Personal and professional development

Research Student Log

The Research Student Log is UCL’s online project management and development tool specifically designed for our research students.

The Log provides a framework for students to reflect on and record their progress and development, both personal and professional, throughout their research project. The Research Log includes more review points at the beginning of your journey to ensure you are on track, and then has 6-monthly check-ins thereafter. It also helps you time and plan your two research milestones: the upgrade and the thesis submission. You can also capture your supervision meetings and other important dates and documents here if you choose – this can be useful to ensure that the requirement of at least one formal supervision meeting per month is being met (by both the student and the supervisory team).

At each of these points, you will use the Log to record:

1. Progress since your last review
   You and your supervisory team will review the progress against the objectives you set at your last review point. Have these been achieved? Was it necessary to change any and if so how? Do any of your objectives have to be continued into the next period?
2. Objectives for the next period
   You and your supervisors will agree and record objectives for the coming period. Research is uncertain so it may be necessary to modify objectives as you proceed, but it is important nonetheless to have a plan that everyone is clear about.
3. Skills required to complete objectives
   The skills you need will change over time. This section allows you to actively consider the skills you do not currently possess and those you need to further develop as you move through your programme.
4. Personal training and development planning
   This section helps in identifying areas in which you need to develop. The Log provides a facility for students, together with their supervisors, to devise a training and development plan against the Researcher Development Framework (RDF). The RDF helps researchers identify the knowledge, behaviours and attributes of successful researchers, allowing them to plan their development activities in order to suit their individual needs. You will be asked to reflect upon and assess your skill levels across a range of areas throughout your research.

This self-assessment will help you to identify courses and development opportunities which will assist with your current project and future plans and careers, both within and outside academia.

The Log also provides a record of the skills courses and development opportunities that you have undertaken either via the Doctoral Skills programme (which are recorded automatically) or other training which can be recorded manually.

Increasingly, employers both within and outside the academic sector are expecting and asking for evidence of development at sophisticated levels from their recruits. The Log will provide this evidence and forms an important part of your portfolio as a professional researcher, in addition to the significant contribution to knowledge in the shape of your thesis and the evidence that it provides of your skills.

Research Integrity training is mandatory for all research students. This training can be achieved through either a local course offered by your department or the ethics/ integrity courses run centrally via the Doctoral Skills programme.

How to use the Research Log

Use of the Log is mandatory for all MPhil/ PhD, Professional Doctorates, EngD and MRes programmes. It is intended to be used in a flexible manner to allow for different research processes between different disciplines. It is the responsibility of the students to maintain their Logs for their own long-term benefit. The Departmental Graduate Tutor will confirm that the UCL Log has been satisfactorily completed at the upgrade and thesis submission milestones. Further training is offered at 3 times during the year on how to use and get the most of your Research Log.There is an online quick guide to help you get started.

Doctoral Skills Development Programme (UCL DocSkills)

At UCL, training and development opportunities are freely available to all postgraduate research students via the Doctoral Skills Development Programme (UCL DocSkills). The programme covers bespoke sessions for research students and courses attended by both research students and staff, with the aim to expand skills, experience and knowledge sharing among the UCL research community.

Adapting to change

The UCL DocSkills programme is now delivered in a combination of synchronous (live training) or asynchronous (self-paced sessions) formats. These courses have also been designed to offer bite-size modular learning based on online teaching pedagogy. Training sessions are mainly delivered by subject experts within the UCL community, complemented by input from industry employers and external consultants. Based on the positive feedback received from the research community, the UCL DocSkills programme will continue to be delivered online throughout the 2023-24 academic year, with a selection of interactive face-to-face courses available on campus.

Please find a list of available courses on the DocSkills website, bookable via Inkpath.

Navigating the programme

Course offerings within the UCL DocSkills programme are grouped into 12 key skills areas (Please refer to the course catalogue for more details).

These skills areas are categorised based on the Researcher Development Framework (RDF), a national framework which sets out the expectations of knowledge, behaviour and attributes of successful researchers.

Training requirements

Research students funded by UK Research and Innovation(UKRI) are required to complete skills development training equivalent to two weeks per year during the full course of their studentship.

UCL DocSkills courses are assigned with training points: a half day training is worth one training point, therefore two weeks (ten working days) of skills training roughly translate to twenty training points per year. Research students are expected to document their training points on the Research Student Log, those who fail to fulfil the training points requirement may be denied the upgrade presentations. Research students should discuss their training needs with supervisors and Departmental Graduate Tutors.

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Opportunities For International Research

Research is global – international journals and conferences are key for effective knowledge transfer and for career progression. It is important that you gain experience and confidence in communicating and defending your work nationally and internationally. Meeting people and building international networks will help in your future career.

