Personal Development Planning For Postgraduate Research Students

Postgraduate Personal Development Planning

INTRODUCTION
Personal Development Planning (PDP) is a process already present in most PhD supervision and study practices. PDP is a structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own learning, performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career development (QAA 2001). This handbook provides guidelines for Postgraduate Research students at Queens on what PDP involves and to help you to get the most out of the process. Please note that there may be slight variations or specific requirements for you in your School or subject area. Key features of PDP: PDP is an ongoing process, not a single document, nor is it carried out at a single point in time. It provides you with the opportunity to plan, reflect on and record your progress, development and achievements. PDP formalises good practice in working for and supervising a research degree.

PDP is a structured and supported process. The structure and support is provided by: - The Skills Analysis Questionnaire - The Postgraduate Skills Training Programme (PSTP) - Records of meetings with your supervisor(s) - Training plans - Formal reviews 3 month, differentiation, and annual monitoring - Records and evidence of your achievement - Your evaluation and reflection of your progress, achievements and skills - Your research diary or log book or project management file - Support comes from your supervisor(s), your colleagues and other staff in the School, the Postgraduate Office, the Careers and Counselling Services

PDP is a continuous cycle of: - Self-assessment and evaluation - Identification of needs and goals - Planning a course of action to meet these needs and goals - Carrying out your action plan and recording your achievements - Reflecting on the outcomes and evaluating your progress, which should then reveal new needs and goals (Figure 1) PDP requires a series of documents. Some of these should be revisited regularly by you individually and sometimes with your supervisor(s). The documents belong variously to you, your supervisor(s) and the University. In addition to the benefits listed below, PDP supports the timely completion and submission of your thesis. Benefits to you The benefits to you if you participate in PDP are that when you have completed your research programme you will have: engaged in a holistic approach to your educational, career and personal development become more effective in monitoring and reviewing your progress demonstrated that you can access and use the aids and tools provided by Queens to help you reflect on your own learning and achievements and plan for your own personal, educational and career development prioritised development goals throughout your research programme and identified opportunities to improve perceived weaknesses and enhance your strengths created a record of your skills, qualities and achievements which you can use when applying for future employment or furthering your research career become a more effective, independent and confident self-directed researcher and learner

Figure 1 The PDP cycle Reflecting

Reviewing

PDP

Planning

Doing

Postgraduate Personal Development Planning

PDP PORTFOLIO Your PDP portfolio is your way of maintaining the PDP records that you generate in the course of your time at Queens. How you maintain your portfolio is up to you. You may find the PDP E-folio for Postgraduate Research students in Queens Online useful (select the PDP E-folio option on the left side of your Queens Online homepage https://login.qol.qub.ac.uk/home/). The PDP E-folio (see Figure 2) contains templates to assist you in creating Action Plans, Learning Logs, CVs etc that can then be stored in a PDP Folder in your student Home Drive and taken with you when you leave the University. The E-folio also contains a link to the Postgraduate Skills Training Programme (PTSP) software and also includes a reflective self-help page My School for students within your School. Alternatively, you may prefer to keep a paper record, a record in Word or make use of other tools, such as MS Outlook. also contains a link to the Postgraduate Skills Training Programme (PTSP) software and also includes a reflective self-help page My School for students within your School. Alternatively, you may prefer to keep a paper record, a record in Word or make use of other tools, such as MS Outlook. WORKING THROUGH PDP: 1. REFLECTING It is important to take time and reflect on where you are in your professional and personal development and to evaluate your progress towards meeting your ambitions, aspirations or goals. Reflecting helps you to make sense of your experiences, thoughts, knowledge and ideas, to realise what is effective and how things could be improved, and to identify what to do in the future. Table 1 is a series of prompts for reflection at different stages of your research career. You need to record your achievements and update your skills set (project specific and generic skills). By revisiting these you can see how you have made progress and improved your skills during your time at Queens. You need to identify goals that you can complete over the short, medium and long term. You should discuss your achievements and goals with your supervisor(s) and draw up a plan of action for achieving the goals (research plan).

Figure 2 PDP E-folio

Table 1 Reflecting and reviewing What work has been completed? Areas of Reading Coursework (if appropriate) Data Collection Field/lab work Yes No Ongoing

Chapters drafted

Discussion papers drafted

Discussion papers presented

Discussion papers published

What training has been completed?

When?

What did you achieve?

Do you require further training?

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Table 1 Prompts for Reflecting and Reviewing Initial Supervision Meeting(s) Preparation What are your achievements to date? Academic, career, personal? The purpose of this is to ensure that you and your supervisor have the same expectations of your research programme. Previous knowledge and experience What skills have you developed through your previous education or experience? Which aspects of your previous work did you find most engaging and rewarding? Motivations and Expectations What are your reasons for doing a PhD? What do you hope to achieve from undertaking a PhD? What do you expect from: your supervisor your discipline/School Queens University Belfast yourself Are there any areas that you would like to specialise in during your research? What key skills would you like to develop during the course of your research? Including the successful completion of your doctorate, what other ambitions would you like to achieve during your research career/period? For example, do you aim to be published before completion, have teaching experience, help to organise a seminar series or conference, present a paper to a major national or international conference?

