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With less than a week left to the start of the event, this email aims to assist you in reaching the Reception desk in the Berrill Building of the Open University, located on the Walton Hall campus of the Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA.
Travel
While the conference website's Travel page has comprehensive information, here is a summary PDF of arrival information that you can download to your portable device (or print out) to read on your flight/travels.
Minibuses between Milton Keynes Central train station and the OU campus
There will be minibuses and coaches for delegates to travel on for free between the MK Central train station and the OU campus (in both directions) on Wed, Thurs & Fri. See the travel summary PDF for detailed information about where to catch these buses and all other options to reach the venue.
What to bring (or procure on the spot)
If you are coming from abroad, please remember to bring a power adapter that fits the sockets in the UK (three pins – see here).
Bring your presentation files on a USB or a portable device; Mac users should remember to add VGA adapters to their kit, if you want to run things off your Mac, however all rooms have university computers to run all presentations from.
The DSA, NomadIT and the Open University would like to reduce the conference's environmental footprint, so we kindly ask you to bring your own cup/bottle for water to refill from the water coolers at the conference venue, as no disposable cups or single use plastic bottles will be available.
Water coolers will be in: Library Atrium; Nexus in Jenny Lee; Juniper/Medlar & Berrill.
Current weather forecasts predict partly cloudy conditions with showers likely on Wed and maybe Thurs, so packing a rain-jacket or umbrella is advisable, as you will need to walk outside to move between the various buildings we will be using for the conference. Temperatures are looking to be a max ~21C and min ~12C. This is classic unpredictable British summer weather (!) so it would be best to pack clothing and gear for hot/cold/wet or dry conditions. Venue rooms are all centrally climate controlled.
Where is the DSA2019 Reception desk and when does it open?
The reception desk will be located in the foyer space of the Berrill building on the Open University campus.
The reception desk will open at 11:00 on Wednesday 19 June – if you are attending events in the morning on Wednesday (PhD masterclasses, SG meetings, Global South Scholar meeting), please try and arrive before the meeting begins to register but if you do not have enough time you can check in straight afterwards. All other delegates must wait until 11am to register and must check-in and register before going to any later events (including lunch on Wednesday).
Once the Reception desk has opened, you will be able to queue to give your name, be checked in, and receive your printed programme, your name tag/conference badge and for those who purchased one, your voucher for the world food social event on Thursday evening. The queues at the Reception desk will be divided according to the first letter of a person’s last name. (If you have several family names, we will be using the start letter of the first of those.)
Reception desk opening hours: Wed 11:00-18:00; Thu 08:30-18:00; Fri 08:30-14:00
Names of buildings / venues
During the conference we are using ten venues for all the events on the Open University campus: Berrill, Library, Jenny Lee, Christodoulo Meeting Rooms East (CMR), Pentz, Jim Burrows, Venables, Hub Theatre, Juniper/Medlar & The Lawn (if the rain stays away). See the map to start familiarising yourself with where they are in relation to one another.
Wednesday lunch
Lunch will be served on Wednesday from 12:00-13:00 in the following places: Library Atrium, Nexus in Jenny Lee building & Juniper/Medlar. If you find one location too busy or with queues, please try one of the other 2 places (please take this approach during all catering breaks).
During lunch on Wednesday there are two events: the DSA student members' meeting in Library Seminar Room 4. Grab your lunch in the Library Atrium and then head to the room for the 12:15 start.
The other event is a gathering, for those who would like to attend, in memory of Ben Crow who sadly passed away earlier this year. This will take place in CMR Room 15. You can pick up your lunch at Juniper/Medlar and then move to this event by 12:15.
Don't worry if you only plan to arrive after lunch, as the official opening of the conference by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor Kevin Hetherington & the DSA2019 conference convenor Giles Mohan will take place at 13:15 in the Berrill Theatre, Berrill Building.
NOTE: We cannot fit everyone in the Berrill Theatre for this opening and all the plenaries, so all of these sessions will be video relayed to the Hub Theatre. Most of the plenaries will be filmed and live-streamed, so if you do not wish to be filmed directly or indirectly, then please watch the plenaries in the Hub Theatre. You can still ask questions from the Hub Theatre, so don't feel you cannot participate from there.
Conference venues
Panels will take place across seven buildings: Berrill, Library, Jenny Lee, Christodoulo Meeting Rooms East (CMR), Pentz, Jim Burrows & Venables.
