Postgraduate Researcher Development Programme (PRDP)
We offer a lively and challenging programme of workshops, seminars and events to support you through your doctoral journey. Our PRDP sessions take place across the academic year and are delivered by expert facilitators within the university. The programme offers a comprehensive suite of research skills and personal development training to enable our doctoral students to become well-rounded, skilled, efficient and successful researchers with strong career prospects. Weekly workshops focus on topics such as academic writing skills, presenting at conference, ethics and integrity, and publishing your work. These face-to-face sessions bring together students from different disciplines, helping to foster the university community of scholars. Webinars and online recordings to support doctoral milestone progression points are also available for students unable to attend campus sessions. A collection of online research masterclasses from leading academics enables students to gain insights into a range of disciplines at a time convenient to them.
The PRDP is informed by the Vitae Researcher Development Statement (RDS) and Researcher Development Framework (RDF), which are endorsed by all UK Research Councils, Universities UK and other leading national organisations.
Statistical methods for research
Our online statistical methods 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.
Seminar and lecture series
Postgraduate research students are invited to join, and to present in, regular seminar series, featuring university-based researchers and international guest speakers. We actively encourage students to access seminars across all disciplines. Each year we hold a Postgraduate Festival of Research for students of all departments to come together to showcase and celebrate their work.
Support and training for 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 Learning and Teaching Hub delivers a two-day course, ‘Teaching and learning in HE‘, tailored specifically for our doctoral students.
Additionally, the university offers paid teaching placements through its partnership with The Brilliant Club, an award-winning charity that trains and places PhD tutors in state schools.