10 Years of Let’s Talk About [X]: reflections on the University of Glasgow’s multidisciplinary undergraduate research conference

Let’s Talk About [X] (LTA[X]) is the University of Glasgow’s annual multidisciplinary conference, run by Student Learning Development (SLD). The initiative comprises a two-month training programme, through which participants enhance their multidisciplinary communication and academic presentation skills with the help of learning developers, PhD mentors, and student peers, and a conference event where students showcase their outstanding research to peers and the wider university community. LTA[X] is one of the most ambitious and longest-running events of its kind in the sector, and it has been shortlisted for a Times Higher Education Award. As LTA[X] reaches the 10-year landmark, we wanted to share our reflections on the process of creating and running this programme with the wider community of learning developers. This presentation traced the history of LTA[X] and detailed what is involved in organising and running the conference yearly, from the selection of participants to the organisation and overseeing of the training and the delivery of the conference itself, including discussion of some of the main hurdles faced by the organising committee. It also offered testimonies from previous years’ participants and PhD mentors who each reflect on their experience of taking part in LTA[X], and on the skills and experience they gained as well as some of the challenges they both encountered. In detailing our processes and experiences over the course of a decade, we seek to encourage and offer proven practical tools to learning developers in other institutions interested in organising similar events or programmes in their institutions.