Wecome to this fortnight's edition of Doctoral College Newsletter; here are just some of the highlights this week:

• Take a look at our Events section to find out about forest bathing at the Penryn Campus
• Visit our Reminders section to understand why the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) is so important
• Check out our Opportunities section for information on the LTHE Programme and how to register (mandatory if you are applying for a postgraduate teaching associate role)

To find out more about these, and everything else at the University for PGRs, jump to the relevant sections using our linked contents list:

Upcoming Events

Opportunities

External Opportunities

Community

Reminders

Careers Support and Sessions

Wellbeing Support and Sessions

Enquiries

Our next newsletter will go out on Tuesday 15 April 2025. If you have a news story or opportunity you would like to advertise, please email ResearcherDevelopment@exeter.ac.uk by Wednesday 9 April 2025.

Please refer to our style guide before submitting your item.

The place to look for training and development opportunities at the University and beyond is our Postgraduate Researcher Training and Development Bulletin. The next bulletin will be sent out on Wednesday 9 April.

Dates: Tuesdays 1, 8, 15 and 22 April
Time: 8.00 – 9.00
Where: Multifaith chaplaincy near Tremough Barton farmhouse (start and end point)

Start your day gently with a one-hour forest bathing session involving a walk and short mindful activities in the outdoors led by local practitioner, Paul Simmons. Forest bathing is a playful, slow and childlike exploration of the woodland surroundings with all our senses. Be prepared for all weather and bring something waterproof to sit on! A small tea ceremony will end the session at the chaplaincy. This event has been organised by the Cornwall Wellbeing Network, a campus staff community network, and is open to all staff and postgraduate researchers from the University of Exeter, Falmouth University, FX Plus and the SU.

Please sign up via the button below. You are very welcome to email Paul (ps527@exeter.ac.uk) with any questions.

Date: Tuesday 15 April
Time: 10.30-12.00
Venue: Digital Humanities Seminar Room 1, Digital Humanities, Streatham Campus (Hybrid)

The Societies & Cultures Institute are pleased to announce this first seminar in our Project Showcase series, celebrating the brilliant research we have been supporting!

In this talk, Dr Semih Celik (Archaeology & History), will discuss his project aiming to reconstruct the history of a non-western imperial natural history museum - the Ottoman Natural History Museum founded in Istanbul in the 1830s and destroyed by fire in 1848, along with all its collections and archives. He will also consider the significance of reviving the museum's eco-heritage to address current climate-related challenges in Istanbul and the post-Ottoman world.

Date: Thursday 24 April
Time: 10.30-13.30
Venue: The Skydeck, Innovation Centre, Streatham Campus

Led by artist and workshop facilitator Hannah Mumby, and creative researcher Dr Ella Harris, this free workshop will explore how creative methods can be used to generate impactful and wide-reaching research. Whether you are new to arts-based research, or simply looking for fresh inspiration, this is a great opportunity to broaden your creative skills. Click the button below for more details, and to register for the event, and please contact per@exeter.ac.uk with any questions.

Date: Tuesday 13 May
Time: 13.00-14.00
Venue: Online

Human Tissue Act (HTA) training is mandatory for anyone using or storing human tissue samples at the University of Exeter.  The next session is on Tuesday 13 May 2025, 13.00-14.00 (online).

Anyone collecting informed consent as part of their research needs to attend the Informed Consent training, which is also on Tuesday 13 May 2025, 14.15-15.15 (online).

Both sessions are online and open to everyone (ECRs and PGRs).  We also welcome anyone to join for a refresher if they haven’t attended the training for over two years.  There is no registration deadline or booking limit.

Please email HTA-return@exeter.ac.uk for further enquiries or to book a place.

Sign up is now open for events taking place as part of the University's Gender Equality Conference (Monday 19- Friday 23 May).

Events are open to staff and students and include:
• A panel discussion on gender and sexual orientation equality work
• Opportunities to meet people in-person and learn more about gender equality projects, research and networks
• Workshops for Athena Swan applications
• Talks/Q&As focusing on carers, pay gaps, and more
• Classes, including self-defence skills

We also welcome/encourage you to organise an event focusing on gender equality as part of the programme 

 Please feel free to contact Sandip Samra on MS Teams or email (s.samra@exeter.ac.uk) if you have any thoughts/questions/ideas.

Are you a postgraduate hoping to work as a teaching associate (PTA)?

Registration for the Summer 2025 online LTHE Programme is now open. The programme is designed to meet the specific needs of educators who are either new to teaching altogether or are new to teaching in Higher Education. The programme introduces some of the core concepts and techniques of teaching in HE and aims to give an understanding of how to provide an active, stimulating student-centred learning experience.

LTHE Stage 1 (Unit 1) is mandatory if you intend to apply for Postgraduate Teaching Associate (PTA) positions. Once complete you can then progress onto Stage 2 (Units 2-5) which is necessary if you are going to be planning your own sessions and/or supporting assessment, marking and any feedback activity in your role.

The tutor recruitment cycle for 2025/2026 for The Brilliant Club is now open! Working as a Brilliant Club tutor offers PhD researchers and graduates a meaningful, paid, community engagement opportunity to support local pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds
The key deadlines for applications for 2025/2026 are:
• Autumn: Sunday 4 May, Sunday 15 June, Sunday 27 July
• Spring: Sunday 14 September, Sunday 5 October
• Summer: Sunday 23 November, Sunday 14 December 

Please submit any enquiries to the Brilliant Club via their webpage.
 

