Researcher Development Programme for Postgraduate Researchers

These sessions support you in preparing for a career beyond your doctorate, considering pathways both inside and outside academia, for example in non-profit and industry contexts as well as understanding postdoctoral funding opportunities. They connect with a range of provision such as teaching placements with The Brilliant Club and undertaking BCU’s Teaching & Learning in HE course.

These sessions support you in understanding and navigating the Higher Education landscape as a doctoral researcher. They explore what it means to be a PGR and aim to build fluency in the BCU research landscape and more broadly areas such as innovation, Trusted Research and the UK’s national Research Excellence Framework (REF).

This provision supports you in getting the best out of yourself and in turn enabling you to do your research ‘well’ by using your skills and expertise to realise your goals as a researcher. It includes areas such as including goal setting, time management, researcher wellbeing and managing work/life balance.

Delivered by academic colleagues and library staff, these sessions explore a multitude of research methods across disciplines. They expose researchers at all stages to the theoretical and practical dimensions of research methods including data collection and analysis, and different methodological approaches, which may be common to your discipline or from other fields.

These sessions enhance literacy in handling data in the context of research. Building on the ability to read, understand, create and communicate data as information, they focus on managing, storing and using data in ways that are legal, ethical and secure for your research, along with ways to visualise data effectively.

These sessions support you in seeking, identifying, collating and evaluating a range of information from different sources. They include using search strategies to find information on a research topic, navigating how to find and organise information for interdisciplinary research, using bibliometrics, information software and understanding open access.

This provision supports you in understanding and navigating the doctoral researcher lifecycle at BCU, including progression assessments and key doctoral milestones. It also supports you in making the most of the PGR journey through resources and by connecting with others to share, learn and collaborate within and across disciplines.

Aimed at doctoral researchers at all stages, these sessions support you in understanding and preparing for your viva examination and making the most of the supervisory relationship. They are supported by resources and local-level researcher development sessions.

This provision supports researchers at all stages to create and maintain inclusive,                         equitable, and supportive research cultures. Supported by local initiatives, it includes an      awareness of how EDI principles inform research, such as designing inclusive research            projects and collaborating with diverse groups, leading to higher quality and robust                                   research outcomes.

These sessions support you in the different elements of undertaking a doctoral research project. They include principles of project management, including project planning, project milestones and resource planning, as well as navigating project challenges and understanding, assessing and mitigating different types of risk. 

These sessions support you in understanding the core principles of research integrity and ethics to ensure your research aligns with ethical and legal guidelines and standards. Supported by online resources, they include understanding and mitigating challenges to research such as misconduct, use of AI, BCU policy and ethical approval process.

These sessions introduce you to intellectual property created as part of your research, how can it be identified and who owns it. They explore routes to legal ownership and protecting your intellectual property once it has been identified, as well as commercialisation pathways once IP has been protected and benefits such as the amplification of research impact.

These sessions consider ways to share your research to a wide range of audiences and promote knowledge exchange. Key areas include modalities of dissemination, pathways to publication, writing for publication, visualising research. They sit alongside university-wide dissemination events and local-level provision particular to disciplines.

These sessions support you in considering public engagement as a two-way process: how your research activity might be shared with the public and how engaging with the public can enhance your research to break down the barriers between research, innovation and society. They consider how public engagement intersects with other aspects of research including impact, raising your profile and disseminating your research beyond academia. 

These sessions support you in considering the benefits of your research beyond           academia and their contribution to society and the economy through understanding research impact. They introduce you to pathways to impact, evidencing impact and their importance in applying for funding.