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  • Postgraduate research student development

Postgraduate research student development

Researchers with highly developed skills are vital to our globally connected social, cultural and economic future. The Doctoral College is committed to delivering a researcher development programme which addresses the specific needs of doctoral students, provides a strong foundation for study, and equips students to make a positive contribution to society both during and beyond their years of postgraduate research at Brighton.

The Doctoral College’s Postgraduate Researcher Development Programme (PRDP) provides training, support and advice to research students at the University of Brighton. The aim of the programme is to enable our students to become well-rounded, skilled, efficient and successful researchers with strong career prospects.

The programme comprises a range of workshops, modules and online courses designed to support a student’s progression from the early stages of research through to thesis submission and viva. Several of the workshops are repeated to meet the needs of students starting at any point through the academic year.

Throughout, the programme is informed by the Vitae Researcher Development Framework which sets out the knowledge, behaviour and attributes of effective and highly skilled researchers. Workshops in our lively and challenging programme include ‘Developing your Critical Thinking’, ‘Presenting at Conference’, ‘Publishing your Work’ and ‘Managing your Wellbeing’. While some sessions are discipline-specific, others are relevant for students across all areas of research. Additionally, the programme features three ten-week courses, developed and delivered by the award-winning University of Brighton Language Institute, which are aimed at doctoral students whose first language is not English.

Each year, we publish the PRDP online and we recommended that students work with their supervisors to identify strengths and gaps, and to tailor a training programme suited to their own unique needs.

Online courses provided by Epigeum

The URDF is supported by two online courses developed by Epigeum. Epigeum is the leading publisher of online courses designed to transform the way in which universities support their core activities of research, teaching and learning. These online courses provide students, researchers, lecturers and professional staff with access to top-quality developmental opportunities in essential skills at a time and place of their choosing.

The Research Skills Programme

The research skills programme this is designed to provide PhD students and early career researchers with a broad range of essential skills and knowledge to improve their effectiveness as researchers. It will also help researchers to hone the vital transferable skills needed for pursuing a career outside of academia. The programme is made up of a short introductory course and 17 full-length courses divided into four key areas: Research Methods, Research Ethics, Transferable Skills and Entrepreneurship in the Research Context.

Statistical Methods for Research

The statistical method for research programme features five courses and is designed to provide research students with a strong foundation in statistics, covering key areas such as confidence intervals, hypothesis testing and statistical modelling.

Seminars and Lecture series

Postgraduate Research students have the opportunity to access local seminar series delivered via Schools. We actively encourage students to access seminars across all disciplines as it can help broaden your understanding of research and also embed you into the local research community at Brighton.

As well as local seminars, the university is proud to host world leaders in research through its series of lectures. In recent months the university has hosted lectures by Sir Mark Moody-Stewart, Sir Christopher Frayling and Dr Etienne Wenger.

Dr Wenger delivered a Masterclass to a group of our research students. It was a wonderful opportunity for students to spend time in the company of a world leading researcher of social theory. See what our research students had to say 

Please enable targeting cookies in order to view this video content on our website, or you can watch the video on YouTube.

Peer-group research culture

Students benefit from immersion in a cross-university peer-group research culture concerned with generic issues and aspects of the research process, as well as the more specialist techniques necessary for individual projects and disciplines. The programme is about developing a familiarity with the range of approaches and analytical techniques within varied fields. Specialist sessions are included in the programme, but are offered in a way that emphasises how and why they are apt for certain analytical purposes, how they are implemented, and how they can be used most effectively.

Centre for learning and teaching

During your research degree, you may be presented with opportunities to teach. It is compulsory for any student wishing to undertake teaching to complete a short course in Teaching in Higher Education.

To support you, the University’s Centre for Learning & Teaching (CLT) delivers two courses ‘Teaching and learning in HE‘ and ‘Supporting learning in HE’*.

More information is available on the training provided by CLT

*these courses are only available to staff members and students of the University of Brighton

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