The PGF is happy to announce that transcripts are now available for several episodes of PG Focus. The link for transcripts can be found at the bottom of the relevant podcast posts.

In this podcast we talk to Nick Couldry, Professor of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths College, about his recent work on neoliberalism and the possibility of a post-neoliberal politics. The conversation encompasses his last book, After Voice, as well as the broader issues he engages with: how has neoliberalism embedded itself in contemporary society and how can a critical social science help provide the intellectual resources to mobilise resistance to it?

This episode was produced, edited and hosted by Mark Carrigan for the BSA PG Forum.

In this tenth edition of the main PG Focus podcast series we are very pleased to welcome Allison Hui, who will be giving a talk on the value and practicalities of Writing Groups for PhD students. 

In this episode, Allison reflects on her own experiences of forming and participating in a writing group - and gives advice on the strategies and areas of focus for those looking to form their own groups.

Allison Hui is a PhD student at Lancaster University and co-convenor of the BSA PG Forum.

This episode was edited and hosted by Mike Bracher for the BSA PG Forum.

Two great books that talk about writing PhDs by Rowena Murray and Patrick Dunleavy can be previewed here:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=H2htzdy-z_wC&lpg=PP1&dq=rowena%20murray%20how%20to%20write%20a%20thesis&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Q4jbv2ZVHVMC&lpg=PP1&dq=patrick%20dunleavy%20authoring%20a%20phd&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

If you are looking for advice about writing and writing groups, check out these sites:

http://www.insidehighered.com/advice

http://chris.golde.org/filecabinet/writegroups.html

More advice about writing groups is also available in the 6th issue of The Sociologist Newsletter available at:

http://issuu.com/sociologist/docs/the_sociologist_newsletter 

In this ninth edition we are pleased to welcome Tony Trueman, the BSA's Press Officer; who will be giving advice on negotiating audio and video interviews.  This episode will provide guidance for sociologists who are looking to disseminate and publicise their research those various media.  Tony's talk in this podcast extends some of the themes discussed in his workshop at the BSA 2010 Annual Conference.

Tony has worked for a number of prominent media organisations and has taught and lectured in the area of media and communications.

This episode was produced, edited and hosted by Mike Bracher for the BSA PG Forum.

The BSA PG Forum is pleased to announce the release of our Podcasting Advice guide.

This document gives direction and guidance on how to turn your work - be it a presentation, interview, teaching initiative, or other item of audio or video presentation - into a format for publication on PG Focus.  The guide assumes no prior knowledge and is intended for consumption by those completely new to this versatile and highly useful format.

As well as providing information on submissions for PG Focus, the guide will be of interest to anyone working with audio or video when communicating or teaching sociology.

The guide was written by Allison Hui and Mike Bracher for the BSA PG Forum.

In this eighth edition we are very pleased to welcome Alan Warde, Professor in the department of sociology at the University of Manchester and Co-Director of the ESRC Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition (CRIC).  He also has extensive experience as an assessor and panel member for consideration of postdoctoral funding applications to the ESRC.

Professor Warde will be speaking about post-doctoral directions for student who have or are about to complete their PhD projects.  Topics covered in this episode include:

*Outline of funding available.

*Tips for writing an application.

*Critical criteria and the assessment process (based on ESRC assessment processes).

Alan Warde was interviewed by Tung Suen, PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at St. Anthony's College, Oxford.  Tung's PhD research examines the relationship between aging and masculinity, and he also has interests in qualitative research methods.

This episode was produced, edited and hosted by Mike Bracher for the BSA PG Forum.

Welcome to another edition of PG Focus - bringing you news, interviews, and showcasing postgraduate sociological research.

In this edition we are very pleased to welcome Neera Chandhoke - professor in the department of political science at Delhi University (India) - and plenary speaker at the 2010 BSA Annual Conference. 

This is the first of two parts of a conversation which was recorded at the Conference. In part 1 - Neera Chandhoke speaks with Srila Roy on the topics of:

*Postcolonial developments in Indian social science.

*Contemporary conceptions of civil society and political engagement in the Indian context.

*NGO's, accountability and the state.

