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Skills Training and Career Development

The aim of our training is to enhance the skills of our postgraduates so that, as talented individuals, they will be best placed for future careers, both in academic and industrial research, and in the increasing range of other science-related careers. Postgraduate training is undergoing significant changes in response to the demands of these career environments, and today's researchers require a wide range of academic and professional skills. Our Graduate Training Programme supports this agenda and we are regularly developing, updating and evaluating the programme to meet the needs of our students and their future employers.

Skills Training consists of a series of compulsory and optional activities designed to enhance the development of both research skills and generic/professional skills. This scheme ensures that all students receive training relevant to their individual needs as they progress through their research programme and develop their careers.

Professional Skills Training

Each student has a Personal Development Plan, supported both by their supervisor and the IFR Training Manager. This enables students to reflect upon their own learning, performance and achievements, and to plan for their personal, educational and career development with the full support of the institute's human resources facilities. Every six months a review session with the Training Manager takes place, so that progress can be discussed, along with new ideas and areas for further development.

Students’ skill training is monitored and developed via Personal Development Plans which are discussed and reviewed at supervisory meetings, annual progress reviews and six monthly reviews with the Training & Development Manager.

Students are particularly encouraged to develop skills in science communication and research ethics, and there are opportunities for public engagement, e.g. local “Showcase of Postgraduate Research”, and work with the Teacher Scientist Network.

Research Skills Training

Technical training is designed to broaden the student's knowledge of the research field and to develop a deeper understanding of contemporary developments in plant and microbial sciences. Training courses on a wide range of methodologies are provided at JIC and also in conjunction with the Science Schools of UEA.

Courses provide specialist training in IT, computational biology, and a wide range of techniques and experimental approaches.

Students take mandatory modules for advanced skills training in statistics and experimental design, and in computational biology and bioinformatics.

Technical taster days and techniques workshops enable students to gain new ideas and identify the experts in particular research technologies.

Students learn many techniques simply by shadowing "the experts" anywhere in IFR's open-lab environment.

Career Development

Students are given appropriate career guidance by the supervisory team, and also the UEA Careers Centre has a specific adviser specialising in postdoctoral career opportunities who operates a "careers clinic" involving one-to-one consultations. Students are encouraged to participate in national and international meetings relevant to their research and to become part of the international scientific community.

70 - 80% of our graduates continue in research in the UK, Europe and Overseas. Others have joined different science-related careers.