The Postgraduate Researchers Toolkit

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The Postgraduate Researchers Toolkit

• Dr Sara Shinton
• Dr Keith Morgan
• www.shintonconsulting.com

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Our Background

• Researchers in Chemistry (PhD and postdoc)

• Curriculum Development (HWU Edinburgh)
• Careers Advice (Medical and Chemical Sciences)
• Consultancy (GRAD, Universities,
  Professional Bodies)

• Lecturer in Colour Chemistry (HWU Borders)
• Lecturer in Organic Chemistry (HWU Edinburgh)
• Consultancy (GRAD, Universities)

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Objectives for Today

• Launch this years Postgraduate Toolkit
• Meet the other researchers in Galashiels
• Work on group activities
• Use these to
• Think about objectives for the later workshops
• Share perspectives on doing a PhD in Scotland
• Have some fun!

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The Toolkit

• A series of interactive workshops
• Running from today until next June
• Designed to help you to be more effective
• Opportunities to get together and share thoughts,
  concerns and high-points
• Chance to talk to us as independent, but
  interested people

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What is coming up?

• Project management for first years
• How to get the best from your supervisor
• The art of finishing a PhD in three years
• Personal effectiveness
• Working effectively with others
• Making an impact in the research community
• Writing and referencing
• Posters for postgrads
• Presentation skills for researchers
• Thesis writing and the viva
• Careers
• see http//www.hw.ac.uk/edu/research/res-rdp-scot
  tish-borders.html

Fri 3rd Nov Fri 27th Oct Fri 17th Nov
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But

• All sessions are interactive and are flexible
• Share your own ideas with us
• The programme can be amended or changed
• Its not about ticking boxes - we all want this
  time to have an impact on your experiences as a
  research student at the Borders campus

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How will these sessions work?

• Interactive
• Combination of theoretical input, real examples
  from research and activities
• Brief catch-up and report from anyone with news

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The underlying principle

• Learning through
• Experiencing
• Reflecting
• Understanding
• Planning to use learning
• Kolbs learning cycle

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The underlying principle
Planning the next steps
Having an experience
Concluding from the experience
Thinking about an experience
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We have different preferences
Pragmatist planning the next steps
Activist having an experience
Theorist concluding from the experience
Reflector thinking about an experience
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With all that in mind

• Lets now have an experience!
• Get into groups of 5 to 7
• You will have 40 minutes to complete your task
• All instructions are in the packs, but

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KEY POINTS

• Time Keeping is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
• This activity aims to develop your
• Creativity
• Awareness of how you work with others
• Team skills
• Please involve everyone in your group

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Why did we ask you to do that?

• Working culture of a PhD
• A problem
• Your intellectual input
• Fixed resources
• Personal approach
• Understanding the issue
• Your opinion
• Your way of working

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Review
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What are you going to do, to be the possible BEST
researcher?

• Think about this question for the rest of the
  morning

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What do the RCs think?
Research Skills and Techniques
Communication Skills
Research Environment
Networking Teamworking
Research Management
Career Management
Personal Effectiveness
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Effective researchers

• Obviously do good research! But also
• Understand their strengths
• Recognise their weaknesses and plan development
• Set challenging but realistic goals
• Ask for feedback and act on it
• Support the development of others
• Understand the impact of their behaviour on others

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Our contribution

• Project management for first years
• How to get the best from your supervisor
• The art of finishing a PhD in three years
• Personal effectiveness
• Working effectively with others
• Making an impact in the research community
• Writing and referencing
• Posters for postgrads
• Presentation skills for researchers
• Thesis writing and the viva
• Careers
• see http//www.hw.ac.uk/edu/research/res-rdp-scot
  tish-borders.html

Fri 3rd Nov Fri 27th Oct Fri 17th Nov
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Launching your PhD on track

• Research project management
• Stakeholder management
• Responsibility for your project
• Responsibility for your development
• An eye on the future

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So how do you get there?

• What are the main differences between the IDEAL
  PhD and the average PhD?
• What are the barriers or difficulties that you
  need to overcome to be more effective?

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Barriers

• What might prevent or hinder you from achieving
  your aims?
• In your groups identify the common issues

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Barriers

• What might prevent or hinder you from achieving
  your aims?
• In your groups identify the common issues
• Which of these things are in your control?

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Overcoming Barriers

• In your groups identify
• What you can change (control)
• What you cannot change
• Opportunities or ideas to get around barriers
• Onto a flipchart and present

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Making Progress on Your PhD

• How are you going to monitor your progress?
• How will you know if you are on track?
• Set Objectives

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SMART Objectives

• Specific
• Measurable
• Agreed
• Realistic
• Time Bound

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Specific

• Make the objective specific
• Break large tasks down into smaller tasks
• X Write PhD thesis
• ? Write Results chapter of PhD thesis
• ? Write section 1 of Results chapter of PhD
  thesis
• Breaking large tasks into smaller ones makes it
  easier to assess progress

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Measurable

• How do you know when you have completed the work
• X Make more contacts in the field of gene
  expression
• ? Make 3 new contacts from other Universities at
  the Northern Gene Conference
• X Publish a number of papers during my PhD
• ? Write two papers during my second year and one
  in my third year
• Make sure they are evidenced based you should
  have a deliverable attached to the objective

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Agreed

• Get the agreement of the stakeholders in the
  project
• Especially your supervisor!
• X I think I will finish this set of experiments
  by the end of May
• X My supervisor thinks I will finish these
  experiments by the end of January
• ? We agreed that my objective will be to finish
  the experiments by the end of April

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Realistic

• Will you achieve the objective?
• Unrealistic objectives can be very de-motivating
• Challenging objectives which are realistic can be
  motivating
• X Publish 20 papers during the course of my PhD
• ? Publish 3 papers during the course of my PhD

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Time Bound

• Set timescales on your objectives
• Deadlines and Milestones
• Review progress against these deadlines
• X Finish writing my literature review
• ? Finish the first draft of my literature review
  by the 1st of December

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Time scales

• Set objectives at multiple timescales
• This week I will read 8 papers on image analysis
• This month I will prepare a short report on image
  analysis
• In the next 6 months I will review the three
  principle analysis techniques and write the
  literature review of these techniques for my
  thesis

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Plan your time

• Be professional, use your time efficiently
• 3 year program plan prepare at outset
• Annual year plan prepare annually
• Monthly and weekly plans prepare, revise
• A daily to do list prepare, revise
• Use a diary or organiser daily

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Personal Challenges

• With these ideas in mind
• What do you want to achieve in the next three
  months?

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Maintain your momentum

• Identify two or three short term objectives (to
  achieve by the end of 2006) record these in a
  diary or somewhere youll remember
• Write these on the postcard
• On the envelope write your name

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Thank You and Good Luck

• www.shintonconsulting.com