A new PubhD has its first event this Friday!
It is being organised by Elliot Hughes, a post-graduate student at Edge Hill University.
And they have very nice artwork to go with their launch.
PubhD Edge Hill
A couple of years ago, ScienceGrrl ran a few PubhD events in Sheffield. However, it’s been dormant since then.
Now Devon Smith and Emily Fisk are starting up PubhD Sheffield officially, with their own Twitter account and a shiny new website.
At each PubhD event, three researchers, from any subject area, explain their work to an audience in a pub in exchange for a drink or two. The talks are at a “pub level” – the idea is that you don’t have to be an academic to understand the talks. PubhD started in Nottingham in January 2014 and now there are 20 branches around Europe! A full list can be found on the PubhD Locations page.
The first PubhD Sheffield event is next week on Wednesday 2 November 2016 at Harrisons 1854.
The speakers and topics are:
Full event details can be found here.
It’s taken a few years for it happen, but PubhD London starts next week with their first event on 27 October 2016.
At each PubhD event, three researchers, from any subject area, explain their work to an audience in a pub in exchange for a drink or two. The talks are at a “pub level” – the idea is that you don’t have to be an academic to understand the talks.
Robyn Waite and friends launch PubhD London with the following speakers:
The event is at Topolski, Waterloo.
More details: https://www.facebook.com/events/200414003714924/
Portugal has another city hosting PubhD events!
Évora joins the other Portuguese PubhD locations of Lisbon, Guimarães and Braga. Their first event details can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1731977603745258/
At each PubhD event, three researchers from any subject area explain their work to an audience in a pub in exchange for a drink or two. The talks are at a “pub level” – the idea is that you don’t have to be an academic to understand the talks.
More information can be found at the PubhD Évora Facebook page, or you can follow their Twitter account, @PubhDEvora.
Another city gets to host a PubhD event: PubhD Bristol launches with their first event on Wednesday 1 June 2016. It will take place at The Robin Hood pub on St Michael’s Hill.
PubhD Bristol is being organised by Travis Bacon and Arne Scott.
At each PubhD event, three researchers from any subject area explain their work to an audience in a pub in exchange for a drink or two. The talks are at a “pub level” – the idea is that you don’t have to be an academic to understand the talks.
The first line up is:
More information can be found at their Facebook group, their website or on Twitter.
Full details about the first event can be found here.
We’re writing quite a few posts like this at the moment.
So far in 2016, four PubhDs have started up: Norwich, Birmingham, PubhD UMinho and Newcastle.
Now it’s Liverpool’s turn to get a shiny new PubhD.
It’s being started up by Kat Ford and their first event is on Thursday 10 March 2016, at The Vines pub.
At each PubhD event, three researchers from any subject area explain their work to an audience in a pub in exchange for a drink or two. The talks are at a “pub level” – the idea is that you don’t have to be an academic to understand the talks.
The first three speakers at PubhD Liverpool are:
More information can be found at the PubhD Liverpool Facebook group, or you can follow their Twitter account, @PubhD_Liverpool.
Full details about the first event can be found here.
We had our 23rd PubhD Nottingham event last night – and it was also our two year birthday.
We had three fantastic speakers (Helen Drew, Andy Chick and Sam Morley) talking about subjects as diverse as History, Forensic Entomology and Mathematics. Fascinating talks, very entertaining Q&As.
I wanted to share an anecdote provided by Andy.
But first, some background.
Andy is researching Forensic Entomology – “the application and study of insect and other arthropod biology to criminal matters”. Basically, using insects such as blue bottle flies, and the eggs they lay, to establish an approximate “time of death” of a person – or more accurately, the minimum length of time a body has been lying around in, say, some woodland.
Andy Chick – Forensic Entomology
Andy’s specific area of research is to investigate if smoking effects the estimates of time of death. Nicotine is known to be an insecticide. If a person was a smoker, does this need to be taken into account during the calculations?
The best human analogue for these types of experiments are pigs. Pigs are similar to humans in many ways (fat content, body mass, hair-to-skin ratio, etc), which makes them the ideal for forensic experiments. Andy’s experiments involved essentially injecting nicotine into (already deceased) pigs that were not fit for consumption. He then observed them over many days to see if the nicotine changed the behaviour of insects, their eggs and their young.
During the Q&A and I asked the obvious question: how smelly was this work?
And here comes the anecdote. Apologies to any sports scientists…
Andy and his colleague shared a lab with the sports science department. As you can imagine, there were a lot of complaints from the sports scientists. The smell. The flies. The smell. The flies. The rotten sticking pigs. The flies. The smell. It was bad.
One day Andy returned to the lab to see another massive argument was in progress between his colleague and one of the sports scientists. Andy arrived just in time to witness his colleague scream:
You know what that smell is? It’s the smell of real science!
Exciting times! PubhD Norwich and PubhD Birmingham have just been added to the (growing) list.
PubhD Norwich’s first event is on 26 January 2016 at The Cellar House, which is near the University of East Anglia. PubhD Norwich is being run by Victoria MacDonald and Grahame MacDonald, who conveniently own The Cellar House!
You can find details about their first speakers at http://thecellarhouse.co.uk/events/pubhd-january/
PubhD Norwich
And on 27 January 2016, PubhD Birmingham kicks off. Their first event is at The Victoria pub, which is near New Street Station. PubhD Birmingham is being organised by Emma Dunne and Katie Oliver.
You can find details about the topics of the first event at https://www.facebook.com/events/929379420509614/
I realised that this blog has not had any posts recently, so I thought I’d write something. 
PubhD is still going strong, and is still spreading to other cities.
At Nottingham we’re fully booked to July 2016. July 2016! We can’t give concrete dates for events beyond that as we have to wait for the football fixtures to be announced in June 2016 (we don’t like to hold an event on the same day as a football match as the pub gets very busy pre-match and makes it difficult to prepare the room ahead of our event). Any speakers that want to speak in August 2016 and beyond can still contact us to leave their details and we’ll get back in touch when we have firm dates.
PubhD Nottingham – we have an average attendance of about 40. Standing room only when 60 people attend!
PubhD Leicester have their 11th event next month and is booked up into 2016. They’re full to February 2016 and have just booked a speaker for May 2016. Get in touch if you want to speak in Leicester.
Recent additions to the PubhD family include Manchester, Dublin and Brighton. Contact details can be found on this page if you’d like to attend or speak.
Karolina Badzmierowska presenting at PubhD Dublin
PubhD speakers only have access to a whiteboard – no Powerpoints allowed! (Image from PubhD Brighton)
And we’ve finally broken out of the British Isles. PubhD Lisboa now exists!
Pubhd Lisboa
They had their first event last week and the organiser, Sérgio Pereira, said:
The first PubhD Lisbon was a success! More than 20 people came to the event and engaged in a lively conversation. The speakers just loved it.
Want a PubhD in your city? They are easy to set up, speakers love speaking at them, and the audience loves hearing about the research happening on their doorstep. Get in touch – we can answer your questions, provide some tips and advice and and hopefully help you get going.
If you are on Facebook, you can RSVP here.
When
Wednesday 20 May 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
Where
The Vat and Fiddle pub (in the Golding’s Room),
12 Queen’s Bridge Road
Nottingham
NG2 1NB
More information and a map: https://pubhd.wordpress.com/pubhd-nottingham-venue/
What
Three speakers will explain their research to a bunch of people in the pub in exchange for a pint or two.
The talks are at “pub level” – you don’t need to be academic to understand them!
See The PubhD Format and About pages for more information about what to expect at an event.
Who
PubhD 