What other personal and professional aims and aspirations do you hope to achieve in your first year? In your second year? In your third year? by the end of your research project? How will you realise your goals? What are your long term ambitions? (Personal, career and academic) Initial Supervision Meeting(s): Planning Aims Outline of work schedule Literature review Training priorities Research methods Generic skills What areas of strength did the Skills Analysis Questionnaire reveal? Have you got the evidence? What areas for improvement did the Skills Analysis Questionnaire reveal? What plans do you have for improving this/these skill areas? What do you wish to achieve in the next 6/12 months? What do you need to work on? Annual/Continuous Review Form Personal thoughts and reflections Is progress on schedule with your Initial Plan? How do you feel that the research is going? Are you confident about your research methodology? Are you clear about your research aims and objectives? Have your aims and objectives changed in the past 6 months?

Have there been any major changes to your plans? Do you envisage any problems that are likely to affect progress in the future? What has been your most significant experience in the past 6 months? What have you enjoyed most? What would you like to achieve in the next 6 months? How will you do this? End of Year Review/Evaluation Personal thoughts and reflections What gave you most satisfaction this year and why? What gave you least satisfaction this year and why? What was your most significant achievement this year and why? What would you like to achieve next year? What else have you been proud of/pleased with this year and why? How has your work improved this year? How was this achieved? Which areas do you think you still need to improve on? What will you do to achieve this/these improvement(s)? Have your priorities/goals changed this year? If so, how and why? Do you feel your progress has been on target this year? If not, why not? Did you encounter any obstacles, and if so how did you overcome them? What was the result? Who is your PhD research knowledge for? How is your relationship with your supervisor progressing?

Postgraduate Personal Development Planning

2. PLANNING You need to think about and record a plan of action to achieve your goals and research plans. A good starting point is to define your goal the SMART way to make sure you have the resources and time to complete it. This will help you to plan the steps needed to achieve your goal. Defining your SMART goal will help you decide what you are going to do and what the expected result will be (Table 2). Research and training goals will be set by you and by your supervisor(s) in discussion. It is important to record the goals set. Take time to think about your expectations for each goal. This will help you when you come to review your goals. You need to ensure that you record your goals so that you can then record your achievements. Develop your action/research plan clearly. You may find that a GANTT chart helps with this. A GANTT chart can be produced in MS Word, MS Excel or the timeline of MS Outlook Tasks. 3. DOING As you work through your goals, gather evidence of the new skills and achievements and make review notes. This is called the Doing and Reviewing process. It is important to review each goal as you complete it, so that you can record what you have achieved, consider what still needs to be done and what you can do to improve your approach in the future. You need to make active use of the feedback you receive (see below). 4. REVIEWING If you spend some time reviewing your goal after you have completed it, you should learn more about yourself and be in a position to enhance your personal, academic and career development. What did you expect to achieve? What did you achieve? What can you do to build on strengths or improve weaknesses? Why did you not achieve what you expected to? How can you overcome this in the future? Table 1 provides other prompts to continually review your progress.

Table 2 Examples of SMART goals Specific goal plan Measured by outcome Achievable resources Relevant to development/ action Need to analyse data to demonstrate contribution of variance Timed date for completion

Learn ANOVA in SPSS

Able to analyse field data using ANOVA

PSTP course

Data analysis complete by ...

Present seminar paper

Seminar paper presented presentations

Seminar series PSTP course on feedback

presentation of work to date and

Date

Complete draft literature review

Draft literature review

Literature Guidance from supervisor on literature review

Fits with research plan

Date

Postgraduate Personal Development Planning

POSTGRADUATE SKILLS TRAINING PROGRAMME

The Postgraduate Office provides opportunities for you to undertake skills training. The training opportunities offered are based on the UK Research Councils Joint Skills Statement (Appendix 1). Depending on the nature of your project the courses offered will provide you with generic and also project specific skills. To decide which courses you should undertake a Skills Analysis Questionnaire (SAQ) is provided. It is good practice to record the evidence base for your self assessment (Table 3). You should complete the SAQ honestly and discuss the results with your supervisor(s). They will be able to advise you which courses are appropriate and timely to meet you needs. These should then be incorporated into your research/action plan. You should revisit the SAQ at least once a year and update your training needs. When you have decided which courses to undertake, these should be booked online as part of your PSTP. You can print out a list of the courses you are registered for as well as a list of completed courses. These can be attached to your report forms as evidence. The PSTP also enables you to record any other developmental activities you undertake such as conference attendance.

