News and blog

In summer 2026, UKCGE welcomed volunteer Charlotte Skye – a doctoral candidate at the University of Birmingham – who will be working on a new campaign focussed on the value of doctoral study. Her placement is funded by Midlands4Cities.

This summer, UKCGE celebrates three years of supervision training for people working outside of Higher Education institutions (non-HEIs). In this article, trainers Professors Janet De Wilde and Julie Sheldon reflect on their unique approach and talk about why they love working with supervisors from more than 40 external organisations across the UK.

On July 16th 2026, we welcomed Barrister, Caroline Roberts-Waterworth, who held an online session helping people to navigate the complexities of international postgraduate research collaborations. The event was held under the Chatham House Rule, and it was hosted by the PEP Network (chaired by Susanna Broom and Kerri Gardiner) although it was also open to Deans and Directors of Graduate Schools and people in similar roles.

On July 15th 2026, we welcomed Julien le Jeune d’Allegeershecque of the Collaborative Research for Online Postgraduate Studies Network (CROPSNet) to launch a new report ​‘Mental Health & Wellbeing of Online PGT Students: Pinch Points & Good Practice’. It comes with a companion self-assessment tool, which has been developed to support programme teams in translating principles into action. 

A new UKCGE/​University Alliance publication on professional doctorates was launched on July 9th 2026 with an online event, hosted by the co-authors, in which the methodologies and key findings were discussed.

The UKCGE Annual Conference 2026 was held on July 2nd and 3rd at the University of Liverpool and comprised a packed programme of presentations and workshops, all themed around ​‘Postgraduate Cultures: Community, Collaboration and Connection’.

On June 16th 2026 we welcomed Dr Anabel Varela Carver from Imperial College London for an online session looking at future trends and developments in PGT and how educators can adapt their teaching methods to meet the changing needs of students. 

On June 11th 2026, Dr Ana Costa-Pereira (Imperial College London) presented a webinar on wellbeing and belonging in PGT, which was applicable to any type of higher education institution and encompassed all the various roles within PGT.

On May 20th 2026, the PEP Network ran its regular session taking an overview of the PGR landscape, discussing challenges and looking at upcoming priorities. The session was run under the Chatham House Rule to allow people to speak freely in confidence.

On May 7th 2026, speakers from the universities of Newcastle and Durham presented an online webinar in which they introduced the ​‘Thinking Environment’ approach as a method to enhance creative and effective thinking, particularly in supervisory contexts. The event was held in association with the UKCGE Research Supervisors’ Network.