Transferable skills and disciplinarity: are we speaking their language? Dr Catherine Mills & Dr Jessica Morrod

Postgraduate study at Cambridge Cambridge Arts & Humanities 676 Graduate School of Life Sciences 1058 Biological Sciences 701 Clinical Medicine 357 Humanities & Social Sciences 1106 Physical Sciences 1167 Technology 1020 Total no. of PhD students = 5027 In addition, 2268 contract researchers

Starting Your PhD: course outline Old Welcome Starting a PhD: the facts Your skills COFFEE (11.00) Your supervisor Your research LUNCH (13.00) Potential problems Plagiarism The two types of PhD thesis TEA (15.00) Courses, support and advice All day course 10-4pm New Welcome You and the PhD Cambridge Research methods COFFEE (11.30) You and your supervisor Who else can help? What next? – actions from today Half day course 10-1pm

Old vs. New Length – reduced down to 3hrs Structure – streamlined and focused Activities – less talking more interaction Continuity – links with Mid PhD Review & Completing Your PhD Links – highlighting connections to other course e.g. Time Management

Your skills What skills does the ideal PhD student need? Draw the skills as body parts onto the stick man e.g. listening = ears Show their importance through size…. big ears = important

Data collection Original feedback –old courses –new courses Follow up survey online (4 months after courses ran) – old courses only

Original feedback 18% made unprompted comments on disciplinarity “Have someone from physics department to answer specific questions” “The course is given by trainers with a scientific background who understand my situation” “Perhaps focus the presentation a little bit more to the specific experience of a History PhD student” “Possibility including an instructor who can input experience from the humanities”

Disciplinarity in follow up survey ‘Okay’, ‘quite’ and ‘very’ categories dominated by Schools of Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Humanities & Social Sciences in that order

Transferable vs. specific? “How to keep records of journal papers and books that I have read” “Many practical advices, such as regular data back-up” “It put my mind at rest as there was plenty of opportunity to ask questions and give opinions to the entire group, not even just to course leaders” “To hear about different types of supervisors”

Chance to think about what I want out of my PhD studies and what action is needed to make this happen funding It gave me confidence, reassuring me that I am going in the right direction and that the difficulties I have been experiencing are perfectly normal! Time management – best bit of course, but wanted to hear more ideas about how to structure time

Old vs. new Old courseNew course School of Physical Sciences 17.4% 12% (School wide) School of Humanities & Social Sciences 18.2% 0% (ran in Land economy only) Feedback comments relating to disciplinarity

Future directions… Expand comparative analysis on new Starting Your PhD Open out analysis to Completing Your PhD? Incorporate evaluation/assessment methods into all courses?

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