Empower your PhD students to thrive. GuildHE Research provides a comprehensive suite of support, including writing workshops, mentoring, placements, and a dynamic annual doctoral festival to build their community.
As part of our membership offer, we deliver a Postgraduate Researcher (PGR) Programme of events and activities for doctoral students at member institution.
Our members are at a range of exciting stages in developing their PGR activity and doctoral schools. The PGR students at our member institutions have frequently taken non-traditional pathways into doctoral research, often returning to research after careers in related industries. They are also more likely to be self-funded and part-time as well as mature, female, and have caring responsibilities.
The PGR programme aims to build an inclusive and supportive community of postgraduate and early stage researchers across our member institutions, offering peer support and the opportunity to engage with and learn researchers across a huge diversity of disciplines and research approaches. PGR students and early stage researchers benefit from a broad range of events, training and workshops in which they develop research skills, are inspired to consider different career and professional pathways, and are encouraged to broaden their horizons. Creating inclusive, supportive environments which encourage wellness are at the heart of the activities and engagement we offer.
The PGR community and programme provides us with an invaluable opportunity to engage with PGR students and understand their experiences in order to inform our policy and advocacy work.
Programme activities
Doctoral Festival
The Doctoral Festival is our annual flagship event for PGR students. The two-day festival provides doctoral students and early-stage researchers at our institutions the opportunity to talk about their research, and participate in sessions and workshops covering topics such as research communication, impact, and managing the doctoral journey.
The festival provides a vital opportunity for participants to network with other researchers, meet experts and organisations from the wider research and innovation ecosystem, and broaden their horizons. PGRs have praised the collegiate atmosphere of the event, the knowledge and momentum they gained, and the invaluable peer support found in our community.
Global majority PGR network
Our Global Majority PGR Network was co-created with PGR students following recommendations in a research report commissioned by GHE Research on the lived experiences of ethnic minority PGR students at our institutions. The network aims to build an inclusive, supportive community of PGR students and early stage researchers from global majority backgrounds at our institutions. It also aims to support global majority researchers in career and skills development and inform our policy and advocacy work on equality, diversity and inclusion in research.
The network is supported by a committee of four PGR students. Two meetings take place per year, and we operate a network Jiscmail forum which is used to share and signpost opportunities.
Peer support community
Our student-led PGR peer support community provides monthly online meetings to our PGR students to get together to discuss their experiences, challenges and opportunities in their doctoral research journey, and offer peer support. Each meeting focuses on a different topic such as research methods, writing, wellness, and staying motivated.
The sessions are run by two student coordinators, Susan Birch (University of Winchester) and Peter Underwood (Bath Spa University).
Other activities and workshops
We run other events, workshops and engagement activities throughout each academic year. This includes social media tips and tricks for Academic Writing Month each November, one-off writing rooms and workshops on topics such as thesis writing. We also operate a Jiscmail forum for our PGR community in order to share opportunities including events, fellowships, work experience, and policy engagement opportunities.