Welcome to this edition of Postgraduate Researcher Training and Development Bulletin. The bulletin is your go-to place for training and development courses and resources offered by the Researcher Development and Research Culture team, across the University and beyond.

Would you like to know the habits that can greatly reduce the stress and increase the pleasure of postgraduate research? Join The seven secrets of highly successful research students on Wednesday 18 February. If you're studying a emotionally challenging topic (e.g. death, illness, war, crime, extreme poverty), attend Emotionally challenging research: impacts, coping and proactive interventions to support researchers on Wednesday 25 February to equip yourself with knowledge and tools essential for maintaining your emotional wellbeing when researching these emotionally challenging topics.

If you are unable to attend a course, you can find slides from many of our sessions on our PGR Training & Development Resources SharePoint site.

The full list of courses can be found on our upcoming training webpage.

The PGR Researcher Development & Research Culture team are excited to announce the launch of The Writing Brain, a one-stop website to help support your academic writing development. It contains a wealth of resources from the basics, through clarity and style to structure and includes mini video lectures and practical worksheets on a wide variety of topics.

A big thank you to Dr Emily Bernhard Jackson for curating all content and to Research England for funding this resource.

Our training sessions are not like traditional lectures- they are interactive sessions involving group work so that you can fully engage with the topic being discussed and can share ideas with your fellow PGRs in a friendly and supportive environment. In order to encourage an open welcoming space for everyone, we ask that you join online sessions in a room where you are able to turn your camera on and speak freely.

If you have any questions around accessibility, please contact researcherdevelopment@exeter.ac.uk to discuss how we can support your participation.

What to do when you are Writing up (Tuesday 24 February, 13.00-15.00 via MS Teams)

This workshop provides advice on the writing up process for your postgraduate research thesis, which takes place in the final year of your degree. It covers guidance on maintaining your progress and advice on overcoming writer's block, as well ideas on how to structure your thesis. It also highlights available resources for improving your academic writing.

Communicate smarter: using GenAI responsibly to elevate your writing (Wednesday 25 February, 10.00-11.30 via MS Teams)

Keen to understand how you can use GenAI to improve your academic writing while adhering to the University of Exeter AI guidelines? We've got you! Join us for this session where we will take you through helpful demonstrations and examples that are relevant for PGRs. This session is part of the Exploring Skills Kit brought to you by the Library, and is especially for PGRs.

Using online news for research (Thursday 26 February, 10.00-11.30 via MS Teams)

This course is to introduce attendees to online news sources, helping you to identify the value and challenges of online news as research sources and search tips and techniques to effectively search for online news titles and articles.

Copyright for Researchers (Thursday 5 March, 12.30-15.30 in person in Old Library Training Room 2)

This in-person session takes a playful approach to copyright training through the use of a card game. You will work as part of a team to think about and discuss a number of common copyright scenarios. Concepts covered will include copyright works, usages, licences, and legal exceptions. Please note this session is in-person only.

Searching Smarter- Advanced Search Techniques (Monday 16 March, 13.30-15.00 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.

Ethics & AI: What should we be aware of? (Wednesday 18 March, 13.30-15.00 via MS Teams)

Want to gain an understanding of some of the key ethical concerns surrounding AI usage? Join this workshop to learn more about issues such as bias, transparency, privacy, data protection, and sustainability. This session is especially for PGRs.

Writing conference abstracts (Tuesday 24 March, 10.00-11.30 via MS Teams)

Writing conference abstracts is 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.

Organising your references with End Note (Wednesday 25 March, 10.00-12.00, in person in Old Library Training Room 2, Streatham Campus)

Do you find organising all your references time consuming and difficult? This in-person session shows you how to use EndNote to store, organise, and format them for you. Please note this session is in-person only.

Using AI tools for more effective and dynamic presentations (Wednesday 25 March, 13.30-15.00 via MS Teams)

This course explores the use of AI-powered tools to create and practice engaging, professional, and dynamic presentations. You will learn how to leverage AI for content generation, visualization, and interactive elements to captivate audiences and communicate ideas more effectively.

Planning and preparing for fieldwork (Tuesday 31 March, 13.00-15.00 via MS Teams)

The overall aim of the workshop is to equip you with the essential knowledge and practical skills required to design, plan, and successfully complete your fieldwork project. This session will provide a comprehensive understanding of university policies and regulations, ethical considerations, and safety protocols concerning fieldwork. It will use case studies to assist with risk identification and assessment, and will provide a platform for you to discuss your individual projects.

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).

