Deans & Directors of Graduate Schools

Speakers

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  Kirsty Grainger

  Head of Talent and Skills Strategy, UKRI

  • The New Deal for Postgraduate Research
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  Frances Burstow

  Deputy Director for Skills and Methods, Economic and Social Research Council

  • What’s next for the ESRC Review of the PhD in the Social Sciences?

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  Frances Burstow is the Deputy Director for Skills and Methods. In this role she leads ESRC’s investment and policies in the area of researcher skills development and methodological development and innovation. This includes the ESRC’s Doctoral Training Network, support for early career researchers and major research methods investments such as the National Centre for Research Methods and the Applied Quantitative Methods Network.

  Frances joined the ESRC in 2004 and has worked in a variety of roles since then including strategic lead for longitudinal studies and head of research grants and policy.

  Prior to joining the Research Councils Frances worked in local government. She holds a degree in Politics from Lancaster University and Master’s degree in Political Communication from the University of Liverpool.

  Website: https://esrc.ukri.org/about-us…

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  Darren Van Laar

  Director of Graduate School, University of Portsmouth

  • What’s next for the ESRC Review of the PhD in the Social Sciences?

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  Darren has been the Director of the Graduate School since its inception in 2011. He is also a Reader in Applied Psychology in the Department of Psychology, where he investigates the quality of working life of employees and lectures in statistics and research methods.

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  Jane Creaton

  Professor of Higher Education, University of Portsmouth

  • Embedding Mental Health Support for PGRs in the Long Term — what happens when the Catalyst Funding ends?

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  Jane Creaton is Professor of Higher Education and Associate Dean (Academic) for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Her expertise is in doctoral education, particularly professional doctorates and mental health and wellbeing. She was Principal Investigator on a funded project Postgraduate Research Student Mental Health and Wellbeing (supported by £150,000 from the Office for Students Catalyst Fund) which was completed in January 2020. She became a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2016 and a National Teaching Fellow in 2019 and currently Chairs the Vitae Working Group on Mental Health and Wellbeing.

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  Kate Arnold

  Professor of Ecology & Dean of the Graduate Research School, University of York

  • Improving Black, Asian and minority ethnic students’ access to postgraduate research

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  For 20+ years, Professor Arnold has been working at the intersection of science, policy and regulation. As an academic in the UK and Australia, she has held a variety of positions including a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. Since joining the University of York in 2010, Professor Arnold has been studying the responses of animals to environmental and social perturbations, by collaborating widely across disciplines and working on a diversity of systems. Since September 2020 Professor Arnold has been Dean of the York Graduate Research School.

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  Rebekah Smith McGloin

  Director of Doctoral School and Research Operations, Nottingham Trent University

  • Structures and Strategy in Doctoral Education in the UK and Ireland

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  Rebekah joined NTU in January 2020. Prior to this, she was Director of the Doctoral College and Centre for Research Capability and Development at Coventry University. She has also worked in doctoral education at University of Nottingham where she completed her PhD in 2005. Rebekah has a strong interest in transformational change and growth in research and expertise in researcher capability development and research capacity building. She is committed to creating strong, diverse and inclusive doctoral communities. She has an extensive track record in doctoral training, in particular in the configuration, set-up and delivery of regional, national and international doctoral training programmes.

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  Carolyn Wynne

  Director, Doctoral College & Centre for Research Capability and Development, Coventry University

  • Structures and Strategy in Doctoral Education in the UK and Ireland

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  Carolyn is the Director of the Doctoral College & Centre for Research Capability and Development at Coventry University with responsibility for 900 doctoral candidates and the strategic leadership for the delivery of quality research degree programmes and researcher development activity from PhD to Professor.

  Carolyn has worked in the HE sector for 14 years, in numerous strategic roles supporting PGT and PGR. She is a past Co-Chair of the UKCGE Graduate School Managers Network, Chair of the University Alliance Head of Graduate Schools Network, and sits on the EUA-CDE thematic steering group for Cotutelle and Dual Award programmes. Carolyn has enrolled as a part-time PhD candidate in September 2021.

  Carolyn joined the UKCGE Executive Committee in July 2021.