About NRIPS
The Natural Resources Institute Postgraduate Society (NRIPS) aims to enrich the academic, social and intellectual interests of its members. Run by postgraduate students for postgraduate students, the society was formally created in February 2015.
The society meets monthly for a range of activities including lunchtime presentations by PhD students, academic training sessions and workshops with peer-learning experience, and the opportunity to discuss issues of relevance to the NRI postgraduate student community, such as publishing academic papers, qualitative research methods and post-PhD career options.
NRIPS is committed to organising monthly social events – from ‘potluck’ dinners, to bowling, ice skating, and movie nights, in addition to celebrating our members’ academic and personal milestones. Since its inception, the society has successfully organised and facilitated seasonal gatherings for the whole Institute, including the annual autumn picnic and Christmas party.
We look forward to continuing and building on NRIPS activities and events as our community grows.
The society is governed by a committee structure that is elected on an annual basis by the postgraduate student body of NRI.
The Annual NRIPS Symposium
The Symposium was first conceived in 2016 as a way for students to present and discuss their work on a professional platform, sharpen their communication skills and foster networking across the Institute. It has since become a successful annual event.
The Symposium provides a welcoming atmosphere and appropriate academic environment for NRI students to showcase their research and gather valuable feedback from participants. The event’s networking opportunities bring together students and staff from NRI’s Research Groups and Development Programmes to explore research from different disciplines whilst enhancing the NRI research community.
In 2020 the NRIPS Symposium will be run in parallel with other Schools in the Faculty of Engineering and Science, giving greater opportunities for inter-disciplinarity and research sharing.
Each NRIPS Symposium begins with a ‘keynote speech’ given by a distinguished speaker. This is followed by three sessions, organised according to the stage of the students’ research degree – early, middle, or final. This format optimises the time available and enables the audience to give focussed feedback and advice.
- 1st session: early-stage students present their work plans in ‘turbo talks’ – 3-minute presentations
- 2nd session: middle-stage students show their work progress via poster presentations
- 3rd session: final-stage students present their work in more depth, in 15-minute talks
The formal presentations are accompanied by poster-viewing sessions and discussions during coffee breaks and lunch, with refreshments organised by the committee.
Certificates are awarded for the best presentations and posters. An accompanying symposium booklet containing biographies and abstracts of the research students is also produced and published by the committee.
