Welcome to this edition of Postgraduate Researcher Training and Development Bulletin! Last week, we launched our training programme for this academic year; find the full list of courses here.

 In the bulletin, you will find some of our courses which are coming up soon, divided into four key areas of researcher development as per the Vitae Researcher Development Framework:

• Knowledge and intellectual abilities
• Personal effectiveness
• Research governance and organisation
• Engagement, influence and impact

You will also find other training and development opportunities across the University and beyond.

The date of the next bulletin will be Wednesday 23 October

NEW- Searching Smarter- Advanced Search Techniques (Wednesday 6 November, 14.00-15.30 via MS Teams)

Do you want to be able to search faster and more successfully for electronic resources for your research, learning or teaching? This session will cover advanced search techniques you can use for everything from Google Scholar to Web of Science.

Did you know that as a PGR at the University of Exeter, you can access the Consortium for the Advancement of Research Methods and Analysis (CARMA) though our institutional account for free? This gives you access to lots of online research methods webinars and resources. Sign up here using your University of Exeter email account (scroll down the page to ‘Find Out More’, then expand the arrow for CARMA (Consortium for the Advancement of Research Methods & Analysis) and follow the registration/sign up instructions).

LinkedIn for Researchers: Developing and Using Your Profile (Wednesday 9 October, 13.15-14.30 via MS Teams)

A practical and interactive professional social media course for postgraduate researchers (PGRs) and Early Career Researchers (ECRs).

The tools and techniques introduced in this session will be applicable to all those who wish to develop their LinkedIn profile and be proactive in developing online relationships with the wider professional and research community.

NEW- Emotionally challenging research: impacts, coping and proactive interventions to support researchers (Wednesday 30 October, 12.00-15.30 via MS Teams)

Join Dr Tina Skinner, the leader of the Researcher Wellbeing Project, and equip yourself with knowledge and tools essential for maintaining emotional wellbeing in research on emotionally challenging topics (e.g. death, illness, war, crime, extreme poverty). The workshop introduces a practical toolkit, providing resources and guidance to support researchers, supervisors and organisations in managing the emotional aspects of their work and progressing towards a strategic approach to researcher wellbeing and emotionally challenging topics.

NEW- Planning your PhD (Thursday 24 October, 13.00-15.00 via Zoom)

A PhD is a major undertaking yet many people spend more time planning a weekend away than they do planning the next three years of their life. This generally leads to missing deadlines, running overtime, regular crises and lots of stress. If you want to finish on time and enjoy the process along the way then it is important to have a good plan. You need some very specific skills and tools to plan a PhD. This workshop will introduce you to the PhD Planning Toolkit.

Applying for academic jobs (Wednesday 13 November, 10.30-12.00 via MS Teams)

This course will enable you to enhance your knowledge and understanding of the process of applying for positions in the academic job market. We'll explore what academic recruiters are looking for, where to source vacancies and explore the different stages of the recruitment process. There will be a particular focus on how to write effective CVs, cover letters, application forms and perform well at interviews.

NEW- Applying for non-academic jobs (Thursday 14 November, 14.00-15.30 via MS Teams)

Applying for jobs beyond academia? Need help navigating the recruitment process? This interactive course will support you in enhancing your knowledge and understanding of the process of applying for positions in the job market beyond academia. We'll explore what recruiters are looking for, where to source vacancies and explore the different stages of the recruitment process.

Postgraduate research can be challenging at times, but the Wellbeing Services team are available throughout the year, to offer support if you need it. Check out the services available here.

The Wellbeing Thesis offers all sorts of useful resources to help you on your doctoral journey.

An Introduction to the Core Issues in Research Integrity (Thursday 7 November, 10.00-11.00 via MS Teams)

The session is intended to be an introduction to the core issues in research integrity for doctoral students who are preparing to be autonomous researchers confronting professional and ethical dilemmas and challenges.

NEW- An introduction to research ethics review (Tuesday 12 November, 11.30-13.30 via MS Teams)

The course is an introduction to the main principles of ethics review to assist researchers with little or no experience of applying to a Research Ethics Committee.

Depositing your work to Open Research Exeter (ORE) (Monday 18 November, 11.00-12.00 via MS Teams)

Exeter's Institutional Open Access Policy mandates all staff to make in-scope research outputs available in the institutional repository, ORE (Open Research Exeter) via Symplectic, subject to copyright permissions. Postgraduate research students are required to deposit a digital copy of their thesis into ORE as a condition of award. This virtual session will focus on how to use Symplectic to manage publications and deposit them to the institutional repository ORE.

