On Friday 5 June, UBEL DTP student representatives hosted the annual Spring Social at the University of Greenwich’s Old Royal Naval College campus, a UNESCO World Heritage Site celebrated for its baroque architecture and familiar to many as the backdrop for well known films. The afternoon brought together doctoral researchers from across the partnership for a campus tour, a walk through historic Greenwich, and a social gathering at the Trafalgar Tavern.
The UBEL Doctoral Training Partnership unites University of Greenwich, SOAS, UCL, the University of East London, LSHTM and Birkbeck. Spanning several institutions is one of the programme’s defining strengths, and actually realising the value of a joint programme depends on deliberately fostering knowledge exchange between the partner institutions. That conviction shaped the event: the student representatives wanted to create a relaxed setting where researchers from different institutions, pathways and years could meet, share their work, and build the kind of connections that sustain people through a doctorate.
The day opened with welcome remarks from three colleagues whose words set the tone. Professor Julia Morgan, Professor of Public Health and Wellbeing at the University of Greenwich and Deputy Director of the UBEL DTP, showcased the opportunities that UBEL DTP offers for doctoral researchers. Steven Miles, Head of the Doctoral College at the University of Greenwich, welcomed students to the campus and highlighted the value of community in his own PhD journey. Professor Özlem Onaran, Professor of Economics at Greenwich Business School, Director of the Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre, and UBEL pathway leader, delivered a speech on the responsibility of researchers to build a better world. Across their remarks ran a shared theme: that doctoral study is not a solitary path, and that a strong, connected research community is a fundamental pillar of the PhD experience rather than an optional extra. Partnerships like UBEL, they reminded students, exist precisely to create the spaces in which that community can take root and grow.
From there, the group enjoyed a guided campus tour led by ESRC-UBEL DTP PhD student Alex Bruno before walking up to the Royal Observatory, the setting for the day’s group photograph, before raising a glass together at the historic Trafalgar Tavern. The value of the afternoon was clearest in the conversations it produced: a first-year student on the Gender and Sexuality pathway exchanging ideas and laughter with a final-year Culture, Heritage and History candidate; two Law and Criminology researchers from different years and institutions comparing concrete approaches to their projects. These are the cross-institutional exchanges that a joint DTP is designed to enable, and they happen most readily when people are simply given the time and space to meet.
Warm thanks go to everyone who took part, to the UBEL DTP for supporting events of this kind, and to the student representatives who organised the day: Maria Gargiulo, Martin Gozzi, Sofía Monreal Lugo, and Micaela Fernández Erlauer.
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