For other topic areas such as Conducting a Literature Review, Organising your References with End Note, Drafting Your Thesis and How to Thrive in Your Final Year, please see our PGR Training and Development Resources SharePoint and researcher-development.co.uk.

The seven secrets of highly successful research students (Wednesday 18 February, 09.30-12.00 via Zoom)

What can you do to finish your doctoral research on time, to overcome isolation, doubt and writer's block, and to enjoy the process? And just as importantly what do you do in order to spend guilt-free time with your family and friends and even have holidays? This workshop describes the key habits that will make a difference to how quickly and easily you complete your doctorate, with habits that can greatly reduce the stress and increase the pleasure involved in completing a doctorate.

Emotionally challenging research: impacts, coping and proactive interventions to support researchers (Wednesday 25 February, 09.30-13.00 via MS Teams)

Join Dr Sarah Warbis, co-founder of the Researcher Wellbeing Strategic Change Group, 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 Imposter Syndrome: why successful people often feel like frauds (Tuesday 10 March, 09.30-11.30 via Zoom)

The session will explain why high performing people often doubt their abilities and find it hard to enjoy their successes. It will also show the links to perfectionism and self-handicapping strategies such as procrastination, avoidance and over-commitment.

Applying for non-academic jobs (Tuesday 10 March, 10.00-11.30 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.

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.

For resources on Getting Stuff Done, Developing and Using your LinkedIn Profile, Managing Stress, The Seven Secrets of Successful Researchers and much more, see our PGR Training and Development Resources SharePoint and researcher-development.co.uk.

Writing your data management plan (Thursday 19 February, 13.30-15.00 via MS Teams)

All good data management strategies start by planning ahead, and as such, a Data Management Plan (DMP) is an integral component of any research project. They are also required by many funders. This webinar will provide you with an introduction to DMPs to ensure you have the knowledge and support to write your own DMP.

Sharing your research data (Wednesday 4 March, 13.30-15.00 via MS Teams)

Sharing research data is a critical part of the open data environment, and it has many benefits for both the researchers sharing the data and the wider research community. This webinar will introduce the open data environment and explain why you should be thinking about sharing your research data.

NEW- An introduction to research ethics review (Wednesday 11 March, 10.00-11.30 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.

Check out researcher-development.co.uk and PGR Training & Development Resources SharePoint site for other useful resources on this topic area.

Research governance and organisation covers areas such as Research Ethics and Health and Safety.

Working with your supervisors (PGR Perspective- panel discussion) (Wednesday 25 February, 13.00-14.30 via MS Teams)

Your supervisory team are the most significant people influencing the development of your research (apart from you!). So how can you get the most out of supervision? What can you expect during supervisory meetings? And what advice would your fellow PGRs offer to help you navigate this professional relationship? To find out, come and join this interactive and insightful panel session where a range of PGRs will share their own experiences and tips with you. 

Planning for Meaningful Public Engagement (Tuesday 24 March, 11.30-13.30 in person, in Peter Lanyon Seminar 7)

This interactive in-person workshop will guide participants through filling in a planning worksheet for public engagement. Participants will be expected to bring an idea to use as a basis for filling in their worksheet during the training. The worksheet will be used as a learning tool. Please note this session is in-person only.

Bored of working on your own? Finding it difficult to concentrate? Looking for other people to co-work with online? Then why not join PGR Study Space, which is a welcoming and supportive environment run by PGRs for PGRs. Join our MS Teams PGR Study Space channel or contact our PGR coordinator Ellie Helpworth at PGRStudySpace@exeter.ac.uk for more information.

For resources on Getting Published, Presentation Skills, Writing Conference Abstracts and more, see our PGR Training and Development Resources and researcher-development.co.uk.

We have developed some new training and resources to help you prepare for your fieldwork, which can be found at PGR Resources.

This includes a new 'one-stop' handbook that contains key information and advice, timelines and flowcharts, and new online and in-person training workshops. The resources cover everything from planning and selecting fieldsites at the start of your programme, to ethics and risk assessments, budgeting, packing and travel advice, to tips on lone working when you are in the field, and what to do when you get back to your desk at the end.

We hope that you will find these resources really useful, and that they will make preparing for your fieldwork (and trying to navigate all the related university websites) easier and more straightforward. Happy planning and safe travels!

The Insessional team run the Academic Literacy and English programme for all students studying at the University of Exeter who are speakers of languages other than English.

There are a variety of ways you can learn:

• Guided Independent Learning- an online resource for you to independely improve your language skills through self-study
• Attend in-person workshops
• Book a one-to-one session via MS Teams
• Join their Viva Engage community to ask questions, get advice, and find out what other students are asking about.

