Planning your Research Training
In each year, the first meeting with the research student’s supervisor will assess the research needs of the student, taking account of any prior research training, and the profile of training courses to be taken will be identified. The meeting will also agree specific research skills which will be provided by the School either as individual training or in the context of research seminars.
The School is looking to standardise a requirement to complete a development needs analysis after approximately 3 months (pro-rata for PT students) after their initial registration, to establish their training requirements under the Arts Graduate Researcher Programme. This is picked up at Annual Review when completion of training is recorded
A series of Postgraduate Seminars, scheduled throughout the year, often address key areas of subject-specific knowledge. Please see the current year's schedule for further details: Postgraduate Seminars 2019/20
Additionally supervisors address research issues that may be specific to individual projects in supervisory sessions.
Arts Faculty Researcher Programme
Who has to attend?
The Arts Faculty Researcher Programme is compulsory for all students who started after 2010. Please note that the Programme is compulsory for both full and part-time students. Many courses are now offered on Saturdays to help those students that may not find it easy to be on campus during working hours.
Who decides the content?
The broad and comprehensive range of research training courses are offered by the Graduate School in line with the requirements set out by the UK Research Councils.
How do I find out the timetable?
The timetable is available here: Arts Researcher Skills Programme or Jo Pullen (Student Services Senior Administrator)
What if I can't make a session?
If you can't make a session on the dates given here, you have several options:
- Please search on Central Short Courses for alternative dates.
- Have a look on the Graduate School Online Courses for equivalent provision.
- Attend the Arts Faculty Training session in the next year.
If you have exhausted all of these options, please follow the advice on 'opting out' given on the Programme, as below:
Please also remember to cancel any bookings you have made through Central Short Courses so that your place can be released to someone else.
Further information
Watch a video introduction to the Researcher Development Framework
In collaboration with Nottingham Trent University, the University of Nottingham coordinates a programme of training and development sessions specifically for part-time researchers.
The Nottingham Part-Time Researcher Workshops are day long training and development events (some run on Saturdays) which give part-time research students the opportunity to explore issues that affect their research study. Facilitated by research development staff from both universities, the events include discussion on the nature of researching part-time, dedicated development workshops, and professional networking opportunities with fellow part-time students. Some of the problems faced by part-time researchers specifically are addressed during the events.
Information Guides for Part-Time and distance Learning Researchers can also be found on our Distance and online courses website.
Further information is available from the Graduate School.
Tradition of Critique - Lecture Series
This programme of lectures is open to all postgraduate students as part of the Researcher Development Programme offered by the Faculty of Arts and the Graduate School.
Tradition of Critique aims to introduce you to key thinkers and themes that constitute the philosophical background to critical theorists, and help you to frame and contextualize your research.
You can register for this course at the first lecture you attend. Please make sure that you sign the register each week. If you attend seven or more sessions, you will eligible for a certificate of course attendance from the Graduate School.
The programme for 2019/20 is as follows:
Kant - 30th September
Hegel - 7th October
Marx - 14th October
Nietzsche - 21st October
Freud - 28th October
Heidegger - 11th November
Arendt - 18th November
De Beauvoir - 25th November
Benjamin- 2nd December
Ardorno - 9th December
6-8pm on Monday evenings in room A48 of the Clive Granger Building
Central Short Courses
The University also hosts a wealth of other training courses through its 'Central Short Courses' facility. Many courses are open to students, from basic Excel or Word training, to sessions on data collection and time management. You can also search by keyword if there is something in particular you are looking for, or if you need to seek alternative dates for the Arts Faculty Researcher Training sessions.
You can access the Central Short Courses website by going to www.nottingham.ac.uk/csc.
Researcher Development Through Vitae
Vitae is the UK organisation championing the personal, professional and career development of doctoral researchers and research staff in higher education. Vitae is a large external source of advice for Postgraduate Researchers, and often provides local training courses which many of our students have found helpful.
Vitae also often provides courses specifically for Part Time researchers - please see www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/62371/Part-time-doctorates.html.