Event

PhD in an Hour

One PhD student, one fascinating topic, one café, one hour. Enjoy a cup tea while a PhD student shares his/her interesting findings and groundbreaking ideas. With students from a wide range of subjects, there will be something to tempt everyone's intellectual appetite. Make a PhD a piece of cake.

The aim is to demystify the PhD process and make it accessible to all. Every PhD, no matter how technical or academic it sounds, will be explained so complete beginners to the topic can enjoy learning about groundbreaking research and ideas.

Created in partnership with The Beltane Public Engagement Network - www.beltanenetwork.org

This month PhD student Ashwin Devasundaram will be hosting.

Emerging from the Interstices, Creating a New Space: India's New Independent Urban Cinema since 2010

There has been the emergence of a new wave of exciting and visceral independent Indian films by young urban filmmakers. These Indies engage with alternative narratives that often include representations of marginalised individuals and communities. They diverge from conventional Bollywood song and dance melodramas. However, these films are a complex amalgamation of Bollywood and arthouse, and it is precisely this hybridity that renders them a fascinating new development in the landscape of Indian cinema.

Ashvin has an M.A in Mass Communications from the University of Bedfordshire. He has worked as a Documentary Researcher with Channel 4, also producing and directing an independent short film 'Crossing the Bridge' which was screened at BAFTA, in London. He has conducted film analysis, World Cinema and documentary filmmaking workshops across India. Ashvin recently won the Edinburgh University Literary Sample Award 2012. He is currently doing a PhD at Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh' in the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies on a full-scholarship.