B7 - The impact of researcher development on doctoral outcomes: e.g. time to completion, papers submitted

Day 1 at 16:15 - In the UK there has been a change in the nature of doctoral education, whilst the core element of independent research remains, there has also been recognition that this should be accompanied by research training and researcher development and reflection. Traditionalists in academia have voiced concerns that a movement away from the research-only model distracts students from the research, leading to less successful outcomes in academic research. In this workshop, research findings from various investigations were presented that examined the relationship between attending research training and factors that are seen as positive outcomes of doctoral education, such as timely thesis submission, fewer thesis corrections and academic papers submitted. Studies presented in the workshop investigated how research students with a large training component compared to the more traditional doctoral model. Initial findings indicated training elements supported timely completion and did not deter strong outcomes in the form of academic publication. Analysing less tangible outcomes such as the complexity and risk of research attempted, or the development of independent thinking and resilience were discussed. Strand - Postgraduate Researcher.