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MethodsCon: Call for Contributions


MethodsCon: rethinking the boundaries of methods in health and social science research is a wholly in-person event that will take place over two days in Manchester, UK on Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 September 2022.

Following two years of online delivery, NCRM is delighted to announce a return to in-person, live events. MethodsCon is the sibling of NCRM’s ever-popular Research Methods Festival series, and we are seeking contributions from forward-thinking researchers, both within and outside of academia, who can make a contribution to stimulating, developing and advancing this critical research development area.

This innovative and cross-sector meet-up is part conference, part learning opportunity, part innovation incubator and has been designed to re-connect and re-energise people with a focus on interdisciplinary perspectives on health and social science. Areas that are in scope include mental health, public health, social epidemiology, health inequalities, -omics, health informatics, data ethics and privacy. However, we are open to any contributions that speak to and/or engage with interdisciplinary health and social science perspectives.

Download the PDF version of this call for contributions


Format

We are encouraging contributions from individuals and/or teams working in inter- and trans-disciplinary ways across health and social sciences. There are four possible formats for contributions:

  1. Provocation Panels (45 minutes) will focus on quick-fire interactivity to take full advantage of the face-to-face nature of this event and be purposely provocative to the panel members and audience. For example, these sessions can focus on challenges to the status quo, dilemmas and debates, methods boundaries and how to break them, or a showcase salon of failures or curious results.
  2. Professional Development Workshops (1 hour 30 minutes) will focus on a deeper-dive into a particular area of interdisciplinary methods used in health research. Examples include, but are not limited to, mental health, health inequalities, -omics, public health, social epidemiology, health informatics, data ethics and privacy. The scope of the workshops is broad but could involve subjects such as crowd-sourced problem solving, beta testing of new methods and practical demonstrations of analytical tools.
  3. Innovation Incubators (3 hours 15 minutes) will be participatory sessions engaging the audience in a new idea, emerging theme, interdisciplinary synergy or change of direction. Sessions will outline your current thinking or development of ideas around methodological innovation in health and social science research methods. Utilising the expertise of colleagues in the room, this could lead to establishing a community of practice, co-producing pitches or manifesto design, or developing an NCRM Innovation Fora application or larger funding proposal.
  4. Anything Goes Sessions (1 hour 30 minutes) are purposely broad and open to enable creativity and freedom. These slots can be utilised to shine a light on your passion project, spark new collaborations, explore innovative approaches to methods quandaries or to collectively develop technical work-around solutions and methods hacks.

Fees and honoraria

Following MethodsCon, a ‘fee form’ will be issued to contributors/teams. The fee is for the contributing individual or team as a whole.

  • Provocation Panel conveners: £100
  • Anything Goes Sessions: £150
  • Professional Development Workshops: £150
  • Innovation Incubators: £250

Bursaries

In order to support contributors from across different sectors, a package of financial support is available. A modest bursary fund is available and can be used to pay for costs that enable participation that is otherwise not possible. For example, the bursary could cover costs for travel, resources, accommodation or BSL interpreters. To access financial support via the bursary, costs must be indicated at the application stage. Requests for bursaries will be competitively awarded following a review by an NCRM panel.


Timeline

  • Deadline for applications: 4 May
  • Successful applicants notified: 16 May
  • Summary of contributions required: 10 June

How to apply

Our call for contributions is now closed. However, we may have a small number of slots available. If you are interested in contributing, please email claire.spencer@manchester.ac.uk with a brief outline of your proposed session.