Methods Fair
The Methods Fair is a free, one-day conference taking place at the University of Manchester campus on Thursday 15th May 2025. Organised by Methods@Manchester in collaboration with our NWSSDTP partners at Methods North West, the conference will feature a range of talks, posters, and workshops.
This event provides an excellent opportunity for attendees from the University of Manchester, the wider NWSSDTP community, and beyond, to connect with others engaged in various topics and research methods across the Humanities and Social Sciences.
The Fair features lightning talks, posters enabling attendees to present their ongoing work as well as a range of workshops which support methods-related work. All activities take place in AMBS Building.
Research Methods in the Digital Age: Addressing Challenges, Realising Opportunities
As we witness rapid advancements in technology and the integration of digital tools into every aspect of our lives, it is crucial to examine how these changes impact various elements of our research practices.
Researchers in the Humanities and Social Sciences must understand how to adapt to this evolving digital landscape, as well as the practical and ethical challenges it presents. For instance, how do these advancements affect our understanding of what constitutes data, how we access it, the questions we pose, the tools and techniques we employ, and our relationships with the topics, people or phenomena we seek to understand?
This conference aims to engage with a range of issues pertinent to researchers. We hope to stimulate reflections on how traditional Humanities and Social Science research methods and approaches are, or should be, evolving in response to the rapid digitalisation of many aspects of our lives.
Methods Fair programme at a glance
Morning sessions
All sessions take place in Alliance Manchester Business School Building
- 9.00-9.25am: Registration (with coffee & pastries) [3rd Floor Hive social space]
- 9.30am: Welcome - Prof Emma Banister, Director of Methods@Manchester [LT 2.008]
- 9.40am: Keynote – Prof Julia Handl, Professor of Decision Sciences at AMBS: Good-bye humans, welcome AI scientists? [LT 2.008]
- 10.15am: Lightning Talks [3.006; 3.009]
- 12/12.15 -1.30pm: Lunch & poster session, followed by choice of workshops [3rd floor Hive social space] (please note the first DVO session runs during lunch)
Keynote
Good-bye Humans, Welcome AI Scientists?
We are excited to welcome Professor Julia Handl to open the Fair with a keynote, exploring the following question: What is the role of humans for research in the era of AI?
Prof. Handl will touch on the distinction between general-purpose and narrow AI, the fundamental limitations of the machine learning paradigm, AI safety, the importance of critical thinking skills, and the relevance of human factors in human-in-the-loop decision making.
Julia Handl is Professor of Decision Sciences at Alliance Manchester Business School, a member of the management boards of the University of Manchester’s Institute of Data Science and AI (IDSAI) and the UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Decision Making in Complex Systems, and a member of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS).
A Computer Scientist by training, Julia's research sits on the interface between traditional operations research, decision sciences and machine learning, and she is particularly interested in the synergies between these fields.
Lightning Talks
10-15am - 12/12.15pm (parallel streams)
The Lightning Talks are designed as conversation starters. Each presenter will have just five minutes to present their work - and you are of course welcome to give a briefer presentations! While there is little time for questions within the sessions themselves, we envisage that audience members will seek out presenters for fuller discussions during the Fair and/or follow up with them separately.
Talks are organised in two parallel streams and presentations are scheduled with respect to a number of approximate themes. Programming these has been an inexact process and it has not been possible to group all presentations in a way that will necessarily suit everyone.
In view of this, and the rich variety of presentations included in the programme, please do feel free to move between rooms/sessions, but we ask that you do this in a discreet/sensitive way (e.g. at the end of someone's presentation rather than midway through). We do ask that presenters stay for the duration of their theme in case of any questions.
There is a brief break in the middle of each of the lightning talk sessions, this is designed as a comfort break so please do expect streams to re-start promptly at the stated time (please note break times are staggered so you should adhere to the finish/start times of the stream you are in).
Lightning Talks - Stream 1: Room 3.006 (3rd floor)
Break (10 mins)
Lightning Talks - Stream 2: Room 3.009 (3rd floor)
Break (10 mins)
Lunch and poster presentations 12.00/12.15pm - 1.30pm: Hive social area, 3rd floor
During the Fair there will be an extended lunch and poster session when poster presenters should be available to discuss their posters and interact with other conference attendees (the posters will be displayed throughout the Fair).
Below you will find the poster names/titles and abstracts for the posters can be found here.
Workshops
There are two workshop sessions, each with parallel activities taking place (so you can attend one workshop during each session). You can find out more about each of these workshops below.
Please note there are two opportunities to explore the Data Visualisation Observatory. One takes place over lunch (12.30-1.30pm) and the other during session 1. Each of these tours will cover the same material (details below in session1). If you want participate in either of these tours you will need to register during registration on the morning of the Fair (on a first come first served basis) as places are strictly limited.
Session 1 workshops - 1.30 - 3.00pm
- Dr Giulia Grisot, University of Manchester: Sentiment Analysis with R – A Hands-on Workshop for Humanities Researchers (please note laptop & software requirements to attend this session - see below)
- Prof Gary Potter, Lancaster University: Ethics workshop: getting your research through ethical review
- Dr Abhishek Behl, Keele University: Game On: Integrating Gamification into Research Methods for Data Enrichment
- Dr Letizia Alterno, University of Manchester: Discourse Analysis with ArtsMethods
- Dr Qudamah Quboa, University of Manchester: Experience the DVO Tour 2 (1 hour)
Session 2 - 3.30 - 4.30pm
- Dr Ruth Abou Rached, University of Manchester: Lost and Found in Translation?: a workshop on the ethics and methodologies of qualitative and interview-based research carried out in and across different languages
- Prof Michael Mair, Dr Phillip Brooker, Dipanjan Saha, Dr Tom Nicholls: University of Liverpool: Benchmarking AI for Research and Beyond: A Critical Approach
- Dr Emily Cooper, Dr Nicola Harding, University of Central Lancashire: What does meaningful co-produced research look like? Centralising lived experience in research design
- Dr Stuart Shields, Director of Methods North West: Getting your foot on the funding ladder – Opportunities from Methods North West
Registration
Registration for the Fair has now closed - please let us know if you would like to be added to the waiting list (methods@manchester.ac.uk) and if a place becomes available we will be in touch.