Subscribe by RSSDatabase of practice

The Department of Chemistry at the University of York developed a suite of training in the area of Enterprise, KT and impact in 2009/ 2010. These courses were developed and delivered within the Green Chemistry team led by Professor James Clark with input from a range of academics and industrial partners. The following text is largely from the promotional material supplied by Sue Couling sue.couling@york.ac.uk. The courses offered included: 1. Intellectual Property, Business Opportunities And The Impact Of Environmental Legislation 'Increasingly demanding environmental legislation can enable green chemists to develop technologies and new business opportunities' 2. Commercialisation of Science 'Following on from Intellectual Property, students will learn about technology transfer, licensing, and setting up a spin out company to market their greener product' 3. Public Awareness of Science and Sustainability 'Training and practical experience of designing, planning and taking part in a range of public facing events'

The York Award: Researchers is a certificate of the University of York which recognises and rewards those PhD students who undertake an active programme of personal development over the course of their registration. It operates alongside degree programmes and aims to capture the impact of all aspects of university life in terms of the skills and experiences that they will find beneficial in their future life and work. The process of applying for the York Award: Researchers will allow postgraduate researchers to evaluate their unique set of skills and experiences, and ensure that they are able to communicate the value of their research degree and transferrable skills to an academic and a lay audience.

Building Impact into Social Science Research was funded by vitae innovate fund applied for and successfully awarded to Professor Richard Thorpe and Dr Paul Ellwood. The event was supported by the Staff and Departmental Development Unit at Leeds. Much of the following text formed part of a proposal to Vitae written by Paul Ellwood and Richard Thorpe, with summary and context written by Jenn Chubb at the University of York. This Vitae Innovate funded project enabled the development of a module to be integrated into postgraduate training programmes – it contained both concepts and practical tools aimed at helping students understand and connect with aspects related to the impact of social science research. The Innovate fund supported a two day Leeds University Business School course entitled Building Impact into Social Science Research followed by a two day Social Science- wide White Rose residential event at Bodington Hall with input from academics reporting on the impact of their research and interactive group work activities. Building Impact into Social Science Research aimed to provide an introduction to this increasingly important aspect of a researcher’s life. Through a mixture of presentations, specialist speakers and practical exercises, the workshop provided a grounding in the emerging UK policy environment, appropriate research design and practical engagement mechanisms with research stakeholders.

Skills Forge is a single website containing a range of modules to help track and organise research postgraduate activity. It has three key themes: 1. Reflecting on skills (currently based on the Joint Skills Statement, moving over to the Research Development Framework in Summer 2010) including research management, covering; designing systems for collating information, identifying and accessing bibliographic resources and other relevant information, and using IT appropriately for database management and recording or presenting information. 2. Identifying and recording development activities. 3. Supervisory and progression monitoring processes.

Newcastle University Library aims to provide support for researchers at all stages of their research career, from taught postgraduates through to more experienced researchers. Provision is discipline specific, though based on a common framework and is targeted through the three Faculties: Science, Agriculture and Engineering (SAgE), Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) and Medical Sciences (FMS). Similarities and differences in provision are highlighted below. SAgE: Research PGs - The Library offers a programme of 8 IL workshops as an integral part of the Faculty Postgraduate Researcher Development Programme (PGRDP). Attendance at workshops earns credits and students must gain a minimum number of credits to progress in their research degree. The full programme is run in Oct/ Nov, with 5 repeat workshops in Feb and an intensive week in June. Content includes: Introduction to Library Services, Finding Research Information, Managing Information, Current awareness, Keeping up to date, Using the Internet and Web 2.0 tools, Writing for Publication, plus a series of discipline/ resource specific sessions. Taught PGs – a cut down version of the Postgraduate Researcher Training Programme (PGRTP) is offered to all Masters students at School level, where it can be more tailored to specific subjects. Research Staff – Core workshops from the PGRTP are run on a regular basis for staff from both SAgE and FMS. FMS: The Liaison Team for the Faculty of Medical Sciences run two ‘carousels’ of IL training for postgraduates and researchers. The first programme or carousel is intended for Postgraduate taught students and is delivered in the first two terms to provide comprehensive information literacy skills at an appropriate level. This is delivered in conjunction with the Graduate School. The sessions for research students and contract researchers aim to group necessary skills together in a programme which allows attendance at all or individual session in order to gain better skills which are required at research level. Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty: The PGRTP programme for HASS research postgraduates includes 4 x 2 hour sessions with Library staff, All students have to complete an assessment which is marked by library staff and must be passed in order to proceed on the programme. This exercise gives us an excellent insight into the progress of the students.

We provide a number of online training courses to PGRs - this is especially beneficial to distance and part-time PGRs

1- or 2-month internships to enable postgraduate research students to gain experience of working in a non-academic environment. Research students are responsible for locating and arranging an internship with a suitable non-academic employer. Graduate School provide a stipend of £1000/month to successful applicants to cover their living expenses during the internship.

A half-day conference providing an opportunity for PGRs and research staff to find out more about setting up and running a social enterprise business and working in the sector.

Make Some Noise is an annual series of linked training, practise and awareness raising events linked by competitions, all of which aim to develop strong communication and public engagement skills. it is also a means of celebrating the excellent research work taking place in the Faculty of Engineering.

An 18-month programme for early career researchers in arts, humanities and social sciences to enable them to build their skills and confidence in working collaboratively with internal and external partners.