1. The role of the Postgraduate Careers Development Adviser at CPH
Dr Kat Ford
Public Health Researcher (Violence and Nightlife)

2. the Postgraduate Careers Development Adviser at CPH
What is the Postgraduate Careers Development Adviser?
Link between PhD students and the wider research culture of CPH
Point of contact for students at CPH
Identifying training & skills for students
Skills which need to be acquired
Skills wish to be acquired
Not exclusively related to PhD research
Experience of work on other projects
Aware of opportunities
Thinking about life after a PhD

3. Where has the idea come from?
Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) 2013
LJMU / CPH performed well
20% of respondents agreed that they had received advice about careers
Only a small percentage agreed that they had been provided with training to develop transferable skills
49% of respondents reported that they had taught / demonstrated during their research degree
53% stated that they had been given appropriate support and guidance.
43% stated that they had received formal training

4. Where has the idea come from?
Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) 2013
Response from Education, Community and Leisure:
Development of a training needs analysis
Develop a research culture to engage students with faculty research activity
Career Development - opportunity to engage with teaching
Identified skills and training for students as a priority
Developing the career prospects of PhD students
Postgraduate Careers Development Advisor

5. Where has the idea come from?
Not specific to LJMU
Need of the modern doctorate
Equip students with skills for life after a PhD
HEA policy documents = development of research careers and researchers’ training in transferable skills
Research Councils expect the provision of transferable skills to form a fundamental part of doctoral training
Research Councils UK, Statement of Expectations for Doctoral Training

6. training already in existence
Graduate School contact:
Researcher Development Programme (Dr Lynn Clark)
Vitae programme: national organisation for championing the development of researchers in the UK;
Researcher Development Framework,

7. Researcher Development Framework?
Develop world-class researchers and build our research base.
The RDF is a tool for planning, promoting and supporting the personal, professional and career development of researchers. It articulates the
knowledge, behaviours and attitudes of researchers and encourages them to aspire to excellence through achieving higher levels of
development.
The Framework is designed for:
researchers to evaluate and plan their own personal, professional and career development managers and supervisors of researchers in
their role supporting the development of researchers
trainers, developers, human resources specialists and careers advisors in the planning and provision of support for researchers’ development.
employers to provide an understanding of the blend of skills unique to researchers and their potential as employees.
The employability lens provides an overview of the key knowledge, behaviours and attributes typically developed by researchers that are most frequently desired by employers.

8. How can we help? Directors of studies & supervisors Students
Skills audit at induction
Understand what skills people need to develop for a PhD
Monitoring skills / training needs of students in the Annual Monitoring Review (AMR), but review at any point with DoS
Students
Skills individuals want to develop as a researcher
Feeding the importance of this into supervisor training
Pointing students in the right direction – Graduate school
Keeping students informed of job opportunities at CPH

9. How can we help? Training doesn’t have to be a two day event
Opportunities available include:
Faculty Research Conference (June 24th 2015, annual)
The Research Cafe (contact Jean Kelly)
PhD Symposium (March 2015, annual)
Postgraduate Research Seminars (quarterly)
Research in Focus Seminar (quarterly)
CPH PhD lunch Seminars (bimonthly)
CPH New starter lunches

10. training and development opportunities within cph
Work shadowing
Experience in different methodologies:
Focus groups / interviews
Use of statistical systems - data entry/analysis
Different types of analysis e.g. capture recapture, forum analysis, SPSS, NVIVO.
Systematic reviews
Ethical applications
Report writing
Transcribing
Assisting with seminars and conferences
Nightlife research
Telephone team
Teaching – contact Rose or Conan

11. Next steps Work in progress
Setting up a process to capture training/research opportunities available within CPH
Standing item on CPH Management Team Meeting
Reporting opportunities to PGR students
Point of contact for PGR students looking to develop skills
Building skills audit into student induction and AMR process
Pro forma for PGR students to complete
Opportunity to agree a personal training / development plan
Feed this into supervisor training

12. Thank you
Any Questions / ideas?