Research without Borders 2020 Virtual Showcase: online competition

We are inviting postgraduate research students to share the story of their research in one image for the chance to win a prize in our online competition.

Whether you get creative with paper, pens and glue, draw us a picture or use items found in your kitchen, your challenge is to create and photograph something that tells the world about your research through one image. The more creative and unusual the better!

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic we have had to cancel our annual Research without Borders 2020 festival of postgraduate research, which was due to take place in venues around Bristol in May 2020. We hope that by holding this online competition, our wonderful community of postgraduate researchers have the chance to share their fascinating research with the wider world in a different way.

The challenge

How can you bring your research to life through an image? We invite you to submit an image that you think helps share the story of your research, with a short, accessible description. Here’s a few ideas of how to participate:

Get crafty: We know you can’t get to shops to buy special craft supplies. Instead, we encourage you to get creative with what you have around you at home – pens, paper, glue or tape could be used to create a model of your work.
Grab some objects from around the house: What items can help tell the story of your research? This could be something literal or a more abstract interpretation. For example, perhaps a colander represents a molecular structure, some fruit and veg could stand in for your research participants or you could create a costume to reflect the period in history you are researching using bits and pieces from around the house.
Got some kids’ toys lying around? Perhaps you have some Lego that you can use to recreate your work?
Dig out some existing photos or visuals: You can also use existing images of you working on your research project — e.g. a photo of you in the lab or on a field trip — although we would encourage you to think of imaginative ways that you can combine or adapt these images.

All entries will be featured on our Bristol Doctoral College social media channels.

How to enter

The competition will run between 9am on Monday 11th May and midnight on Sunday 24th May. All entries will be collated and featured in an online gallery the following week.

To take part, please share your image, a title and a short description (up to 80 words) that explains how this image illustrates your research and why it is important. Please don’t use technical jargon if possible, instead think how you could explain what you do to a friend outside of academic or a member of the public.

Ways to share:

Email your photo and description to research-without-borders@bristol.ac.uk with the email title: ‘RwB virtual showcase competition’.
Share your photo and description on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #BristolRWB.
Reply with your photo and description to the competition post on the Bristol Doctoral College Facebook page.

Judging

Submissions will be judged by a panel of staff from the BDC, Public Engagement and Communications teams (to be confirmed), on the following criteria:

Overall, how engaging is the entry? Does it clearly communicate the relevance of the research to the public?
How visually effective is the image? Does it make viewers want to know more about the research?
How effective, clear and accessible is the description? We are looking for a clear description using non-technical English which grips the reader and highlights the relevance of the research.

Prizes

First prize: £50 Netflix or Spotify voucher
Runner up: £20 Netflix or Spotify voucher

Example entries

Conny Lippert - RWB online entry — **Gothic Topographies: New England and other Spaces in the Work of H. P. Lovecraft and Stephen King.** In the gothic genre, the past tends to encroach on the present, and, harking back to the country’s history, H. P. Lovecraft’s and Stephen King’s fiction engages with wider American societal anxieties via their own geographical roots in New England. This research shows how their gothic topographies provide the setting for crises of identity and authenticity, feelings of guilt, and the fear of transgression.
[Research by Conny Lippert]

Elizabeth Mamali - RWB entry — **How do same-sex couples engage with wedding rituals that are grounded in heterosexual meanings and traditions?** This project looks at the motivations behind same-sex couples’ decisions to replicate, appropriate or entirely reject well-established wedding rituals that are underpinned by the heterosexual norm: the belief that people fall in two complementary genders (female and male) with natural roles in life. The research aim to challenge stereotypes and simplistic assumptions that people make about same-sex relationships, gender identity and sexuality. [Research by Elizabeth Mamali and Lorna Stevens]

Terms and conditions

You must be a current postgraduate research student at the University of Bristol.
The competition is open until on midnight on Sunday 24th May 2020.
Entries to the competition must present work conducted as part of your research degree.
Photos can be taken on any device and can be colour, black and white.
By entering, you give the Bristol Doctoral College permission to feature the photo on their website and social media channels.
We will assume that all submissions have the permissions of anyone featured in the photo (this is the responsibility of the applicant).
Added 13 May: You must have copyright to reproduce your image and have created it yourself. You also need to have permission to use and edit any stock imagery that forms part of your submission (for example a photograph taken by a third party which you may have edited). If you are unsure about permissions, please contact research-without-borders@bristol.ac.uk.