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Using the Skills Training Programme courses, the Medical Sciences Division seeks to equip Graduate Research Students and Research Staff members with a comprehensive set of skills ensuring each researcher realises his/her maximum potential and thereby lay the foundations for a successful career in the sciences.

This is a brief summary of the organisational model that we have adopted in order to work more closely with Schools, Faculties and Departments and 'partner' with them in understanding and providing for the needs of their particular staff in a ‘bespoke’ way where appropriate. This positions us better to target our resource towards meeting real needs, while striving for enhanced alignment between UCL’s research strategy and individual aspirations. This new model also enables us to work more closely in partnership with other key people deployed at a Faculty or Department level, such as Research Facilitators, Research Leaders, HR Consultants, Faculty Managers etc.

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.

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.

Open competition to fund projects relating to research staff development

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.

Several ‘Careers in Academia’ workshops have been held, covering all subject cohorts, in which the steps needed to secure an academic position were discussed. The workshops were supported by the staff from the careers unit as well as senior and junior academics from across the university.

In this 3 hour session, we invited an expert panel comprising journal editors, funders, academics, journalist and a science communication charity to discuss peer review with our PhD students and postdoc - looking at peer review from the academic community’s point of view and how the public gauges if scientific evidence is robust or not.

Applying for a Fellowship - when, where and how consists of information sessions and small group follow-on workshops. The aim of the course is to impart information about the research fellowship application process to early career researchers in the biomedical sciences. There were 3 separate lunchtime sessions over 2 weeks, covering funding types and eligibility, general hints and tips on applications, how to fit in with funding bodies’ agendas and the application and interview process. At each session, at least one successful fellow shared their personal experiences. At the end of the final session, two fellows were joined by two members of academic staff who are panel members for MRC and BBSRC for a question and answer session around funders’ and applicants’ views of the Fellowship application process. Sessions were presented by academic staff members, business development personnel and fellows. Following these, those that attended have been invited to the following smaller follow-up sessions: 1) What if a Fellowship is not for me? - a session on pursuing the academic career route without having gained a Fellowship – a recently appointed lecturer from the Vet School talked through how she gained her position and the dedicated researcher careers advisor for Nottingham discussed strategies for achieving a lectureship. 2) Fellowship writing support group – 8 researchers interested in applying for Fellowships are being set up in a support group co-ordinated by the graduate centre manager. This group will have follow-up sessions including pitching their research proposals to one another and training in the JeS and pFACT systems. 3) Funding available to clinical professionals – an information session on funding specifically for clinical professionals and projects will be given by a clinical member of Faculty staff in early 2010. 4) Alternative career options for biological scientists - this session was requested in feedback from ‘What if a Fellowship is not for me?’ and will run in early 2010.

The MPLS Division at Oxford provides a programme of skills training courses for its doctoral research students and postdoctoral researchers, based upon the Joint Skills Statement. The programme is reviewed on an ongoing basis, so that each year’s programme is relevant and up to date. For 2009-10 an overarching framework of personal effectiveness courses has been established, with the aim of supporting researchers in their development from the early stages of their doctoral studies through to the first permanent appointment, be this inside or outside academia. In addition to the existing website, a new skills handbook has been produced which will provide comprehensive information about the programme for new students and research staff.