GRADskills Programme

The full programme of GRADskills workshops can be found on the PDMS booking system which has the most up-to-date information about which workshops are running and in what format. Workshops go live for booking 5 weeks before the workshop date.

Please take time to read the GRADskills workshop policy prior to attendance.

‌GRADskills is a suite of workshops and activities designed specifically for research postgraduate students (i.e. PhD, MPhil), delivered by the Centre for Education Enhancement and Development (CEED) for St Leonard’s College.

We aim to support the development of all research postgraduate students at the University of St Andrews, to improve their research capability and widen their employability inside and outside of academia.

Choosing a workshop

Our GRADskills workshops are organised in two ways: by thematic bundle or by Researcher Development Framework (RDF) domain.

Thematic bundles follow the PGR journey from ‘Getting started’, through ‘Writing and publishing’ to  ‘Finishing up’. This is designed to help you find the most relevant workshops for the skills you want to develop and the stage of your research degree. The GRADskills programme is organised by thematic bundle on PDMS.

Alternatively, you might want to see which workshops we run for each particular sub-domain of the Researcher Development Framework (RDF), particularly if you use the RDF to structure your skills development discussions with your supervisor. Each of our workshops is mapped to the RDF and you can find the domain and subdomain listed in the course description of each workshop.

You can find out more about using the Researcher Development Framework at our RDF webpages.

Booking a workshop

You can request a place on any workshop using the University’s online booking system: Personal Development Management System (PDMS).  Here is a link to a video which explains how to use PDMS to find and book on workshops, and access and print your training record.

All workshops can be found under the GRADskills programme on PDMS. Here you will be able to see workshops that are open for booking (hyperlinked) as well as those that have run in the past.

All workshops open to PGRs can be found on PDMS by selecting “Show all courses”, filtering by Audience, and selecting “PG Research”.

Important changes

We are excited to welcome you to our upcoming workshops, and we would like to inform you about some important changes to our PGR workshops and courses. Over the last semester, we encountered some challenges with our administrative processes that affected the smooth running of our workshops. Feedback also showed that this needed improved. In response to this, we have been hard at work implementing new guidelines and policies to enhance your overall experience. 

These changes have been designed to streamline administrative tasks, improve efficiency, and ensure that our workshops run seamlessly. We are committed to providing you with a high-quality learning environment, and these adjustments will help us achieve that goal. 

Rest assured that these updates will not only benefit our team but will also make your participation more convenient and enjoyable. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we work to create a better workshop experience for everyone. 

Our new guides and policies can be accessed here. Please take time to read through this prior to attending your workshop.

Thank you for being a part of our workshops, and we look forward to a successful and productive semester ahead.