Tuesday, February 23, 2010

International Federation of Social Work Conference

Great news.  I have been accepted to present at the IFSW conference in Hong Kong in June 2010.  The conference is titled, '2010 Joint World Conference on Social Work and Social Development: the Agenda’ and is a  joint conference with  The International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW), and the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW). 

I will be travelling to Hong Kong with my Dad - he hasn't been there before and he thought it sounded like an interesting place to visit.  I will be glad to have his company, and I hope to have a  few days in Hong Kong to have a look around and enjoy the culture, the food and the shopping!

So, now I need to finalise my presentation which needs to be sent off soon. More later.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Elevator conversation

How do you explain your research in simple language in just a few minutes. Some people call it the 'elevator conversation' and other people call it the ' three minute thesis'.   I am often asked about my research and as I start explaining it, I sometimes notice people's eyes glaze over. I wonder why. Are they not really interested, or am I not making sense?

Here is my three minute thesis - does this make sense in just a few sentences?  I'd really appreciate any feedback.

My research is about reflective practice. I'm interested in exploring how people learn to be reflective, why they become interested in reflective practice and how they use reflective practice. My early observations are that I see reflective practice taught in most University programs, and students seem to engage in reflective practice. Then they graduate and join the workforce and being reflective seems to be one of those things that is in the gap between university and the real world. Some time later,  people are drawn back to reflective practice and I am interested in exploring how this happens and whether there are any events that trigger people to look for reflective activities.