Epigeum Research Skills Master Programme
On-line courses for researchers
During the 2011-12 academic year CAPOD trialed the Epigeum suite of on-line skills development courses for researchers. Following our evaluation of the trial we are now able to offer these resources again (starting February 2013).
The programme consists of 18 courses covering a wide range of subjects including intellectual property, getting published, research ethics, project management, career planning, research methods and entrepreneurship.
Access to Epigeum on-line researcher courses
The Epigeum Research Skills Master programme is now available to research students and staff directly from the Epigeum website, rather than via Moodle (as was the case with the original trial).
There is funding for a limited number of people to undertake a limited number of courses.
In the first instance applicants can apply to undertake a maximum of 4 courses from the 18 available. Once these have been completed, applicants may reapply for any number of further courses which will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Many of the courses are discipline-specific, so please follow the links provided below and read the further information about the courses carefully before making your choice and completing the application form.
Once your application is approved, you will be contacted directly by Epigeum and will be provided with access codes which will enable you to log in to the Epigeum online learning website to complete your courses.
Before applying, please also read through the rest of the content on this page.
Who is it aimed at?
This material is aimed at early career researchers including Post-Graduate and Research Staff.
Benefits
These materials have been produced by Epigeum (www.epigeum.com ) a consortium of 22 UK Universities. The modules were created by a team of experienced academics and researchers for use by early career researchers. This package is considered to be the best product of its type currently available, and presents a range of potential benefits:
- Study modules that supplement other development provision providing the opportunity to combine learning methods for better results
- Study at your own pace, when it suits you
- Easy access without having to be at the right place at the right time
- Continuing professional development for researchers delivered in a flexible way
- Very high satisfaction ratings from existing users at other Universities
Research Master Skills Programme courses
For an overview of the courses contained within the Research Skills Master Programme, visit the Epigeum website.
The 18 available modules contained in the programme are listed below. Click on the hyperlinks for more information on the syllabus for each course. The average study times for each course are provided. These vary from around 90 minutes to around 240 minutes to complete.
001: An introductory video to research skills
002: Intellectual property in the research context
003: Getting published in the arts
004: Getting published in the sciences
005: Ethics 1: Good research practice
006: Ethics 2: Working with human subjects
007: Project management in the research context
008: Career planning in the arts, humanities and social sciences
009: Career planning the sciences
010: Managing your research supervisor or principal investigator
011: Selecting a conference, presenting and networking
012: Research methods in the arts and humanities
013: Research methods in the social sciences
014: Research methods in the sciences
015: Research methods in literature review
016: Entrepreneurial motivation
017: Opportunity, recognition, creation and evaluation
018: Entrepreneurial resources
What users say…
In evaluation of our trial of the Epigeum Research Skills Master Programme 91% of users rated the Epigeum materials as ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’ as a learning resource
- “I am (now) more prepared and knowledgeable with regard to these important topics and thus feel more confident in my academic abilities.” University of St Andrews
- “Excellent, I think this would be very helpful for all our students, as well as new start PhD students.” University of St Andrews
- “ Easy to access – lots of relevant information you are not always told through the department as a new PhD student. Great that you can do it when it suits you i.e. depending on workloads, weekend accessible etc.” University of St Andrews
- “it’s great for students not living on campus and not being able to always attend workshops etc., this way you can do it in your own time, particularly interesting for part-time students.” University of St Andrews
- “I think it’s a fantastic learning resource and one I have recommended to (other) research students.” University of St Andrews
- “Their (the materials’) ease of use is excellent and, if relevant to a student, it’s a quick and easy way to get a lot of information to them in a short time whenever they require it.” University of St Andrews
- “Epigeum’s Managing Your Research Supervisor course was a wonderful experience. I am now better at planning and structuring discussions with my supervisor and our working relationship is more productive.” PhD student, University of Cambridge
- “Because I can access the Epigeum courses online, I can get help as soon as I need it.” PhD student, Imperial College, London
- "Its variation of activities and usefulness of the information. It was pitched at a comfortable level, and the interactive sections were most enjoyable."
- "It was a very stimulating combination of reading, listening and doing, and I very much liked the video clips. They made the course seem more personal. It was very interesting to hear the different (but mainly coinciding) views of the people being interviewed. Skillfully varied presentation. Good course materials and examples. Direct, sensible, useful."
- "For long distance learners, this system is extremely valuable. I think that some of these courses were even more specific than those offered on campus. I found this incredibly useful at this point in my PhD when I am starting to work across disciplines and be intimidated by understanding their methodologies. It felt very pertinent and very reassuring."