This is, of course, all part of the excitement of research. At UCL there are a number of opportunities for students to develop their research internationally. This includes support for attendance at conferences, as well as opportunities to study/research abroad, allowing you to spend time at a laboratory, archive or site off campus. While funding is always an issue, there are sources available within UCL and outside, which could help you develop an aspect of your research at another location.You could really gain a stimulating new outlook on your research and the world of research in another culture.

You should enquire with your local administrators or supervisors as to what conference funds are available to you. Some examples are:

• Bartlett Student Conference Fund
• SLMS Graduate Conference Fund: for all research students who are in a department within SLMS
• History Research Funds
• IoE – Centre for Doctoral Education Conference Grants

UCL’s Global Engagement Office can offer advice on region/ country-specific concerns regarding international study visits.

Bogue Fellowships

Generous fellowships to support postgraduate research students and post-doctoral researchers working in the Life and Biomedical Sciences to visit North America.

Yale UCL Collaborative Student Exchange Programme

Yale and UCL have entered into a unique partnership called the Yale UCL Collaborative.

This is an exchange scheme for doctoral students giving you the chance to apply for the opportunity to have a period of research study at Yale under the supervision of an identified Yale Supervisor.

Places are limited and offered on a competitive basis: as ambassadors for UCL, exchange participants will be expected to make the most of their time at Yale by engaging as fully as possible with Yale’s research community. Exchanges will normally be for a period of three months,and it is hoped that the experience will allow UCL’s doctoral students to forge enduring links between the two institutions and within their research areas.

Here is what a couple of our previous exchange participants have said:

“I am extremely grateful for the help of UCL in making the most of an opportunity to study at Yale for a term and I cannot recommend it highly enough to anybody else who might be interested.”

“Everybody at Yale was very friendly and helpful and they provided the perfect environment for me to do some excellent work.”

“My exchange at Yale University was a great experience I would not have wanted to miss. I gained new knowledge, was able to be a part of another academic environment, meet new people and get new ideas for my project and my future career. I am very thankful that I have been given this opportunity.”

UCL Innovation & Enterprise: Entrepreneurship

Some of the most innovative and transformative ideas from UCL come from our community of doctoral students and research postgraduates.

UCL Innovation & Enterprise offers you the opportunity to develop your entrepreneurial skills and mindset to elevate your future career.

We live in a worldfull of scientific, societal and technological challenges. Solving them requires researchers at all levels to explore the potential of their ideas. That’s why UCL Innovation & Enterprise offers an extensive range of extracurricular programmes to assist you at every stage of your entrepreneurial journey.

We can help you:

• Identify the entrepreneurial skills you already possess and how they can boost the impact of your research.
• Gain a competitive edge for your career, whether you stay in academia, move into industry or establish your own business.
• Create your own business or social enterprise with support from a specialised team of Entrepreneurship Advisors.
• Meet like-minded entrepreneurial doctoral students within the UCL community, London ecosystem and national network.

The SPERO programme is an entrepreneurship training course dedicated to the needs of UCL doctoral students. It has multiple entry levels catering for everyone from complete business beginners to expert entrepreneurs.

Find out more at ucl.ac.uk/enterprise Follow us on twitter:@UCLEnterprise Likeus on Facebook: @UCLEnterprise

Connect with us on LinkedIn: UCL Innovation & Enterprise

Doctoral Entrepreneurs

UCL Innovation & Enterprise has helped many UCL doctoral students with their entrepreneurial journey. From simply igniting a curiosity in entrepreneurship, to supporting a non-profit organisation that promotes social mobility to providing business advice for a now highly successful commercial venture.

Isobel Pagendam (PhD, Department of Geography) was intrigued by an email she received about the SPERO programme designed to develop PhD students entrepreneurial knowledge, skills and mindset. She had never considered herself to be an entrepreneur before, but the thought of developing real-world transferable skills appealed. Isobel discovered a new affinity for entrepreneurship and went on to intern for the London Mayor’s Entrepreneur competition.She is excited to see how she can combine her research and entrepreneurial flair in her future.

While studying for her PhD in Neuroscience, Rebecca McKelvey had an idea to combine her prior experience as a secondary school science teacher, and her role as a research scientist, to give young people from low income backgrounds opportunities in STEM subjects. With guidance from UCL Innovation& Enterprise, Rebecca founded the non-profit organisation in2scienceUK, that has provided work-experience for 1000sof students from under-represented backgrounds.

Leo Wossnig (PhD, Department of Computer Science) cofounded startup Rahko, a quantum machine learning company that speeds up the drug discovery process. Rahko utilises the expertise of researchers in quantum machine learning and computational chemistry. They have successfully raised over £1.3million from leading venture firms.

