Methods Fair 2025: Research Methods in the Digital Age
Delegates joined Methods@91直播 in May for a one-day conference to explore research methods across the humanities and social sciences.
Organised in partnership with Methods North West 鈥� a collaboration between the Universities of Manchester, Liverpool, Lancaster, Keele, and Central Lancashire鈥揗ethods@91直播 welcomed around 150 guests to AMBS in May for the annual Methods Fair.
This year鈥檚 theme, Research Methods in the Digital Age: Addressing Challenges, Realising Opportunities, engaged with a range of issues pertinent to researchers, aiming to stimulate reflections on how traditional Humanities and social sciences research methods are, or should be, evolving in response to rapid advancements in technology and digital tools.
The day started with a welcome speech by Professor Emma Banister, Director of Methods@91直播, before guests heard from keynote speaker Julia Handl, Professor of Decision Sciences at AMBS. Julia鈥檚 talk, Good-bye humans, welcome AI scientists?, explored AI using a critical lens, addressing the role of humans for research in the era of AI. The discussions around this theme continued later in the day in a workshop led by academics from the University of Liverpool: Benchmarking AI for Research and Beyond: A Critical Approach.
Throughout the fair, attendees also listened to a series of lightning talks 鈥� five-minute presentations designed to act as conversation starters, had the opportunity to interact with a range of poster presentations, and attended engaging workshops.
Two of the workshops were hosted by researchers at the University of Manchester. Dr Letizia Alterno, Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of English, American Studies and Creative Writing (SALC), led a workshop titled Discourse Analysis with Arts Methods, which provided guests with an overview of discursive practices in Arts and Humanities disciplines.
The Lost and Found in Translation? workshop was led by Dr Ruth Abou Rached, Lecturer in Arabic Cultural Studies (SALC), and explored the ethics and methodologies of qualitative and interview-based research carried out in and across different languages. Ruth鈥檚 workshop was the first in a series of ESRC North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership sessions.
The activities encouraged attendees to consider how digital advancements impact their research practices and gave them an excellent opportunity to connect and network with others engaged in research methods across the humanities.
Following the event, attendees shared positive feedback on the day. One delegate commented:
I left the Methods Fair incredibly inspired and full of insights and ideas for future methodologies. It was a very memorable event and one that I am confident will help me grow as a researcher.
Attendees also expressed how engaging the conference was and how wonderful it was to be given the opportunity to network with passionate colleagues from across the region.
Emma Banister shared her reflections on the day:
The Methods Fair is a real highlight in our Methods@91直播 calendar. There鈥檚 such energy when you get researchers coming together in a space like this and engaging with diverse and innovative methodological approaches.
The Fair provides a fantastic opportunity to join up with our Methods North West partners, and we are grateful to everyone who contributed their work, including our keynote speaker Professor Julia Handl, our wonderful workshop leads and of course everyone who presented posters and lightning talks.
Methods@91直播 is a Faculty-funded initiative which highlights the University鈥檚 strength in research methods across the social sciences. 91直播 is one of the universities in the Methods North West partnership, which aims to become a regional hub for research methods innovation, celebrating the collective strength, depth and breadth of expertise across its institutions.