The WRoCAH development programme is a structured set of activities to support you as you progress through your PhD. WRoCAH training is intended to complement the opportunities already available to you at your home institution and you are expected to make the most of these opportunities as well.
The goal of the WRoCAH development plan is to help you develop your research in a truly global context. You will have the opportunity to reach beyond academia and gain experience of applying your doctoral level research skills in a non-academic environment (equally valuable for aspiring academics as it is for those intending to work outside of academia). You will also gain experience of disseminating your research beyond the academy, to non-academic audiences from the general public to local and national policy makers, depending on your research area.
Although parts of the WRoCAH development are required, ie. compulsory, they are intended to be integrated as much as possible into your PhD. They should form part of your supervision discussions and inform your training plan as it changes throughout your PhD. The exception to this is the Researcher Employability Project – the intention of this is to take you away from your immediate research into a new environment to have the chance to learn and practice important transferable skills that all employers are looking for.
Read through the sections below to find out more about each year of the WRoCAH training programme.
Year 1: What Now? Introductions, Independence, Internationalisation
Induction: Welcome to WRoCAH and Festival of Research
Timing: 2 days, mid-October (York)
A chance to meet your starting cohort and get a feel for the breadth of research across the three Universities. Make new friends and gain new contacts across disciplines. The welcome event on the first day is followed by a relaxed social evening and the day after is the annual WRoCAH Festival of Research during which students from all cohorts have the chance to present their research to an interdisciplinary audience in oral or poster format.
Colloquium 1: Internationalisation
Timing: 2 days (Sheffield)
At this event you will focus on communicating your research to others within and beyond your immediate discipline to help you develop productive collaborations in your research. How can you, as the next generation of researchers, break down the barriers that still exist between disciplines to contribute to solving the big challenges facing the world? How can you take your research and give it an international perspective? How do you position yourself as a global researcher? What does internationalisation mean for you and your research?
Best bits of previous Internationalisation colloquia:
“Opportunity to talk with other students about potential future collaborations”
“The questions I was asked about my project”
“I thought the group take discussions were great! I loved having a chance to have focused discussion with other people doing similar subjects”
“Networking. You did a really good job of sitting us with people doing mutually-interesting/connected topics. we decided to do an SLF reading group between the people on our table. Then after a couple of pints in the pub after the meal we also came up with a great and timely idea for what to do this on (watch this space)!”
“The focus on inter-disciplinary collaboration”
“Finally meeting in person with a couple of WRoCAH students I have been emailing.”
Year 2: Who with? Working with partners and getting out there.
Colloquium 2: Who With? Expanding horizons and partnership working
Timing: 1 day, November at the start of year 2 (Leeds or Sheffield)
This eventis timed near the start of your second year and is intended to ensure that you are prepared for taking a step outside of academia to experience applying your research skills in a totally new environment and in an area that is not directly related to your research.
Researcher Employability Projects (REPs) are intended to be of equal benefit for you and your partner organisation. You will learn how to manage your own and your partner organisation’s expectations as you identify, develop and execute a successful project, including practical aspects such as costing and booking travel and accommodation. You will also learn how to evaluate that project, both during the project and afterwards to be confident that you have made a meaningful contribution to that organisation.
Researcher Employability Project
Timing: 1-3+ months during your second year
This is your opportunity to spend some time away from your immediate area of research, working in a non-academic organisation where you will have the chance to apply your research skills and practice transferable skills in a different environment. Students are amazed at their own capability to adapt and thrive and find this time away from their main topic of research a refreshing change allowing them to return to their PhD research with renewed vigour. Even if you are considering an academic career, experience of working beyond the academy will stand you in good stead in a world where engagement and partnership are high up the research agenda.
We anticipate that most students will choose to spend between 1-3 months on a project with their chosen partner organisation which can be in the UK or overseas. The exact duration will depend on the project and the preferences of you and your partner organisation. It also does not have to be a solid block of time, and can be completed in shorter durations over a longer period of time depending on your personal circumstances.
You will create a project plan with your partner organisation including specific objectives to be achieved and milestones where you can check progress. You will think about what skills you want to learn and practice and how those relate to your post-PhD aspirations.
Previous students say:
“The REP scheme was amazing and really changed the way I think about research, dissemination, knowledge, collaboration, history, analysis, and what I might be able to do.”
“… ended up being the highlight of my PhD.”
“Taking on a work placement is not something I would ever have done without prompting from WRoCAH, but it has provided me with a substantial addition to my academic CV and I am immensely grateful that I completed it.”
“… the single most impactful period of my PhD, in terms of my personal development.”“It was challenging to work outside of an ‘academic environment’ but refreshing and stimulating at the same time.”
“The REP was an invaluable breath of fresh air from my research, increasing my motivation and confidence, and helping me broaden my perspective.”
“It is one of the main features of the scholarship that convinced me that Leeds was the right place to complete my PhD.”
“I think it is an excellent opportunity to develop skills and to work in a new way – especially in my case as someone who has already had a career in one field!”
“The whole experience has encouraged me to think outside the box in terms of how I might secure future research positions, encouraging an entrepreneurial mind-set which I think will be an asset to me as I navigate what is currently a tricky employment landscape”
“I feel much more confident about my employment prospects post-PhD.”
Colloquium 3: Knowledge Exchange
Timing: 1.5 days, April of your second year (York)
In your third year (if you haven’t already) you will start looking seriously about the impact of your research and how you can share the new insights you have gained with audiences beyond the academy. So towards the end of your second year, we bring you together to think creatively about the ways in which you can share your research beyond academic audiences. You will have the chance to work with experts to get a taste of how you can create that all important impact.
Year 3: Research Dissemination and Life after PhD
Knowledge Exchange Project
If you haven’t completed a KEP yet, you will do a short project in your third year targeting a specific audience of your choice. We will help you identify and build a project that allows you to show off your research with a relevant audience. This can be done solo or in collaboration with other students within the cohort and it can be a big project or a small one. The choice is yours.
Colloquium 4: What Next? Life after PhD
Timing: 2 days, June of your third year (Leeds or Sheffield)
The final Colloquium of the WRoCAH training programme is focused on tying up the loose ends of the PhD and taking some time to seriously reflect on the next steps you will be taking after your PhD. Even for students who have had careers prior to undertaking a PhD, post-doctoral life can feel very different after spending so much time focused on research.
You will have the opportunity to participate in activities relating to:
- Managing your final few months of research, and ‘letting go’ of your precious thesis
- Being as prepared as possible for your viva examination
- Talking about your doctoral research experience in academic and non-academic interviews
- Medium and longer-term career and life planning
- Your personal values and how these relate to your career aspirations
Life after WRoCAH
Once you finish your thesis and take your first post-PhD career steps, we hope you will come back and share your experiences with future WRoCAH cohorts. We love to stay in touch with our alumni, we will be following your careers with interest and will welcome you back at any opportunity to events or to just say hello!