Researcher Environment

What constitutes an excellent researcher environment? A culture of support, integrity and sharing best practice based on clear and robust policies, procedures, training and systems, which are in place to provide an environment where researchers at all levels can contribute and collaborate to the best of their abilities.

Below are just a few of the activities the Researcher Environment Team undertake:

• Deliver and facilitate training through the Researcher Development Programme (like the monthly ‘Shut Up and Write!’ sessions where researchers at all levels can take part in facilitated writing sessions). Login to SkillsForge for course information to book or visit the Researcher Development Programme (RDP) webpage for more information.
• Organise events and competitions, such as Three-Minute Thesis, Falling Walls and Researchers’ Night.
• Provide one-to-one support for postgraduate researchers (PGRs) at our Researcher Environment Drop-In sessions (usually Wednesdays from 12:00-13:00 in SB10/19). There is no need to book, however upcoming dates, times and venues are listed in SkillsForge.
• Contribute to inductions for new PGRs and supervisor training for academic staff.
• PGR coffee mornings/afternoons are run by the Students' Union and the Researcher Environment Team and take place quarterly, providing you with a chance to come and meet representatives from both teams. Bring comments, questions, problems, or just come along for a coffee and chat. These are informal sessions so there is no need to book or to stay for the whole time, but dates, times and venues are accessible via SkillsForge.

The Researcher Environment Team are also responsible for much of the content within the Researcher Environment Brightspace module including:

• The Good Video Guides: Useful resources on how to get the most from PGR supervision, how to manage a doctoral degree (applicable to Masters by Research as well), how to prepare for your viva and what makes a good presentation.
• Online Training: Includes modules on research skills, research integrity and statistical methods for research.
• Training Materials and Resources: Includes PowerPoints from many of the RDP courses bookable via SkillsForge, such as An Introduction to Endnote X8, Research Poster Design, Preparing for your Viva, Research Impact and more.
• Further information on Ethics, Integrity and Plagiarism 
• Further information on using copyright materials in a thesis

Most of all, the team are passionate about ensuring that researchers at all levels have an excellent experience at Huddersfield, so email the Team on pgrskills@hud.ac.uk with any questions or concerns.
You can also follow the Researcher Environment blog and Twitter feed @HudResEnv to keep up to date with relevant information.