GRADskills
Key details: GRADskills is operated by IELLI for St Leonards College and supports the development of research postgraduate students to improve their research capability and widen their employability inside and outside of academia.
Booking not required
Audience
- PG research
Programme information
GRADskills is a suite of workshops and activities designed specifically for research postgraduate students (i.e. PhD, MPhil), delivered by the International Education and Lifelong Learning Institute (IELLI) for St Leonard's Postgraduate College. GRADskills aim is to support the development of all research postgraduate students at the University of St Andrews, to improve their research capability and widen their employability inside and outside of academia. gradskills-pgr@st-andrews.ac.uk.
Workshops are grouped into thematic bundles which roughly follow the trajectory of the research degree (first year, mid-way, final year).
Further online or asynchronous resources can be found on the GRADskills webpages.
More information on Vitae's Researcher Development Framework (RDF) and how you can use this to plan your professional development can be found here.
Individual workshop booking links
Links below indicate an upcoming event. If a workshop title is not actively linked below, then dates for the current term have already passed and dates for the upcoming term have not yet been chosen. Further enquiries and last minute bookings (online bookings close the day before an event) should be directed to gradskills-pgr@st-andrews.ac.uk.
If you can no longer attend a workshop, please cancel your booking at least 2 working days in advance. Failure to do so may mean that future bookings are not approved. This PDMS intro video shows how to find, book and later print a certified training record.
Theme 1) Getting started
7 courses - these are all optional.
- A language approach to unpacking exam questions
- An introduction to Endnote
- Thursday 26 February 2026
- Creating Habits for Balance and Success in your PhD
- Tuesday 27 January 2026
- Getting and staying organised for success
- Tuesday 27 January 2026
- Postgraduate Researcher Welcome Event
- Wednesday 4 February 2026
- Wednesday 15 April 2026
- Wednesday 3 June 2026
- Reading for research
- Welcome event for taught postgraduates
Theme 2) Carrying out my research
5 courses - these are all optional.
- Finding funding during your PhD
- NVivo (day 1): Introducing the software and qualitative analysis
- Monday 16 March 2026
- NVivo (day 2): Advanced features and customising your approach
- Tuesday 17 March 2026
- Turning your PhD into a start-up
- Wednesday 22 April 2026
- Writing a lab report (Sciences)
- Monday 2 February 2026
Theme 3) Dealing with my data
5 courses - these are all optional.
- Data management plans: first-year review writing workshop
- Thursday 26 February 2026
- Tuesday 31 March 2026
- Tuesday 28 April 2026
- Data management plans: starting from scratch
- Thursday 12 February 2026
- Research data underpinning theses: requirements and submission process
- Tuesday 24 February 2026
- Thursday 23 April 2026
- Research data: how to store and effectively manage them
- Thursday 19 February 2026
- Research data: why, when and how to publish them
- Thursday 26 March 2026
Theme 4) Conferences, networking, and public engagement
2 courses - these are all optional.
- Finding funding during your PhD
- Writing conference abstracts, proposals and bios
- Wednesday 25 February 2026
Theme 5) Writing and publishing (in various media)
27 courses - these are all optional.
- A language approach to unpacking exam questions
- An introduction to Endnote
- Thursday 26 February 2026
- Constructing strong introductions and conclusions
- Thursday 30 April 2026
- Fundamentals of writing
- Grant writing: writing for success
- Is my writing 'academic' enough?
- Tuesday 24 February 2026
- Language for introductions and conclusions
- Open Access Publishing for Postgraduates
- Paraphrasing, summarising and synthesising
- Publish or perish: academic publishing in a nutshell
- Tuesday 3 February 2026
- Reporting information from sources vs. author voice
- Write your journal article! Abstracting your article
- Write your journal article! Advancing your argument
- Write your journal article! Analysing your evidence
- Thursday 5 February 2026
- Write your journal article! Crafting your claims for significance
- Thursday 29 January 2026
- Write your journal article! Designing your plan for writing
- Write your journal article! Editing your sentences
- Thursday 26 March 2026
- Write your journal article! Opening and concluding your article
- Thursday 19 March 2026
- Write your journal article! Presenting your evidence
- Thursday 12 February 2026
- Write your journal article! Refining your works cited
- Write your journal article! Selecting a journal
- Write your journal article! Sending your article!
- Thursday 2 April 2026
- Write your journal article! Strengthening your structure
- Thursday 19 February 2026
- Writing a lab report (Sciences)
- Monday 2 February 2026
- Writing a literature review in the Arts
- Wednesday 18 February 2026
- Tuesday 7 April 2026
- Writing conference abstracts, proposals and bios
- Wednesday 25 February 2026
- Writing well: coherence, structure and argumentation
- Tuesday 17 February 2026
Theme 6) Teaching
8 courses - these are all optional.
- Assessment and academic misconduct: an introduction (Arts)
- Assessment and academic misconduct: an introduction (cross-faculty)
- Friday 23 January 2026
- Assessment and academic misconduct: an introduction (Science)
- Diversity in the workplace online training module
- Student services: supporting students and teachers
- Friday 23 January 2026
- Teaching at St Andrews: an introduction (Arts)
- Teaching at St Andrews: an introduction (cross-faculty)
- Thursday 22 January 2026
- Teaching at St Andrews: an introduction (Science)
Theme 7) Finishing up: what's next?
6 courses - these are all optional.
- CVs and job applications: getting onto the short-list
- Thursday 30 April 2026
- Fundraising your first postdoc
- Grant writing: writing for success
- HEA Associate Fellow Application workshop
- HEA Senior Fellow Application workshop
- Preparing for your Viva
- Thursday 12 March 2026
Programme organiser
IELLI
Email: ielli@st-andrews.ac.uk