The early bird may catch the worm, but it’s the Cat(alyst) that’s got the cream!

If you’ve been on campus lately you will have spotted, and hopefully visited, Catalyst…but are you making the most of this fantastic facility and its equally fabulous learning and support services that roost inside?

Club Catalyst – you’re already a member!

Catalyst is your central point of access to Library & Learning Services, Student Services and Careers so there is an abundance of help and support available (take a look below if you don’t believe us) and the building itself has lots to offer!

The Catalyst Helpdesk is your one stop access point for all services and support in the building and you can contact the team weekdays 8am-8pm and weekends 10am-6pm in a number of ways:

😊 Visit the Catalyst Helpdesk
☎️ Telephone (01695 650800)
📱 Text (+4401613751608)
💬 Online Chat
📧 Email
And don’t forget our online knowledge base AskUs is available 24/7!

[To the tune of Club Tropicana…]
Club Catalyst the books are free,
Fun and learning, there’s enough for everyone!
All that’s missing is study,
But don’t worry, you can bring that!

You will find your print resources (books and a selection of journals) on the first and second floors and self-issue machines here too…as well as two on the ground floor. You can check PC availability or book a study room before you arrive, and discover your perfect study space across the four main floors:

• Ground Floor – Social Study
• 1^st Floor – Group Study
• 2^nd Floor – Quiet Study
• 3^rd Floor – Silent Study

It is important to make sure you are also taking effective study breaks – we highly recommend the roof garden (open daily 11am-3pm, weather permitting) for beautiful panoramic views across campus and some mind calming fresh air!

Catalyst itself is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during term time so if you’re an early bird or a night owl there is something for everyone! If you are visiting after hours just remember to bring your UniCard along to swipe access into the building. View current opening hours here…

Making the most of Catalyst support if you’re an Early Bird 🐓

If you’re planning to arrive early on campus, don’t sit in your car until class begins – be green, turn off your engine and come inside cosy Catalyst.

Most important meal: 53.3 Degrees, Catalyst’s fab coffee shop, is open from 7am every weekday so why not take advantage of a hot (or cold) breakfast. Throughout the day you can also grab a range of hot and cold drinks and food, including those all essential study snacks! Tip: their vegan sausage rolls give Greggs a run for their money!

Get a head start: Log in and catch up with your emails, check for any module / tutor updates and prep for your day ahead. You will often be set pre-lesson reading and it is important to complete this to get the most out of your lectures and seminars. Use your mornings to familiarise yourself with topics or even do some wider reading, so you can contribute effectively in your classroom discussions.

Academic Skills Support: If there’s a particular piece of work you’d like some help with, or you need some guidance navigating your reading and research, you can book a UniSkills 1-2-1 appointment weekdays 8am-6pm. Our friendly Academic Skills Advisors are on hand to offer their knowledgeable advice and support on a wide range of academic skills.

Breakfast Club: During key times of the year, you can drop in Tuesday and Thursday mornings 8:15am-8:45am for advice and guidance on all things Careers. Whether you’re looking for a part-time job, interested in volunteering, want to know more about the Student Opportunity Fund, or are unsure where to start with graduate job applications – come along for a chat and a free bite to eat!

Find your calm: The Faith and Reflection Room provides a quiet space for reflection, contemplation and prayer for the exclusive use of staff and students at Edge Hill. Open to people of all faiths and none, it offers the opportunity to explore matters of faith and spirituality, or just simply to find your calm before a busy day. You will find the Faith and Reflection Room in the Magnolia Building, next to the Forest Court Halls of Residence.

Making the most of Catalyst support if you’re a Night Owl 🦉

If you’re more productive as the sun goes down 🧛 then here’s some great tips, activities and support available after hours:

Research, Read and Write: If you find you’re buzzing with ideas after the days classes then why not make a start on your research, reading and assignments. There is lots of academic skills support available 24/7 at ehu.ac.uk/uniskills

You could start by revisiting your lecture / seminar notes to summarise your key themes, recommended reading or highlight any gaps in your knowledge you’d like to research further. Quieter evenings lend themselves to reading and research (especially on the quiet (2^nd) and silent (3^rd) floors).

Access the Library Catalogue, Discover More and your specialist subject databases. Your online Reading List is also a must for essential and recommending reading, especially if you are looking for a good place to start!

Make an assignment plan, create your search strategy or simply stop procrastinating and get writing! If you’re nearing submission then complete your final edits, print it out and proofread before you upload to TurnitIn.

