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Online Resources

The GRADskills Programme is a suite of workshops, networking events and activities specifically designed for research postgraduate students.  However, we realise that you will not always be able to attend face-to-face workshops and events.  For that reason, in order to give you access to development opportunities at a time and place that suit you, we have a range of online training courses and other resources available.

The University is an organisational member of Vitae, so you have free access to Vitae's researcher development materials.

Research/Teaching Skills (Epigeum courses)

Epigeum is a leading provider of online training programmes for higher education.  They create new programmes by getting academics from a consortium of universities to develop the content, thereby ensuring that it is relevant and fit-for-purpose. 

The Research Skills Toolkit is an extensive suite of 18 modules on different research skills, such as working with your supervisor, project management, research methods, getting published, and much more.

Request access to the Research Skills Toolkit through GRADskills.

Networking (Kintish courses)

Kintish is a leading provider of networking courses for businesses and higher education.  Learning how to network effectively is an important skill for academic and non-academic careers. 

Find out more about how to access .

UKRIO webinars

The UK Research Integrity Office (UKRIO) YouTube channel hosts an archive of past webinars.  These short sessions explore a variety of issues related to Research Integrity including Publication Ethics and Authorship, Research Data, Research Ethics, and Consent.  

Upcoming webinars are open to all and free to attend.  You can register for these at the UKRIO website.

GRADskills Moodle course

The GRADskills Resources course in Moodle (the University’s Virtual Learning Environment) contains a range of materials such as:

  • Videos on working effectively with your supervisor and preparing for the viva.
  • Links to a wide range of other free, online resources such as the Research Data Management course MANTRA.
  • Presentations and handouts from some of the face-to-face workshops (if the presenter permits).

To access the GRADskills Resources Moodle course, go to https://moody.st-andrews.ac.uk/moodle/course/view.php?id=1636 and then just click the “Self enrol” button. You only need to do that once – after that, you would just login to Moodle or MySaint as normal and it will appear on your Dashboard.  If you have any problems please email gradskills-pgr@st-andrews.ac.uk

Careers Centre website

The Careers Centre website has , including:

  • Conducting your research
  • Do I want an academic career?
  • Alternatives to academia
  • Support and career development

Podcasts

15 minutes to Develop your Research Career - created by Taylor & Francis in collaboration with Vitae, this podcast explores practical professional development tips for early career researchers with contributions from experts working in academic and non-academic roles.

 

Researchers, Development and the In-Betweens - an interview based podcase which examines a wide variety of topics related to postgraduate and early career researchers. Episodes cover areas such as viva preparation, publishing, and burn out as well as exploring a range of researcher experiences.

 

Researcher Development Audio - from Cambridge University, this podcast discusses key themes surrounding personal and pofessional development of researchers from working with your supervisor to wellbeing topics such as resilience and imposter syndrome.

Career Management for Academic Researchers (online course)

Career Management for Researchers is a bespoke online course developed by specialist researcher careers consultants at the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Sheffield. It has been designed for PhD students and research staff who are exploring their career options and preparing for the next stage in their career, whether in academia or beyond. It is a 4 part/week course designed to address key career issues pertinent to researchers. Each week the course content provides a range of articles, videos, reflective activities, exercises and discussion topics. Researchers are encouraged to set aside 3 hours to complete all of the content available each week. 

 

Course themes

Week 1 - Making career plans and identifying what you want

Week 2 - Exploring career options beyond academia

Week 3 - Careers in Higher Education - research, teaching and professional services roles

Week 4 - Job search, CVs, applications and interviews within and beyond HE.

 

Designed as a 4 part course to be completed over 4 weeks, you can access it individually and work on it at your own pace.

 

Once you register, you have 6 weeks of free access to the course content.