Some of the panel venues lock automatically, so please don't leave your stuff in there when you leave, these rooms are: Pentz 101, Jim Burrows 113, Venables S0049, JLB Meeting Room 1. To gain access to these rooms, volunteers will have swipe cards to let you in before a panel or if you forget something inside. All other rooms we are using will be open during the day.
The welcome drinks reception and the DSA dissertation prize ceremony on Wednesday evening will take place in Nexus in the Jenny Lee Building and weather permitting on the Lawn outside this building (Note, this is a change since the book/pdf was created).
The world food social event with live music on Thursday evening will take place across the Hub Theatre, Juniper/Medlar and the Lawn.
Please be aware that generally we have provided 15 minute walking breaks before or after plenaries and other events. But between refreshment breaks and panels there is no extra time. Therefore, please try and make your way quickly from one event to the next as some of the distances between buildings will involve a short walk, so do factor this in. We have emailed authors and convenors about which catering stations are closest to go to from the various panel venues (see below a summary). You may wish to choose where you watch the plenaries based on the proximity to your panel venue as well. All events and panel sessions will start on time as marked on the website and the conference book.
Catering stations and panel venues
Refreshments are NOT served in all venues. Panelists in Berrill Theatre should head to the Berrill café in the same building for teabreaks but must go to the Library for lunches, as Berill café will not serve lunches. Those with panels in the Library rooms should head to the Library Atrium for teabreaks & lunches; those coming from panels within Jenny Lee building should head to Nexus in the Jenny Lee Building (teabreaks & lunches). Those coming from CMR rooms can find their teabreak & lunches in the Hub Theatre or Juniper/Medlar (next to each other). Those based in Pentz, Venables or Jim Burrows should go to Nexus at the Jenny Lee building at all breaks. If catering stations seem crowded, please head to another catering station or ask where the next nearest/less busy station is from a volunteer. If asked by volunteers to try another catering station, please follow their advice as we will be co-ordinating this to ensure everyone is served as quickly and as smoothly as possible.
Catering: refreshment breaks & lunches
Refreshments (Wed 17:00-17:30, Thu 10:30-11:00, 15:45-16:15, Fri 10:30-11:00) can be obtained by delegates on display of their conference badge at the refreshment serving areas (Berrill café, Library Atrium, Nexus in Jenny Lee building and Juniper/Medlar & Hub Theatre). Lunches (Wed 12:00-13:00, Thu 12:45-14:15, Fri 12:45-13:45) can be obtained by delegates on display of their conference badge at the refreshment serving areas (Library Atrium, Nexus in Jenny Lee building and Juniper/Medlar & Hub Theatre (not Wed)). We have a high percentage of vegetarian and vegan food at lunches so all vegetarians and vegans can take food from any of the main areas. All food will be labelled clearly. Those with special diets have been notified by email and should take their food in Juniper/Medlar.
Exhibitors
The conference is supported by the attendance of several exhibitors. Please take time to visit their stands and meet the exhibitors who will be situated in 3 of the catering areas: Library Atrium, Nexus in Jenny Lee building and Juniper/Medlar. Also in Juniper/Medlar will be the DSA Student Booth where if you are a student member or wish to become a member you can find out more from the Student rep there during catering breaks.
Keynote lectures and other events
The first keynote plenary, the Development & Change Annual Lecture by Mahmood Mamdani (Columbia University) will start at 13:45 on Wednesday in Berrill theatre in the Berrill building. The first panel sessions will start after the keynote at 15:30.
On Thursday we have two plenary events: the second keynote plenary 'De-centring the “White Gaze” of Development' by Robtel Neajai Pailey (University of Oxford) is at 11:00 and then the Early Career Plenary is at 18:00 with four speakers (Elvis Avenyo, Jessica Hope, Sergio Montero & Sameen Zafar). On Friday we have our final keynote plenary Disruptive transformations to produce impactful knowledge for change by Sheela Patel (Slum Dwellers International). All take place in Berrill theatre in the Berrill building.
All plenaries will be video-relayed to the Hub Theatre, except the Early Career Plenary which will have a video relay to a screen in the Berrill Foyer. Thursday & Friday's plenaries will be live-streamed allowing others to join us from all over the world and for some of their questions to be asked as well during the Q&A. Please share the livestream link with anyone you think might be interested who cannot join us in Milton Keynes. It is free to watch and does not require any registration or account creation.
The plenaries on Thursday & Friday will also be filmed to produce videos to be shared with others post-conference.
One other event that will be filmed is the Publication strategies for students & ECRs which takes place during Thursday lunchtime (12:40-14:10). Please grab your lunch quickly at 12:30 in the Library and then head to the Library Seminar Room 4. The first session will involve advice and Q&A with journal editors and the second session straight afterwards with book publishers.
