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University of Exeter
 

Doctoral College Newsletter 18 September 2023

Welcome to this fortnight's issue of the Doctoral College Newsletter. We would like to welcome our new PGRs and welcome back our returning PGRs.

In the following sections you will find:

  • PGR Induction Portal - find PGR resources and support here!
  • Training Needs Analysis (TNA) Update
  • Hello from your Students' Guild
  • New student-led communication forum for older mature students
  • PGR Study Space
  • New Creative Writing Group for PGRs and ECRs
  • Training and Development
  • 1-2-1 Careers Appointments
  • Opportunities
  • Wellbeing Support and Sessions
  • Enquiries

If you have a news story or an opportunity you would like to advertise in the next newsletter (2 October), please email ResearcherDevelopment@exeter.ac.uk by Wednesday 27 September.

Please refer to our style guide before submitting your item.

 

PGR Induction Portal - find PGR resources and support here!

The Doctoral College Online Induction Portal is an online portal which allows you to learn about the University, the Doctoral College and its teams, along with all the student support services and how to get started with your degree. In order to access the portal you will have needed to have registered as a student first.

We recommend that all new PGR students should work through the induction portal before attending the face to face or online induction.

You don't need to be new to us to use the portal. This site is for all PGRs. We hold lots of references to contacts, sources of supports, reminders of information touched on at your welcome induction that you may have forgotten about, videos by our PGR Support team and how you can get involved as a PGR to really enhance your PGR experience (and more!)! We recommend you give this webpage a bookmark in your web browser and get in touch with us at Doctoral.College@exeter.ac.uk if you have any questions.

 

Training Needs Analysis (TNA) Update

The Training Needs Analysis (TNA) process has been updated. With effect from today (Monday 18 September) your primary supervisor will be asked to add their comments to your responses.  When you submit your TNA form, it will be sent by email and via Teams to your Supervisor to add their comments. Once their comments have been added, your responses and their comments will be emailed back to you.  Please save and upload the email with your responses and your supervisor’s comments to your MyPGR.

 

Hello from your Students' Guild!

I’m Rhys, the Societies and Employability Officer at the Guild, and as a part of our community focus, I want to be one of the first to welcome you all to Exeter. We can’t wait to see you at Welcome 2023! By “you”, we mean all of you. This used to be called Freshers’ Week, but Welcome 2023 is reworked, reworded, and relaunched so that everyone – whatever stage in the academic journey you are on – can feel involved and welcomed. The name may have changed, but the fresh and fun vibes are here to stay, but this time, across six weeks of activities and events! It’s all designed to make sure that all of you, our members can get involved with wherever you want to be and are able to make the most of your time in Exeter. Welcome kicks off today (Monday 18 September)!


Our student-led societies are here to bring together students with similar interests as well as provide opportunities to try something new and different! This is just one of the ways you can get involved.


Part of our mission is to be community-focussed, and that means we want to be led by you, with you, and for you, so if there is anything that you can think up that would help you Love Exeter and squeeze every drop out of your student experience: we’ll help you find it at your Students’ Guild. If you want to get in touch about Societies, then you can email activities@exeterguild.com or contact me directly at rhys.wallis@exeterguild.com.

 

New student-led communication forum for older mature students

ARE YOU AGED 30 OR OVER?

This year, there will be a new pilot UniChat scheme, aiming to help older students feel more engaged and involved, and improve their experience of university life.  This is a student-led initiative, with support from the University and the Guild.  We are trialling an online discussion forum, hosted externally, to allow older students across the University to better find each other, to socialise and for mutual support.

If you are turning 30 or over this coming academic year, you can register to join this pilot scheme here.

 

PGR Study Space

PGR Study Space is an online workspace run by PGRs for PGRs. You can use these sessions for writing, reading, planning, corrections...anything you want to focus on!

PGR Study Space's usual core facilitated sessions are on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10am-12pm and 2-4pm. There are unfacilitated sessions outside of these hours.

Always keen to have new people join us – everyone is welcome!  

If you would like to join PGR Study Space, join the Teams group or email Jo Sutherst.

We are also looking for additional facilitators; if you are interested, please email Jo Sutherst.

 

New Creative Writing Group for PGRs and ECRs

We are launching a creative writing group for PGRs/ECRs at the University of Exeter. There will be opportunities to write creatively and to receive feedback on creative work. All skill levels welcome. Sessions will take place on Microsoft Teams on Wednesdays between 17:30-18:30, with the first session taking place on Wednesday 27 September.

Email Ellen Grace Lesser for more information and access to join the meeting.

