Things to do in your first few months

Networks of Support

Start to build networks of support including family, friends, fellow postgraduate researchers (PGRs) and other researchers at all levels working in your field of research, who will all be able to provide different types of help and advice.

The Researcher Environment Team provide support for postgraduate researchers (PGRs) via Researcher Environment One-to-Ones.  You can make an online appointment with a member of your team, which you can use to discuss any questions or concerns you may have. 

 

Skills Audit and Research Support Plan

Complete your Skills Audit and Research Support Plan. View your Research Degree Timeline for guidance on when to submit.
Having identified any skills gaps using Vitae's Getting Started in Research Lens, look for relevant training courses available through SkillsForge and any School-specific or external training opportunities. Your supervisor may also have helpful suggestions.

 

Presentation

Consider making an oral presentation or poster presentation at the next University of Huddersfield PGR Conference and look for other internal and external conference and networking opportunities.

 

Who are your representatives

Find out who the PGR representatives are for your School and on Graduate Council and consider becoming one yourself. For an up to date list of Graduate Council PGR representatives, contact graduateschool@hud.ac.uk. For School-level PGR representatives, contact the PGR administrator in your School.

 

Begin a record

Begin a record of all the training, development, conference attendances/presentations, initiatives or events that you have attended and/or helped to organise. You can use SkillsForge for this using the ‘Other Development Activities’ section under ‘Training and Development – Development Summary’, or use a Word document or OneNote.

 

Include Information

Include information like dates, times, names of facilitators, copies of any certificates you receive and a short paragraph summarising the content and what you learned. Starting this early on in your research will make it much easier when you are updating your CV and applying for jobs. Training, development and conference attendances may also come up in your viva.