Welcome to this fortnight's issue of the Doctoral College Newsletter.

In the following sections you will find:

• PGR Study Space: Update to Core Hours
• Representation Open Days from Exeter Students' Guild
• Apply to be the PGR representative on the Steering Group for Impact Community of Practice
• Spotlight on...
• New Episode: Exeter Postgraduate Researcher Podcast
• Adding your Dietary & Accessibility information to iTrent
• Paid Invigilation Opportunity with Exams Team
• Open for Applications: Exeter Education Incubator Student-Led Anti-racism and Gender Safe Grants 23-24
• Training and Development
• 1-2-1 Careers Appointments
• Wellbeing Support and Sessions
• Enquiries

If you have a news story or an opportunity you would like to advertise in the next newsletter (11 December), please email ResearcherDevelopment@exeter.ac.uk by Wednesday 6 December. Please note that the 11 December edition will be the last edition of 2023.

Please refer to our style guide before submitting your item.

The PGR Study Space core facilitated hours are now:

• Tuesday 10:00am-12:00pm
• Wednesday 10:00-12:00am; 14:00-16:00pm
• Thursday 14:00-16:00pm

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.

Find out more about how the Exeter Students’ Guild represents you.

Applications are now open for PGR Academic Reps for 2024. We’re looking for at least one PGR student per department to join the Guild rep team and ensure the voices of your research group are listened to. You can apply to become a rep on the Guild website.

If you have any questions about academic representation, or would like to find out more about the role from current PGR student representatives before you sign up, come along to our information sessions this week:
• HASS PGR Representation Open Day - Tuesday 28 November, 15:00-16:00, Forum Seminar Room 4 or join online
• ESE PGR Representation Open Day - Thursday 30 November, 15:00-16:00, Building:One Constantine Leventis Room or join online
• HLS PGR Representation Open Day - Friday 1 December, 11:00-12:00, South Cloisters 2.13 (St Luke's) or join online

The University is supporting the creation of an Impact Community of Practice (ICoP) to strengthen and further develop its impact culture. The ICoP will create learning opportunities and spaces for researchers, encourage peer-to-peer support and more generally increase impact literacy across the university (with support from the Research Services' Impact Team).

To guide the Community of Practice, we are looking to appoint a Steering Group and are inviting applications from across all departments and career stages. We are looking for a variety of strengths & experience and are keen to hear from PGRs with an interest in representing their peers as part of the steering group.

If you are excited about the prospect of being a driving force for impact within the University and believe that your unique perspective can contribute to our mission we encourage you to apply.

Please submit your application by Friday 12 January 2024 by completing this form. If you would like to be kept updated about future ICoP activities, join the mailing list via this form.

PGR Coffee, Cake and Conversation, which takes place in-person on a monthly basis, provides an opportunity to meet fellow PhD students in person and share coffee, cake and conversation. The theme of our upcoming sessions will be about your professional development and using the Researcher Development Framework.

We have different dates for Penryn and Streatham- please check you are booking onto the correct date:

• Tuesday 28 November, 11.30am-13pm, Daphne Du Maurier Masters Suite 1+2, Penryn Campus
• Tuesday 12 December, 09.45am-11.15am, Forum Seminar Room 3, Streatham Campus

As there are limited spaces, if you have signed up and are no longer able to attend please cancel your place via iTrent. You must inform us of any dietary requirements for the Streatham session, before Friday 8th December.

Check out the latest episode from Exeter Postgraduate Researcher Podcast, in which Dr Gavin Buckingham (Associate Professor in Public Health and Sport Sciences) talks to Dr Chris Tibbs, Research Data Officer at University of Exeter about the different types of research data he works with and best practices for managing research data during your project.

This podcast covers the skills and knowledge needed for postgraduate researchers' professional development. It can be listened to online via Podbean, via Spotify, Amazon Music, or on our webpage.

If you have ideas for future topics you would like us to cover, please get in touch via researcherdevelopment@exeter.ac.uk.

If you have any specific access or dietary requirements, please ensure you record these in your profile on PGR iTrent. Instructions on how to do this can be found in the PGR iTrent help guide.

The exams team are looking for PGR students who wish to be invigilators and/or Reader Scribes for students during the up-coming January exam period. This role is paid at £14.77 per hour for invigilation and £15.61 for Reader/Scribes, if you are interested in this role please contact examsadmin@exeter.ac.uk for more information. Please note this post is only suitable for PGR students.

The Education Incubator in collaboration with the Wellbeing Inclusion and Culture Committee currently have grants available to support students at the University of Exeter who want to deliver student-led projects that focus on either:
• anti-racism and inclusivity or,
• gender safety.

The Exeter Education Incubator is looking for small teams of students who want to work on projects that make the student journey and the University of Exeter anti-racist and gender safe.  You will be able to apply for a grant up to £5000 to deliver a project from January 2024 – 30th June 2024. 