If you’re not quite ready to knuckle down with your study, or just need a well-earned break (these are important too!) then there are plenty of great activities hosted by Catalyst support teams:

Chillout Tuesdays: meet your Campus Connectors, every other Tuesday evening 5pm-7pm, in the Catalyst foyer (by the comfy seats!) for chilled-out games, crafts and a chat!

That Thursday Thing: is the informal weekly meet-up of people who want to meet up with other people. Join in, every Thursday 5pm-7pm, to relax, chat, watch films, play games, listen to music or whatever you fancy doing!

Try Something New: If you fancy trying your hand at 3D printing, or would like to give a new sport a go, look out for TechSkills and Pop-in and Play sessions. Visit the Campus Life Facebook events page for latest updates!

Crack that CV: If you’re unable to attend one of the Careers CV workshops during the day you can book a place on a CV Webinar! Delivered by our exceptional Careers Advisers, the Webinars are a great way to receive information and advice, as well as ask questions, without having to be present.

Other support available in Catalyst…

Of course, there is tonnes of other support available throughout the day in Catalyst too, including…

• Academic Skills Support (UniSkills):
  • Book a workshop – Spring 2020 Timetable
  • Book a 1-2-1 appointment on academic writing or finding your resources
  • Book a peer to peer appointment with a Student Advisor
  • Drop in (weekdays 11am-2pm)
  • Access UniSkills online support, guides and toolkits 24/7 at ehu.ac.uk/uniskills
• Accommodation: Drop in Monday to Friday (times vary)
• Campus Life: Drop In Tuesdays and Thursdays 2pm-4pm
• Careers:
  • Ask a Question 24/7
  • Book an appointment
  • Access a host of online resources at ehu.ac.uk/careers
• Inclusion: Drop in Monday to Friday (times vary)
• Money Advice: Drop in Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays
• Transitions: Book an initial or follow up appointment
• Wellbeing:
  • Book an initial appointment
  • Book a workshop

So, regardless of when you visit don’t be owl by yourself, let us take you under our wing, and help you make the most of Catalyst! In fact, you’d be stork raving mad not to pay us a visit!

Some tips for promoting your research online and tracking how it’s doing

After doing the research and getting your outputs published, it can feel like the dissemination will surely take care of itself – you can tweet it, make it open access on Pure (if the publisher allows) and let your networks do the rest right? This works to an extent, but there are some great tools out there to push it even further.

Figshare

Set up in 2019, Edge Hill Figshare is a home for any research materials worth sharing that don’t have a home elsewhere such as datasets, figures, conference presentations, or posters. These can be added to Pure in some cases, but Figshare visualises them an brings them to life. For example, by sharing a poster in Figshare like this PhD student has done, you can connect it to a global community, give it a DOI, and track any views, downloads, or altmetrics activity. This exposure also provides an opportunity direct traffic back to your research outputs. To get started, just go to the site, log in and share something. Learning Services can provide, help, advice, or training sessions.

Altmetrics

Altmetrics track research impact via social media channels, websites, policy documents, blogs, Wikipedia, etc. They demonstrate impact far quicker than citations, and can track engagement beyond academia. For example, one 2019 study about how the human gaze can deter seagulls swooping to take food like chips received global exposure across news media, and this is reflected in the altmetric count, but in academica it has yet to accrue many citations.

Workshop: ‘Promoting Research Using Social Media’

On 25 March 2020, Dr Costas Gabrielatos from English, History and Creative Writing is running this workshop. It discusses the combined use of academic networking websites (e.g. Research Gate, Academia) and social media to make reseach visible and accessible. All staff and research students are welcome – either book via MyView or email research@edgehill.ac.uk.

‘Maximizing dissemination and engaging readers: The other 50% of an author’s day: A case study’

This paper has some great tips for disseminating research across and beyond our regular bubbles echo chambers. This includes harnessing the power of influencers and taking the opportunity of conference hashtags.

The Conversation

Definitely worth trying, this platform enables researchers to work with journalists to present their research for broader audiences and reach new readers. The company is coming on campus in February and March and you can book a one-to-one with one of their highly expereinced editors.

From our Collections and Archives Team

If there is a book, chapter, or journal article that you want to read but can’t find through our library holdings, ‘You Want It, We Get It’ is the service to go to!

The combined service provides a one-stop-shop for all your access requests. Simply fill out the request form with as much detail as you have, and we’ll do the rest.