Table 3 Examples of recording evidence of skills Skills Research skills and techniques to be able to demonstrate: The ability to recognise and validate problems A knowledge of recent advances within ones field and in related areas An understanding of relevant research methodologie and techniques and their appropriate application within ones research field The ability to critically analyse and evaluate ones findings and those of others A valid research proposal Supervisor Supervisor feedback on 3 differentiation report. A research proposal Score 1-5* Evidence

Examples of data analysis

Postgraduate Personal Development Planning

PDP AND FEEDBACK

An important part of PDP is to take account of the feedback that you are given during the course of your research. Feedback can come from a variety of individuals or groups: your supervisor(s) your research student colleagues other staff in the research cluster, subject area or School research students and staff from other institutions or organisations and in a variety of contexts: during formal supervisions during informal discussions, i.e. over coffee, in the lab or in the field etc written feedback on drafts of chapters, reports, monitoring reports during and following seminars at workshops and PSTP courses at conferences Use that feedback to review what you have done and reflect and plan what to do in the future. Remember it is an on-going process and is unlikely to end with the finished thesis. When to do PDP There are many points in time during your research career that provide good opportunities to engage with PDP (Table 4). Supervision meetings Supervision meetings are perhaps the most important part of your training and development. The Universitys guidelines are that you meet with your principal supervisor at least six times a year and with your second supervisor at least twice a year. It is likely that your supervisory team will have its own practice concerning the frequency of formal supervisions and who is involved. However, it is good practice for you to make a record of the meetings that take place. This enables you to refer back to points of discussion, action points and allows you to plan your work for the next supervision. You should send a copy of the meeting record to your supervisors. Whoever was present at the meeting should agree that it is correct. Your supervisors then have copies for their own records. This is especially important if you

Table 4 Examples of opportunities for PDP during your research career

Occasion Induction 3 month initial review Differentiation Annual Review Annual Review Monthly/interim reports Supervision meetings Attending seminar series Presenting a seminar Research cluster meetings Attending a conference Presenting a paper at a conference Organising a seminar series or conference Undertaking training via the PSTP Following a subject specific module(s) Teaching or demonstrating Working with industry or companies Writing papers/chapters Others Examination preparation submission

When Weeks 1 - 4 ca 12 weeks 9-12 months June-August year 1 June-August year 2 Variable At least 6 per year Variable Variable Variable Variable Variable Variable Variable Variable Variable Variable Variable Variable ca 6 weeks following

Postgraduate Personal Development Planning

only see your second supervisor occasionally because as this keeps them in the loop. It may be that your supervisor(s) want to maintain their own records of meetings. Some Schools and subject areas have specific requirements concerning meeting records, so you should be sure that you are aware of these. Induction or during the first month During this time you and your supervisor(s) will be getting to know each other and developing a research plan. Part of that process will perhaps be to establish why you want to do a PhD, what you expect as a research student at Queens, what are your longer term ambitions, and where you see the research developing? It is useful to think about these issues as they are about your expectations and provide the basis for future review as well as a basis for planning your initial action plan. It will also be necessary to carry out an initial skills analysis both for the project that you are working on and for your generic research and interpersonal skills. Your research plan will set out the stages of your research over the course of the 3 year period ending with the timely completion and submission of your thesis. You will probably want to do this at the macro scale and then break it down in to smaller timetables depending on the stage you are at. In the first instance a detailed plan taking you up to your three month review, and looking forward to differentiation and beyond. Then once you have differentiated a plan that takes you forward to the next milestone. Your plan should include the scheduling of any training needs that you have. (Tables 1 and 3) Initial review By the three month initial review you should have a research plan and timetable. You will need to submit this for the review. A detailed plan should take you through to differentiation and/or the end of your first year. It may well be that you have completed some of your goals already which may well include any training needs. You will need to consider and act on any feedback you receive.

Differentiation Differentiation is a time to review what you have done, reflect on what needs to be done next, what your needs are and to make a plan to allow you to fulfil your goals. You will be asked to submit your research plan and your training record, probably a report and attend an interview. In some Schools it is necessary to present a poster or oral presentation. These provide opportunities to discuss your work, receive feedback and also for you to indicate why you might not be on track. You will need to have a detailed plan for the next stage. Annual monitoring You are required to complete an annual monitoring form you will not be able to register for the next academic year without doing so. As part of that process you have to indicate whether your supervisor has helped you to draw up a timetable for your research, whether the work is going according to the planned timetable and whether you have attended any training courses or conferences or had any work published. If the work is not going as planned you need to state why. Equally, you will need to provide evidence of training courses or conferences attended or papers published. Your PDP portfolio will help you with this. You are advised to submit a research plan that clearly indicates what has been done since the last review. Preparing for your viva voce examination This is a time to review and reflect on what you have done and have a plan for the future. In your viva questions such as the following may be asked as part of the discussion: What did you expect to find when you started this project? Why this topic? Tell me about the 2 or 3 papers (articles) that influenced your thinking most? What would you do differently if you had your time over again? Where do you see yourself in 5 years time? What are you going to do with your thesis?

