Postgraduate Researchers from Diverse Backgrounds: A Framework for Defining, Measuring and Supporting Success
This framework is an output from a Collaborative Enhancement Project supported and funded by the QAA.
The project was led by the Researcher Academy at the University of Nottingham, in partnership with the Scottish Graduate School of Social Sciences, the University of Leeds, the University of Warwick and the UK Council for Graduate Education.
Measures for success in postgraduate research are not well-established, nor is there broad agreement of how success in postgraduate research should be defined beyond narrow measures such as thesis submission and completion rates, career destinations and publication metrics.Postgraduate Researchers from Diverse Backgrounds: A Framework for Defining, Measuring and Supporting Success, p. 4
Underpinning recommendations
- Commit to recognising broader parameters for success and embed this in the postgraduate research process
- Co-create interventions with postgraduate researchers from diverse backgrounds and reward them for their contributions
Framework outline
The framework identifies four areas of success in postgraduate research, and offers guidance on how to measure performance against those areas:
Accessing Opportunities
E.g. transferable skills, training, getting a job, networking
Measurement might include:
- Data from development needs analysis exercises
- Skills audits
- Publication data on collaborations
- Course attendance and feedback
- P R E S data
- Graduate Outcomes data
- Annual progression review data/P G R‑reported data
Meeting Expectations
Including: PGR’s own expectations, those of the supervisor, and the university’s expectations
Measurement might include:
- Progression data
- Submission and completion data
- Viva outcomes
- Reflective exercises related to goal setting
Outputs
E.g. impact, publishing, thesis, conference presentations, blogs, reports
Measurement might include:
- Publication data
- ResearchFish data
- Annual progression review data / PGR reported data
- Contributions to impact case studies
Experience
E.g. happiness, sense of purpose, work-life balance, integration into research culture, belonging, becoming an independent researcher
Measurement might include:
- PGR engagement with support services
- PGR feedback on support services
- PRES data
- Annual progression review data / PGR-reported data
