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The Social Media sessions demonstrated a successful integration of a student-led initiative within a formal graduate training provision. The initiative underlined the importance of engaging PhD students in their own learning and training needs, in both sharing expertise with peers and in contributing to their own professional development. In doing so, it demonstrated to other postgraduate researchers how they might utilise their own areas of expertise to develop further student-led initiatives.

A website dedicated to research staff informing of local & national events & opportunities such as research, training & careers.

Three-day business plan competition for researchers to produce a business plan for an imaginary start-up company, engineering-based.

The Jubilee Graduate Centre (JGC) has been exclusively developed for postgraduate students and early career researchers. It works closely with Schools on the Jubilee Campus to develop Faculty-specific training and careers events for PGRs/ECRs focusing on transferable skills, and which reflect the requirements of the Funding Councils.

The Arts Graduate Centre (AGC) offers a unique social and training space which has been developed specifically for Arts Faculty postgraduates. Its main activity is grouped around building a community for postgraduates in the Arts Faculty, developing skills and improving employability. It has a centre which provides a place to study, socialise and find out information. AGC has a strong web presence which includes an interactive researcher portal using a workspace platform. This year it is piloting a compulsory training prrogramme, offering 3 days of bespoke training to Arts Faculty PGRs per year, alongside an an annual events programme (approx 30 instances) which is bespoke to the Arts Faculty and complimentary to the cross-Faculty Graduate School training offer at Nottingham. AGC also runs larger-scale conferences and networking events, often with a knowledge transfer or an interdisciplinary focus. These include interdisciplinary symposia, speed-conferencing evenings, HE fairs and research poster competitions. AGC has a strong history in arranging paid placements opportunities (30 per year) which are uniquely supported by regular guided groupwork (reflective practice sessions) and one-to-one support. AGC also supports postgraduate-led initiatives with project planning and proposal-writing advice. These have included a feminist reading group, the Nottingham Poetry Series (funded by Arts Council & Lottery Fund) and Mind the Skills Gap (funded initiaive to bring consultancy-level business training to Arts Faculty postgrads trhougha series of 8 full or half-day workshops.) . AGC also seeks additional funding annually to develop a special interest strand which speaks to training, social and networking needs amongst the postgraduate community as well as the knowledge transfer agenda. Last year we ran AGC Year of the Writer which had a Writer in Residence who coordinated a series of writing workshops (poetry, novels, for broadcast), author talks, a creative writing competition and local schools-based writing activities (co-ordinated by 2 paid postgraduate interns.) This year we received AHRC funding to run ResearcherCurator - a placement-like programme where participants are offered 4 days of specialist trainign and mentoring to design and deliver an element of public programming at the Galleries of Justice, Nottingham (see separate database entry). Part of the AGC events programme is also available to final-year undergraduates in order to support Faculty postgraduate recruitment. AGC is also piloting an alumni mentoring programme - Bridges - which is designed to match postgraduate students up with alumni already established in a range of career sectors for a 6-month e-mentoring relationship. Alumni have been an integral part of our Moving On series which uses alumni to deliver short training interventions designed to be responsive to the requirements of key potential employers. This included 'Copywriting and proofreading skills ofr publishing' (delivered by Publishing Operations Manager at Hodder & Stoughton. The Arts Gradaute Centre also works in collaboration with another Graduate Centre to offer training/information/social events to early career researchers.

An interdisciplinary initiative run by doctoral researchers to enrich their research environment, enhance their skills and facilitate exchange of ideas on Europe.

Charity Challenge is an opportunity for University of Leicester PhD students to develop career management transferrable skills whilst working in a volunteering context. Each PhD student raises money over a six month period to enable them to engage in an international volunteering activity, in the third world. The objective is for students to take part in this activity in a team environment and in this way enhance a range of transferrable skills of relevance to their professional future. The volunteering activity is a two week project designed to help a third world community, e.g. through refurbishing a school, nursery or other community location. Through engagement with this activity, as part of a team, participants skills are challenged and enhanced. Students are responsible for making sure that they have adequate medical, and travel insurance. They are also responsible for making sure that you have received all necessary medical vaccinations.

An ePortfolio is an external facing website owned and maintained by a research student.

The Talent Pool provides a unique opportunity for doctoral and post-doctoral researchers at all stages of their studies to engage with external organisations and develop into the next generation of academics, business consultants and entrepreneurs. The Talent Pool offers enterprise training that creates a network of students with various skills and ambitions who are able to make time for work experience, placements, internships, consultancy contracts or the chance to set up their own business, by understanding the important skills and strategies behind business ventures. The Talent Pool can be compared with other programmes that have been used at the University in previous years, such as Medici and SPEED.