From humble beginnings at the University of Central Lancashire in 2011, the British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR) has come back to the midlands at the University of Nottingham and is the biggest ever this year. With more than 350 delegates from 30 countries presenting 300 presentations over the 2 days, it is back with a bang and we volunteers have one heck of a duty to fulfil!
Day 1 of training started with 29 slightly nervous volunteers from every possible faculty the university has to offer, sitting in Trent building having no idea what to expect! After being bombarded with information, copious numbers of email addresses and more names than one person could ever possibly hope to remember, we were basically told that the success of the conference rests entirely on our shoulders. No pressure or anything! As a delegate from a previous conference started to tell us how wonderful the volunteers at the University of Plymouth’s BCUR 2012 had been, how much they’d shaped her experience and made it so special, the tension in the room was tangible! Getting down to the nitty gritty, we were given our assignments; should we chose to accept them, they ranged from being human signposts from accommodation to conference rooms to being in charge of ALL technology (what could possibly go wrong!), from handing out potentially slightly dishevelled sandwiches to chairing conference sessions. So really, we could be doing anything under the sun! However, the role of the volunteers shouldn’t be underplayed; we will be there from the very beginning to welcome and show the delegates to the halls, their accommodation for the duration of the conference and will probably bring back memories of fresher’s week, undoubtedly not helping pre conference nerves. We will be up horribly early – at least what students believe to be early – to show delegates the way around the maze that is the Trent building, a challenge for even 3rd years! And we will do the bit of events that no one likes doing, though one that is crucial – the cleaning up afterward.
As the conference rapidly approaches, we have had to get serious. We’ve had to learn that there is loads of new software sneakily sitting on the uni computers and most importantly how to use it, that the university doesn’t endorse some software systems which could lead to some very panicked delegates minutes before presentations and quick thinking on our part, how to write a good CV and how to chair sessions. This is one of the most important jobs at the conference and one that I am most excited about! We have to open and close the sessions, make sure presenters keep to time – could be easier said than done as we’re told a story of someone who had to be wrestled from a podium after running so over time and refusing to stop! – and be in charge of questions from the floor. A scene from The Big Bang Theory when Sheldon hopelessly loses control of his panel and the floor springs to mind as we feel the pressure mounting!
While I was doing some research behind what #bcur14 was about I stumbled across something that made my mind up instantly that I knew I had to be part of the support team; all the delegates are my age. These people have gone above and beyond what is required of a student, doing extra research projects over the holidays and even getting employers involved. The interest they have in their subjects and the amount of hard work that they have put in is incredible and that even at our (relatively) young age they have taken an active part in their education and gone off and done enough independent research to be able to give a 15 minutes presentation or stand by a poster for an hour or so and talk fluently about their topic. The media often aren’t kind to students whereas this conference, all the work that they have put in and even our motivation as a support team, in my opinion, just goes so against the norm and shows that we do care about our education and the wider community.
Having been given a list of the presentations and posters that will be at the conference the thing that strikes me is the diversity of the delegates’ interests. We were told from the first day of training that the sessions had been randomised and that there would be presentations from every walk of academia, but I never expected to be chairing a session where contributions are moving from modelling a roman community to treatments of anorexia nervosa. This conference gives people the platform to share their passion, get crucial employability skills, fabulous experiences talking in front of academics and great networking opportunities. This year, there are delegates from 5 different continents which just makes the networking all the more exciting and important – who knows, there may even be some trips abroad off the back of this!
My favourite thing about the conference is that there is such a big student input. Don’t get me wrong, there are countless professors whose hours of work are coming to a climax as we get closer to the conference, but once it’s started it’s basically down to us as the support team. We have been equipped with the tools to solve technical problems, be pastoral care and to be signposts, which is by far the most important job, as the locations of conference rooms and accommodation are spread over this deceptively large campus!
So, I’m writing this 3 days before the conference starts; Sunday is going to consist of lots of fiddly but important jobs like sticking stickers on name badges and we will be rewarded by meeting the fabulous delegates and having a pub quiz which I’m possibly more excited about than I should be! Then Monday morning, 8.30 sharp the real hard work begins; the opening of #bcur14!
Charlotte Lawson
The Trent Building – the main hub of #bcur14, containing the Senate Chamber, the Great Hall and the Great Maze that has been confusing students for years! See if you can find the secret tunnel!
bcur14nottingham 