The Second Day

What a full day! And what amazing speakers! Dr Saurabh Sinha (UP) in his talk on Why & How to do a Ph.d, listed some strategies for Ph.ds which includes reading literature around the area, to go to many seminars as one can, make the most of attending conferences and to join professional societies. And the passion that emanated from Carla Tsampiras (History, Rhodes) about libraries and archives! While Prof Diane Hildebrandt (COMPS, Wits) speaking specifically about electrical engineering, said they want their students to about 6 months getting familiar with the field, before getting familiar with current literature. Meg Samuelson (English, US) spoke about interdisciplinary research from the perspective of literacy/cultural studies. Although she doesn't use the library herself, she has an army of research assistants who do. One of the first things she does when appointing research assistants, is to get the subject librarian to give them training.

Prof Leslie Swartz (Psychology, US) spoke about international collaborations and projects that he is involved in while Prof Don Foster (also Psychology, UCT) provided much entertainment and laughter in talking to the group about Knowledge. (I think I am going to make a point of heading into one of his classes when I get back to UCT!)

The day ended with a guided walk on the mountain... sadly I got half way up, and I then voted myself off the mountain!

Tomorrow sees my research report consultation with Karin and Colin at the end of the day.