Research Cafes at LJMU

Valerie StevensonHead of Academic Services

LJMU Library Services

Outline

• Concept of a “Research Café”

• Planning at LJMU

• 2013/14 programme

• Christmas Special

• Lessons learned and future plans at LJMU

The Café Concept

Café Philosophique• Long tradition: London and

Vienna coffee houses, Paris Left Bank

• 1990s Paris: Marc Sautet’s Cafés-Philo idea spread around the world

• Café Scientifique began in Leeds 1998, similar idea for science and technology

• Examples in universities and cities worldwide

www.acropole.ca

Planning at LJMU

Development Phase

• Original idea from LJMU Director of Research, Professor Andy Young, 2012

• Informal seminars with coffee and cake

• Short talks aimed at the lay person

• Promote awareness of the range of research carried out at LJMU

Speakers: October 2013

Library role

• Neutral venues, familiar to everyone

• Booking rooms

• Introductions

• Providing refreshments

• Promotion and marketing

• Write-ups on the library blog

Research Café Format

• Two-hour session, Wednesday afternoons, once a month

• Informality, discussion encouraged

• Four speakers: allocated 10-15 minutes each, interdisciplinary, mix of early career researchers and very experienced staff

• Started 2012: new Vice-Chancellor one of the first speakers

Promotion and Marketing

• Dates set at the start of the academic year• Speakers selected by LJMU Research &

Innovation Team and advertised about a week in advance

• Publicised on LJMU web sites, Library blog, twitter and Facebook

• Sessions filmed and added to the LJMU YouTube channel

http://ljmulibrary.wordpress.com/

LJMU YouTube channel: playlist

Christmas Event, 2013

Christmas Café at Liverpool Central Library

The Christmas Programme• Phil James, Professor of Extragalatic Astrophysics –

Supernova: the exploding stars

• Laura Bishop, Professor of Hominid Palaeoecology – Two million years BC: The real story of our early ancestors

• Professor Simon Yates, Director, Institute of Cultural Capital – Understanding digital inclusion

• Glenda Norquay, Professor of Scottish Literary Studies – Transatlantic transactions: Literary conversations in the 1890s

Lessons learned andfuture plans

• Successful initiative: continue in 2014/15

• Careful preparation with researchers: review video before release

• Keep the format, wider publicity, open to public

• Repeat the Christmas event

• Considering live streaming

Questions/Comments