Welcome!
Welcome to Techne's January Student Congress! We're all very used to attending events such as this online now, but we're still disappointed not to be able to provide a place for Techne students to meet in person once again. Despite the restrictions of online conferences, we hope that you enjoy the sessions that we have planned over our three Congress days and get a chance for interaction with each other as well as hearing from our exciting range of speakers.
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Thank you to Brunel University for hosting this Techne Congress. Although we're not physically at their campus, it is mostly Brunel colleagues who have organised and are delivering this programme, and we hope it gives you a flavour of some of their research.
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We are aware that attending an online conference is quite a different experience to an in-person conference, and that tuning in for long hours of back to back Zoom sessions can be quite draining. We want to reassure you that while we have three whole days of sessions running, we don't expect attendees to sit through all sessions back-to-back. We hope that you will be able to pick as many or few of the sessions as you like - please feel free to dip in and out of the programme to suit your interests and schedule.
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The only thing we ask is that where possible you pre-register for the sessions you are interested in by clicking the links on the programme page.
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This is how the online conference will work:
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Take a look at the programme and speakers to familiarise yourself with the sessions.
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You need to pre-register for individual sessions. On the programme, please click the relevant registration link for any sessions you would like to attend.
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When you register for a session it will send you an email with a joining link and the password. When it is time for the session to start, you should follow this link to enter the Zoom meeting.
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We will also send out an email on each day of the Congress with a reminder of sessions happening that day, including meeting links, in case you lose your original email.
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Sessions will be held on Zoom, which is an easy to use video conferencing platform. Zoom works on phones, tablets and laptops/PCs so we hope it is accessible for everyone. If you haven't used Zoom before, please take a minute to download it before the conference. Please see here for our best practice advice on participating in Zoom conference sessions.
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If you have any questions or need any help please email techne@rhul.ac.uk.
Hello from your Congress organising team!
PROF. MICHAEL WAYNE
Brunel University (Techne Academic Lead)
Michael is Professor in Media and Film Studies at Brunel University where he convenes the MA in Media and Public Relations. His research interests are in political communications, culture and imperialism, documentary film, popular culture, national identities, class and Marxist cultural theory and philosophy. Recent books include England’s Discontents: Political Cultures and National Identities (Pluto 2018) which was shortlisted for the Deutscher Memorial Prize and Marxism Goes To The Movies (Routledge 2020). He is also a documentary filmmaker. The Acting Class (co-directed with Dr Deirdre O’Neill) won Best National Feature Documentary at the Labour Film festival 2017.
DR MONICA DEGEN
Brunel University
Monica is a Reader in Cultural Sociology at Brunel University London. She works at the intersections of experiential and cultural processes in the city and urban politics and governance. Her latest work is focusing on the temporalities of urban change as well as the ways in which the digital is transforming experiences of urban spaces.
EMMA MOLYNEUX
Techne Senior Administration Officer
Emma has been working for Techne since 2018, organising all of the training, events and conferences for Techne students and keeping everyone informed about what Techne has going on. Her favourite part of the job is organising conferences because she enjoys the challenge of spinning lots of plates at the same time! She also enjoys the opportunity to sit in on conference sessions and relive her academic days. Emma has a BA in English and an MA in Victorian Literature, Art and Culture from Royal Holloway.