You may have had particular difficulties with the research which are mentioned in you thesis, but the examiner wants to explore these further what did you do? Why? What impact might another approach have had? What did your PhD do for you? Other developmental activities Other opportunities for PDP occur when you attend seminars, training courses, and conferences or make presentations. Each of these is a developmental activity and which you will have planned for, carried out and can be reviewed. When you review or evaluate these activities you need to ask yourself about what you expected to get out of the activity, whether the outcome matched your expectations, if not in what ways did it not, were there unexpected benefits (such as making a new contact) and then moving on to think about what you could do yourself to improve your performance or build on your strengths. PERSONAL/CAREER PLANNING Of course, whilst most of your PDP will centre on your research project, its academic needs, and project and generic skills needs, you will also have personal and career goals that you will want to fulfil during your research project and you can build these into your PDP cycle. The Counselling Service and the Careers Service provide the Personal Effectiveness and Career Management courses as part of the PSTP. Indeed, the Joint Skills Statement encourages you to develop your skills in theses areas and issues concerning these may arise during the opportunities for PDP identified in Table 4. These services will also provide you with opportunities for individual assistance in personal and career planning which you can build into your PDP. There will also be those things that youve always wanted to do and your time at Queens may provide you with the opportunities to fulfil these goals or start working towards them develop a foreign language, learn a musical instrument or pass your driving test.

Postgraduate Personal Development Planning

Appendix 1
Joint Skills Statement from the Research Councils This statement sets out the skills that postgraduate research students would be expected to have or develop during their PhD. These skills may already exist for some students or developed during the course of their research. It is expected that different training mechanisms will be used in the development of these skills - including formal training courses, seminars, conferences, supervisor guidance and coaching, School support and informal opportunities. A) Research Skills and Techniques To be able to demonstrate: 1. the ability to recognise and validate problems 2. original, independent and critical thinking, and the ability to develop theoretical concepts 3. a knowledge of recent advances within ones field and in related areas 4. an understanding of relevant research methodologies and techniques and their appropriate application within ones research field 5. the ability to critically analyse and evaluate ones findings and those of others 6. an ability to summarise, document, report and reflect on progress B) Research Environment To be able to: 1. show a broad understanding of the context, at the national and international level, in which research takes place 2. demonstrate awareness of issues relating to the rights of other researchers, of research subjects, and of others who may be affected by the research, e.g. confidentiality, ethical issues, attribution, copyright, malpractice, ownership of data and the requirements of the Data Protection Act

3. understand relevant health and safety issues and demonstrate responsible working practices 4. understand the processes for funding and evaluation of research 5. justify the principles and experimental techniques used in ones own research 6. understand the process of academic or commercial exploitation of research results C) Research Management To be able to: 1. apply effective project management through the setting of research goals, intermediate milestones and prioritisation of activities 2. design and execute systems for the acquisition and collation of information through the effective use of appropriate resources and equipment 3. identify and access appropriate bibliographical resources, archives, and other sources of relevant information 4. use information technology appropriately for database management, recording and presenting information D) Personal Effectiveness To be able to: 1. demonstrate a willingness and ability to learn and acquire knowledge 2. be creative, innovative and original in one's approach to research 3. demonstrate flexibility and openmindedness 4. demonstrate self-awareness and the ability to identify own training needs 5. demonstrate self-discipline, motivation, and thoroughness 6. recognise boundaries and draw upon/use sources of support as appropriate 7. show initiative, work independently and be self-reliant

E) Communication Skills To be able to: 1. write clearly and in a style appropriate to purpose, e.g. progress reports, published documents, thesis 2. construct coherent arguments and articulate ideas clearly to a range of audiences, formally and informally through a variety of techniques 3. constructively defend research outcomes at seminars and viva examination 4. effectively support the learning of others when involved in teaching, mentoring or demonstrating activities F) Networking and Team working To be able to: 1. Develop and maintain co-operative networks and working relationships with supervisors, colleagues and peers, within the institution and the wider research community 2. Understand one's behaviours and impact on others when working in and contributing to the success of formal and informal teams 3. Listen, give and receive feedback and respond perceptively to others G) Career Management To be able to: 1 appreciate the need for and show commitment to continued professional development take ownership for and manage one's career progression, set realistic and achievable career goals, and identify and develop ways to improve employability 2 demonstrate an insight into the transferable nature of research skills to other work environments and the range of career opportunities within and outside academia 3 present one's skills, personal attributes and experiences through effective CVs, applications and interviews

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