The Doctoral College Newsletter provides you with fortnightly updates for events, opportunities and news specifically relevant to postgraduate researchers.

Here are just some of the highlights this week:

• Read the new guidance on the use of AI for PGR research in our News section
• A great paid opportunity as an exam reader/scribe- full details in our Opportunities section
• There's plenty going on at Penryn Campus- head to the Community section to find out more

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

News

Events

Opportunities

External Events

Reminders

Community

Careers Support

Wellbeing Support and Sessions

Enquiries

The next newsletter will go out on Tuesday 25 November 2025. Please submit copy for the next newsletter by Wednesday 19 November 2025.

You can also share your news and events on PGR Community Hub on Viva Engage, or on our new Bluesky account.

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 Doctoral College has developed new guidance on the use of AI for PGR research, which will help PGRs, supervisors and examiners to understand how AI can be safely, effectively and ethically used in your Postgraduate research.

You may use AI in your research, but the use of AI must be declared and documented. You are asked to document your use of AI so your examiners can clearly see how it has been used, and to help you remember how you have used it so you can discuss if required in your examinations. The documentation should be brief, just outline how, where and why AI has been used. If you have been using AI in your research already, just document any main uses so far and keep a record going forward.

If you have any feedback, please share this with dcqualitydevelopment@exeter.ac.uk.

PGR Matilda Nightingale talks to PGR Tasha Hammond (Founder of Postgraduate Peer Group and Co-Chair and Events Officer (Cornwall) for Exeter Wellbeing Network) about the importance of building a PGR community to help the wellbeing of PGRs and how you can get involved.

❗Trigger warning: This episode contains discussions around mental health and mention of suicidal thoughts

Exeter Postgraduate Researcher Podcast is a PGR podcast, by PGRs for PGRs, and this series is a mix of personal experience and practical advice. All our presenters are current PGRs and their guests are a mix of current PGRs, Exeter staff and Exeter alumni, delving into the subjects that interest you- from sharing perspectives as mature students to a panel discussion with alumni working in industry and academia

Follow us on Spotify, Amazon Music, Podbean and Apple Podcasts for the latest updates; you'll also be able to access the episodes on our Essentials webpage.

There's lots to catch up with in our Doctoral College Blog, from building community to PGR life. We have recently published a three-part series of blog posts: Q and As in which Health and Life Sciences PGRs Hayley Redman, Keira Evans and Amy Chinner explore the upgrade process. The first post covers the preparation stage; the second discusses the authors' experiences of their upgrade viva and the final part includes tips and advice for moving on post-upgrade viva.

We always welcome new contributions, whether you'd like to offer tips and advice, discuss your personal PhD journey or share your research area with a non-specialist audience. Our team can offer guidance and look over drafts. Email researcherdevelopment@exeter.ac.uk if you'd like to get involved.

Local humanists are taking part in a university event for Interfaith week on Tuesday 11 November, 14.00-15.00, at the Multifaith Centre near the Forum on Streatham campus. Come and meet several humanist volunteers to find out more about their non-religious practice as a humanist chaplain, hospital or prison visitor, school speaker, wedding and funeral celebrant, or member of the Exeter branch of Humanists UK.

The event is hosted by Dr Jacqueline Watson, University of Exeter Humanist Chaplain (pictured on the right).

All are welcome. The event is a drop-in session, free of charge.

The exams team are looking for some PGR students who wish to be considered for Readers and/or Scribes for students during the up-coming January exam period. This role is paid at £15.81 per hour. 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.

You were once in the shoes of a prospective research student considering Exeter. We’d love to hear about your experience using our Postgraduate Research (PGR) website to help make your decision.

Your feedback will help us make the site more useful, informative, and user-friendly for future applicants. If you can spare just a few minutes, please complete our short survey.

Thank you for helping us shape a better digital experience!

Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM), in collaboration with the Exeter Centre for Circular Economy, is hosting Hack the Loop: solving Fast Fashion with Circular Innovation- a fantastic online hackathon for undergraduates, postgraduates, and early career researchers on Tuesday 11 November, 14.30- 16.30 via Zoom.

The challenge is to develop an innovative solution that significantly reduces textile waste and promotes a circular economy within the fast fashion space.

Join this free online workshop and in-person networking event from Developing Business-Aware Academics to unlock the potential of your research in industry settings—no prior experience needed.

Online Workshop: Communicating Research Beyond Academia
(Wednesday 26 November, 10.00–11.30)
Engage in practical activities to tailor your research messages for non-academic audiences. Optional 1:1 coaching available.

 

In-Person Networking: Introduction to Industry & Babcock Challenge (Monday 8 December, 10.00–13.00 (includes lunch) in Exeter)

Explore Babcock’s innovation culture and join roundtable discussions on real-world marine engineering challenges such as:

- gently removing marine creatures from dock foundations in an environmentally friendly way
- developing tiny drones with HD cameras
- new ways to scan ships in murky waters
- unblocking submarine toilets!