To support you in your application the team will run two 'drop-in' sessions scheduled for:
• 2.30pm - 4.30pm on Wednesday 29th November 2023,
• 2.30pm - 4.30pm on Monday 4th December 2023.

If you are interested in applying, please read all information regarding selection criteria, access to application support and the application form via our webpage: Student-led Project Grants or email the team educationincubator@exeter.ac.uk.

Here are some of the courses coming up in the next few weeks (if you are working off-campus, you will need to log into the University VPN to access these links):

• Working less, accomplishing more: Alternative practices for getting work done (Tuesday 28 November, 10am-11.30am via Microsoft Teams)
• PGR Coffee, Cake and Conversation (Tuesday 28 November, 11am-13pm in Daphne Du Maurier Masters Suite 1+2, Penryn Campus)
• Maintaining momentum and focus after your upgrade (Monday 4 December, 10am-11.30am via Microsoft Teams)
• Preparing for your viva (Tuesday 5 December, 10am-11.30am via Microsoft Teams)
• Applying for non-academic jobs (Thursday 7 December, 13:00-14:30 via Microsoft Teams)
• PGR Coffee, Cake and Conversation (Tuesday 12 December, 09.45am-11.30am in Forum Seminar Room 3, Streatham Campus)

Check out our full list of upcoming courses here.

We use PGR iTrent as our booking system for training. Please note that PGR iTrent is separate from staff iTrent; we advise bookmarking this page so that you know you are using the correct links.

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.

You will need to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to access iTrent if you are working off campus or not on the University network. You can access information about how to use VPN on the University’s webpages.

Wednesday 29 November: "Introduction to Bioimage Analysis in ImageJ" workshop at St Luke's

Are you using imaging in your scientific research? Would you like to do more with your images?
Join us for a hands-on workshop, and learn how to extract quantitative data from images. The workshop takes place on Wednesday 29 November, 2.13 South Cloisters, St Luke's Campus, 1-5pm
Places will be limited, so please sign up in advance by completing the following form. No image analysis experience required.
Computers will be provided, but there will also be space to accommodate laptops if you'd prefer to bring your own (if so, please download Fiji in advance).
ImageJ/Fiji is a freely available program for the analysis of scientific images. It is widely used, enormously versatile, extremely powerful, and a lot of fun!

Register by Tuesday 5 December: Introduction to Version Control and Git 2-Part Workshop (Tuesday 12 and 19 December, 1-4pm)

The Coding for Reproducible Research are running a 2-part workshop on Introduction to Version Control and Git (Part 1 on 12 December, 13-16pm; Part 2 on 19 December, 13pm-16pm). All sessions will take place in Old Library Training Room 4, Streatham, with some limited spaces to join virtually. Registration is on a first-come-first-serve basis and deadline is Tuesday 5 December. Register here.

NEW- Introduction to R 3-Part Workshop (Tuesday 9, 16 and 23 January, 10am-1pm)

The Coding for Reproducible Research are running a 3-part workshop on Introduction to R (Part 1 on 9 January, 10am-1pm; Part 2 on 16 January, 10am-1pm and Part 3 on 23 January, 10am-1pm). All sessions will take place in Old Library Training Room 4, Streatham, with some limited spaces to join virtually. Registration is on a first-come-first-serve basis. Please note that you must be able to attend all three parts. Register here.

NEW- Regression with R Workshop (Friday 26 January, 10am-1pm)

The Coding for Reproducible Research are running workshop on Regression with R on Friday 26 January, 10am-1pm. The session will take place in Old Library Training Room 4, Streatham, with some limited spaces to join virtually. Registration is on a first-come-first-serve basis. Register here.

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.

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.

Supporting Your Health & Wellbeing During the Current Events in Israel, Palestine and the Middle East 

We know how distressing the ongoing situation in Israel and Palestine is, and the particular impact this is having on those in our community with family, friends, loved ones and other connections in the region. Our thoughts remain with all who are affected.

Our focus has been on supporting those members of our community who have been most impacted, to ensure we can hear about their experiences and to let them know about the support that is available. 

Our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) Spectrum Life has established a dedicated contact number to support those directly or indirectly affected by the situation in Israel and Palestine. They can provide in-the-moment support to any colleagues and PGR students and their dependents over 18 years old. The team of counsellors are available to talk to confidentially 24/7 and can be accessed as often as you wish. You can also call for advice on supporting another team member or colleague. All calls are confidential. You can reach this dedicated line and speak to a counsellor by calling: 0800 6525008.

Free Mindfulness Sessions for Wellbeing

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.

Information about these sessions, how to sign up and their benefits can be found on our mindfulness webpage.

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, see here.