Your training needs: Birkbeck guide
In the modern academic world, completion of a research degree is not simply a matter of independent study. Instead, Research Councils and the Quality Assurance Agency stress the importance of attaining the requisite skills to plan, conduct and complete a research degree and to prepare for future career development.
As a researcher at Birkbeck, you will find that we offer a wide variety of courses that will support you in the development of your research and in the preparation of your future career. Some skills will be specific to the discipline you are studying (subject-specific skills). Others are more general (generic skills). Research and professional skills matter: equipped with the requisite skills, you will find completion of a research degree less isolating, less daunting and more rewarding.
Birkbeck caters for a wide variety of research students and offers a full range of courses for all research and professional training needs. As you begin and progress through your research degree, it is important that you carefully plan and consider your training needs. In addition to mastering the general and subject-specific skills that will help you complete your dissertations, you should also consider which particular skills you will need for now and in the future.
Training for an academic career
If you want to become an academic, you should begin to develop the broad range of skills that you will need in a modern university environment. The academic world has its own entry criteria.
- Do you know how to complete an academic CV?
- Do you have the requisite networking skills?
- Can you teach?
Transferable skills
Birkbeck researchers are not only planning for academic careers. Whether you wish to work in industry, commerce, government or a non-governmental sector, the skills that you learn during your study will also be of relevance within your workplace. Mastering presentation skills, networking skills, methodological and simple writing skills will all contribute to preparing you for life after your research degree.
Enjoying your PhD
Skills, however, are not only about preparation for work. Contact with other students within skills courses can help you to overcome the isolation of life as a research student. Acquiring research skills will make your life as a researcher far more enjoyable.
