Great expectations for #VitaeCon2021
Posted 19/08/2021 by 9a4fa0b2-a68f-44ca-95b6-a2b900c1471a
Dr Katie Wheat, Head of Engagement & Policy, looks forward to Vitae Connections Week 2021 (#VitaeCon2021) and shares with us what to look out for this year.
It’s just over two weeks to go until the unofficial start to my year, and I’m as excited as ever to be bringing together a fantastic crowd to immerse ourselves in the latest policy and practice of researcher development through Vitae Connections Week 2021 (7-10 September). In case you are wondering what to expect, here are a few of my favourite things to look out for.
As last year, we will meet online, which has some advantages such as accessibility for those who would otherwise have far to travel, or have juggling caring responsibilities, or who would like (or need) to dip in and out alongside other commitments during the week. Though I know from the feedback last year, and my own experience of pandemic working, that many of you missed those serendipitous conversations and spontaneous catch ups with old friends and colleagues that the maze of corridors at the Hilton hotel enabled. The good news is that our new look exhibition hall will be open every day to support exactly those interactions. Thank you to everyone who has tested it out so far. I can’t wait for it to be revealed to the full #VitaeCon2021 audience soon – do bring a cuppa and come ready for a chat!
For those who are looking ahead at an already busy week of multi-tasking during the event, we have built in lots of features that I hope will make engaging with Vitae Connections Week easier and more enjoyable. Starting with the event platform itself, you can narrow down the expansive number of sessions and opportunities to take part in by filtering the agenda by the day or time it is taking place, theme, audience it is most relevant for, and type of session. There are plenary and panel sessions that you could listen to in the background, as well as plenty of interactive workshop and discussion sessions. Some of these will have limited capacity to allow in depth discussions and more personal connections to flourish, and you can ‘save a seat’ for these sessions in advance to create your personal agenda for the week.
Another way to save yourself some time during the week, as well as whet your appetite for what is to come, is to browse the ‘on demand’ content beforehand. This collection of videos, posters, articles and more has been created by the international researcher development community and covers a range of hot topics in practice and policy. The full on demand collection has now been published, so you can take a look in your own time and see which titles catch your eye. There will be even more pre-recorded content, Vitae reports, and information published during #VitaeCon2021 itself, but rest assured that it will remain online afterwards for you to browse at your own pace!
The same will be true of the plenaries and other live sessions – we aim to capture as much of the week as possible, to publish it online as quickly as we can, and to keep it online long after the end of the week (the 2020 and other previous year’s plenaries are archived on the Vitae website). Vitae Connections Week 2021 participants will have the first look at any session recordings through the event platform (so make sure you log in once registered). Whilst it won’t be possible to record every session (as a rule, breakout discussions won’t be recorded), together with the help of our community of contributors, there will be Padlet, Miro, Mural and other outputs created during and after sessions. Which also means lots of opportunities to test out different online tools throughout the week!
Hopefully by now you are getting somewhere close to as excited as I am, though probably not. Really the best way to share in my excitement is to experience Vitae Connections Week first-hand. So, get ready to put your out of office on and dive in, and I’ll see you in the exhibition hall on Tuesday 7 September!
