Accounting for Humanity

Today’s post is yet more evidence of why scrolling through EventBrite can pay off (well sort of, only 1 event from this crawl was found there).

Over the last 2 weeks I found myself inadvertently on yet another conference crawl, and not just any conference crawl, this one was entirely free of charge.

What made this adventure notable was that only one of these events related to accounting, the other 2 were arguably random but, as you will see, were certainly worth the (virtual) attendance.

September 1st 2023, ‘Bodies on Display’ The University of Glasgow

This event was found on one of my frequent Eventbrite explorations. Eventbrite is a fantastic place to find conferences, seminars, lectures, and workshops, many of which are free to attend. If you saw my previous post, you will know I have an interest in the slightly more macabre aspects of life (and death) and so this event, although unrelated to my thesis, piqued my general interest.

Initially, not knowing exactly what content to expect, I worried that I would not make it through the session. Ironically for someone who likes the macabre, I have a strange tendency to faint when I hear medical procedures being described (I can watch no problem, but you add a description and I hit the floor, literally) and thus, I did fear that if the event contained display aspects such as dissections, I would have to make a swift (zoom) exit.

Thankfully the conference was actually exploring far deeper aspects, many of which are definitely adding some ideas to my Research ‘To-do’ list. The conference hosted fascinating presentations discussing cryptids (creatures of myth and folklore), historical ‘freakshows’, the treatment and representation of indigenous remains, taxidermy and many more. The concept of how we treat and represent both animals and humans gave much to consider and, from an accounting perspective, many questions around the motivations for such decisions and behaviours were raised in my mind.

As mentioned, this one bore no relevance to my thesis but, as I have said before, the irrelevant events that interest you are still most certainly worth attending as you never know what future avenues it may open. Additionally, considering the conference was free to attend online, this was a day well spent.

September 5th 2023: The Scottish Doctoral Colloquium in Accounting and Finance – University of West Scotland

The ‘ScotDoc’ conference was one I attended in 2022 and when I spotted this years event was still open for presentation submissions in July I opted to take the opportunity to use my redundant presentation from the JIAR Doctoral Colloquium from a few months ago (I thought I would be presenting, there were no presentations). Having been accepted to present I logged on in the morning and tuned into a series of very interesting PhD’s in progress.

Having an interdisciplinary and technology/historically-based subject, I admittedly do not find many similar accounting researchers that I can connect with for knowledge exchange however, there is still value in hearing about what else is going on in your primary field.

Furthermore, Doctoral events in particular are worth attending as, if nothing else, there is a lot of reassurance and value to be gained (and given) from these events. You learn that you are not alone in the PhD challenges that you face; the uncertainty, the hopes, the absolute panic when someone asks you a question that you do not have a concise answer for. It is a reminder that we are all in the same boat and that we are a very supportive community. I saw many presentations from those just starting their journey and was reminded of those early days where you are still very much trying to figure out the best path. There were also presentations from those near the end of the journey, presentations that you watch thinking “wow, how did they get there, they seem to have it all together, when does that happen?”

Admittedly that last part provokes both hope and anxiety for me, hope that it will all fall into place at some point but also mild terror that maybe I am moving too slowly. Either way, as long as I can commit more of my time to focus than procrastination I should be ok…

September 7th-8th 2023, ‘Women and the Sea’ symposium – University of Plymouth

If you have done the math, you will see that I am writing this post as the event is taking place. This is also something to consider when deciding to attend online events. If you are uncertain over how relevant an event will be and you can attend online, do it. The beauty of online events is that you can work while listening to the event. You can drop in and out as you need/desire and so, you will not miss out on potentially useful or interesting information.

I believe I found this event on a society newsletter, but it is also possible that I found it on Eventbrite but, whichever it was, the advice to take time to scrutinise events pages and sign up for relevant newsletters still stands.

Wherever I found it, the event appealed as this was very relevant to the larger context of my thesis, 16th & 17th century English Maritime development. As a free event, I figured this would be good to virtually attend to see if I could gain any new insights, although the focus was upon women and the sea, it would still provide good general contextual information.

What I did not expect was how relevant some of the content would be. The very first presentation featured account books of women merchants/traders, accounting in the first presentation, my interest was raised! Following this was perhaps the biggest gain from this event, an introduction to the Maritime Britain project. The project appears to cover the precise time period and content that I am using to construct the discussion for my own research. Hopefully there is a good connection that can be made here, time will tell.

And so ends another conference crawl…

Again, the last two weeks experience once again confirms my earlier reflections regarding the value in a random conference or event. There is always something to be gained from an academic event; be it presentation experience, new areas of interest, new insights into your own research, new methods/theories, new contacts, or even gaining a sense of reassurance.

No one’s research truly exists in isolation, one way or another, it all connects back to a bigger picture so, if you are researching taxation in North American organisations and want to attend a conference or event discussing the secret life of Guinea Pigs, you click that ‘register’ button, you never know what you might learn…