The Graduate Junction is a brand new website designed to help graduate research students make contact with other students with similar research interests, regardless of which department, institution or country they work in. Designed by two postgraduate students at the University of Durham, UK, The Graduate Junction has proved very popular with research students and academics alike. Since the launch of the website in May 2008 the Graduate Junction already has over 3000 registered users spread across 40 countries.
Currently research students have two main sources of information, published literature and academic conferences. Whilst published literature is essential, literature reviews can only ever reveal completed work. Relevant academic conferences provide a forum for students with similar research interest to interact but occur infrequently. It is very easy to become isolated, overly focused on the specifics of your own work and lose a sense of what other related work is being done. The Graduate Junction hopes to prevent that isolation and allow research students to start forming the networks which can stay with them throughout their careers. The Graduate Junction aims to provide an atmosphere similar to that at academic events and through the use of the internet aims to establish an on-line worldwide graduate research community.
Often very separate research literatures exist within subject area. The Graduate Junction, however, is unique because it links students based on ‘research keywords’, promoting interdisciplinary relationships. By simply registering a few basic details, students can search for fellow graduate research students by keyword, institution, department, supervisor or name. Alternatively, students can search The Graduate Junction’s on-line research groups which allows them to find and communicate with a number of other students sharing their research interest.
The Graduate Junction is useful for all Masters, PhD and post doctoral students at any stage of the research process, and allows researchers to stay informed about current developments in their field. With the addition of conference and postgraduate job listings imminent, The Graduate Junction could grow to be one of the most useful resources available for all graduate research students.
|
