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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.

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.

This course introduces Endnote beyond the basics of simply adding references to documents, maintaining the database and changing and editing styles.

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

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.

A training programme to build the skills and capabilities of early career researchers, enabling them to develop their potential as research leaders.

Science and the media: a workshop on effective communication skills.

Two pilot three day non –residential ‘local GRAD schools’ with a key emphasis on employability skills and personal effectiveness to run May and July 2010.

Enhancing the career prospects of PHD students and Post-docs, increasing self-awareness and personal effectiveness.