To become a professional scientist you are required to develop many skills in the laboratory. However, many further skills are required: time and project...

To become a professional scientist you are required to develop many skills in the laboratory. However, many further skills are required: time and project management; the preparation and dissemination of posters, papers and presentations; data and reference management, written and verbal communication skills. The aim of this module is to provide you with the transferable skills necessary for planning research and for the effective communication of science. The module will consist of seminars, workshops and discussion sessions.

Taking Poles as a case study, but also considering other nationalities, the module will explore the nature and significance of the East European presence in...

Taking Poles as a case study, but also considering other nationalities, the module will explore the nature and significance of the East European presence in contemporary Britain. In recent years, Poles from all walks of life, of every age and from every corner of Poland have moved to the UK. The module considers the implications of this transplantation for Polish migrants themselves, for UK society and politics, and for Poland (understood as a transnational social space, not confined within the state borders of the Republic of Poland). Concepts important in the module will include transnationalism, ethnicity, diaspora, social cohesion, community and civil society. The first half of the module will focus mainly on Poles, examining e.g. civil society (the rapid construction of a web of non-political community organisations cf. much more limited trade union and political activism); employment, social mobility and socio-economic integration; and individual experiences of transnational lives and acculturation in the context of highly diverse UK society. Although less has been published about other nationalities, as far as possible comparisons will be made with other Central and East Europeans. The second half of the module will look at broader issues around social cohesion, attitudes towards migrants in the UK and the political context, and finally open still further to compare the experiences of Central and East Europeans in the UK to those in other countries in Western Europe and other continents.