David Jofré, (PhD Candidate, University of Glasgow)
As a PhD researcher in social movements and media activism, I find extremely relevant to be up to date in relation to both theory and methods since this is a rapidly evolving area of study. Media technologies are constantly evolving, and this dynamism permeates our research projects in different ways. The BEAR workshop 2018 offered me with the opportunity to catch up with groundbreaking research and teaching methods in the field of mobilization and networks. I found particularly relevant the session on protest event analysis led by Samuel Greene and Graeme Robertson, two key authors who have successfully cataloged the protesting activity in a challenging environment like the one in Russia. I actively participated in this session and learned from my peers not only how to use and contrast the news media and social media to monitor protesting activity in a country, but also why generating catalogs is relevant to any research project. Certainly, I will assess how to apply these tools to my forthcoming studies on mobilization in South America.
Enrique Wedgwood Young (PhD Student, University of Glasgow)
The workshop was an excellent opportunity for students beginning their PhD research to be exposed to a range of exciting and innovative methodologies, discuss their research interests with each other, and receive constructive feedback and advice from the workshop’s conveners. The experience helped me to think more systematically about my approach to my research topic, and prepared me for questioning and feedback at future events.