 

Training and Development

Check out our upcoming courses here. We use iTrent as our booking system for training.

You can find presentation slides and recordings of some of our previous courses on ELE. Further resources are also available on researcher-development.co.uk.

 

1-2-1 career appointments available

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. You can book via MS Bookings; please contact researcherdevelopment@exeter.ac.uk if there are any technical difficulties.

 

Opportunities

Deadline Sunday 24 September: Call for abstracts from JPAG Pharmaceutical Analysis Research Awards & Careers Symposium

JPAG Pharmaceutical Analysis Research Awards & Careers Symposium, taking place on 21 November in London, is accepting abstracts; closing date for submission is Sunday 24 September.

The event is for all early career scientists. Keynote presentations will be given by both industry and academia and an RSC Careers Specialist.

It provides networking opportunities and the chance to showcase your work through oral or poster presentations which can be in any field associated with pharmaceutical or analytical measurement, for example, method development, novel use of techniques, materials science, forensics, etc.

Complimentary registration is offered to all early career researchers submitting an abstract. There will be a £1,000 first prize and £250 second prize for the best oral presentations as well as £200 first prize and two £100 runner-up prizes for the best posters.

Submit an abstract and register for the event here.

 

Deadline Thursday 12 October- Santander Universities Research Grants

Santander are providing the opportunity to win one of 50 research grants worth £1,000 each to staff at UK universities conducting any form of research and postgraduate students at any UK university, via their Santander Universities Research Grants initiative. The grant can be used to pay for any research-based expenses, for example, equipment, resources, travel and workshop or conference attendance but the choice is yours on how it could be best spent to support your research.

Applications are open until 12 October 2023. More information and the link to apply for the grants can be accessed here.

 

Friday 13 October: The British Library Doctoral Open Day: British and European Collections from Antiquity to 1600

The British Library is holding a Doctoral Open Day on Friday 13 October, onsite at St Pancras, London. Explore The British Library and its services, as well as their Western Heritage collections alongside our curators and reference specialists. This day will appeal to all researchers undertaking PhDs with a particular focus on History, Literature, History of Art and Religious Studies.

These days are aimed at first-year doctoral students, but those in other years who want to increase their knowledge of The British Library and its collections are also very welcome!

If you are not able to attend in person, by signing up you will gain access to a whole host of recorded and related materials. Book here.

 

Deadline Friday 20 October- Student Writing Competition

Are you a student who loves nature and writing? Why not enter the Sustainability Team’s nature writing competition on ‘Writing the Unseen'. Explore your emotional connection to a place, write about a secret location, an insect or plant that may go unnoticed, or the impact of climate change on the natural world.

Judge: Miriam Darlington has a PhD from Exeter in Eco-critical nature writing. She writes a Saturday Nature Notebook column for The Times and regularly for The Guardian and The Ecologist and is author of the Sunday Times bestselling books Owl Sense and Otter Country.

Prizes: 1st £50 Book token, 2nd £30, 3rd £15 and an opportunity to write a paid blog for Arts and Culture about writing the winning entry.

Max 500 words. Email sustainability@exeter.ac.uk by 20 October with Writing Comp in the subject line.

Report your entry to Green Rewards and gain Green Points.

 

Wellbeing Support and Sessions

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
Spectrum.Life provides a confidential telephone, video, and live chat counselling service to help with stress, anxiety, depression, relationship issues, bereavement and more.


Wellbeing Centre
If you would like to speak to 
Zoe Hughes, PGR Support Advisor for Welfare, Zoe 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.

 

Grief and Bereavement Group

If you’re looking for a supportive environment to talk through any form of grief, loss or bereavement, listen to others, share practical tips and join in with reflective activities, you are very welcome to join our Grief and Bereavement group, open to all colleagues and PGRs. All information can be found online. The next online session is Wednesday 27 September, 4-5pm. Email ColleagueWellbeing@exeter.ac.uk to join the calendar invitation list.

 

Free Mindfulness Sessions

Mindfulness is an evidence-based way to help with anxiety, stress and low mood.

Free mindfulness sessions are provided by an experienced clinical team at our own Mood Disorders Centre. To find out more, please visit our mindfulness webpage.

Our Buddhist Chaplain also offers free weekly, lunchtime mindful meditation sessions. Please see the group page for details and email StaffLife@exeter.ac.uk to join the mailing list. The next session will be on Thursday 28 September, 12:00-12.30pm via Zoom.

 

Enquiries

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 Monday to 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 and 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.

To view previous versions of the newsletter, you can do so here.

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