Join fellow PGRs in this online space, led by PGRs for PGRs to focus individually on whatever tasks you would like to work on. You can join the PGR Study Space Microsoft Teams Group here, or for further information, please contact Jo Sutherst.

The PGR Study Space core facilitated hours are:

Monday 10:00am-12:00pm
Wednesday 10:00am-12:00pm
Friday 10:00am-12:00pm

There are unfacilitated sessions outside of these hours so you can fit it around your working patterns.

During a successful first term, our staff choir has evolved and now enjoys singing a range of both classical and contemporary songs, with only the occasional sea shanty 😉 Do consider dropping in for a mid-week singalong and enjoy the mood-boosting effects of group singing while having fun, all under the expert guidance of local artist and musician, Charlotte Cripwell.

Every Wednesday, 13.00 – 14.00, Stella Turk Seminar room, Penryn Campus.

Brought to you by the Cornwall Wellbeing Network- enquiries to Natasha Hammond or Andrew Pye.

The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey 2025 (PRES) at University of Exeter closes on Monday 28 April 2025- don't miss your chance to feed back.

 

Why should I complete PRES?

• The survey is your chance to tell us about your experience as a postgraduate research student.
• Feedback is vital to the university and your department. It lets us know how your Programme of research is going and allows us to compare how we are doing against the experience of students at other institutions, helping us make changes that will improve the experience for research postgraduates in the future.
• All your responses will be confidential and any reporting will be anonymous.
• For each survey completion, we shall donate £1 to a charity to your chosen charity from Surfers Against Sewage, Food Action Exeter or Royal Devon Hospitals Charity

Email reminders will stop when you complete the survey.

 

How do I complete the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey?

Search your inbox for 'PRES' to find your unique URL to complete the survey.

If you have any queries, please contact doctoral.college@exeter.ac.uk.

1-2-1 careers appointments with our dedicated PGR careers coach, Kenneth Howgill, are available to book on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Kenneth is a qualified and experienced career coach, lecturer and learning and development professional with over 20 years’ experience within the corporate sector, universities, further and adult education. He has held management roles in the public, corporate and not for profit sectors, leading professional development, coaching programmes, and recruiting graduates. Kenneth is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is a member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council and holds a business degree, a master's in music and a professional career coaching qualification.

All appointments are 50 minutes long. Please contact researcherdevelopment@exeter.ac.uk if there are any technical difficulties.

Every Mind Matters
Having good mental health helps us relax more, achieve more and enjoy our lives more. The NHS have expert advice and practical tips to help you look after your mental health and wellbeing. See their website here.

 

Spectrum.Life
Sprectrum.Life provides a confidential telephone, video, and live chat counselling service to help with stress, anxiety, depression, relationship issues, bereavement and more. The Spectrum Life web portal offers wellbeing courses, mindfulness, healthy eating resources and online fitness classes to help you to stay well.

Wellbeing Centre
If you would like to speak to PGR Education Welfare Team for Welfare, they can be contacted at welfare.pgr@exeter.ac.uk or tel: 01392 726207. Further wellbeing information, tools and support can be found on our wellbeing webpages.

The Nurture-U team are offering FREE resources and therapies to help with confidence and stress while doing your PhD.
We have:
1. An online toolkit, to help you track your mood over time and manage your busy lives
2. An innovative app to build confidence,
3. Online therapy, with a therapist or self-guided, and
4. A resilience workbook, with support from a therapist.
All these options have been proven to work, we’re just researching who responds best to what type of support. You can hopefully improve your wellbeing, earn shopping vouchers, and help other students in the future by contributing to research!

Any questions, please email nurture-u@exeter.ac.uk. You can also follow us on Instagram.

Mindfulness is a powerful practice of training our attention and an evidence-based way to tackle anxiety, stress and low mood. If you’re interested in exploring more, there is a variety of free internal options available for all colleagues.

Sessions from the internal Mood Disorders Centre mindfulness team include: an eight-week MBCT-L course (2hrs weekly), an eight-week ‘deeper mindfulness’ course for those who’ve completed the MBCT-L course and bespoke ‘healthy mind’ sessions for whole teams, which can be delivered in-person or online.

You may also be interested in trying mindful meditation in 30 min online sessions each Thursday lunchtime. This is a secular practice run by the Chaplaincy.

Details on how you can contact the PGR support team, either via email, telephone or face to face via our hubs (located on all campuses) is available on our contact us webpage.

Remember you can come along and meet the team or to ask any enquiries you might have at either of our helpdesk hubs below at any of our campuses:

The Streatham PGR Hub is open from 10.00am – 3.00pm Monday to Friday. The Streatham Hub is situated in the Old Library Ground Floor next to the Quiet Study Space and Bill Douglas Centre.

The St Luke’s PGR Hub is open from 10.00am – 3.00pm on a Monday and a Thursday. Students wishing to access the hub should go to the Info at St Luke’s desk and request PGR support, the PGR team will then be called to see you.

The Penryn PGR Support Office is open from 10.00am – 2.00pm Monday to Friday. It is based in the Postgraduate Suite in Daphne Du Maurier building 3 (next to the SU and opposite the Stannary).

For enquiries surrounding training and development, please contact the team on: ResearcherDevelopment@exeter.ac.uk

You can view previous versions of the newsletter here.