Graduate School of Life Sciences course timetable

Being a researcher can be stressful, with managing the ups and downs of your PhD, balancing work and life and also having one eye on the future and what comes after you finish… This workshop is designed to help you build your resilience. You probably already have some strategies in place so we will reflect on the highs and lows you have already experienced, learn about 3 Cs of resilience (Commitment, Challenge, Control) and consider how we can better support your coping and wellbeing.

In addition we will explore the role of procrastination and how this can impact our sense of resilience, looking at tools and techniques to overcome procrastination to improve wellbeing and resilience.

Getting published is a central part of being a researcher. Peer-reviewed publications allow researchers to communicate their research to the broader research community, and thus, contribute to the body of work within their field. This is the first of a series of 6 workshops and will help doctoral researchers to identify suitable journals to submit their work to, along with understanding the submission process, open access, and copyright.

A strong introduction sets the stage for your research by establishing its significance, outlining key questions, and engaging your readers. This workshop will guide doctoral researchers in crafting compelling introductions that provide a clear rationale for their studies, effectively positioning their work within the existing literature.

Congratulations! You have been selected to present your data at a conference, whether that be an oral or poster. You are being invited to tell your research story to the wider scientific community, how do you make an impact?

Like every good story, you research presentation will have a beginning, a middle and an end. This workshop is designed to help you utlilise the titles you use, the figures you display, so that you can tell your research story with impact, and get the most out of presenting your data.

The methods section is crucial for ensuring transparency and reproducibility in research. This workshop will help doctoral researchers structure their methods effectively, provide sufficient detail for replication, and justify their choices, ensuring clarity and rigor in their writing.

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This session will cover all the essential information needed to create an effective publication strategy. This includes choosing your professional name, considering what you actually want to publish, and how to choose where to publish, including a look at how to responsibly use journal metrics. We will also discuss the publication process and demystify things such as peer review and copyright transfer agreements, before exploring open access and Creative Commons.

Participants should leave the session feeling confident that they know how create a good publication strategy for their research, with increased understanding of the topics covered

The discussion section is where researchers interpret their findings, connect them to existing work, and highlight their significance. This workshop will support doctoral researchers in developing well-structured discussions that critically engage with their results, acknowledge limitations, and propose future directions.

Metrics have become omnipresent in research assessment, but are often flawed and used irresponsibly. This session explores the guidelines in place to help researchers use metrics more responsibly, including recommendations from DORA and University guidance. We'll then look at common metrics such as journal impact factor and h-index, where they are found and how they are used in academia. Finally we will discuss some particular circumstances where researchers should aim to use metrics responsibly, such as tidying up your online profiles, choosing a journal and recruitment.

Participants should leave the session more aware of the issues with particular research metrics and of the guidance available within the University, and confident in their ability to use metrics responsibly in their academic career.

An abstract is a concise summary that captures the essence of a research paper. This workshop will guide doctoral researchers in writing clear, engaging abstracts that effectively communicate their research questions, methods, key findings, and contributions to their field.

This interactive online workshop led by Jenny Brady will enable PhD researchers to identify their natural talents and apply them during the PhD for self-leadership and when on the trajectory of independent research leaders.

This session discusses the benefits and challenges of maintaining an online presence as a researcher. Part of two sessions on this topic, this second session looks at using social media as a researcher. We will look at the practicalities and pros and cons of online engagement through tools such as Twitter/X, Mastodon, YouTube and LinkedIn. Participants should expect to have the opportunity to critically evaluate the various options presented in this session with the overall aim of being better informed when deciding where to invest their time and efforts when building an academic presence online.

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