MDX Dubai faculty concludes Virtual Research Boot Camp series

Last week, Middlesex University Dubai successfully concluded its Seventh Edition of the “Annual MDX Faculty Summer (Virtual) Research Boot Camp” from 30^th May to 8^th July 2021. The full six-week programme organised by our Research Committee featured a total of 12 facilitated panel sessions and hands-on workshops/practical sessions. The boot camp also featured a series of writing retreats and one-to-one Research Jam sessions for both new and seasoned researchers. #

The interactive panel sessions provided a collaborative platform for knowledge-sharing, reflection and co-learning among our faculty. Contributors shared their own experiences employing a range of innovative research methodologies that can be implemented with or without in-person contact, and reflected upon the implications of virtual/online research during COVID-19.

The hands-on workshop sessions developed awareness and knowledge of some of the new technologies and tools useful for researchers. The Jam sessions, which were new this year, provided individualised staff support, especially for early career researchers and staff new to research, while the writing retreat provided opportunity for colleagues to set aside specific time to make progress in their research.

The boot camp sessions saw 371 participants taking part across the 12 sessions. Furthermore, 82 unique staff members participated in the boot camp sessions. The boot camp was truly a team effort with more than 25 faculty and staff contributing to the facilitated sessions.

Middlesex University Dubai has a rich history of fostering research among staff and students with its weekly Wednesday Research Seminar series, Annual and Biennial Research Conferences, Student Research Symposium, Postgraduate Research Boot Camp, and many more initiatives. The University’s international faculty are some of the top researchers in their field.

Reflecting upon the event, Dr. Cody Morris Paris, Deputy Director of Academic Planning and Research highlighted: “This year’s boot camp really highlighted the strength of Middlesex University Dubai’s faculty research culture. The boot camp provided a platform for colleagues to come together and share their diverse multidisciplinary perspectives and the insights of researchers at different career levels. The overall goal of this year’s programme was to provide a platform for collaborative discussion, interaction, and reflection that not only shifted us to a research mindset after the teaching term, but provided an opportunity for new initiatives, projects and ideas to flourish and emerge!”

Commenting on the success of the research boot camp, Dr Sreejith Balasubramanian, Chair of the Research Committee at Middlesex University Dubai said: “Our faculty have shown great resilience and adaptability in conducting research during the pandemic. The boot camp provided a great platform for colleagues to learn from each other on best practices and innovative research methods and tools.”

The details of the facilitated panel and hands-on workshops and practical sessions are:

Date	Session	Title
30th May 2021	Welcome         Talk	Introduction to MDX Staff Summer Research Boot Camp 2021     Addressing the Problem of Procrastination Among Researchers…Experiences and Strategies	Research Committee         Rory McConnon
1st June 2021	Panel Session	Converting your ideas to a research paper and beyond	Lynda Hyland, Ajit Karnik, & Anita Kashi
6th June 2021	Panel Session	Reality of Publication	Sreejith Balasubramanian, Ajit Karnik, Cody Morris Paris, Krishnadas Nanath, Seada Kassie, & Anita Kashi,
8th June 2021	Workshop	Text Analysis and Data Clustering using MS Excel Tools and Add-ins	Maha Saadeh
13th June 2021	Panel Session	Integrating Research in Teaching and Learning	Tenia Kyriazi, Dawn England, Phil Anderson, Samantha Roberts, Lisa Riddler, Rashita Puthiya, & Mohammad Meraj,
15th June 2021	Workshop	Time Series Data and Analysis	Ajit Karnik & Sudipa Majumdar
20th June 2021	Panel Session	Research Collaboration	Krishnadas Nanath, Sameer Kishore, Jeongsoo Han, Aditi Bhatia, Sreejith Balasubramanian, Cody Morris Paris, Maha Saadeh, Edward Ryan, & Supriya Kaitheri
22nd June 2021	Workshop	Online Research, Data Extraction, and Text Analytics	Krishnadas Nanath
27th June 2021	Panel Session	Advancing the impact of your research beyond publication and increasing visibility of your research	Cody Morris Paris, Sreejith Balasubramanian, Stephen King,
29th June 2021	Workshop	Using Power BI for Research	Supriya Kaitheri
4th July 2021	Panel Session	“Reflecting on a year of online research during COVID-19. Sharing lessons learned"	Sreejith Balasubramanian, Cody Morris Paris, Nishtha Lamba Aditi Bhatia, Sudipa Majumdar, Supriya Kaitheri, Krishnadas Nanath, Anita Kashi, Stephen King, Edward Ryan and & Engie Bashir, Judhi Prasetyo
6th July 2021	Workshop	Advanced Search Strategies for Systematic Reviews using Library Database	Laura Barber
Weekly		Writing Retreats	Dawn England, Claudia Maher, Vaishali Raj.