Welcome to the Newcastle University Qualitative Special Interest Group (QualSIG)

The primary aim of the QualSIG is to offer students and academic researchers with an interest in qualitative research a supportive and positive environment to learn and collaborate. Our secondary aim is to promote the considerable qualitative expertise we have here at Newcastle University.

The QualSIG offers:

An opportunity to learn and network: Qualitative research encapsulates a broad number of approaches and processes. Members will be able to share their expertise and learn from others through seminars, training events, and informal mentorship.

An opportunity to contribute and collaborate: In bringing together the diverse range of qualitative researchers we have at Newcastle University we will establish a pool of researchers who can be called upon for their qualitative expertise and support with teaching of qualitative methods and supervision on qualitative and mixed methods projects. Membership will also support collaboration on funding bids, outreach, engagement events, and writing projects.

A supportive environment: Qualitative research can be a challenging undertaking. We can experience frustrations with recruitment, challenging ethics applications, and methods conundrums. We also often listen to sensitive, difficult narratives throughout the course of data collection and analysis. Our SIG will be a place to seek support with all such issues.

An opportunity to showcase the qualitative expertise at Newcastle: There is a wealth of experience in qualitative research across Newcastle University. Our SIG offers the opportunity to put qualitative research at Newcastle on the map. Our online presence, an annual conference, pooling expertise on grant applications to generate funding are some of the steps we are taking to establish Newcastle University as a site of excellence in qualitative research.

Activities and events

The QualSIG have two key sub-groups, our Peer2Peer Network and our Data & Methods Group. You can read more about them here:

Peer2Peer Network: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/ima/qualitativesig/peer2peernetwork/ 

Data & Methods Group: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/ima/qualitativesig/datamethodsgroup/ 

We host events throughout the year. Please see our events page for more info: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/ima/qualitativesig/events/ 

Annual Symposium

The QualSIG annual symposium takes place in mid-January, offering qualitative researchers (and the qual-curious) an opportunity to network and learn from their peers and indulge in a day dedicated to all things qualitative. While each symposium will have a theme to highlight contemporary issues of relevance to research, we always allow for "free topic" abstract submissions for those who wish to present their work and ideas but do not feel they can directly speak to the symposium theme. We do not limit abstract submissions to the presentation of on-going or completed research: "thought pieces" and reflexive accounts are encouraged. 

Our inaugural symposium took place on Thursday the 18th of January 2024 with the theme The State of Qualitative Research: As qualitative researchers our work is typically anchored on answering “why” questions and on unpicking the subtleties of subjective experience of phenomena, social interaction, power dynamics, and inequalities. Our data is often nuanced and challenging to analyse, mirroring the complexity of lived experience. Our strength lies in our ability to manage this complexity and produce meaningful, and impactful outputs. Despite this strength, qualitative approaches can still struggle for recognition both within and outside academic research.

This symposium was limited to Newcastle University staff and postgraduate students and was attended by >80 delegates. You can read more about the inaugural symposium here: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/ima/qualitativesig/bi-annualnewsletters/qualitativespecialinterestgroupwinternewsletter202324.html 

In 2025 we aimed to highlight the novel and creative methods used by qualitative researchers with the theme Beyond the interview: Interviews, whether semi-structured, narrative, or unstructured, are probably the most used method of data collection in qualitative research. But are we overly reliant on this method? What have we lost and gained from the increase in remote interviewing? Do we need to be more inventive in our approach to interviewing? For the 2025 Qualitative Special Interest Group Annual Symposium we are keen to hear about novel and creative approaches to qualitative data collection and analysis and encourage honest discussions about our experiences as qualitative research-academics – both the good and the not so good.

We opened this symposium up to colleagues working across the North East of England and Cumbria and the event was attended by >100 delegates. You can read about the 2025 symposium here: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/ima/qualitativesig/bi-annualnewsletters/qualitativespecialinterestgroupwinternewsletter202425.html

The 2026 symposium, which will take place on Thursday the 15th of January 2026, has taken on the theme of Contemporary Challenges in Qualitative Research, and colleagues can submit abstracts to the following streams: 

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Qualitative Research: Any work on data collection, methodologies, analysis, and research on AI.
• Challenging Participants and Situations: How you deal with imposter participants and aggressive, rude, and abusive participants, researcher safety, and traumatic topics.  We expect submissions in this stream to be researcher-focused.
• The Ethics and Dilemmas of Open Research.
• New, Niche, and Novel: Any work using a method which is new to you, your field, or the qualitative community, or are you using a known method in a different way.
• FREE TOPIC STREAM: Anything that does not fit in the other streams is welcome to be submitted under this stream.

For the 2026 symposium we have expanded our reach, opening up attendance to colleagues working in the North East of England, Cumbria, and the Central Belt of Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Stirling). For more details about the 2026 symposium please follow this link: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/ima/qualitativesig/events/nuqualitativespecialinterestgroupannualsymposium2026.html 

To learn more about what the QualSIG has been up to, please take a look at our newsletters: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/ima/qualitativesig/bi-annualnewsletters/ 

Contact: QualSIG@newcastle.ac.uk

Steering committee