These are a few of our favourite things …

I have the pleasure of convening the module on “Developing as a Researcher in Higher Education” that is part of Kent's qualification for new staff. In the first session participants each gave a one minute presentation – excellent timekeeping, incidentally – on their research. It's fantastic to hear all these diverse topics, and the enthusiasm of the people working on them. Here's a selection

• how does stand-up comedy work?
• how to make a performance of taste (of wine)?
• how is performance affected by place 
• architecture (practitioner)
• how to capture what clients of software houses really want?
• how to improve the efficiency of wireless networks … adaptively
• what is the role of language in social work?
• micro-meteorites (≦2mm) … not least, how on earth do you find them?
• theoretical physics
• Bayesian decisions in mathematics
• theoretical syntax, and the disappearance of if/whether in Icelandic
• a new theoretical / jurisprudential platform for critical legal studies
• torture and the state, aboriginal art and constitutionalism
• use of cool materials (in architecture)
• what makes an action successful?
• Lea Valley Drift: bringing the immediately available city back into prominence
• Gender in International Cooperation
• Is there a pool of talented people being lost [to HE]?
• Sustainability Research in Business Practice and CSR
• Modelling faking in high stakes self-assessments and biases in assessments of others
• Napoleon, The Cardinal and the Prostitute
• Sociology of the Professions - particular focus is on equality, diversity and inclusion
• Political psychology, specifically: self-esteem and narcissism
• the brain basis of remembering

The only disappointing thing is that we don't really have time to talk about them in the sessions for the course.