The origin of this conference stems from a gap we perceived in the dissertation process. To analogize it to a famous thought experiment – if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If months of hard work resulted in a document that just went from student to marker and was ultimately archived – did it make an impact? We thought perhaps not.

 

The idea of this day is thus manifold: to give prior year MSc students a platform to showcase their research, to allow current year MSc students to be exposed to the types of research they could undertake in their own dissertations, and perhaps most importantly, to facilitate knowledge exchange and provide an opportunity for collective feedback and discussion – something that is integral to the progression of science itself. After all, the Latin root of the word dissertation is disstertare – which means continue to discuss. We hope everyone leaves with the spirit of continuous discussion today.

 

Although we have worked hard for many months to see this day to fruition, none of this would have been possible without a few key individuals. First and foremost, we want to thank Fred Basso for chairing this event, and dealing with all 1200 of our emails (an estimate). Many thanks also to Jacq Crane and Champa Heidbrink of the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science for all the support you provided us with. Finally, thank you to DPBS and the LSE Annual Fund for providing us with the material fodder, so that we may sit and enjoy the intellectual fodder sponsored by our speakers. Now, without further ado…