The International Research Summer School 2023

I attended the International Research Summer School 2023 (IRSS 2023) on 'Qualitative Research and Academic Integrity in Education' at the University of Warsaw, Poland from 3-7 July 2023, with the support of a BPS West Midlands Branch bursary.   

IRSS 2023 was organised by the University of Warsaw in partnership with the World Educational Research Association (WERA), the International Association of Educators (INASED) and the European Network of Academic Integrity (ENAI).  The summer school was a competitive and highly prestigious event for 38 doctoral researchers in the field of education and I was delighted to be selected following peer review of my PhD project on mental health problems in first generation university students.

The week-long residential summer school programme included seminars and workshops, along with group work and individual consultations.  The seminars were led by professors with a wealth of expertise and experience in qualitative research and academic integrity.  I learnt so much from these sessions and came away with a notebook full of advice and ideas for my own research.  

The workshops were both informative and great fun as we formed small groups and put into practice what we had learnt in sessions on research design and academic integrity.  In addition, we were each assigned to a working group (around 13 participants and several professors) in which we presented our research and discussed challenges we faced in our projects.  We also signed up for daily individual consultations with the professors, to discuss our research and potential future collaborations.

I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to attend IRSS 2023 – it was one of the best experiences of my PhD so far.  The expertise of the professors who led the summer school made it an intellectually challenging and stimulating environment, and my PhD project and future academic career will benefit hugely from the input of my colleagues and tutors.  

In addition, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting PhD researchers from many different universities and forming meaningful connections throughout the summer school.  IRSS 2023 was expertly organised and hosted by the University of Warsaw – fantastic programme, lovely staff and delicious food - and Warsaw is such a beautiful city.  

More information about IRSS 2023 can be found here - and if the summer school is held again in the future I would highly recommend it to all doctoral researchers in the field of education.

With huge thanks to BPS West Midlands Branch for the bursary which partially funded my attendance at IRSS 2023.

Donna Smith is a PhD researcher in the Psychology, Education and Learning Studies (PELS) Research Group at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge.  She is a member of the Wellbeing and Inclusion Special Interest Group and her research focuses on mental health problems in first generation university students.  Donna is a member of the BPS West Midlands Branch (living in Shropshire) and she is the postgraduate representative for the BPS Psychology of Education Section.

Twitter: @Donna_L_Smith