Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies » News Archive

Applications open for DIVERSE CDT 2026/27 PhD Scholarships!

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 10:38:00 GMT

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Diversity in Data Visualization (Diverse CDT) is a pioneering, fully funded four-year PhD programme jointly delivered by City St George’s, University of London and the University of ��ɫ��Ƶ.

Applications for PhD studentships with Diverse CDT are now open for 2026 entry.

We have rolling deadlines across several months and the first deadline for submitting an application is 4pm, GMT on 30th January 2026.

Further details here: /fac/cross_fac/cim/apply-to-study/phd-programmes/diverse-cdt/

Six ways to put the public at the heart of science and policy

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 07:02:00 GMT

New Paper Explores the Challenges and Opportunities of Science Communication in Populist Times

Trust in elite institutions is on the wane globally. This piece, published as a comment in a Nature issue on public trust in science, explores the ways in which institutions can collaborate with the public to honestly, humbly and proactively co-develop this trust.

CIM students participate in International Workshop "Accessing Data with the Data Act"

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 11:57:47 GMT

On 7-8 May 2026, the international workshop 'Accessing Data with the Data Act' took place at the beautiful Poblenou campus of the Universitat Pompeu FabraLink opens in a new window in Barcelona. During this interdisciplinary event, participants with diverse backgrounds in law, computer science, data visualisation and social studies of technology came together to learn about the EU's Data Act and to explore how it can be deployed to investigate and intervene in digital societies

The workshop brought together 17 postgraduate students, researchers and academics of 4 different universities: the University of ��ɫ��Ƶ (United Kingdom), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium), CY Cergy-Paris University (France) and Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Spain). It was co-organised by the Eutopia learning community called FATE (for Fairness, Accountability and Transparency in Data Processing), which under the leadership of prof. Carlos Castillo (UPF) has delivered shared learning activities since 2021.

Research talk - Helwig Hauser, University of Bergen -- Visual Data Science for rich simulation data

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 13:05:54 GMT

Prof Helwig Hauser from University of Bergen will be visiting ��ɫ��Ƶ on 5 June 2026 and will be giving a talk titled "Visual Data Science for rich simulation data". The talk will be a hybrid event and will take place physically at the Faculty of Arts Building in the room FAB 2.31. The talk will start at 1:15pm and we have reserved 90 minutes including the discussions.

CIM's Matt Spencer awarded RISCS-NCSC Impact Prize for his work on Principles Based Assurance

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 14:15:00 GMT

The 2026 RISCS Impact Prize was awarded to Matt Spencer for his policy analysis on the future of cyber security product assurance and the socio-technical factors involved in the implementation of the National Cyber Security Centre's Principles Based Assurance regime.

New Action Research paper explores participatory and action research within the institutional PhD

Wed, 06 May 2026 08:32:37 GMT

A new article by Raymond Hyma (Monash GPSC; ��ɫ��Ƶ PAIS) and Javier García Martínez (��ɫ��Ƶ CIM; Monash School of Social Sciences) has been published in Action Research.

Titled “Still in the Thick of it: A Duoethnographic Account Navigating and Challenging the Institutional PhD Through Participatory and Action-Oriented Research”, the article reflects on what it means to pursue participatory and action-oriented research from within the institutional context of the PhD.

Using a duoethnographic approach, the authors write from the middle of their doctoral journeys rather than looking back retrospectively. The article explores the possibilities, tensions, compromises, and forms of support that emerge when participatory commitments encounter the structures of doctoral education; including ethics review, authorship conventions, supervisory relationships, institutional timelines, and the challenge of sustaining relational research practices within academic constraints.

In doing so, the paper contributes to wider conversations about how doctoral research might be reimagined as a space for collective learning, methodological experimentation, and institutional transformation.

Hyma, R., & García Martínez, J. (2026). Still in the thick of it: A duoethnographic account navigating and challenging the institutional PhD through participatory and action-oriented research. Action Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/14767503261443972.

Policy Brief: Strengthening the roles of African Science Granting Councils as boundary organisations for societal transformation

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 10:46:00 GMT

Science Granting Councils (SGCs) are pivotal boundary organisations in African research and innovation systems, mediating between government, academia and industry. This brief explores experiences of SGCs in 15 sub-Saharan African countries.

Information Territory and Data Terrains: an examination of the Anti-Locust Research Centre

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 12:43:00 GMT

New paper by Robert Fletcher (Department of History, University of Missouri) and Greg McInerny (CIM, University of ��ɫ��Ƶ).

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02637758251406487

New papers on interdisciplinary cyber security

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 10:08:00 GMT

CIM's Matt Spencer has published two new open access papers exploring interdisciplinarity in cyber security.

The embeddedness of security: Theorising quality uncertainty in markets for secure software

Critical interdisciplinary cybersecurity: Thinking through securing, thinking through fixing

The first, in the conference proceedings for the New Security Paradigms Workshop (NSPW), explores opportunities to bring a sociological framing to bear on security economics; the second, in Information, Communication and Society introduces a Special Issue focused on 'the fix' as a trope for interdisciplinary cyber security.

CIM event at Newspeak House: Lessons from everyday encounters with AI innovation

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 09:38:00 GMT

What do smart doorbells, delivery drones and data centres have in common?
How does AI show up in living environments like the street? Has the hyperscale of AI expansion exploded the connection between innovation governance and its publics?