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Professional development for postgraduate researchers

Learn more about Warwick SkillsForge, a new online platform to support postgraduate researchers with their professional development, which launched on 11 September 2017.

What is SkillsForge?

As part of the PGR professional development framework, doctoral researchers are expected to undertake a minimum of ten days of professional development per full-time year, with three days dedicated to non-discipline specific transferable skills.

Warwick SkillsForge is an online platform to support students and staff, and will help enable researchers to:

  • complete a Development Needs Analysis
  • find and book onto centrally provided training courses
  • record and reflect on activities undertaken
  • record their own development activities
  • have a single online portal for evidencing professional development.

It has been built to be researcher focused and editable so that PG researchers are able to self-certify skill levels and activities undertaken.

Supervisors can review the Development Needs Analysis, and have the ability to view the majority of activities each postgraduate researcher undertakes, and this will inform the annual meeting where professional development is discussed.

Supervisors can also look for courses available to recommend or guide researchers, and will be able to see an activity log summary.

Departmental support staff will also have the ability to report on professional development within Centres/Departments.

The team hope the platform will be a useful tool to support professional development.

Find out more

View the frequently asked questions

Read the Warwick SkillsForge user guides

Log in to SkillsForge

For more information or any queries, or if you have any feedback on the system or framework, please contact Tracy Horton, PGR Professional Development Officer, at PGRdevelopment at warwick dot ac dot uk