Your Graduate Representative

Hello,

I'm Laura Tisdall, Faculty of History graduate representative. My main roles in this post are to voice the interests and concerns of the graduates to the faculty (I sit on the Faculty Board and the Graduate Teaching and Learning Committee), to provide support and assistance to grads in faculty-related matters, and to organise social events for all of us. If you are a history student, I welcome any feedback you have about your experiences within the Faculty, and any suggestions for social events or ways to improve the academic opportunities provided by the faculty.

Laura is a PhD student in the Faculty of History studying under Dr Lucy Delap. Her main area of interest is changing conceptualisations of childhood and youth in inter-war and post-war Britain.

The faculty's post-grad student body is one of the largest in Cambridge. Relations between the staff and the students are good - I have found that the academic staff in our faculty genuinely care about students and teaching - and they interact regularly at the Faculty's extensive programme of research seminars. These seminars are complemented by several graduate-run research workshops. I strongly encourage you to get involved in your relevant workshop(s): they are a great way to practise presentation, and to meet others working in related fields. I have known workshop groups to present panels at international conferences, to organise national events, and even to publish their collected papers as books.

There is a Graduate Research Room (the GRR) on the first floor of the History Faculty with computing, scanning, and printing facilities. Access is 24 hours - when the building is closed, use your blue card at the side door, up the ramp. All graduates are granted a FREE annual printing allocation for the printers in this room. Notices on conferences and funding opportunities are also displayed here. Note too that grad students are entitled to us the SCR on the second floor - please be respectful; like the GLR, this is a quiet area.

You may want to attend some undergraduate lectures during your study here. They're all listed on this site. All faculty members (indeed, all members of the University) are welcome to attend any lecture, any time. Do take the opportunity of seeing some of the finest historians in the world up-close and personal. If you wish to audit a Part II undergraduate paper, please ask the relevant academic first. It's also good to attend core lecture series if you hope to supervise the paper as a second-year or later PhD. You may also want to advance your language studies; both the faculty and the University Language Centre offer high quality, very inexpensive teaching.

Every graduate student, whether MPhil, MLitt, or PhD, is assigned a supervisor; there are minimum standards to which your supervisor is accountable; there is a yearly opportunity to give feedback on your supervisor's performance; and there is a system of ombudspersons in place to deal with any difficulties that may arise with your supervisor.

If you are a first-year postgrad in History, whether MPhil or PhD, your supervisor is obliged to meet with you as soon as you arrive in Cambridge. In addition, incoming PhDs are assigned an advisor from within the faculty, to act as a secondary supervisor, and all academic staff are available, in theory, for academic or pastoral advice.

The faculty has close links with the Cambridge Historical Society, a society chaired by the Regius Professor of History (Professor Richard J. Evans) for postgrads, junior research fellows, and academic staff. It meets twice a term to hear speakers over afternoon tea. The Society offers small grants for specific projects. Graduates are also welcome (and encouraged) to join Clio, the undergraduate history Society, which offers a range of academic and social events. The faculty also offers a limited number of prizes, awards, and studentships, including grants in aid of research. Most of the details are on this web site, as well as in the November issue of The Reporter. Close links also exist with the Cambridge Historical Journal and Cambridge University Press.

Please get in touch with me if you have any questions or concerns, and I will do my best to help. Have a great year!

Laura

Faculty Grad Rep, 2012