Doctoral Training for Research Students

Postgraduate study is demanding. You need a clear understanding of your discipline and the contribution you intend to make. Whatever your chosen field you will require research skills, but you will also need to develop a wider range of personal transferable skills. We will get you off to a good start at the outset and throughout your studies with the University's DoctoralTraining Programme. 

The Programme is open to all students registered for higher degrees by thesis. The courses provide training which is relevant for your professional development, and is intended to complement the discipline-specific training offered by the Business School. The skills you will acquire are intended to help your research at Durham and also to enhance your life skills and employability.

The Doctoral Training Programme consists of an Induction Day followed by a series of courses, online study and developmental opportunities spread throughout the year. The programme itself begins with a thorough needs assessment conducted online, with the support of your supervisory team, to allow you to plan your training activities. This is reviewed as you progress through your studies to ensure you are being offered the best development opportunities to enhance your career.

Topics included in the five key areas are:

Supporting Your Research

• The student-supervisor relationship
• Time management
• Presentation skills
• Research methods
• Speed reading
• Writing literature reviews
• Using interviews in research
• Getting published

• Preparing for your viva

Supporting Your Career

• Making successful applications
• Working outside academia
• Aptitude tests
• Cross cultural enterprise
• Starting and running a business

• Intellectual property

Supporting Your Teaching

• Teaching large groups
• Teaching small groups

• Personal tuition

Information Literacy and IT Skills

• Finding and managing information
• Keeping up to date with new research
• Intelligent web searching
• Increasing the impact of your research

• Introduction to Access, Word, Excel, Powerpoint

Developmental Opportunities

• Postgraduate teaching
• Conference and events grants
• Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning
• Language Centre

If you would like further details about the Doctoral Training Programme, please contact:

Dr Lowry McComb
Director of Postgraduate Training
Tel: +44 (0)191 334 3744
email t.j.l.mccomb@durham.ac.uk 

Business School training

Further discipline-specific training is provided by the Business School. This includes advanced training courses led by internationally-recognized researchers. Recent examples include:

• Ehud Lehrer (Bar Ilan University) on Game Theory;
• Mike Hannan (University of Columbia) and Professor Glenn Carroll (Stanford University) on Population Ecology;
• Werner De Bondt (DePaul University) on Behavioural Finance;
• Bill McKelvey (UCLA) on Complexity Theory;
• Gregory Koutmos (Fairfield University) on Asset Pricing and Volatility;
• John Doukas (Old Dominion University) on Mergers & Acquisitions, and Asset Price Anomalies.

These training sessions are an opportunity to meet with visiting researchers and discuss their cutting-edge work.