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Dear Young People’s Network member,

A new opportunity at the McPin Foundation has arrived. Because you are subscribed to the Young People’s Network, you are the first to hear about it! Please see below for further details:

 
BLACK STUDENT EXPERIENCES – a creative study


 
What’s the Project?
Sarah Gordon, a researcher from the University of Nottingham, is currently inviting Black undergraduate students to participate in my PhD study. She will use creative, interactive activities to work with students and explore valuable insights from their university experiences. The study will be looking at the challenges Black students face and the impact of those challenges on their emotional and mental wellbeing. You’ll be doing this online in spaces she has designed and illustrated for the study.

As a designer and researcher, she will use what she knows about design, researching the topic, other academic interests, and insights from your experiences to create something that reflects what has been learned.

But, as you are experts of your own experiences, the outcome of this study will be steered by your input. She would like to know what you want to share and how you want to share it. There’s the optional extra activity of becoming part of the design team, providing feedback what you will discuss will be turned into digital content.

 This means there will be a digital outcome to which you could contribute towards! Creative or design skills are not required. Your participation and contribution will be anonymous.

The creative elements of this study present an opportunity both consider your experience of higher education to be mindful and reflect on how we’ve achieved in the ‘doing’ whilst a student.

This research and its aims are for the students. The study may benefit universities, but students are the priority. This is why it’s so important to include your voice!
 
 
What’s the opportunity?
This is a remote/online opportunity.

Participants will join either the co-creator or the student panel group. Both phases are interactive, driven by design and creativity. They are valuable opportunities to contribute to research and share your student experience in a safe space.
Design skills are not required to participate! All levels of creativity are welcome.
Co-Creators
  • One individual activity: Reflect on your experiences in an interactive space with illustrated and interactive activities
    • (This can be completed in around 90 minutes, but you have 4-days to return it)
  • + One 90-minute interactive workshop: Consider themes that have been developed from the first round of activities in a workshop and how you can turn this into a design
  • Optional: You then have the further opportunity to be involved in the design of content created from this study as a result of the individual activity and the workshop,
Student Panel
  • One 90-minute interactive workshop: In this round of activities, you will be exploring other students’ reflections on the content created in an interactive workshop.
    • These participants will be invited to be on the  student panel.
    • For this phase, participants will view the content created and will be asked about their valuable thoughts, feelings, and recommendations for future development in an online workshop.
    • The 90-minute session will be creative and engaging and uses interactive tools.
    • Again, you don’t need to be creative to participate. All are welcome!
Useful to know
  • If you participate in the creative journal activity, your responses will remain anonymous. You will be asked to use a nickname/pseudonym for the workshops.
  • Any content created will not include your personal details (such as your name or university) and will be anonymous. In the thesis and study findings, you will not be identifiable. Your participation will remain anonymous.
  • You will be asked to use a nickname/pseudonym for the online student panel. In the thesis and study findings, you will not be identifiable. Your participation in the student panel will remain anonymous.
 
What’s required of me?
 
To be eligible, you must be:
  • Over 18
  • Identify as Black or Black Mixed Heritage
  • Student at a UK University or HE College
  • Enrolled on an undergraduate or level 6 course (e.g., graduate diploma, degree apprenticeship)
  • Able to participate without the use of a translator
  •  Able to access the internet and a computer, tablet, or smartphone, access to Microsoft Teams (web version - available free). 
What will be provided?
  • Participation in the study is voluntarily, and you can withdraw from the study at any time. *
  • If you are selected for any part of this study, you will be provided with a participant information sheet and a consent form via e-mail.
  • Participation, non-participation, or withdrawal from the study will not influence your studies or course.
  • You will be provided with a well-being pack of valuable resources for Black students and students in general, you may not need it for this study, but it may be something helpful to keep for the future.
 
Your participation in this one-of-a-kind study should be a unique, reflective valuable experience for your journey through higher education.
 
I’m interested! Who do I contact?
Below is our standard template for an expression of interest; feel free to use it/change it or add your own.


If you are interested in this opportunity, please email (sarah.gordon1@nottingham.ac.uk) with brief answers to the following questions:
  1. What is your name?
  2. What is the name of your university or higher education college?
  3. Briefly, why are you interested in this specific opportunity?
  4. Are you a full-time undergraduate student? (Or please let me know the type of level 6 course you are on)
This should be an engaging study to take part in and allow you to reflect on your experiences as a student. Although we will be highlighting hidden knowledge in these experiences, there may be some challenging themes. Please do utilise the wellbeing pack if needed and know that the research team are available if you have any issues or would like to withdraw from the study.
You are welcome to send your responses in audio or video format if preferred! Alternatively, you could use the form here, and Sarah will contact you: https://forms.office.com/r/mYXidQhze5.

If you need any help completing your expression of interest, you can contact Sarah.
 
What’s the deadline to apply?

Please apply for the first phase by the 2nd of May at 5:00 pm. Please apply by 9 am on the 27th of May for the second.
 
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