I worte a PGR Tips on being proactive about supervisory meetings a while ago:
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/CMS/files/upload/PGR_%20tips_issue_%2033_Aug09.pdf
and it sounds like all of you lot are!
hope it gives you some more ideas for getting the most out of the meetings, though.

best,
Tennie

UKCGE, Vitae, the British Library and the NUS are organising a symposium (at the British Library) to discuss the experience of doing a doctorate. The symposium will result in a report with a matrix of recommendations for the use of students, institutional staff and external organisations so this is your chance to exert some influence!

In order to ensure a dynamic mix on the day, we are offering a reduced rate for institutions that send a delegation of staff including at least one doctoral researcher. Every student place is free when accompanied by a paying member of academic or institutional staff. From your point of view, bringing staff along means that you are likely to gain critical mass in any changes you may want to implement!

see:
http://www.ukcge.ac.uk/events/eventsarea/PGRSymposium11

It'd be great to see you there,
Tennie

Last month's PGR Tips was about how to write a good blog post: http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/4069/PGR-Tips-email-bulletin.html. hope this is useful!
Tennie

As there are still some places available you can still come! Post an article to What's up doc? today and send me an email at [email protected] to say why you want to come to be considered. We will reimburse reasonable travel expenses.

Look forward to maybe seeing some of you there!
Tennie

Hi all,
this month's PGR Tips is on professional development. It introduces the researcher development framework as a useful tool for you, researchers.... Hope it helps! As always, let me know.

http://www.vitae.ac.uk/pgrtips
for more information on the RDF: www.vitae.ac.uk/rdf

have a great extra long weekend,
Tennie

Andy Humphrey has been writing some really good posts on looking for new posts after his last postdoc ended, for example:
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/156431/a668b523-a48a-4e04-8052-173f4ff5641a/Research-staff-blog.html
then click on his name to see his other posts.

Good luck job hunting,
Tennie

======= Date Modified 09 May 2011 10:15:42 =======
What’s up doc? is the successor of GRADBritain.

It is a forum for postgraduate researchers to exchange ideas on all aspects of being a postgraduate researcher and especially personal, professional and career development into.

What we need now is postgraduate researchers to contribute by posting well written posts on the experience of being a doctoral researcher, that invite discussion.

We are running an interactive training day in Birmingham on 12 May. Apart from learning what makes a good blog post, we will also explore how to increase your online profile and how to network effectively.

Places are limited, to apply, PGRs should post an example of a post onto www.vitae.ac.uk/whatsupdoc between 25 March and 25 April and send an email outlining why you want to be involved, what you would do to champion ‘What’s up doc?’ and what discipline your research is in to [email protected], before 25 April. We will select applicants for the training day based on this and reimburse reasonable travel expenses.


To post on the blog, register on the Vitae website, go to the ‘dashboard’ in the top left hand of the screen, choose ‘my discussion articles’, post your article to 'What'sup doc?' and press go.

Tennie

Hi all,
last month Vitae held the digital researcher event. I wrote a PGR Tips on digital networking to tie in with this: http://www.vitae.ac.uk/CMS/files/upload/Vitae-PGR-Tips-issue-51-digital-networking-Feb-2011.pdf
happy reading...

did anyone attend the event?
Tennie

the other thing I have to confess is that when I wrote up (not having been the very best at writing as I went along) and put all my paper copies together I found quite a few double copies of papers I'd read, so I'd obviously found them twice separately and with different parts highlighted! I think the enormous amount of reading (and assimilating) is a defining part of a doctorate in most cases...

Hi all,
some of you getting to the end of your PhD and thinking of applying for jobs? If you get an interview, you need to prepare and here are some tips on how to go about it:
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/61811/Current-issue-of-PGR-Tips.html
hope that is useful!
Tennie

Hi Joka,

I wrote a PGR Tips on reading papers: http://www.vitae.ac.uk/CMS/files/upload/PGR%20Tips%20issue%2045%20reading%20research%20papers.pdf

but reading all the fab tips on here I am considering a remake!

for keeping track of what you've read, use a good citation manager (again i wrote a PGR Tips on that once...): http://www.vitae.ac.uk/CMS/files/upload/PGR%20Tips%2027%20Feb09%20citation.pdf

good luck,
Tennie

this month the subject of PGR Tips is rather obvious, although it hadn't been covered yet. This is probably because there is quite a chunk of the Vitae website devoted to the subject. Hope all of you writing up or thinking about writing up will find it helpful- let me know.
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/4069-328121/PGR-Tips-on-writing-your-thesis-issue-49.html

Hi,
I haven't posted for a bit, but have still been writing PGR Tips!
The latest one was slightly out on a limp: how to use humour in your doctorate:
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/61811/Current-issue-of-PGR-Tips.html

the one before was more serious, on articulating your skills to employers outside academia:
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/4069-309541/PGR-Tips-issue-47-on-articulating-your-skills-to-employers-outside-HE----.html

and before that, on using feedback...
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/4069-300811/PGR-Tips-issue-46-making-the-most-of-feedback.html

to recieve these every month, please sign up:
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/3866/PGR-Tips-registration.html

happy reading,
Tennie

Hi Sam,
what subject is your doctorate going to be in? It really varies how many people end up in lecturing positions, depending on the subject. Have a browse through the What Do researchers do? publications, especially the one on 'first destinations by subject' has lots of stats in it.
One of the lessons from What Do researchers do? research I thought was interesting is that 'nursing' doctoral graduates are very likely to become lecturers compared to other subjects. This is likely to be because it is a newly academic subject, so maybe the way to make yourself a more attractive proposition is to be in a new subject (or even carve out a new subject yourself!)

In the physical sciences even among postdocs it is about one in ten who become lecturers, so it is definitely worth having a plan B! And it sounds like having a PGCE would help with that as well as with lecturing.

Good luck!
Tennie

Hi Jen,

quite a while ago I did a PGR Tips on this issue: http://www.vitae.ac.uk/CMS/files/1.Vitae-PGR-Tips-Issue22.pdf
looking at this thread, maybe I should do another one, but hope this helps you anyway! good luck.

cheers,
Tennie