NEW- Getting the most out of supervision (supervisor perspective) (Tuesday 22 October, 09.00-10.30 via MS Teams)

This workshop introduces new postgraduate research students (PGR) to how postgraduate research supervision works in the UK academic system, and in Exeter specifically. It outlines what PGRs can expect in terms of support from their supervisory teams, but also what their responsibilities are within the supervisory arrangement. It offers advice for preparing for supervision, getting the most out of each supervision, and how to address challenges that emerge in a supervisory relationship.

NEW- Working with your supervisors (Friday 8 November, 10.00-11.30 via MS Teams)

The members of your supervisory team are the most significant individuals influencing the development of your research. This session- from a student experience- will give you an overview of what to expect from your supervisory team, and how to make the most of your supervisors' time, knowledge and skills

NEW- Writing conference abstracts (Monday 11 November, 14.00-15.30 via MS Teams)

Conferences are the cornerstone of research dissemination whether you are presenting a talk, a research poster, or contributing to a panel. Writing conference abstracts is therefore a fundamental skill you will need to develop to ensure your research is communicated widely. This webinar will introduce you to the process of writing conference abstracts, including key tips and tricks to ensure that your abstract has the highest chance of being accepted, and encouraging delegates to attend your talk, poster or panel.

NEW- Making research assessment fairer- the why and how of using metrics responsibly (Wednesday 13 November, 09.30-10.30 via MS Teams)

Universities, research teams, and individual researchers all want their research contributions and achievements and capabilities to be recognised fairly. Increasingly metrics- quantitative indicators, like journal impact factors or university rankings have become the go-to proxies for assessing research quality and scientific contributions. But metrics can also misrepresent and disadvantage researchers, distorting the work they choose to do, or where they choose to publish it, and holding back careers - or even whole disciplines. This session will introduce the core principles and aims of Responsible Metrics.

The Creative Club is an informal semi-structured space for creativity and experimentation. It offers a seasonal cycle of practical workshops, each hosted by a creative practitioner. No prior experiences of creative methods are required, only curiosity and willingness to have a go.

The Club is part of a PhD research project, which explores how creative interventions shape interdisciplinary practices amongst university professionals. Through techniques such as collage, poetry and performance, the Club invites participants to express and share their perspectives about different ways of knowing, doing, and supporting research.

If you have any questions or items that you would like to discuss, please don’t hesitate to contact Rebecca Edgerley for an in-person or online discussion.

Bored of working on your own? Finding it difficult to concentrate? Looking for other people to co-work with online? Then why not join the PGR Study Space, which is a welcoming and supportive environment run by PGRs for PGRs. Sign up here.

The Coding for Reproducible Research training initiative is excitingly entering its third year and launching the workshop programme for this academic year. We have a new website which features a range of information, self-assessment quizzes, and self-study materials.

Details of all three courses open for registration so far this term are also now available. Click on the relevant direct links below for further details and to register via the workshop schedule page - please note there is now a different form for each course.

In a change from previous years, workshops will no longer be hybrid and instead will be in person or online. The following courses are run exclusively online with further online-only and in-person-only courses offered later in the year. This means that the mode of attendance cannot be switched as in previous years. 30 virtual spaces are available for each course which will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.

•                     Introduction to Python - Online only (2 sessions 10.00-13.00 Wednesday 23 & 30 October)
Over two sessions, learn the basics of one of the most popular general-purpose programming languages used in a wide range of applications, from machine learning and web development to data analysis and automation.

•                     Regression Analysis with R - Online only (1 session 10.00-13.00 Friday 25 October)
Regression analysis is a fundamental statistical technique used to model the relationship between multiple variables. Aimed at those with prior experience of using R, this session covers how to fit a range of regression models with R, how to interpret the output, and the link between regression and other common statistical tools.

Further course dates will be advertised on our website in due course so you may wish to bookmark relevant pages to keep up-to-date with newly advertised courses.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with the Coding for Reproducible Research initiative via CodingForReproducibleResearch@exeter.ac.uk.

Why not check out some of the numerous training and development resources available through Vitae this summer? They focus specifically on professional development for researchers and you can register for free using your University of Exeter account. Register here and then head here for general advice on various aspects of doing a doctorate and how to access further support, and guidance at all stages of your studies.