from Christine Plastow\u00a0asking for help to organise this year&#8217;s Work in Progress Day at the department, I didn\u2019t hesitate for a second! My experience presenting in last year\u2019s WiP Day was so rewarding that I was sure I wanted to get more involved with this year&#8217;s event. Fortunately, I wasn\u00b4t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,33,123],"tags":[31,70,130],"class_list":["post-1393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ma","category-phd","category-postgraduate","tag-postgraduate","tag-research","tag-work-in-progress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1393"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1401,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1393\/revisions\/1401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}