News and blog

Professor Bonnie Steves from Glasgow Caledonian University stepped down as Co-Chair of the DDD Network earlier this year. We are grateful for all the support she’s given over the years and are pleased to announce her successor.

Due to the retirement of Professor Stan Taylor, who was the inaugural Chair of the Research Supervisors’ Network, two Co-Chairs have been appointed to take over the running of this forum.

On July 4th/​5th 2024 we welcomed delegates to University College London for our Annual Conference, which looked at the diverse impacts of postgraduate education. The event took place on UCL’s East campus, located on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. It comprised a packed programme which covered everything from PGR employability to the lessons which Covid-19 has taught us about student wellbeing.

We ran an online session on June 6^th 2024 exploring what is and is not yet known about PGR wellbeing, and shared some emergent reflections from primary research about disparities in doctoral/​PGR wellbeing.

Today we’ve launched the UK Research Supervision Survey (UKRSS) and we’d love to know your thoughts — the highs and lows of the supervisory experience, and what leads to good supervision.

During this online workshop, held on May 15^th 2024, Dr Jennie Golding and Dr Heather Sears presented examples of how they are using UKCGE’s Good Supervisory Practice Framework (GSPF) in a global context.

On May 10^th 2024, we partnered with the University of Warwick for an interactive workshop at Friends House in London looking at sector practices related to mitigating circumstances and reasonable adjustments in doctoral education.

The UKCGE is seeking to recruit a new team member to help us support the postgraduate sector, particularly in the area of higher education policy.

The UK Council for Graduate Education is seeking a Co-Chair for the Doctoral Deans and Directors’ (DDD) Network. The successful applicant will have a wide-ranging knowledge of postgraduate education, particularly the challenges facing heads of doctoral schools and colleges. The call for nominations closes at midday on Friday June 7th 2024.

On May 8^th 2024, we ran a session looking at the work of PGR Coordinators: those people who, behind the scenes, support many aspects of PGR learning and experience. They may be staff in faculties, departments, institutes or research centres, and they may or may not be academics.