You're invited to the first ever Essex Student Journal Conference!

Announcing the first Essex Student Journal Conference!

This year has proven to be a great year for the Journal, and now we have another exciting announcement to make. The Essex Student Journal (ESJ) will be hosting its first-ever conference and you’re invited!

The ESJ Conference will embody the Journal’s motto “run by students, for students”, as it will allow our student community to connect and share their creativity with their peers. Our student authors will be showcasing their talent by presenting their work and research, and the Journal’s previous editors, whose efforts contributed to shaping the journal that we have today, will share their experience working with the Journal and how it's helped them since. 

All members of the University community, students, alumni, and staff, are invited to join this celebration of our students’ talents and efforts. 

Book your place and find out more!

Date: Wednesday, 1 May 2024
Time: 12:00–14:00
Place: The Hex (between Square 4 and the Tony Rich Teaching Centre), Colchester Campus

What is the Essex Student Journal? 

The Essex Student Journal is the University of Essex’s very own peer-reviewed journal run by students, for students, and managed by the University’s Library.  

We publish the academic and creative writing of undergraduate and postgraduate taught students at Essex from all departments, with peer review being undertaken by Essex postgraduate researchers. Publications are open access meaning there is no charge to read or publish with the Journal. 

To recognise the skills students develop by publishing their work with the Journal, they can gain points towards their Big Essex Award through the “Essex Student Journal Author” activity on Gradintelligence. This is included in their HEAR record and so visible to future employers! 

Few universities have a student journal, making this a rare opportunity for Essex students to experience the academic publishing process in a supportive environment. To date, the Journal and its predecessor, ESTRO, have enabled over 150 students to publish their writing, giving them official recognition for their hard work and helping to kickstart their academic careers. 

We are organising the ESJ Conference to showcase the talents and efforts of our student authors, reviewers, and editors by giving them a platform to share their work and experiences and allow the whole community to come together in celebration. 

Meet our Frontrunners! 

Organising a conference takes a lot of work so Luke Wheeler and Ashley Last joined the ESJ team in January as Frontrunners for the Spring term. 

They have been wonderful additions to the team and have already learned a lot about the publication process, the importance of having a student journal, and the meaning of “run by students, for students”.  

Last year, Luke published two papers in the ESJ, titled “Why is it so hard to cure cancer?” and “Huntington’s Disorder: Analysis and Current Research”, and has now been on both the author side of the journal and behind the scenes with the copyediting and publication processes. His thoughts so far are: 

"Publishing with the Journal has been an incredible experience during my time at Essex! It has helped me enhance my critical thinking and writing skills beyond what my course offers alone. Being a published author before graduation is also a remarkable addition to my CV and career prospects!  

Additionally, being a Frontrunner has been equally rewarding. Working behind-the-scenes on submission copyediting, promoting the Journal and its Conference, and collaborating with the team behind the Journal has been insightful and enjoyable.  

I am excited about the upcoming Conference where I will speak about a topic I am passionate about, which will not only benefit my academic career but also improve my public speaking and presentation skills!" 

Hear from our student authors! 

The stars of the Conference are our authors, who will be presenting their research and experiences with the Journal. We asked them for a taster of their reflections on publishing with the ESJ:

When and what did you publish with the Journal? Why did you choose to publish that? 

“I published my essay "The Digital Divide: what does it mean to be information-poor?" in the Essex Student Journal in August of 2023. The essay investigates the term "digital divide" and the limitations of its popularly used definition. I unpacked digital inequality on many degrees, focusing on different marginalised communities and arguing for a more expansive definition to reflect the complexity of information acquisition and digital poverty.” - Mawadah Nofal 

“In August 2023, my article entitled "'Bad Apples'? Identifying aspects of police culture that enable police-perpetrated violence against women and girls" was published.  I chose to publish this piece as I am passionate about tackling VAWG and holding those responsible to account. During my study of police corruption within the 'Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice' module, I was particularly captivated by the extent to which institutional failures enable harm to women and girls. The article challenges the prevalent narrative that acts of VAWG are the actions of 'bad apples' alone. My article highlights the institutional failures that enables such acts to be committed and protects offenders.” - Daisy Doardo 

How did publishing or reviewing with the Journal benefit you?

“Being able to publish this article has allowed me to make a real world impact with my academic work. The article has had over 1700 views so far!” - Daisy Doardo 

“The peer review process with ESJ helped me revisit my research and make many improvements, both content-wise and structurally. I've taken the feedback I've received into my academic and personal writing and noticed how much better it has gotten. Publishing this essay has also helped me gain insight and confidence to pursue more research and publishing opportunities.” - Mawadah Nofal 

“Publishing helped me to hone my critical thinking, writing, and research skills by incorporating peer review feedback into my work. Publishing also contributed points towards the Big Essex Award and was included on my HEAR record, which will help me to stand out when progressing through my career.” - Luke Wheeler 

What advice or suggestions would you give to other Essex students who might want to get involved with the Journal? 

“My advice would be to incorporate your lecturer’s feedback on your work before submitting, and to ask your tutor to review it as well. They are experts in their field and will have had plenty of experience with publishing!” - Luke Wheeler 

“I would say they should go for it. It’s a great opportunity to make an impact and gain exposure for your work. Being able to include a publication on your CV also makes you stand out to employers.” - Daisy Doardo 

“I would suggest to not be intimidated and just go for it! If you're not feeling confident in your writing, don't be shy to consult a friend or a lecturer. Good writing is rarely good from the get-go and good research requires ongoing revision and reconsiderations.” - Mawadah Nofal 

It’s great to hear the meaningful experiences that our authors continue to have and to be able to continue providing this opportunity to more and more Essex students! 

So how can you get involved?

Book your free place at the ESJ Conference and spread the word! 

Consider submitting your work to be published. We’re always thrilled to receive new submissions from our undergraduates and PGTs and are pleased to have expanded to accept creative writing this year. 

If you're a PhD student, consider volunteering as a peer reviewer to share your expertise and hone your skills. It's flexible to your workload and a great way to gain experience and support the community.

We are always happy to hear from you, so if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at journal@essex.ac.uk. We look forward to seeing you at the Conference!