- Apr 5, 2017
- 3 min
International vs Internal Student Mobilities
One of my colleagues at the University of the Highlands and Islands, Dr Philomena De Lima is doing some work at the moment to bring together scholarship on international migration and internal migration. Thinking about her work, I read the paper “Internal and International Migration: Bridging the Theoretical Divide” (King, Skeldon and Vullnetari, 2008). Now, in my PhD I think about internal migration the whole time – how students and graduates move from their island location
0 views0 comments
- Mar 12, 2016
- 5 min
The Outrun – one experience of growing up in, leaving and returning to Orkney
I have just read “The Outrun” by Amy Liptrot, and what a great read it was! Amy’s book is an autobiographical account of returning to Orkney from London and her struggle with alcohol addiction. Returning to Orkney, Amy reflects on her upbringing (on a sheep farm in the West Mainland), her drive to leave the islands as a teenager, and her return to the islands, newly sober. Trying to make sense of these movements, Amy’s book is a fascinating read for people interested in the e
0 views0 comments
- Jul 9, 2015
- 2 min
RETI Conference
Cover of the RETI 2015 conference programme The week before last I was lucky enough to attend the latest RETI conference, being held right here in Orkney (hosted by the Centre for Nordic Studies). RETI stands for Réseau d’Excellence des Territoires Insulaires and is a network of island based universities, of which the University of the Highlands and Islands is one. The conference itself focused on the “Impact of culture heritage on economic development in island destinations”
0 views0 comments
- Apr 10, 2015
- 2 min
Aquapelagos and Island Careers: a case study of Orkney and Shetland
This week I published a paper in Shima: the International Journal of Research into Island Cultures titled “Career Decision making in Island Communities: applying the concept of the Aquapelago to the Shetland and Orkney Islands”. Front Cover of Shima: love the puffins! It reminds me of some great puffin-watching at Sumburgh Head a couple of years ago. In this paper I take Hayward’s concept of the Aquapelago (which I have previously blogged about) and examine how useful it can
0 views0 comments
- Mar 9, 2015
- 2 min
New Research Project on Youth Aspirations and Attitudes in the Highlands and Islands
A new piece of research has just been commissioned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) on the attitudes and aspirations of young people in the Highlands and Islands. According to the researchers the project aims to: ‘capture the aspirations of young people with regard to living and working in the region, and their perceptions of the Highlands and Islands in terms of the opportunities it affords young people’. I’m excited about this project because of the potential it af
0 views0 comments
- Mar 8, 2015
- 2 min
A Tale of 1930s Island Migrations….
Last night I went to see the film ‘The Galapagos Affair’ at the West Side Cinema in Orkney. The film is a documentary focusing on three groups of European settlers on a remote island in the Galapagos, a mysterious disappearance and the deaths of some of the inhabitants… The story itself is gripping – however, as well as enjoying the film itself, it also got me thinking about key themes in terms of migration to island communities. In particular I was struck by this quote from
0 views0 comments
- Feb 7, 2015
- 2 min
Graduate Mobility and Employment
Charlie Ball’s report on Graduate Migration patterns I have just read Charlie Ball’s excellent report: Loyals, Stayers, Returners and Incomers: Graduate migration patterns. I’ve been interested in Charlie’s work for some time, ever since coming across his earlier report into graduate migration patterns in the West of England. What this current report shows, as with his previous work, is that employment outcomes and graduate migration patterns are interrelated. So, for example
0 views0 comments
- Nov 15, 2014
- 3 min
Cornwall to Orkney: was it destiny….?!
“Positive image is vital for the West” my prize winning schoolgirl essay published In the Western Morning News, May 24th 1997 Tidying up, I just found an essay I wrote when I was 16 which was published in the Western Morning News after it was placed second in the Western Morning News – South West Enterprise Limited Business Essay competition in 1997. This is the opening of the essay, I think you’ll see why it made me laugh….! “As a whole the Westcountry has a poor economy, ch
0 views0 comments
- Nov 9, 2014
- 2 min
Place and identity
I have just returned from a tour of the South of England – travelling to Cornwall, Brighton and central London visiting family and friends. As I travelled I was struck by the differences between these places, socially and culturally, and how my family and friends had made choices to move to, and live in, these places. This got me thinking about the way we might identify with places, as being ‘for us’ or ‘not for us’. So, for instance one of my gay friends once said that they
0 views0 comments
- Oct 26, 2014
- 3 min
Turning points in career and migration decisions
I have just read two quite different research papers, the first by Christopher Atkin looks at young people’s decisions at post-sixteen from a rural community and the second by Catriona Ni Laoire, looks at the phenomenon of return migration to the Republic of Ireland. So, these are quite different pieces of research right? The first looks at choices of young people from a rural area, and the other looks at adults originally from a rural area and their decision to return to tha
0 views0 comments
- Oct 15, 2014
- 2 min
Graduates should be matched to local jobs… just an urban issue?
I just read this article by Times Higher Education: “Graduates should be matched to local jobs says report”. This article refers to the UniverCities report, which looks at how universities can support city growth. Part of the backdrop to the report is the issue of graduate migration after graduation – some graduates will return to their familial homes and others will be drawn to the bright lights of London, which potentially deprives their university towns and cities of the
1 view0 comments
- Sep 29, 2014
- 2 min
Finding my place: poetry and migration
Something you may not know about me is that as well as being a careers adviser and studying for a PhD, I am also a poet. Over the last six months or so I have been thinking about creative writing, and exploring potential connections with narrative and biographical approaches to careers and migration. This thinking culminated in a paper that I presented last week at the Creative Orkney conference. Title slide from my presentation at the conference In this paper I examined my o
0 views0 comments
- Dec 5, 2013
- 2 min
The Biographical Approach to Migration Research…. Some thoughts
Can our movements be explained as responses to external conditions or are they part of our wider experiences including our values, our hopes and our fears? I’ve just read ‘the challenge facing migration research: the case for a biographical approach’. In this article Halfacree and Boyle argue that traditional migration research has been based on a ‘positivistic behaviourist conceptualisation of migration’ (1993: 334). Such traditional approaches tend to treat migration decisi
0 views0 comments
- Oct 28, 2013
- 2 min
Orkney school leavers (2010-11) – the impact of gender
The dive into statistics continues…. Today I have been looking at the School Leaver Destinations for Orkney, compiled by Skills Development Scotland. I have been focusing on the 2010-11 cohort, as many of these people will graduate in 2015 and will be part of the sample I interview in the future. Here is what I have found: The percentage of leavers entering higher education was low at 30.5% compared to a national average of 35.8%. The proportion entering further education was
0 views0 comments
- Sep 1, 2013
- 2 min
Older siblings and graduate transitions
How prepared are graduates for entry to the working world? Do expectations meet reality? In my experience the answer almost universally to these questions is not very prepared and that expectations don’t meet reality. I was discussing this with a recent graduate this week over coffee, and we were talking about how to address these issues. What we concluded was that knowing people who graduate before you can be helpful in giving first hand insight into the realities of the wor
0 views0 comments
- May 5, 2013
- 2 min
“Moving home” or “moving for employment” – Trends in Graduate Migratio
I have just been reading a short paper: ‘The complex migration pathways of UK graduates’[1]. In this project an online survey was conducted of graduates from Southampton University (2001-7) capturing data about their movements and statuses over 5 years. The main finding is that migration choices after University can be complex with: ‘approximately one quarter of respondents [being] highly mobile during the five year period after leaving university (they moved between 5-8 time
0 views0 comments