Festival of Research 2019

The Festival was well attended by staff and students from across the Faculty’s nine schools and departments and the wider university. Also in attendance were distinguished visitors from business, public bodies and the local community, including the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Richard Billington, and Deputy Mayoress, Lynda Billington.    

The Festival included an exciting mix of discussion panels and presentations, designed to showcase the innovative interdisciplinary research at Surrey within the Faculty.

A new addition to the Festival this year, were two showcase presentations namely ‘Key Research Methodologies Transferable across Disciplines’ and ‘Research Grant Success Stories’. Researchers also presented highlights of their current research in two themed discussion panels – ‘Aspects of Wellbeing and Ill-Health’, and ‘Being Human in a Technological Age’.  These generated interesting discourse between the panellists and sparked thought-provoking questions from the audience. 

We were delighted to welcome Professor Diane Watt, Professor of Medieval English Literature, from the School of Literature and Languages to deliver this year’s public lecture entitled ‘The Dark Ages of Female Imagination’ which received a fantastic response.

Two lunchtime demonstrations were held by researchers in the Department of Music and Media; Kirk Woolford and Professor Tony Myatt did a virtual reality demonstration on their ‘Next Generation Immersive Experiences’ project; and David Frohlich conducted a demonstration on ‘Augmented Book and Sentimental Audio Memories System’, co-delivered with Caroline Scarles from the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, which is part of his ‘Next Generation Paper’ project.

“A thoroughly worthwhile, thought-provoking and interesting day.”

In addition, a staff research exhibition and a Faculty postgraduate researchers’ poster competition allowed staff and students to display their research, with Professor David Sampson, the University’s Vice-Provost for Research and Innovation, presenting this year’s postgraduate research student winner, Gloria Crabolu with her prize. 

There was plenty of opportunity for delegates to network and connect with colleagues across different disciplines throughout the day, igniting ideas for collaboration. 

Since the Festival, we have been collating feedback from attendees which has been extremely positive. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to share their thoughts on the day.

“Good to see efforts to build connections across the Faculty - the diversity of presentations were applicable way beyond the Faculty”.
 
“A truly university-level festival!”

The Faculty’s research team would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone involved in this year’s Festival. We hope to see you next year!

If you have any feedback or would like to get involved with next year's event, please contact fassresearch@surrey.ac.uk.