Student research into topics as diverse as the Black Lives Matter campaign, the rise of right-wing politics in the UK and air pollution were among those on show this week.
Posters from more than 90 students from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU)’s Department of Politics, People and Place were displayed at The Venue@DMU as part of their final dissertation work.
Senior lecturers and invited guests provided feedback on their work so far as well as useful tips to help them put together their final written dissertation which is due in April. The poster counts as 20 per cent of their final module grade.
Laverne Caprice (International Relations and Politics) contrasted the 1960s civil rights movement and today’s Black Lives Matter campaign, uncovering statistics on race and media. She said: “It’s been hard in that the Black Lives Matter is so new that not many people have published about it, but it’s been a nice challenge because you can look at what people are writing about right now. I have really enjoyed putting this together.”
India Jansons (Politics), who became a parish councillor in Northamptonshire when she was 18, did a poster on Is There a Need for Parish Councils?. She said: “I think people forget about parish councils but they are a real link to what happens especially in small communities.”
Rory Page (Politics) looked at the Government’s plan to tackle air pollution, using London as a case study and interviewed former education secretary Justine Greening, MP for Putney, as part of his research. He said: “I did a lot of interviews as part of the research process and it’s been really interesting to look at how different organisations view the issues and what actions have been taken.”
Politics student Emily Twist’s work looked at civil liberties and cyber security in the USA. She said: “When the Edward Snowdon stuff came out I was absolutely fascinated and started to look into what information was held online. The perceptions of how people view surveillance versus security is so interesting.”
Zeena Said (Politics and International Relations) had taken inspiration from a second-year topic for her work on union recognition in Brazil. “My research has found that women make up 40% of the membership of labour organisations, but that there is still a gap when it comes to management, so women’s issues do not always get attention.”
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Months of research had been distilled into a poster with students being given marks for academic skills, referencing, visual appeal as well as clarity around aims and objectives.
Muhammad Ali, International Relations, chose to look at US military intervention in the Middle East. He said: “I’m looking at foreign policy during both Iraq Wars and the Libya intervention, and how the US tried to maintain control. Doing this poster has helped me because it forces you to get everything into a plan.”
The competition was organised by senior lecturer Ros Lishman with faculty staff assessing posters and offering advice.
Among them was Dr Clodagh Harrington, Associate Professor in American Politics. She said: “There is a huge range of topics on display here and I think what’s particularly impressive is the passion and enthusiasm which the students are showing in their work and when you talk to them about it.
“It’s a great opportunity for students to see each other’s work too and get some independent feedback from other lecturers about how to shape their dissertations.”
Posted on Thursday 14 February 2019