This year, thirteen postgraduate research students took part in a series of panel events co-organised by the Bristol Doctoral College with three of Bristol’s Research Institutes. 

In partnership with Bristol Digital Futures Institute,‘Living with Robots’, asked questions like: What is swarm robotics? And, does personifying robots make us interact with them differently?

Merihan Alhafnawi (School of Computer Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and Engineering Mathematics) one of the panellists explained: “It was an amazing experience. I would encourage any researcher to take part in this sort of event and let people know about your research."

'A Brighter Future’ was co-organised with the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research and explored how physical activity and social media are affecting young people’s mental health, and how storytelling can improve the mental wellbeing of children with long-term illness. 

‘Reasons to be Hopeful' was co-organised with Cabot Institute for the Environment. The discussion tackled the climate crisis and drew connections across a range of research, from the displacement of Bangladeshi women to how social enterprises can aid future change.

Lucy Parnall, Head of the Bristol Doctoral College, highlighted: “We had such a great variety of topics at Research without Borders this year. I think it really shows that if we are looking to tackle big problems, we need a range of perspectives.”