On Friday 28th March I was selected to present my dissertation research poster at the UFAW Universities Federation Annual Animal Welfare Conference at Writtle college, Essex. I was pretty proud to have had my work selected, I was one of eight lucky people to have been picked. It felt good knowing that my research was something that people might be interested in, seeing as I picked what would be considered as an odd animal choice.
Going to a conference was a completely new experience for me, I wouldn't say it was daunting, but it was rather stirring. The day started off rather early, I stirred at 5am & realised something was up. I had only gone and made myself ill, woke up with virtually no voice! This trend of not feeling well continued for the rest of the day but hey, you just have to get on with it really, no point moping about. Not to forget I had to suit up for the first time in 3 years, me in suit clothing is a rare sight for those who know me. It always reminds me of what my nan used to say, "no matter what you dress in, you will always look like a sack of potatoes", quite accurate looking back at it, I don't think I suit the business clothing very well, its just rather 'meh'. Our coach left at 7:45, but was more like 8:00 when the driver arrived, then onwards for a 2/2 and a half hour journey down to Essex. I do quite like coach journeys mind, an opportunity to just put the headphones in and let the world pass by.
We finally arrived at Writtle at about 10:30am, the speakers and presenters all signed in, including me. We were very kindly allowed to take free copies of the Animal Welfare journal, which will make a nice read down the road. I must say, it was very good to see my poster printed in A1 up on the wall, that was my work, up there for anyone to look at and read.
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| The poster! |
The conference began at 11:30am with a welcome from the colleges principle and then a guest lecture of the special guest speaker Dr Steven Wickens from UFAW. It was interesting to learn exactly what UFAW offer to students and post-graduates in terms of master degrees and scholarships, but I am slightly wary of carrying on with the education system after my BSc in all honesty. The day continued with lectures all day, including a few from friends at Moulton who did a sterling job, I know how nerving and unsettling it can be to stand up in front of a crowd like that and present but they all did a great job & handled some unnecessarily, tenacious questions with disarming precision. In between some of the lectures we got a chance to stand by our posters so we could answer questions about our research if needs be, but truth be told I had very few questions/ if any at all thrown my way. It seemed that some people were genuinely interested in reading the posters and looking around but the vast number didn't seem at all bothered, diminishing the atmosphere a little bit. I'm sure it was not a reflection of my work, but it did send some of the insecurities flying about my head, standing there for a good deal of time with people reading and moving on without a word gets disheartening very quickly, by the end of it I found it difficult to see the point in me standing there, It riled me up a little bit, most likely because I couldn't gauge whether it was a good or bad thing. It did pick up at the end of the day though, as one of my classmates won the award for best poster at the conference, something which seemed to just delight the other colleges/unis *sarcastic tone*. It drew the day to an upward conclusion as we geared up for the long drive back home.
I would like to go to more conferences in the future, it was certainly interesting, but I imagine going to a full scale conference would be more rewarding if you were presenting then to a small scale event. Some of the research I read about was very interesting, it fulfilled a thirst for knowledge that I require.
I must also admit, I wasn't overly fond of the competition element, I'm fed up of everything being a race these days, science is about cooperation, its about like minded individuals praising and constructively criticizing fellow scientists work for the betterment of the field, not a "my works better than your work". Its such a disjointed way of bringing a darkened tone to an event which is designed to celebrate the work conducted by an amazing group of undergraduate students, but that's just my 2 cents. Overall, it was definitely worth it, although it wasn't anything like I expected it to be in my head.
+ Just an extra note, the results from the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch are in, with some pretty surprising results, check it out at the link below. Events like this all help to raise awareness of our UK wildlife & help organizations such as the RSPB get some sort of a measure on wild bird populations in the UK, something that is very difficult to do without the continued help of the British public.
Birdman
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