How I Got Into a Major Research Conference Without a PhD

This was not just another journey for me. It was special, close to my heart. It all started when, on one winter evening around October 2025, Yashaswinee, my wife, shared a link with me about a conference in the UK in 2026. It was the British Sociological Association’s Annual Conference. For a moment I thought, “Sociology! What even do I ??”, and laughed out loud. She looked at me and said, “Your RCA project sounds quite like Sociology. Ain’t it?” I thought for a moment, nodded and then told her it was, perhaps. Every day, I would think about submitting an abstract. Still, the insecure me/lazy me/imposter syndrome-d me, or just the procrastinator in me, would go to sleep, thinking about writing it the next day.

For almost two months, Yashaswinee would remind me about the abstract submission, and I kept postponing it till the last minute. Literally on the last day of the deadline, I wrote an abstract and submitted it. I thought it would be nice to have Yashaswinee along with me on the trip, so I added her as the “Co-Author”. The project was close to my heart and very personal. It was for a Roundtable, so it was more like a group discussion. I thought for a moment about what she would speak about in the Roundtable if selected. We had the option to submit another one, so I thought, “Why not!?” I wrote an abstract about the work I had done at RCA in AI, Photography, and technology. I was sure this was something I could share with her, and she could talk about it. In fact, I truly felt she could be a part of the research work as well. I wrote another abstract and submitted it that day.

A few weeks later, we got an email. Both abstracts were selected for the conference. For a moment, I literally had to pinch myself! I knew these were not a submit-and-get-invited thing! In fact, later I learned that there were over 2500 submissions, of which about 700 were selected. So, yeah, thank god, mine wasn’t one of the 1800 submissions they decided to chuck out.

We decided we would go for it. It was just a three-day conference. I didn’t have institutional support for this. Yashaswinee considered asking her institution, the Regional Institute of Education, for funds, but she had little hope of receiving any. I would wonder if spending this huge chunk of money would be worth it for just a 3-day conference in the UK.

For day 1, the 8th of April, we wore a lovely outfit designed by Jeet Jageet, using Sambalpuri design elements. It had a formal touch with an ethnic charm. Yashaswinee had a long coat that matched my outfit. On reaching the venue, which was inside the University of Manchester, we put up our poster in the given space.

All day long, there were so many people walking around and standing near the poster to read it. I went to sit in on one session to get an idea of how “Charing” is done. At 11 am, I had to chair a session. I got there early, but we went out for a quick break, and by the time we arrived, the session had already started. I felt a bit nervous and annoyed with myself for being late. I took my seat. There were many important people from the Sociology space on the panel. Alan Warde was the first speaker, a prominent British sociologist. Two more professors from the University of Cambridge were also presenting their work. It was such a big moment for me to chair such a session with such eminent personalities as speakers.

The best part was when a lady told me, outside the room after the session, that I did a good job as a chair! It was such a big deal for me. This was literally my first chairing experience in my entire life! Who would have thought, even in the wildest dreams, that I would chair a conference session in one of the world’s largest sociology conferences in a foreign land!! Crazy!!

Yashaswinee took some mind-blowing photos of me on stage, with the speakers in the foreground. I am sure these photos will be precious ones in years to come. I am so grateful to have someone with me who could capture some of the most special moments of my life. In fact, the outfits were so appealing that Annie, a core team member of the BSA conference, asked the official photographers to capture an amazing photo of us in front of the BSA standee. She casually announced that the best outfit award goes to this duo! It was fun and inspiring, and it made me feel that the effort we put into the outfit design and curation was worth it.

In the evening, we had the Posters session where we stood near our posters, excited and nervous. People slowly started pouring in, and in no time, there was a huge crowd in the room. People stopped by our poster and read it. Some people shared their personal experiences and thoughts on AI and cloud storage.

