This is the third academic year that we have offered a Personal and Professional Development programme for science postgraduate research students. The Research Councils’ requirements stress the importance of generic trainng and preparation for a professional career. This means that you may find that the training sessions offered are general in their scope, interdisciplinary in approach and not subject specific. This has derived from evidence presented in the Robert’s Report which suggests that postgraduates who lacked these skills sometimes performed poorly at interview and did not secure the best-paid jobs.

Download the PPD Brochure

Template for Reflective Reporting

List of reflective reporting samples

The Structure of the Personal and Professional Development programme (PPD)

You are expected to take responsibility for your personal and professional development under the guidance of your supervisory team.

The programme is divided into Parts 0-3

Part 0 Developmental, Public Engagement and Other Learning Activities
Part 1 Broadening your Skills
Part 2 Critical Skills for Research
Part 3 Communicating at Thesis Level and Beyond

Personal and Professional Development Requirements

All PhD students are expected to accumulate 30 such training credits over the research degree period. For full time students the expectation is 10 training credits per year, for part-time 5 training credits per year. The training credits attained should be checked during supervisory team meetings and a further check is made when thesis examiners are nominated. For MPhil students this will be a total of 20 training credits and for MSc by Research students this will be a total of 10 training credits. There is also a pro-rata requirement for part-time students. Students can take more than the normal requirement in a given year if it meets their study plan, and such training credits earned can be carried forward to subsequent years.

Booking and the PPD Programme

Please see the PPD programme for booking information and for details on individual sessions/modules. Download an enrolment form.  Please email completed enrolment forms to scigrad.school@uea.ac.uk.

Exemptions/Concessions

It may be possible to gain a limited amount of exemptions or concessions and be deemed training credit if you can meet the specific criteria outlined below. In seeking an exemption or concession you must be able to demonstrate that you have accredited prior learning, for example workplace training, that covers the relevant material. As sessions have been designed to assist you with personal development planning, including the progress of your research project and career development, it must be clearly demonstrated that exemption is warranted and beneficial to you. You will also need to consult with your supervisory team.

An exemption or concession can be applied for by completing the exemption form which can be downloaded from here.

Training Exemption Criteria

In order to gain exemption from training courses:

• Postgraduate students must be able to demonstrate how the previous training relates to the areas outlined in the Researcher Development Statement
• Relevant training can include training undertaken as part of the employment (current or previous), or other professional bodies, but cannot be part of the matriculation requirements of the PhD.
• Please note that exemptions cannot be granted purely on the basis of postgraduate students holding a masters degree
• Introductory IT courses such as word,excel, access etc will not be considered for exemption
• In general, exemptions are only considered if the training/experience was at a postgraduate or equivalent level and obtained recently
• Postgraduate students must be able to demonstrate graduate level skills in the Training Exemption Form

Please note that you will not be exempted from taking any PPD training courses whatsoever. Exemption is limited to 40% of the required training.

In many cases it may well be that rather than offering an exemption from training it will be seen as a concession or recognition of experiential learning. As always the PGR office will be happy to help in recognising cases for exemptions and concessions.

Learning with other faculties

Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
Faculty of Social Sciences
Faculty of Arts and Humanities