Skills Assessment and Researcher Development
Skills Assessment Form
At the beginning of each academic year, University of Westminster doctoral researchers are required to complete the Skills Assessment Form:
To prepare, we suggest meeting with your Director of Study (DOS)/Supervisory team early in the term to discuss and identify your training and development needs for the year ahead. This will include relevant workshops offered within the DRDP programme and taking advantage of other opportunities such as attending conferences and external training.
Your Skills Assessment Form needs to be completed in time for your APR 1 and uploaded with the APR1 submission via the Virtual Research Environment (VRE).
Every year of your doctoral studies, you should complete a new Skills Assessment Form to identify further workshops and training to further develop your research knowledge, skills, and practice.
Researcher Development
Our Doctoral Researcher Development Programme is based on the Vitae Researcher Development Framework, a tool that helps researchers plan their career development. This means that all of our provision has been designed to help you explore and develop the wide range of knowledge, skills and behaviours of successful researchers.
During your studies, you should aim to attend the DRDP workshops identified as Doctoral Essentials as they will cover core skills for your development as a researcher, preparation for key stages of the doctoral process and your Annual Performance Review (APR) alongside important information relating to the requirements of your PhD.
The rest of the programme contains optional sessions to support your doctoral studies and further your development as a professional researcher.
Our booking platform Inkpath usefully recommends DRDP workshops based on your preferences, we recommend exploring the platform features. Inkpath will also highlight some of the free training opportunities offered by other University of Westminster Departments and Services, so we recommend checking regularly to see what is on offer.
On these webpages, we have provided summaries of the DRDP training under the following categories:
- Research Knowledge, Methods and Practice
- Research Management
- Writing and Thriving
- Communication Engagement and Impact
- Working With Others
- Career Development
- Teaching and Learning
Each workshop listing includes the key Vitae Researcher Development Framework descriptors it supports, helping you identify how it aligns with your development goals.