The Coding for Reproducible Research training initiative - which runs free-to-access programming training for Staff and Students - is pleased to release details of the courses planned for next term.

Places for each workshop series will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. To register, complete this booking form.

Please check the course description to make sure the course is suitable for your level of proficiency.

Introductory Courses: Provide an all-purpose introduction to both the specific software and computer programming in general.

• Introduction to Python -  St Luke's Campus (Thursday 19 & Thursday 26 March)
• Introduction to R - St Luke’s Campus (Thursday 5, Thursday 12 & Thursday 19 February)

Regression Analysis Courses: Regression analysis is a fundamental statistical technique used to model the relationship between multiple variables.

• Introduction to Regression Analysis with R - Online (Monday 16 March)

Please note that prior experience in using R is a pre-requisite for both courses and fitting/interpreting simple linear regression models is required for the intermediate course.

Additional Courses:

• Python for Data Analysis - Streatham Campus (Thursday 5 & Thursday 12 February)

This course focuses on essential libraries and tools used for data analysis such as NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib, and Plotly. It also covers critical software development practices such as testing, virtual environments, and version control, to provide code reproducibility and collaboration in research projects. Please note, this workshop is pitched at those confident with the material in our 'Introduction to Python' course and is not suitable for those new to Python.

• Introduction to Machine Learning - Online (Tuesday 10, Tuesday 17 & Tuesday 24 March)

This course introduces core machine learning concepts and explores the main stages of the machine learning pipeline. We will cover model selection, error, evaluation and validation, and attendees will be able to put these into practice using Python. Participants will also train basic linear models using Scikit-learn. Confidence with the content in our ‘Introduction to Python’ and ‘Python for Data Analysis’ courses is a pre-requisite for attendance.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with the Coding for Reproducible Research initiative via CodingForReproducibleResearch@exeter.ac.uk. Further information on our full range of courses, self-assessment quizzes, and self-study learning resources are available on the programme's website.

Did you know the Library runs its own training programme to help with library skills? It includes events such as:

• library research cafés where you can ask the library staff how to make the most of the Library Search service, identify and use academic databases, and build your online search skills so that you can quickly and easily find research materials to support your studies and research;
• sessions on academic writing and academic listening from English Language Skills Development Team;
• other relevant courses to familiarise yourself with key library skills.

Some courses are discipline-specific or may be aimed at undergraduates/postgraduate-taught students so don't forget to check the details before booking on.

Any questions? Click the 'Ask Us' button on the library webpages to start an online chat or email them at library@exeter.ac.uk.

Our PGR Training & Development Resources SharePoint site was launched at the beginning of this year. It's the place to go for slides and other resources from courses on our training programme. Refresh your knowledge from courses you have already attended or explore new topics, this resource can be referred to throughout your degree.

Thinking about adding a creative element to your research work but not sure where to begin?

Developed by the University’s Arts and Culture team, the Get Creative toolkit offers practical, step-by-step guidance for planning and delivering successful projects with creative collaborators. It combines an interactive online guide with reflective prompts, a downloadable Planning Canvas to take ideas from concept to proposal, and detailed how-to advice on running exhibitions, workshops, performances, and other activities. You’ll also find tips on engagement, communications, finance, evaluation, and commissioning creatives.

The toolkit is a flexible resource to help you explore new approaches and make your projects more engaging, innovative, and impactful. Links below:

• https://www.artsandcultureexeter.co.uk/resources/get-creative
• https://www.artsandcultureexeter.co.uk/resources/get-connected
• https://www.artsandcultureexeter.co.uk/resources/get-inspired
• https://www.artsandcultureexeter.co.uk/resources/get-involved
• https://www.artsandcultureexeter.co.uk/resources/get-learning

The Inclusive Research Hub is a living resource developed by the Inclusive Research Collective in collaboration with the People Development Team at the University of Bristol. It provides an accessible introduction to key concepts and practices in inclusive research, with over 20 sections organised across six key stages of the research process. Topics include reflexivity, literature review, budgeting, pre-registration, open-source software, and inclusive communication—alongside a growing collection of case studies that exemplify these ideas in practice.

Why not check out some of the numerous training and development resources available through Vitae? 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.

Any form of recording whether via Teams or external tools like Fellow and other AI notetakers is NOT permitted. If you have any accessibility needs and do require a recording of the session, please contact Researcher Development in advance and we will arrange this with the trainer.

We appreciate that unexpected things come up and you may no longer be able to attend, or you may realise a course you have booked onto is no longer relevant to you. Please don't forget to cancel via iTrent so that someone else can book on, as our courses have limited spaces.