 

Participation involves consent and short evaluations. Participation in both events is free and travel costs to Exeter for the challenge event will be covered (in-line with the University of Exeter’s Travel Policy).

Deadline for registration: Friday 21 November

Are you keen to meet more PGRs in person, whilst also learning key skills to help you in your research journey? Book onto our brand new course, Insights from the Dean, where Professor Stacey Hynd (Dean of Postgraduate Research and Doctoral College) will share advice on what to expect in the first year of your postgraduate research degree. This in-person event is happening at Streatham Campus in Old Library 136 on Tuesday 11 November, 13.30-15.30, with separate St Luke's and Penryn events in 2026. You can ask questions on any topic and all year groups are welcome.

The Sustainable Labs team has developed a new Sustainable Labs Induction, now available via PowerApps. This training is part of our commitment to embedding sustainable practices across our laboratories and aligns with wider faculty and institutional sustainability goals.

They are asking all staff working in laboratories to complete this induction as part of their mandatory training. The induction includes interactive content, guidance on sustainable lab practices, and a short quiz. It takes around 20–30 minutes to complete, and users must score at least 75% to pass.

All PGRs are invited to some interactive workshops in coming weeks.  All your research interacts with our digital systems in some way, from the storage of data of all forms, to large-scale computation. The Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI) project team wants your help to co-design a modern and sustainable DRI. This will make our computational equipment, data storage, and support work better for you. Find out more online, come along to a workshop (register online) or give your views informally on the site.

A relaxed, informal singing group to promote positive wellbeing and a sense of community and connection across our lovely campus. No experience necessary! Open to all staff and postgraduate students from Exeter, Falmouth, FX Plus, the SU, and any other organisation that is based on Penryn campus. If you know someone who might like to join, please encourage them to fill out this interest form.

When: Monday and Friday lunchtimes (dates/times are listed in the sign-up form below)
Where: Multifaith chaplaincy near Tremough Barton farmhouse (start and end point)

Break up your day 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! Optional tea/coffee at the end of the session in 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 students from the University of Exeter, Falmouth University, FX Plus and the SU.

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

The PGR Community Hub is a collaborative online space for Postgraduate Researchers at the University of Exeter. Posts can be uploaded by PGRs, The Exeter Students' Guild or The Falmouth and Exeter Students' Union, alongside teams that support PGRs such as the Researcher Development and Research Culture Team. Please use this space to discuss ideas, share best practice, ask questions and keep up to date with the latest activities, events and opportunities. Here you can have your voice heard and shape our community and research culture.

Please do not use this channel to advertise/search for rooms to rent; the University has its own Viva Engage channel where you can do this.

The Exeter Wellbeing Network is a social group for staff and PGRs run by volunteers, hosting a variety of events to help colleagues based at Streatham, St. Luke's or online to connect with one another. Recurring events include StaffCraft, singing, Walk and Talk and Fika; find the full list on our webpage.

You can also contact us at wellbeing-network@exeter.ac.uk.

If you are looking for information about activities at Penryn, Falmouth and Truro, please visit the Cornwall Wellbeing Network 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.

The PGR Study Space facilitated hours are as and when facilitators are available.

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

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

There are a wide range of societies and/or groups that you may like to join, such as the Mature Students Society and the PG Society (Exeter).

Check out the Doctoral College Networks webpage for full information. Don't forget to also take a look at the societies on offer at Exeter Students' Guild and Falmouth and Exeter Students’ Union websites, which include a society for international students as well as various sports and interests.

Parent and Family Support (PAFs) is a community of university wide student parents that currently has 100 registered members from the University of Exeter, with individuals choosing to attend inclusive events that best fit their schedules and family responsibilities. The group has expanded to support a wider community, as well as ‘mature-mature’ students with or without children, and postdoctoral researchers, at the University of Exeter who were drawn to our inclusive community.

The University has some excellent resources to help with careers. Whether you plan to work in industry, set up your own business, join the third sector, stay in academia, or are not yet sure and want to explore your options, you can find guidance and helpful pointers using these resources:

• PGR Career Planning Guide - a dedicated website to support your career development. This resource provides in-depth information and practical guidance specifically tailored towards postgraduate researchers whether you are thinking about working in academia, industry, self-employment or research.
• Career Zone- much of the online content is open to all current Exeter students, including PGRs
• PGR Training & Development Resources SharePoint- contains presentation slides from past training sessions. For career skills, check out the Personal Effectiveness section
• PGR Training and Development Bulletin- find out what courses and opportunities are happening at the University in this monthly newsletter, which all PGRs are signed up to
• Upcoming training courses- our training programme is available to book now

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  (sign up using your University of Exeter email address).. 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 10.00 – 15.00 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 10.00 – 15.00 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 10.00 – 14.00 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.