HSA Conference: The Early Career Stream – Reflections and Experiences

The Housing Studies Association conference took place at the University of York in April 2008. The conference was an especially exciting event for those embarking on their academic and research careers, with a presentation stream devoted to doctoral and post-doctoral researchers. The stream was developed to support the work and provide platform for early housing career researchers. Benefits included,

- Performing in a supportive environment.
- Entering the ‘professional’ world of academia on a more ‘formal’ platform.
- Being received by a ‘safe’ audience – a mixture of established scholars, contract researchers, - housing practitioners and postgraduates.
- Gaining feedback on your research studies and critical reflections.

My own experience of delivering a paper in the early careers stream was overwhelmingly positive. I was met by a friendly and encouraging atmosphere. The rooms allocated for the early careers stream enabled a ‘workshop’ feel. As a presenter you were close to your audience and could quickly gauge with how well your work was being received. The ‘informal’ atmosphere was complemented well by a very slick and well run event, where early career researchers were incorporated into the whole of the conference. For example, the early career stream programme and abstracts were included in the conference programme and facilities for the stream were the same as for the main conference streams. In addition, established academics were vocal in their support for the early career stream during the conference introduction. Therefore, despite being in a separate stream, the feel of the conference remained highly inclusive.

Another positive aspect was the decision to offer extended presentation times to all presenters. For qualitative researchers at doctoral stage, the work is often detailed, rich and nuanced. In addition, if you are still carrying out the research, it might prove difficult to draw out ‘key themes’ whilst still carrying out preliminary data analysis. I would suggest that the extra time was helpful in that it enabled postgraduates to talk about their ‘reflections’ and thoughts on their research. The extra time allocated to questions and discussion enabled more detailed discussion and analysis to take place.

My presentation was concerned with research methods and the role of ‘insider’ researcher. This involved discussion of what is it to complete social research into an organisation and sector where you are working as a practitioner. Given the presentation topic, it was interesting to have such a diverse audience: housing practitioners, postgraduate researchers, contract researchers and established academics. A number of people seemed to identify with methodological and ethical concerns associated with insiderness, as they themselves had worked as practitioners prior to, or alongside, their roles as housing researchers. Several people commented that this diversity amongst attendees gives the HSA conferences an interesting dimension, in contrast to other conferences that might be predominantly academic.

I ended up attending a number of the early career presentations. The reason for this was that there were so many researchers discussing ‘fresh’ empirical work. Whilst all the HSA presentations were incredibly insightful, stimulating and interesting, I personally valued the opportunity to listen to recent findings from smaller scale, detailed and (due to the nature of doctoral research) innovative studies. In this way, many of the early career presentations provided a great mix of key informant views alongside theoretical reflections and each researcher’s critical understandings.

The world of academia might be considered a ‘profession’ like any other. It has it’s own set of ‘rules’, language and career path. Accessing that world might be initially challenging. In the early stages you are working to gain confidence and ‘move forward’, in order to establish a role for yourself within the research community. Therefore, where organisations hold out a helping hand, and offer a ‘springboard’ into that world, it is gratefully received!

In addition, as an early career researcher, it is fantastic to gain feedback from a variety of sources. I certainly felt that all feedback and comments enabled me to review my work, which I believe will have a positive impact in terms of my intellectual development as a scholar. In addition, such feedback is useful for the more practical elements facing early career or doctoral researcher: further presentations, potential publications and the all important Viva.

All of the presentations in the early career stream were of a very high standard. The clarity with which presenters spoke, and the delivery of presentations hopefully offered a glimpse of the future for UK housing research. I for one, felt privileged to be part of the early careers stream, and look forward to future networking events and learning opportunities.

Rachael Dobson, University of Leeds