Participant profile

Doctoral students of the UPV/EHU.

The SoA course is recommended for recently started PhDers but it is also designed for PhDers in any year of PhDing.

Calendar

January-February 2024

Duration

13 hours (four three-and-a-quarter hour clases run over four weeks)

Timetable

Time: 10:00 to 13:15

Requirements

Students will be expected to attend 100% of the clases together with submission of all four practical work assignments.

Language

English

Modality

A real-classroom

Location and dates

Speaker, Trainer and Profile

Tim Smithers: I am a designer and researcher.  I have mostly worked in AI in Design research and intelligent robotics, but also, with others, on research topics in the Arts, Engineerings, Humanities, and Sciences.  All this has involved working with many different people from different disciplines, in different collaborations, large and small, and, in different research groups and Labs in some different parts of the world, but mostly Europe.  I have also long been interested in the practices that make up good research, and in how to help PhDers make a good start on learning these needed practices.  Since 2010 I have worked as a freelance Research Practitioner, developing and teaching courses on the Foundations of Research Practices for mixed discipline groups of PhDers, helping research groups design their research programmes and strengthen their research practices, and occasionally I work for the Research Executive Agency (REA) of the EU Commission.  I also continue to design things and to do some research.  I currently work in a small collaboration on an empirical investigation of a topic in Number Theory; a project to investigate on an old, but still little understood, question in Behaviour selection in robots (and animals); and, a project to investigate the effective support of a particular kind of discovery that happens in all kinds of design exploration, using sound design by drawing as the designing, and (Good Old) symbol processing knowledge representation and inference techniques in AI.

You can find more about my work experience on my LinkedIn profile page, and here, find most of my publications on Academia.

Group size

There is a maximum of 18 students in Donostia-San Sebastián and in Leioa, and 15 in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Registration

Objectives

The foundation of all good research is a well designed, well built, and well maintained Critical State of the Art (SoA). This is usually the first major task as a PhDer, and one that researchers will continue to need to work on throughout their PhDing, and perhaps beyond. How good the Critical State of the Art is will determine the quality of the research they do, and thus how successful and worthwhile their PhD research will be.

Format

The course is composed of four three-hour classes run over four weeks, with practical work set each week to be completed and presented for the following week. There will be a 15 minute break about mid-way through each class. And the practical work will need between three and four hours each week.

All classes will work as seminars, and include both presented material and open discussion. So, researchers should come prepared to make their own notes, and actively engage in, and contribute to, each class.

All clases will be conducted in English and it will be expected to use and work in English during the classes. A good level of confidence of working in English is therefore recommended. But the English does not need to be perfect, just good enough!

Content

The four classes and practical work of this SoA course will cover the following major aspects of the practice of designing and building a good Critical State of the Art:

• Looking for, selecting, and acquiring your SoA materials;
• Critical reading, understanding, and organising your SoA materials; and
• Designing, building, using, and maintaining your SoA.

See more

Foundations of Research Practices

FRP Words of Recommendation : "What PhDers say ..."

This course is offered in collaboration with Euskampus Fundazioa.