The 2010 LASS Conference Team might be small in numbers but coming from very different cultural backgrounds and with research projects in very different fields they mirror the diversity of the faculty.

In a (not only academic) world that depends on people willing to communicate and cooperate, people willing to find solutions for the challenges facing our communities, it can never be too early to start taking networking as a positive element of academic life. The members of this year’s conference team have worked with different agencies, companies and individuals; they have given a considerable amount of their time to make the 2010 LASS Conference a productive and enjoyable event for all. Jim, Maria, Meike and Seyed are very grateful for the support they have received from Sam, Sally, Beth and all those members of staff who were always approachable and whose advice was much appreciated.

Though it certainly has been tough at times, all members of the team have thoroughly enjoyed organising the conference. They hope that it will help the LASS research community make more of each other’s expertise and creativity. They are convinced that even a one-day conference can provide a platform where we can share our ideas, benefit from each other’s feedback and work together as a community of young researchers who dare to look beyond their own noses, who develop new approaches and ask questions that will keep us all thinking for a bit longer than a day.

Chair

Jim S. Dolwick, B.A., M.A., M.Sc., completed his undergraduate studies at Baldwin-Wallace College. He then earned two Masters Degrees, one in History from Cleveland State University and the other in Archaeology from the University of Southampton. Currently, Jim is a Ph.D. student in Maritime Archaeology. His research is on social theory and the development of steamboat technology in the United States during the early nineteenth century.

For Jim, the LASS conference provides a rare opportunity for scholars from different disciplines to come together to share ideas. He is delighted to be able to support the academic community by serving as Chair of the 2010 LASS Conference Committee.  

Vice Chair

Meike Reintjes holds an MA in Literary Translation from the University of East Anglia. Affiliated to the Department of Modern Languages, she is in the second year of her PhD. Her research explores the poetry of German-Jewish women poets in British exile.

Over the last two years, Meike has made good use of the excellent training opportunities offered by the LASS Grad School. Working as part of this year’s conference committee she now wants to give something back to the research community and hopes that many postgraduate students will come along and attend what promises to be a great day. 

Treasurer

Seyed Mohammad Javadi is a 3rd year full time PhD student of Management Accounting at the University of Southampton. His research is on accounting and management practices in higher educational contexts. Mohammad has published and presented several academic papers at international conferences. He is also the Financial Manager of Fish On Toast Society, the University of Southampton Entrepreneurs.

Mohammad enjoys discovering new things. He hopes his background, experience, enthusiasm and team-working skills can help the committee improve the quality of the LASS 2010 Conference to make it as interesting, educating and pleasant to every attendee as possible.

Liaison Officer

Maria de Lourdes Guzman Castillo is a second year research student in the School of Management. She is a member of the Health Research group, and her research aims to find a statistical model to predict the length of a patient’s stay in public hospitals.

Maria knows from her own experience how important it is to be able to present in front of an audience that is not necessarily familiar with the technicalities of your research project. She is convinced that the LASS Conference is an ideal opportunity to practice all those skills that will help young researchers communicate their concepts and findings to members of related professions, or even the general public.   

Social Media Advisor

Natalia Brown has an MSc in Information Systems from the University of Southampton that lead her to studying for a PhD in Management. She is researching Human-Computer Interaction as the science of design of usable interfaces and its application for e-retail. Natalia is developing a theoretical model of the e-retail environment taking into account humans’ needs and limitations in terms of cognition.

Natalia believes that the LASS 2010 conference is a great networking opportunity for her and her fellow colleagues. She is helping to publicise LASS 2010 conference using social media. Thanks to Natalia, you can find the LASS conference on Twitter, LinkedIn, Ning and Facebook. 

LASS Graduate School Administration Team

Sam Cottee and Rachel Knight are the LASS Graduate School Administration Team and act as a support mechanism to the main conference organising committee each year. Their main role is to provide admin support and to act as a first–call for any help and advice that the organising committee may need. Sam and Rachel look forward to provide any help and advice on the day of the conference, either to the organising committee, participants or delegates!