My work focused on how cloud storage and AI algorithms resurface our memories. My research objective was to devise methods that allow the user to intervene and shape the algorithm so that it resurfaces your memories in a more sensitive, trauma-informed way. By “memories,” I mean the feature on phones that clusters photographs from your personal gallery using algorithms and displays them at random times, usually accompanied by a notification unless you manually turn it off.

I was so happy to see Yashaswinee confidently explaining the research to so many people. In fact, she had a long conversation with a man, explaining the poster, the research, and the work behind it. Only later did we learn that he was Dr Graham Crow, an eminent British sociologist.

Okay, now the interesting, fun and best part! Most of the people there had completed their PhD or were pursuing one. And of course, there were retired and emeritus professors, too, but rarely any master’s students. We were one of those rare ones who were there presenting our work without a PhD. People would ask if this was our PhD research, and I was like, “Nope, it’s during my master’s in RCA”. The surprise and awe on their faces were something I will remember. They would appreciate us and say this research already sounds very relevant, urgent and promising.

The next day we went to a special drinks and networking event they had organised. What a gorgeous hall it was with Victorian interiors! I had some white wine and took some amazing photos. Some awards were given. One of the books, “Influencers Creep” by Sophie Bishop, won the BSA Philip Abrams Memorial Prize 2025.

We started with the Roundtable, where we presented our work. The project was very personal to me. I started by sharing its roots. The work revolved around the aftereffects of rejection and how it triggers other past unresolved grief. Drawing parallels between the grief of the death of my brother and the grief of being rejected by my first love, I wanted to share how that rejection caused a lot of psychological harm, including triggering other pain points in my life and a feeling of abandonment.

The work also focused on how we process grief, sometimes through tangible artefacts of the memories we shared with the person. I wanted to get more ideas around how people process grief and pain more healthily.

It was an autoethnographic research project, but since my wife has been part of the conversation for the last two years, her thoughts, contributions, and reactions have become an integral part of my research insights. Towards the end, she spoke about the work. It was an emotional moment for me. It was equally inspiring, funny, and tragic to present a body of work on heartbreak and pain with my wife as co-researcher at an international conference.

As the conference got over, we decided to head to the outdoor areas and take a few more photos. This time, it felt like we were literally in a photoshoot spree. Yashaswinee had already developed a muscle for taking some amazing photos with the right technical settings. I felt so happy seeing that as if my dream partner was right there with me. She captures most of the photos you are seeing while reading this.

As the conference was coming towards an end, the publishers who had come to showcase some amazing books started giving them away. Yashaswinee is quite alert about all these! She took me to the stall by SAGE at the exact right moment, just before they announced that all the books were free to take. Before the big crowd could rush into the stall, we had a comfortable 30 seconds to grab a few good ones, put them in our bags, and thank SAGE. It was the same with a few other reputed publishers, and we picked a few more books as we moved around in the space. Book lovers, don’t miss this ever!

At every conference, there is usually a book giveaway towards the end. In fact, some of those publishers allow you to reserve the book from the start and take it when the conference ends. Take this as a pro tip from us: keep an eye on the books displayed at conferences. They will likely give it away for free by the time the conference ends.

We walked down to our Airbnb with two bags full of books and an ocean of memories from the conference. Nothing beats the feeling of walking down the lane with your partner after presenting your work in one of the world’s most coveted conferences.

In fact, there’s something better than that: “Chairing” the sessions! It takes a whole lot of guts as a middle-class Indian man and a courageous decolonial mindset to stand on stage in front of a set of international speakers and handle those sessions in a white man’s land. Pro tip time! If you’re ever attending a conference, be sure to ask the organising team to chair at least one session. They usually have a few openings, and it will give you a lot of confidence in the process.

Continue reading this story: Getting accepted to present and chair at the BSA was a dream come true, but with empty pockets and no institutional backing, the real hurdle was figuring out how to afford the flights, accommodation, and conference fees. Read the next chapter of this journey in I Had Zero Savings. Here’s How I Funded a UK Research Trip.