Hello NWCDTP researchers! For those of you who don’t know me: I am Hannah, the EDI Advocate for the NWCDTP. I work part-time with the NWCDTP in order to improve inclusivity, accessibility, and enhancing the student experience for current and future PhD researchers. It was great to meet all new starters at Induction earlier this month; I hope you are settling well into your PhD journey.

Here is some key ‘need to know’ information for the winter:

EDI Training

Our EDI Training this month is ‘An Intersectional Approach to Academia’, which will take place online on Wednesday 19th November @ 6-7:30pm GMT.

About the Workshop: While the term intersectionality was coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, its usage has increased significantly over the past decade. This 90-minute, four-part workshop will introduce intersectionality as an analytical tool and explore how we can adopt an intersectional approach to our own academic work and to the creation of more just societies. In the first part of the workshop, participants will be introduced to intersectionality as a framework that helps us understand the complex ways in which multiple and overlapping identities shape individuals’ experience of the world. We will look at earlier examples of intersectional thinking and related concepts developed by Crenshaw and other Black feminists, and consider how intersectionality connects with popular understandings of identity, society, and power. Second, we will think through specific examples of intersectional failure and intersectional oppression, ranging from single-issue campaigns to incidents in the workplace. Third, we will look at how intersectional approaches have been successfully implemented across diverse arenas, ranging from queer of colour critique to South African Constitutional law. Finally, we will explore what adopting a consistently intersectional approach might involve for us as researchers, as teachers, and as members of academic communities. Each section will be followed by time for discussion and questions.

Workshop Leader: Ruth is a Research Fellow at the Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry and an Associate of the Stuart Hall Foundation. In 2022, Ruth received her DPhil in English from the University of Oxford. Centring on South African communities that were legally classified ‘coloured’ under apartheid, her interdisciplinary research maps the worldmaking work of self-described gays and girls from 1950 to the present, with a focus on depictions of Cape Town’s District Six and, in particular, the GALA Queer Archive’s Kewpie Collection. Ruth’s writing has appeared in publications including GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies and Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography. Please ‘click here’ to learn more and sign up to this workshop.

NOTE: the ‘Disability Awareness Training’ (Tuesday 9th December) is now fully booked, and we cannot accept any new sign-ups.

Careers Event

In response to student feedback, we have organised a series of career-themed workshops in order to help you during your PhD and prepare for what’s next after your studies. All workshops are online.

We have organised the following workshops:

· ‘Making the Most of Conferences’ – Tuesday 4th November @ 10-11am GMT

· ‘Preparing for Lecturing and Teaching Careers’ – Monday 10th November @ 1-3pm GMT

· ‘Writing Successful Job and Grant Applications’ – Tuesday 11th November @ 10am-12pm GMT

· ‘Post-PhD Careers: Academia and Research’ – Tuesday 18th November @ 10-11am GMT

· ‘Academic Publishing: Writing for a Journal’ – Wednesday 19th November @ 1-3pm GMT

· ‘Introduction to Industry Careers & Q&A’ – Wednesday 26th November @ 12-1pm GMT Please ‘click here’ to learn more and sign up to these workshops.

Save the Date

Our student conference will take place at Manchester Metropolitan University on Tuesday 20th January 2026, so save the date! Further details about the event will be communicated soon.

EDI Fellows

• Jemma Lakmaker (MMU): ‘Investigating Neurodivergent and Disabled PhD Student Experiences’

• Nan Song (Lancaster): ‘Creating Supportive Communities: International PhD Student Experiences’

• Grace Dutt (Manchester): ‘Supporting Participation in Placements and Overseas Institutional Visits (OIV)’

• Nicola Naismith (Manchester): ‘Supporting PhD Parents, Caregivers, and Beyond’

• Bronte Crawford (MMU): ‘Widening Participation in Research: Addressing Early Barriers in the Academic Pipeline’

Nan has recently published a blog post on international student support and strategies, which you can read here: https://www.nwcdtp.ac.uk/2025/10/23/nan-song-how-to-settle-in-as-an-international-phd-student/

Further details about the projects will be published on our website soon. In the meantime, you can read more about our ongoing EDI work, as well as the work of previous EDI Fellows (2024-2025) here: https://www.nwcdtp.ac.uk/home/about/equality-diversity-inclusion/

Student Reps

Here are the details of your Student Reps:

• University of Manchester: Marta Zingale (Marta.zingale@manchester.ac.uk)

• Manchester Metropolitan University: Darryl Peers (darryl.peers@stu.mmu.ac.uk) • University of Salford: Timur Slavgorodskii-Kazanets (T.Slavgorodskii-Kazanets@edu.salford.ac.uk) • University of Liverpool: Coen Schuurmans-Stekhoven (coen.schuurmans-stekhoven@liverpool.ac.uk), Richard Snowden-Lead (rsnowdenleak@gmail.com), and Ethan Coulson-Haggins (E.Coulson-Haggins@liverpool.ac.uk) • Lancaster University: Pamela Forster (p.forster@lancaster.ac.uk) • Keele University: Hannah Snell (h.m.snell@keele.ac.uk) • RNCM: Alex Chapman (alex.chapman@student.rncm.ac.uk) and Jo Sear (Joanna.sear@student.rncm.ac.uk)

EDI Group / EDI Committee

Since 2023, I have chaired the NWCDTP’s EDI Committee, and the EDI Group meets three times a year. The EDI Committee will next meet online on Tuesday 3rd February 2026 @ 10-11:30am GMT to discuss and address current EDI issues within the NWCDTP, as well as strategies for improvement.

We always welcome NWCDTP researchers to join our EDI Group and are very passionate about involving student voices in our decision making. If you are interested in getting involved with EDI activity and attending the EDI Committee, then please email me in order to join the Group.

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As current NWCDTP researchers, I am ultimately really keen to hear your thoughts about EDI in the DTP, and where you feel improvements can be made (e.g. better resources, greater support/contact, workshops, training). What are the NWCDTP doing well? What is missing, and what would you like to see happening in the future? Have you encountered any issues that you feel need to be addressed?

If you would like to get in touch to discuss any of the above, then please email me (h.j.helm@edu.salford.ac.uk).

In the meantime, you can find lots of information about the NWCDTP team, funding and placement opportunities, and student networks in the student handbook: https://www.nwcdtp.ac.uk/home/current-students/handbook-for-postgraduate-researchers/

I look forward to seeing you all soon!

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