We’ll contact you once a route to access has been established, whether that be Inter Library Loan, a purchase on your behalf or on the rare occasion where we can’t get it.

You can find the request forms and further information on using our services here: https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/ls/library/ and by clicking on the ‘You want it, We get it’ tab.

As a student in Edge Hill back in 2014, I saw a news article on the Edge Hill website about an amazingly ghostly photograph taken with a pinhole camera, over the course of 312 days, documenting the construction of Creative Edge. The simple camera made from a box with a tiny hole in lieu of a lens, loaded with photographic paper, was left in place on a fence post; enduring all weathers and the construction going on around it to capture the image.

Shortly after the Catalyst Roof garden was opened on the new Library and Learning Services, Student Services and Careers building, giving stunning views across campus and across into Snowdonia, I thought it might be a good idea to try and repeat the process with a pinhole camera on the Catalyst roof.

I contacted Neill Cockwill, Media and Performing Arts Technology Development Manager, who had made the original image to see if it would be possible. Neill was really enthusiastic and supportive of the project and he gave me a crash course on pinhole photography!

The camera could be made from almost any kind of sealed container, so for convenience I recycled three coffee cans and drilled a tiny hole, calculated to allow a clear image to be captured on photographic paper inside the can. These were then situated on the rails on the roof garden, to gather images of the garden over a period of several months, from the start of semester in September 2019 to its end in 2020.

After four months, as the Christmas holidays approached, I decided to take one of the cameras down, to see how successful the project had been so far. On Wednesday 18^th December 2019, I carefully removed one of the cans from the rail and dashed over to Neill’s office in Creative Edge. On opening the can we found that water had leaked in, carrying a little rust onto the paper. But to my surprise and delight, the photographic paper had recorded an image of the view from the roof across to Scarth Hill. Neill quickly dried the paper and popped it onto the scanner and reversed and adjusted the image to a positive.

Although the water had damaged the image slightly, the ethereal image of the lake and the corner of Creative Edge appeared, but most importantly, the solography effect caught the passage of the sun across the sky, in beautiful streaks and even caught its reflection in the lake below!

The two other cameras, capturing views across the roof garden itself will remain in place until the end of the academic year in May 2020. We look forward to sharing more images with you in the new year!

Written by Bill Bulloch
Catalyst Helpdesk Advisor

Using Altmetric data, we can get a picture of the most-mentioned research from Edge Hill in terms of news media, policy, bloggers, social media and more. Here are the top results, broken down by faculty.

Altmetric is a company which provides an ‘attention score’ for research, measuring the number of times an article, book chapter, conference paper, etc is mentioned in government policy, on Twitter, in the news, or even in Wikipedia articles. In calculating the score, some sources have greater weighting than others – news mentions score higher than tweet for example. The score is visualised using a spiral, sometimes called an Altmetric ‘donut’:

In the above example, the Altmetric donut is blue and red – the blue part represents the number of tweets, and the larger red area represents news media.

In this excercise, the top 50 Altmetric scores for Edge Hill University research from November 2018 – December 2019 were recorded. The top three scoring research outputs for each faculty are presented below.

Faculty of Education

Research by Tim Cain, Karen Boardman and Annabel Yale received the highest scores. The primary source of attention for the research was via Twitter users, so the Altmetric ‘donuts’ display a blue colour. Professor Cain’s article benefitted from being free-to-read for a short period of time, which many education professionals sharing the access link.

Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Research by Linda Kaye, Gray Atherton & Liam Cross and Andy Sparks received the highest scores. Dr Kaye’s research benefitted from broad news outlet coverage – it was mentioned by The Telegraph, Yahoo, and many others and generated headlines such as ‘Spending a Lot of Time on WhatsApp May Actually Make You Feel Less Lonely And Boost Your Self Esteem‘. The next highest scoring research was ‘The Animal in Me…’ which received most of its attention via Twitter (193 tweets) and like the paper by Dr Sparks, is open access.

Faculty of Health, Social Care and Medicine

Scoring 67, the article by Professor Lucy Bray, Victoria Appleton and Ashley Sharpe was followed by papers by Richard Williams and Emma Jayne Pearson et al. ‘The information needs of children’ was featured in ‘The Medical News’, which focused on the study’s use of the Xploro app with children to reduce anxiety about hospital procedures. All three articles here were published open access and benefitted from attention via Twitter.

Contact

If you would like to know more about altmetrics, please contact Liam Bullingham, Research Support Librarian: liam.bullingham@edgehill.ac.uk.