Danielle Fatzinger (@bonniecelt) is a final year PhD researcher in Celtic & Gaelic. In this post, she reflects on her experience with Researcher Development, why it’s necessary for PGRs, and what we can learn, even if the workshop isn’t exactly what we need.

All PGRs at the University of Glasgow (and probably all PGRs everywhere) know that they have mandatory training to complete, both specific courses and a specific number of courses per year. Another thing all PGRs know is that we have a love/hate relationship with these training requirements. 

It took me a couple years to realise that I could enjoy training workshops if I thought more carefully about what workshops I was choosing and when. The same workshop as a first year doesn’t have the same effect as in third year. Some workshops are just unhelpful if they’re done at the wrong time. 

So, how do you choose workshops? Why should you attend any in the first place? What do you do if a workshop isn’t what you thought, isn’t as useful as you thought, or you find you aren’t ready for it or are more advanced? 

I’ve been in all these situations, and it’s easy for thoughts and attitude to turn negative. Mine certainly did. But I’ve since learned that they can all be good experiences. You will be in the training, after all, so you might as well get something from it! 

Mandatory training 

There are some courses that all PGRs must do, ideally in their first postgraduate year, and these are ones that can cause the most negative feelings for some people, because they weren’t personally chosen, and because they’re meant to cover a range of material, not all of which will be relevant to everyone.  

For instance, my research focuses on the late-seventeenth century, so I don’t have any ethical concerns related to people or animals, but my Research Integrity workshop three years ago talked about ethical approval a lot. Myself, and others I knew whose work focused on medieval or early modern material, left the workshop feeling as if we had wasted our time. 

Of course, they’ve been improving that workshop and other mandatory ones since then, and now there’s a self-paced online portion and the live session is shorter. Plus, the online portion addresses a wider range of issues relevant to almost everyone, and working through it now in thesis pending year, I found myself diving into the extra material and learning much more than I did in first year. 

I know now, however, that I didn’t waste my time at that first year Research Integrity workshop. Sure, it may not have been directly relevant to my research, but it was directly relevant to being a researcher. Having a base of knowledge of what other PGRs have to do has allowed me to understand their work better and participate in conversations without asking a lot of questions like ‘but what does ethical approval mean?’ or ‘Why has it taken so long to start collecting data?’ This may seem like a little thing, but being able to make connections, even small ones, more widely helps with building communities both within and between colleges. 

If a workshop feels like it’s not useful to you or not what you expected, then it’s a good chance to take a step back and rethink what the workshop can be for. Are there short discussion sections during which you can build connections? Can you expand your knowledge of research practices more generally? Will some of the ideas be useful later, or are they things that can be shared with peers in an earlier or later stage of their research? If you’re well-versed in the material being discussed, could you speak up more to share that experience? Could you focus on reviewing the basics? 

There are many possibilities, and seeking something to get out of a workshop is better than seething your way through it or even actively zoning out. 

But why do we need them, and how do we know what to take? 

We need to do training workshops, in short, because our PhD is both research and research training. For many of us, it’s also training to develop skills and experience that can be utilised for non-academic positions. We need it to fill gaps in our experience and explore things we’re interested in. That’s why writing workshops are always popular: most PGRs don’t have extensive experience in academic writing, and writing is hard even for those who do. 

But timing can be key to workshops improving your working. That’s why some courses are limited to specific years. You don’t exactly need a course on the final stages of writing a thesis in your second year. I made the mistake of taking a Job Applications workshop too early, so I didn’t find it too helpful. Many of the more creative workshops need to be practiced afterwards for the ideas to stick, so if you take a workshop about blogging or visualisation, try to incorporate it into your work afterwards. That may mean not taking them until your second or third year. 

You’ll also want to identify your necessary weaknesses and your strengths. If you know you need to improve in an area necessary for your research, then seek out the training for it. I did this in my first year, completing online training on Scottish paleography and setting up training sessions with my supervisor to learn to read Classical Gaelic, and attending a conference all about archives and using them. These are examples very specific to my research, but it’s the same idea for others. 

If you don’t feel ready for the workshop you’re in, don’t be afraid to ask questions. You can also ask for other resources to fill in gaps you may have when you leave. Others in the workshop probably have similar concerns or struggles, and it’s better than hoping you don’t need to talk to anyone or being completely confused the whole time. You can also seek out workshops about your strengths if they’ll improve your skills: this will help with completing work, as well, and when it comes to preparing for post-PGR life. 

And please, don’t sign up for everything, and do cancel your place if you can’t attend. I’ve been in workshops with less than the expected number of attendees, and I’ve been unable to attend workshops that I learned didn’t have all the attendees who were supposed to be there. It’s frustrating in both situations. 

Sit down with what’s offered in the programme from your Graduate School. Pick what looks interesting or useful; there are so many options, but don’t limit yourself in the first look-through. Identify why you want to take each workshop. Is it actually useful, or do you want to attend because it’ll be a good form of procrastination at some future date? (I’ve been there, and it can be hard to resist). Will it be more useful to take next year, or do you need it now? Narrow your options and sign up for the ones that make the cut, and then keep an eye on your email for extra events/workshops on offer throughout the year or by outside organisations.  

The extra time spent planning will be worth it. I don’t have any problem taking something useful and positive away from workshops, now that I think about it more seriously before signing up.