Professor Chandhoke is Director of the developing countries research centre at Delhi University, and the current president of the Asian political and international studies association. She is the author of:

*2003, The Conceits of Civil Society, Delhi, Oxford University Press

*1999, Beyond Secularism: The Rights of Religious Minorities, Delhi, Oxford University Press

Her current work is an exploration of the right of secession.

Srila Roy is a Lecturer in Sociology & Social Policy at the University of Nottingham.  Her interdisciplinary research interests draw on feminist theory, cultural studies, psychoanalysis, postcolonial and anthropological work. In substantive terms, Srila's work explores issues of gender, postcolonial feminism and feminist theory, cultural memory, violence and trauma, and the affective economies of social movements and everyday life; with a regional specialism in India and South Asia.

The second part of this conversation will be featured in another PG Focus release later in the year.

A transcript of this episode can be downloaded here

This episode was produced, edited and hosted by Mike Bracher for the British Sociological Association.

In this episode we are pleased to welcome Patricia Hill Collins, Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland (USA); and Charles Phelps Taft Emeritus Professor of African American studies at the University of Cincinnati (USA).  She was also the first African American woman to be elected President of the American Sociological Association (ASA) (2008-2009). 

Her groundbreaking work in social thoery Black Feminist Thought - Knowledge, Power and the Politics of Empowerment received the C Wright Mills Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems; and the Jesse Bernard award of the ASA for significant scholarship in the field of gender.

Patricia Hill Collins took time out following her plenary address to the 2009 British Sociological Association Annual Conference to speak to Kie Andrews, PhD researcher at the University of Birmingham.  The topics of the discussion include;

*The politics of community

*PG student activism

*Local and global community membership

*Current research by PG students (supervised by Patricia Hill Collins)

Kie Andrews's work focuses on the interplay between black power discourses and the notion of community, which he is examining in relation to community inititatives such as 'Saturday School' clubs in Birmingham.

This episode was produced, edited and hosted by Mike Bracher for the BSA PG Forum.

A transcript of this episode can be downloaded here

Welcome to the fifth and final episode in our special series of BSA PG Focus podcasts from the recent 2010 BSA Presidential Event - 'How to put society into Climate Change'. This special run of episodes brings together contributors from the event in order to explore themes related to climate change and society, and to explore the implications that this might have for postgraduate research.

In this episode we are pleased to welcome Les Levidow, who made significant contributions to the debate on biofuels and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in response to the questions and topics raised in the speech by Malcolm Wicks MP.

Les Levidow is a Senior Research Fellow at the Open University, UK, where he has been studying agri-environmental issues since the 1980s.  His research now encompasses a broader range of issues, especially agri-innovation priorities and biofuels, within an EC-funded research project (www.crepeweb.net), as well as alternative agro-food networks in another project (www.faanweb.eu).

Co-author of Governing the Transatlantic Conflict over Agricultural Biotechnology: Contending Coalitions, Trade Liberalisation and Standard Setting (Routledge, 2006),

http://technology.open.ac.uk/cts/tup/GovTransConflict.pdf

Co-author of GM Food on Trial: Testing European Democracy (Routledge, 2009).

Editor of the journal Science as Culture, http://www.informaworld.com/csac

A transcript of this episode can be downloaded here

This episode was produced, edited and hosted by Mike Bracher for the British Sociological Association.

Hello and welcome to the second in our special series of BSA PG Focus podcasts from the recent 2010 BSA Presidential Event - 'How to put society into Climate Change'. This special run of episodes brings together contributors from the event in order to explore themes related to climate change and society, and to explore the implications that this might have for postgraduate research.

In this episode we welcome Malcolm Wicks MP, who contributed a speech entitled 'Climate Change - what is the question?'.

Malcolm Wicks has been Labour MP for Croydon North since 1992.  He is a Sociology graduate from the Polytechnic of North London and the London School of Economics; and also a former Minister of Science and Minister for Energy. His academic background includes tenures as a Research Fellow in the Department of Social Administration at York University; lecturer in Social Policy at Brunel University and the Civil Service College; Director of the Family Studies Centre. He has long-standing interests in family policy, poverty and the elderly, and also in fuel poverty.

This episode was produced, edited and hosted by Mike Bracher for the BSA PG Forum.

A transcript of this interview can be downloaded here