RESSH 24 Conference Review Aoife Quinn Hegarty (Research Indicators Librarian at TU Dublin)

RESSH 24 Conference Review

Aoife Quinn Hegarty (Research Indicators Librarian at TU Dublin)

 

The fourth annual RESSH (Research Evaluation in Social Sciences and Humanities) conference was held over two beautifully sunny days in Galway University in May 2024. I am a second year part time feminism and media studies PhD researcher and Research Indicators Librarian and I was fortunate enough to attend the conference as an Irish Open Access Publishers (IOAP) bursary recipient. The two days of the RESSH conference hosted over 80 delegates and presented 8 posters and 30 papers focusing on research evaluation, research culture and practice, perceptions of research evaluation and infrastructure. The RESSH conference gave space for interesting discussions and debates of new and emerging ideas and concepts.

 

Day one began with an insightful Keynote speech given by Dr Samuel A Moore of University of Cambridge on the ‘Commoning’ the Humanities and the Social Sciences followed by the usual conference coffee, pastries and obligatory networking and small talk. I think it’s probably a universal feeling but often find the first coffee break of any conference or event to be slightly daunting and to require a lot of extra social battery to spark up conversations with people we don’t know or haven’t met in person yet. As once a conference is underway it can be easier to strike up conversations with people after you’ve seen them speak as firstly, you know their name and who it belongs to, which always helps but secondly and perhaps more importantly it allows you to open the conversation by thanking them for their presentation, discussing what you found interesting asking more questions about their research and maybe if possible drawing some links to your own which may even lead to future collaborations. All of this is to say that this awkward uncomfortable first-day feeling was a lot lighter on day one of the RESSH 2024 conference as there was a warm and friendly atmosphere amongst people which made it so easier to strike up conversation. There was a mix of people who knew each other from attending many previous RESSH conferences or through previous collaboration and newcomers as well as a mix of levels of experience ranging from very early career to more established researchers.

 

A banquet dinner was held on the evening of day one in the stunning Aula Maxima building in Galway University. To enter the dinner venue you had to walk through the beautiful quadrangle building courtyard which gave it a sense of excitement and importance. This dinner provided another opportunity to network and meet other delegates who had travelled from various parts of the world and to learn about their research areas and experiences of the conference and their visit to Galway. Although my main area of research interest differed largely from other delegates I really enjoyed and benefited from learning about their research areas, hearing about their knowledge, experiences and building new relationships. It was a great opportunity to hear some PhD survival tips from more established researchers and researchers who have recently achieved their PhD’s as they had already been through the trenches and could relate to the highs and lows.

 

Day two began with an interesting keynote speech by Professor Merle Jacob of Lund University and UNESCO Chair in Research Management and Innovation Systems on  ‘Epistemic Governance and the Role of the Humanities and Social Sciences’ which sparked great discussion and engagement. I attended many presentations across the two days of the RESSH conference and listened and contributed to the discussions and debates both during the presentation and sometimes this even spilled over into the coffee break sessions. Day two poster presentations were held and I was able to speak with some of the authors and ask questions and learn more about their research projects and the processes used to achieve them. I think that is the biggest benefit of attending International conferences of this size. There was loads going on to learn about while also striking the balance of not having too many parallel sessions happening all at the same time forcing you to make difficult decisions on what presentations to attend. By the end of day two I was exhausted by the information overload but I felt that I had learned a lot and gained more experience going to international conferences and networking. I am incredibly grateful to The Irish Open Access Publishers as their bursary gave me the opportunity to attend the RESSH conference to learn more about research evaluation, research culture and practice and to build more confidence in networking and building relationships internationally and in new areas of research which I will cherish moving forwards.