1. engage@liverpool engaging with ideas, innovation and people
@livuniengage
Dr Michael Mair

2. engage@liverpool Overview Running since Spring 2011
90+ events featuring 100s of speakers from 20+ departments across the 3 faculties
11 doctoral research clinics open to students across the North West involving cross-disciplinary panels of Liverpool academics
Master classes, cross-institutional workshops, day-schools, symposia and conferences for students and academics regionally, nationally and internationally
Mailing list of postgraduate and academic researchers internally and externally (see for more details)
Support for various research networks in the UoL (and beyond)
Growing archive of talks and events with dedicated webpages providing access to various resources (slides, documents, readings, audio and 40+ video recordings)
YouTube channel: 12,000+ views and growing

3. engage@liverpool Core activities
Research and methods talks, e.g. the ‘Legacies’ series
Workshops, master classes, research day schools, etc.
Doctoral research clinics
One-off events inc. symposia, conferences and more
Short courses and methods training
Designed to: highlight/provide access to methodological expertise within the UoL
Promote research activity of all kinds and at all levels
Foster interdisciplinary dialogue, collaboration and innovation internally and externally

4. engage@liverpool Core activities
Brings together different strands of the UoL’s contribution to regional, national and international research networks
Provides next generation of researchers with access to latest developments in different fields of research
Operates in parallel with/supports wider doctoral training partnerships and the Liverpool Doctoral College

5. engage@liverpool Background: broad changes in research landscape
Doctoral Training Networks and Centres for Doctoral Training (e.g. ESRC/AHRC/EPSRC/NIHR)
More emphasis on methods/training/expertise: NCRM/RDF
Formation of Methods North West
Complementarity/distinctiveness not replication
Reflected in ethos of Liverpool Doctoral College

6. engage@liverpool Why engage@liverpool?
Reflects three distinctive strands in the research tradition of the University of Liverpool
Engagement with the major moral, political and philosophical ideas and questions of the day
Engagement with, and contribution to, methodological and intellectual innovation
Engagement with people through research – locally, regionally, nationally and internationally
broad mission to promote these three aspects of research within and across disciplines

7. engage@liverpool Not a narrow methods focus, emphasis on
Understanding/contributing to wider social, cultural, economic and political processes and practices
Innovation, capacity building and potential for collaboration/cross-fertilisation of ideas and approaches
Creating/sustaining unique local, national and international relationships

8.
Explicit acknowledgment of historic connections with/legacy of figures like: Dr William Henry Duncan, James Newlands, Eleanor Rathbone, Charles Booth, Olaf Stapledon, Joseph Rotblat, and many others
Not simply activists, campaigners and reformers
Also respected social scientists, arts and humanities scholars and scientific/medical researchers
Capacity to perform one role linked to the other

9.
Connects into other strands of research via a distinctive approach to methods and methodology
Not just about social relevance of research (‘impact’, ‘knowledge exchange’)
All transformative thinkers and researchers: innovators in fields of knowledge as well as in social, cultural and political life

10.
Doctor Duncan/James Newlands: pioneers in field of social medicine and public health
Charles Booth: pioneer in ethnographic and spatial studies of poverty and demography
Eleanor Rathbone: pioneer in field of policy studies
Olaf Stapledon/Joseph Rotblat: pioneering peace campaigners, internationalists, futurologists
takes up contemporary expressions of tradition of intellectual leadership and innovation

11. engage@liverpool Demonstrated in past events, e.g.
European Institute for Gender Equality presentation on the Gender Equality Index
Master classes/workshops on digital research, investigating the workplace, psychohistory in interdisciplinary contexts, participatory inquiry, health impact assessment, and more
Day schools on researching corporate power structures
Talks on improving tuberculosis diagnostics, crowdsourced data, studying the powerful, the influence of literature on science, writing biography, archaeological contributions to understandings of the state, and more
All reflections on contemporary ‘matters of concern’ at intersections between fields of research
All talks available via YouTube channel: or website:

12.
Traces through to joint activity with Methods North West
Annual problem-focused doctoral research clinics
Workshops on visualisation, ‘live data’, research with children, transformative social science, the problem of scale across disciplines
Soon to include methods labs and ‘collaboratories’

13. engage@liverpool Continued in this year’s programme … Short courses
Critical Discourse Analysis
Ethnographic Studies of Science and Technology
Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis
Focus Groups
Interviewing
Narrative Interviewing
Participatory Action Research
Using Foucault’s Methods
Using Visual Methods
Working with Nvivo via CSD

14. engage@liverpool Long courses
Sociology: Understanding Society Using Quantitative Methods (12 weeks)
Psychology: Practical Research Skills (12 weeks)/Advanced Statistics and Methods (12 weeks)
Geography: Social Survey Analysis (with R)/Spatial Analysis (12 weeks)/Researching Space, Power and Culture (12 weeks)

15. engage@liverpool Workshops/symposia/day schools Performing History
Writing and Narratology
Text Encoding
Prosopography/Network Analysis in History
Methodological Approaches to Political Economy
Bayesian Approaches Across the Disciplines
Material Cultures/Materialities
Critical Grounded Theory

16. engage@liverpool Talks and other events
A Very Capitalist Condition: A History and Politics of Disability, with Roddy Slorach, Thursday 10th November 2016, 5pm-7pm
More to be announced as confirmed

17. engage@liverpool Additions to the programme
Always seeking ideas, proposals and requests from the PGR community on what else we can do
Also happy to discuss how to access funding through regional and national research networks
Feel free to get in touch!

18.
provides access to research and research training which actively and critically engages with ideas, innovation and people
For more information, go to or contact

19. engage@liverpool Useful links www.methodsnorthwest.ac.uk