The conference programme also includes a number other event and meetings (book launches, SG meetings, DSA-OUP book series launch, Global South Scholars' meeting, DSA AGM and much more.... read more about all the planned events here.
Photographer
There will be a conference photographer moving around during the event taking photos. She will make herself known to you all at the various plenaries so you can see who she is. If you do not wish to be photographed even indirectly in distant shots, please make that known to the photographer or the NomadIT team at their office in Berrill Presentation room or email us at conference(at)devstud.org.uk ahead of the event.
Social Event
There will once again be a more informal and less exclusive social event similar to last year's event. However, this year's event on Thursday evening is ticketed and so all wishing to attend need to have bought a ticket. Those attending will be able to enjoy the world food stalls which will be set up on Thursday evening in the Hub Theatre from 19:30. There will be delicious international cuisine on offer and a great local band, The Mia Cats, performing from under a gazebo on the Lawn.
Please make sure to bring with you your social event ticket, you’ll find it in your badge pouch. Exchange the ticket for a meal and soft drink combination from one of the stalls of your choosing. The meal portions are large as unfortunately it will not be possible to purchase extra food from the stalls. Alcoholic and other soft drinks can be bought with cash at the bar in Juniper/Medlar. If you still want to buy a ticket, you can buy one/more at the NomadIT office up to 10:30 on Thursday morning but not later.
If the weather is nice, once you have your food and drink you can move outside and enjoy the music and dance. If the weather is inclement, the band will play from under the gazebo facing the building and delegates can watch, listen and dance from inside the building.
NomadIT/ DSA2019 conference office
For those delegates yet to settle their fees, please try to pay online in advance to make your entry into the conference easier and avoid long queues. You will need to pay before being allowed entrance to any panel or plenary or event. At the conference we can only take your payments in CASH (GBP). ATMs are not very close to the conference buildings, you are best advised to take out cash in Milton Keynes near the train station before heading to the campus - closest ATMs to campus and those in town are marked on this map.
Funded delegates who have organised to collect their refund in cash can also collect this at a quiet time in the conference from the NomadIT office in Berrill Presentation room on Level 1 in the Berrill building.
While delegates will be able to download signed, headed PDF certificates of attendance and receipts from the website login environment, after the event, those needing original/manually signed documents can request and collect these from the NomadIT office in the Berrill Presentation room on Level 1 in the Berrill building.
Luggage and Lost-and-found
You can leave your luggage at the NomadIT office until closing times Wed-Fri (Please collect each day). All lost items will be brought to the NomadIT office where you can retrieve them within the office hours.
Those presenting
Please have any files you wish to present on your portable device (or USB), and bring to your panel room 15 minutes before the session, to upload and check. There will be a student volunteer team member present to assist - there is no need to be worried. If you willl be using an Apple device, please remember to bring your Mac adaptor (between your mac and the VGA cable) with you.
Those convening/chairing
Please arrive 15 minutes before your panel starts to help ensure everything is ready. The volunteers will be around to help set things up.
Strict time-keeping is crucial to a good conference, so please ensure each presenter gets their fair share of the time, and do not overrun into the breaks. Your session may be over, but other sessions or meetings may be scheduled to use your room next. Panels have been allocated one to four ninety-minute sessions, depending on the number of accepted papers. There may be up to four papers per session. We are using 14 panel rooms at a time, so any one panel is up against that number of alternatives. Additionally, time is short in the teabreaks for delegates to move from their panel to the catering areas and back again, so let's all try and keep things running on time.
Wifi and computers
Eduroam credentials can be used for accessing WiFi at The Open University. If you don't have Eduroam credentials, delegates can also use the free public network The Cloud by signing up or using pre-existing credentials:
1. Select The Cloud from the available network list
2. Open browser and follow on screen instructions to register or log on
3. Once you’ve registered, you will seamlessly connect without needing to re-enter your username and password.
Ask at Reception if you have connectivity problems.
Printing
If you need to print a boarding pass or a short document, take your USB memory stick to the NomadIT office in Berrill Presentation room on Level 1 of the Berrill building, where we’ll print for 20p per page. Or email us your file for printing.
Quiet space and breastfeeding rooms
There will be a quiet room at the Library for breastfeeding, contemplation and regaining strength and composure for anyone needing such facilities in Library Seminar Room 3 on the second floor. Please do not work, have meetings or make phone/skype calls in this room. Delegates can also use the quiet space called “The Park” for working undisturbed, also located on the second floor of the Library.
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