Better career support for researchers in Grad School rebrand

The Graduate School has been renamed the Doctoral and Researcher College as it progresses with plans to further enhance its support for doctoral and early career researchers.

The new name better reflects its expansion to support a wider community of researchers in recent years. It formalises its support of early career research staff as well as doctoral students, bringing them all together into one community.

The College now plans to provide more bespoke career and personal development support to help our researchers to define their personal objectives and then deliver improved development opportunities to help them meet their ambitions.

Improved support

The Graduate School has always provided general career support for postgraduate research students but has in recent years expanded to cover early career researchers, something increasingly seen across the sector.

Support includes advising on funding options, hosting inductions, providing training and development opportunities, and issuing guidance for academics who supervise doctoral students.

The College intends to work in partnership with research staff to improve this support through:

• More regular induction sessions to reflect the fact postdoctoral students join the University throughout the year. These sessions will highlight development and support resources at the University.
• Refined webpages to include an information hub for research staff.
• Improved training and development materials to fill current gaps.
• Expanding to support other research colleagues, such as technicians.

Collaborative culture

Professor Adrian Williams, Dean of Postgraduate Research Studies and Researcher Development, said: “The Doctoral and Researcher College will continue to be a one-stop shop for researcher professional development, providing general support on top of research-specific skills gained through their work, research projects, and from supervisors and Principal Investigators.

“We want to build on our culture of collaborative working and enhance Reading’s research culture, which supports the evolving focus of the Research Excellence Framework as well as supporting and enabling our research staff on to reach their potential.”

The Graduate School was established around a decade ago and has been sector-leading, growing to a community of more than 1,500 PhD students and 350 research staff.

The rebrand follows engagement with research staff through questionnaires and meetings to ensure the change meets the needs of individual researchers as well as better responding to REF assessment requirements and supporting the University’s strategic principles, particularly around Community and Excellence.