Newman PhD student wins prize at British Psychological Society Conference

Tanzeala Waqas, a Psychology PhD student at Newman University recently presented at the Annual Midlands Conference for the British Psychological Society (BPS).

Tanzeala had just three minutes to deliver a presentation which summed up her thesis entirely. Tanzeala’s thesis is entitled ‘A Mixed Methods approach to Constructing Britishness – Comparing Attitudes and Lay Talk’ and during her presentation she asked the audience if she were to ask them how they would define Britishness what would they say?

Tanzeala goes on to talk more about how we know what Britishness is and who decides the definition. How we assume everyone knows what is meant by Britishness but to what extent can it truly be defined. Tanzeala explains how her research is about how Britishness is constructed and by whom, in what situation and for what reason.

Tanzeala’s research collects and analyses data from quantitative and qualitative aspects towards opinions, attitudes and perceptions on Britishness and British values. Tanzeala aims to put together a picture of Britishness that can be debated amongst ourselves; with her hope being that with her research in this field, she will be able to point towards a more equal, more considerate and more respectful country where there is mutual respect and tolerance for those from different faiths and religions.

Tanzeala’s strong research presentation earned her top place in the ‘3 minute thesis’ category.

Tanzeala comments “The 3 minute thesis is a worldwide thing that students do all around the globe and in some huge institutions you can win cheques worth thousands so I was actually baffled that I won. I did not expect it at all.

“I always thought you need to know your thesis inside out to be able to win presentations like this but really I just explained my intentions in some sort of riddle form to keep the audience engaged and curious”.