Network News
The AQMeN team have been very busy over the past 6 months, getting the network up and running, spreading awareness and obtaining feedback on what members would like us to provide, launching the website and planning events and much more. Our main activities have included:
Consulting the Scottish Social Sciences Community
Launch of NEW Collaborative Small Grants Scheme
Launch of NEW Consultancy Service
Online Survey
AQMeN have been carrying out an online survey over the past few months to understand the expertise and training needs of Network members. The survey has now been completed by 215 people and results can be viewed on the website. It is hoped that as well as helping to plan Network activities over the next 2-3 years, the survey data will provide a useful resource to others. Network members requiring more specific results or seeking to contact individuals with particular skills or experience should email AQMeN's Senior Statistician to discuss their request. The survey is still live and everyone is encouraged to take part. Results posted on the website are updated on a regular basis to incorporate new responses.
Consulting the Scottish Social Science Community
Over the past six months, Heather and Helen have visited universities and organisations across Scotland presenting awareness seminars. The aims of the seminars were to introduce the AQMeN initatiative, invite feedback on the services and support members would like us to provide and to help the universities and organisations develop local networks by bringing relevant people together. A copy of this presentation is available on the website.
Feedback from the seminars is currently being used in conjunction with the online survey results to develop a programme of training and other activities. As a result AQMeN are now making plans to run training events during 2010 on topics including multilevel modelling, longitudinal analysis and regression techniques, with more planned for 2011 and 2012. This programme will be available on the website at the end of April. The full report of the consultation is available here.
Collaborative Small Grants Scheme
AQMeN have established a Collaborative Small Grants Scheme to encourage and support members of the Network to work together on small-scale research, training, knowledge exchange or dissemination projects that involve the use of advanced quantitative methods in any area of social science. The principal applicant must be a member of staff within a Scottish Higher Education Institution, although the scheme is open to staff at any stage of their career who wish to develop a small initiative in conjunction with new collaborative partners. Applications that include collaboration between academic and non-academic organisations will be particularly welcome.
The scheme is being run annually and a total of three awards of up to £3,000 each will be made per year. The first call for applications is now open and further details are available on the website.
This call will close on 14th May 2010 with successful applicants notified by 4th June 2010.
Consultancy Service
The provision of one-to-one advice on quantitative methods was a high priority for AQMeN members. A consultancy service is now available and details are available on the website.
People requiring advice will initially follow instructions to determine whether guidance available online is sufficient to meet their needs and will also be invited to post a message on the online forum. Where these approaches are insufficient, a request may be submitted online to AQMeN and a telephone or face-to-face consultancy session will be arranged with a Network member.
To ensure the service is successful, AQMeN are building a register of people with suitable skills across Scotland. If you would be willing to provide advice to another Network member please contact us.
Facilitating Networking
There are now over 450 Network members, primarily from universities, public sector (Scottish Government and Local Authorities) and private organisations across Scotland and beyond, representing a wide range of knowledge and experience in quantitative methods across many areas of application.
In order to facilitate networking, all members are encouraged to provide a short biography describing their skills and experience on their public profile and optionally a photograph. If you require assistance in uploading this information to your profile, please send it to AQMeN and we will be happy to upload this for you. Alternatively your profile can be edited directly in the People section of the website. Completed member profiles will allow the member search facility on the website to provide an effective tool for identifying other network members with specific skills or experience of interest to you.
Developing Online Resources
AQMeN recognises that some excellent resources have been developed by other institutions and these will be used to supplement those developed by AQMeN. Informative links to quality resources relating to e Learning, teaching materials, other self-learning resources, sources of data and information about other training providers are available from the Resources section of the website. If you have any suggestions for resources please contact us.
Events
To date, AQMeN have run three events, all well attended with very positive feedback. In December, Prof Phil Rees from the University of Leeds gave our inaugural annual lecture on the topic of Population Studies, followed by a hands-on training event on the use of Life Tables. In March we ran an event as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2010 at Sensation in Dundee. This event, The Changing Face of Scotland, looked at current issues including migration, fertility, climate change and demography and was attended by a wide range of delegates with good representation from Scottish Government and Local Authorities from across Scotland. Slides and materials from all previous training events are available on the website.
Upcoming events include our first PhD event in May focusing on Issues of Data Collection, Analysis and Presentation. As part of this there are two events open to all network members:
On the 11th May, writer and BBC broadcaster Michael Blastland will present The Public Perils of Statistics and How to Survive Them at the Merchants Hall in Edinburgh.
On the 13th May there will be an Introduction to Advanced Quantitative Techniques taking place at Napier University. This event will introduce advanced techniques such as Longitudinal Analysis, Multilevel modelling, Regression for Categorical Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling.
Both of these events are free for all AQMeN members to attend and will be followed by a light snack and refreshments.
Our full programme of events will be published on the website Training & Events page from the end of April.
Edinburgh Network
We are in the process of planning a programme of events for the local Edinburgh Network. All AQMeN members from the Edinburgh area are invited to be part of this sub-network and we are currently seeking volunteers to form a steering committee. If you would like to participate in helping to organise events locally in Edinburgh please contact us. Initially we hope to launch a monthly Edinburgh Seminar Series starting in the next few weeks, to which all AQMeN members will be invited to attend.
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