“From simply igniting a curiosity in entrepreneurship, to supporting a non-profit organisation that promotes social mobility to providing business advice for a now highly successful commercial venture.”

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Postgraduate Teaching Assistant (PGTA) Scheme and UCL Arena

You may be asked by your department to contribute to undergraduate or Master’s level teaching and learning support as a Postgraduate Teaching Assistant (PGTA).The tasks you will be asked to undertake vary between department and discipline, but typically can include demonstrating in laboratory classes, leading tutorial groups and marking essays. This can be a very valuable experience: it can contribute to your intellectual and professional development, and it can also provide an additional source of income to help supportyour studies. The skills you acquire from teaching, demonstrating and facilitating can readily be applied to future careers in many fields, including academia, education, industrial research, or management.

As researchers who support teaching and learning, PGTAs can make a unique contribution to UCL’s mission to develop excellence in research-based education.

Your department will provide guidance on what is expected from you as a PGTA, with clear workload allocation to ensure you are not overloaded. UCL follows a comprehensive PGTA Code of Practice for the recruitment, employment, management and payment of postgraduates who support teaching and learning as Teaching Assistants. It is important that your PGTA duties (including teaching and learning support, preparation and training) do not compromise the time you can commit to your core research activities.

All PGTAs at UCL undertake appropriate development activities to support their teaching practice. In addition to departmental guidance, UCL’s Arena Centre for Research-based Education offers a scheme for the training and development of PGTAs, called  UCL Arena for PGTAs.

This training begins with an introductory Gateway Workshop, which is designed to prepare you for your PGTA responsibilities, introduce you to methods in and approaches to teaching and learning, and provide an opportunity to meet Arena Centre staff and fellow PGTAs as you enter the postgraduate teaching assistant community at UCL. Attendance at this session is required for all postgraduates with responsibility for any teaching and learning support (including assessment) at UCL. If you have already attended a similar introductory training, please contact us at arena@ucl.ac.uk to find out whether you still need to attend a Gateway Workshop.

PGTAs also have the option of attending an extended course, the UCL Arena Teaching Associate Programme (TAP). This course is highly interactive and participants have the opportunity to tailor the content to their needs and teaching contexts, and to work towards a nationally recognised teaching award: an Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.

PGTAs with a substantive teaching role are strongly encouraged to attend TAP.

Further information can be found on the UCL Arena website for PGTAs and through the Doctoral Skills Development Programme.

Here is what previous TAP participants have said about the course:

“It has been nice to see I am not the only one with certain worries when teaching, like not knowing the answer to some questions or giving proper feedback to the student.”

“It was insightful to hear about different styles of teaching and has challenged me to think about my own future teaching.”

“It has helped me to reflect about the teaching I have done so far but mostly I feel more confident in planning and assessing future teaching.”

UCL Careers – Find Your Future

Developing as a skilled researcher involves the ability to manage your own professional and career development. At the UCL Careers Researcher Programme, we can help you explore your options and plan your next steps, whether they’ll be within or beyond academia. Our support – detailed below – can be accessed via our researcher-dedicated web pages.

One-to-one careers support

We offer one-to-one appointments with specialist researcher careers experts. In these appointments you can discuss anything career-related, including exploring career options (within academia or beyond), career progression, and getting feedback on CVs and applications.

Book appointments via myUCLCareers portal.

If you have been invited for a job interview, no matter what the role, you can book a mock interview to practise for the real thing.

Employer forums, Skills sessions and Conference

Our employer forums are an opportunity for you to hear from PhD-level alumni working in a wide range of roles outside academia. Speakers talk about their role, organisation, and career path, and they offer advice, before it is over to you to ask your questions. Employer skills sessions offer insights into crucial transferrable skills and practical tips on their application in the workplace.

Our annual Researchers Professional Careers Beyond Academia Conference offers an insight into a broad range of roles in Life and Health Sciences and its closely related sectors through panel discussions and networking opportunities.

Book events via myUCLCareers or the Calendar of Events.

Careers workshops for researchers

Our specialist researcher careers consultants run a series of workshops covering careers within academia and beyond. The workshops are repeated throughout the year and cover topics such as academic career planning, academic CVs and interview skills, identifying strengths, interests and values, CVs, cover letters and interviews for careers outside academia, and improving your social networking profile.

Book workshops via myUCLCareers or the Calendar of Events.

Internships and other opportunities

We search for advertised researcher-relevant positions and we also actively source a range of vacancies and internships from employers looking for PhD-level skills and experience. See our Vacancies board on myUCLCareers and sign up to receive daily/weekly alerts.

For more information and further resources (including interviews with past PhD grads who tell us about their new roles and career paths), visit our website and keep an eye out on the UCL Doc Skills newsletter for the upcoming events and latest researcher opportunities.

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