Doctoral Training and Education Programme (DETD)
Learn more about the DETD programme, why it's important and how to access it.
What is the DETD?
The DETD programme is a range of interactive workshops, seminars and events designed to support PGRs through their doctoral journey. The DETD programme supplements the specialised education and training offered within your School.
It is offered in collaboration with academic colleagues as well as colleagues from the Library, Researcher Development, Employability and NTU Student Support Services.
Why is education and development important?
Your doctoral thesis is incredibly important, but we want to help you to become an active, competent and confident researcher who can do much more that create and complete one discrete research project.
We’ll help you learn:
- how to construct, carry out and write up your research
- how to share your research with different audiences
- how to make time for your mental health and wellbeing
- how to network and connect with peers and collaborators
- how to engage with different kinds of research and knowledge enterprises
- how to publish your work in a range of places, both within and outside of academia.
We focus on whole-researcher and whole-person development at NTU; on the researcher as well as their research.
Who is it for?
The workshops, events and seminars within the DETD are for all registered PGR at NTU and are opened to other PGR who are working with supervisors or on collaborative projects at NTU. We do also make a number of workshops available to the wider research community at NTU.
How does it work?
We offer a varied programme that utilises different styles of delivery and learning methods, including facilitators from across NTU, the academic sector, and the professional and creative industries.
We offer sessions both online and in person, with hybrid sessions when appropriate. Shorter sessions of 90 minutes or less are generally delivered online, for ease of access for all candidates, and recordings are uploaded to the DETD Teams channel (see below). We always endeavour to make our in-person sessions as robust and engaging as possible, to make the trip to campus worthwhile!
There are seven workshop series:
1. Project approval (core series for new starters)
Workshops focus on:
- understanding the nature and demands of doctoral study
- developing a proposal
- navigating ethical approval
- understanding the different dimensions of ethical, rigorous research, and the practicalities of starting a doctorate.
2. Submission and defence (core series for completion and viva)
Workshops focus on:
- pulling a thesis together
- preparing for viva
- the practicalities of submission, including copyright, embargo and online storage
- preparing for a career post-PhD.
3. Developing your writing
Workshops focus on a range of aspects related to writing at this level, including:
- practical sessions on sentences, paragraphs, verbs, voice, coherence, etc.
- input on writing different parts of the thesis, such as the methodology, findings, introduction and conclusion
- strategies for being a happier and more productive writer.
4. Becoming a Dr
Workshops focus on:
- affective dimensions of being in academia, such as imposterism, self-sabotage and procrastination
- managing your mental health and wellbeing
- networking
- creating a scholarly profile.
5. Research methods and analysis
A range of workshops on different approaches to doing research, including:
- methodologies
- forms or modes of analytical tools
- using theory in research.
This series includes R training and NVivo training.
6. Publication and impact
Workshops on:
- creating impact through understanding where, how and why we publish research
- creating publication plans and strategies
- conquering conferences
- publishing - including writing for academic journals and books
- writing for the media, blogs, reviews etc.
7. PGR Toolkit
Practical sessions focused on ‘nuts and bolts’ including:
- creating an online profile
- recruiting participants to your study
- research admin and project management
- understanding research impact
- Turnitin and thesis submission
How to access the DETD programme
PGR Dashboard and PGR calendar
All DETD sessions, along with community and social events, are added to the PGR Calendar at the beginning of each academic term. Here you can get a clear overview of the sessions on offer that term. From the PGR Calendar you can add the event to your calendar and follow the link in an event description to register to attend.
All DETD events are managed via the PGR Dashboard: the registration link included in an event on PGR Calendar will take you to the booking page for that particular session. In addition to booking onto sessions, your attendance will also be recorded on the PGR Dashboard which can be viewed under My Completed activity so that you have a log of your training and development.
The DETD Teams Channel
Recordings, videos, PowerPoints and other resources from the programme can be found on the DETD Teams channel. Rather than sending out slides or recordings after a session, we upload them to the Teams so that they can be accessed by any candidates at any time. To access this content, please join the Teams channel.