Your Research and Professional Development Plan (RPDP) is an integral part of the Structured PhD programme at UCD. It has been specifically designed for you to help in the planning, monitoring and completion of your PhD. The RPDP is a set of tools to aid in the preparation and progress of your research and professional skills. It is owned by you, but is intended to be beneficial to both you and your supervisor
Your RPDP will play a major part in directing the course of your PhD research and in your training and development as a researcher. It will aid you in planning your research, will be a useful resource when it comes to writing up, and will also help you develop key skills which will be invaluable to both your current research and your future career prospects. Finally, it will be an important document in your Transfer Assessment at the end of your first year at UCD.
At present there are 3 versions of the RPDP available.
RPDP for all PhD students from September 2008 Onwards
This version of the RPDP is for all PhD students starting at UCD from September 2008 onwards. For more infomation about this version of the RPDP, please click on the tab marked 2008 Onwards above.
RPDP for all PhD students from September 2007
This version of the RPDP is for PhD students who started a PhD at UCD from September 2007. For more information about this version of the RPDP, please click on the tab marked 2007above.
RPDP for 2006 Ad Astra Research Scholars
This version of the RPDP is only for Ad Astra Research Scholars who started a PhD at UCD in 2006. If you are in this group, you should continue using you RPDP folder, the Student Logbook, and the online templates. For more information about this version of the RPDP, please click on the tab marked 2006 above.
Research and Professional Development planning is an integral part of your PhD programme. The purpose of such planning is to ensure that your work is clearly focused on achieving your research and professional goals. This will play a major part in informing the trajectory of your PhD research and in your training and development as a researcher. Your plan will also help you develop key skills that will be invaluable for both your current research and your future career prospects.
Your Research and Professional Development Plans will form the basis of discussions at your meetings with your supervisor and your Doctoral Studies Panel (DSP). A mandatory outcome of the meetings of your DSP is a formal record of your research and professional plans and your progress to date. Reports based on these plans will also be primary inputs to your Transfer Assessment, which determines whether you progress from Stage 1 to Stage 2 of your doctoral studies.
Download your RPDP
Please download the appropriate version of your RPDP below:
| RPDP-Agriculture Food Science & Veterinary Medicine | Microsoft Word |
| RPDP for students of the Graduate School of Arts and Celtic Studies | |
| RPDP for students of the Graduate School of Business and Law | |
| RPDP-Engineering_and_architecture | Microsoft Word |
| RPDP-Health Sciences | Microsoft Word |
| RPDP for students of the Graduate School of Human Sciences | |
| RPDP-Science | Micorsoft Word |
- Not sure to which college you belong to. Please see www.ucd.ie/colleges.htm to find out.
For PDF versions:
To use your RPDP PDF, please make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Reader on your computer. This is available to download for free from www.adobe.com m/products/reader.
The PDF version of your RPDP is easy to navigate. You can use the tabs on the right hand side of the document itself or by using the bookmarks. To see the bookmarks in Adobe Reader go to View, Navigation Panes and select Bookmarks from the list. Simply click on the bookmark of the section you wish to see.
The Meeting section of your RPDP is writeable to make it easy to fill in and save multiple versions of your record reports as you progress through your PhD programme.
Introduction
Different Sections of the RPDP - explained
Where to get your RPDP
RPDP 2007 Stage 1 Pdf
RPDP 2007 Stage 2 Pdf
Your RPDP FAQs
Support for your RPDP
Role of your RPDP in your Transfer Assessment
Your RPDP and Taught Modules
Your RPDP comes in two parts; one for STAGE 1 of your PhD Programme and the other for STAGE 2. Your RPDP STAGE 1 will help you through the first year or so of your PhD at UCD, culminating in your Transfer Assessment. Your RPDP STAGE 2 will help you through the final years of your PhD at UCD.
Different Sections of the RPDP-explained
Student Summary – This is a short section in which you can record relevant details about yourself, your programme, your area of research and any pertinent funding details.
Research Plan – The Research Plan provides a means for you to agree with your supervisor the key objectives in your PhD research. The research plan provides a mechanism for reviewing your progress, assessing your priorities and determining the future direction of the PhD research work. The research plan can be updated as often as you like, so that it accurately reflects your research. It will aid in the planning of your PhD research and will help you complete on time. It will also be useful to refer to it when you start to write up and as you prepare for your viva. Finally it is a valuable introduction into how to plan research, something that will be an integral part of your future career if you intend to continue in research after completing your PhD.
Professional Development Plan – The Professional Development Plan enables you to identify current skills and to plan for development in any relevant areas. Employers, both in academia and outside, are placing an increasing emphasis on skills and their development. It is therefore very important for you to be able to demonstrate that your skills have been actively developed over time. By developing these skills you will not only be a more productive researcher, but you will also be much better placed to compete for employment opportunities after completing your PhD.
Meetings – The RPDP process involves the formal documentation of a series of regular meetings between you and your supervisor to review your progress on both the research and the professional development plans. These meetings are held at important times during your PhD, although you will probably be meeting with the supervisor more often than these formal meetings. The meeting reports will help you capture key actions and decisions reached during these important meetings. The reports should be completed by you and approved and signed by your supervisor. You should keep the original hard copy for your records, and submit additional hard copies to your School Office and supervisor.
Skills Development Record – The Skills Development Record is the culmination of your RPDP. Here you can record all the things you have achieved during your research programme at UCD (e.g. modules/training courses attended, publications, seminars, conferences). It should be updated regularly and reviewed during your regular meetings with your supervisor. Your Skills Development Record will be a valuable resource when you come to applying for jobs after you complete your PhD - both in terms of writing your CV and at interviews.
You will be given both a print and an electronic copy of Your RPDP upon your arrival at UCD. The print copy will be in a special folder and the electronic copy will be on a USB disk key.
Your supervisor will work with you on your RPDP in detail, and will be there to help and guide you throughout your PhD programme. Additional support will also be provided by your Doctoral Studies Panel, your School’s Graduate Coordinator, your College Graduate School Office, and the Graduate Studies Office. Specific queries can be sent by email to graduatestudies@ucd.ie.
Role of Your RPDP in your Transfer Assessment
The Transfer Assessment is the process all PhD students at UCD must go through in order to transfer from Stage 1 of their PhD to Stage 2. Your RPDP will play a role in determining when you are ready for the Transfer Assessment. This is something you can discuss in a meeting with your supervisor and your Doctoral Studies Panel. It will also most likely be a requirement of your School/Institute/Thematic Programme that the Assessment Panel review your RPDP as part of the Transfer Assessment process. After your Transfer Assessment has taken place it is part of the RPDP Meeting Templates that you meet with your supervisor and Doctoral Studies Panel to discuss the recommendations of your Assessment Panel – this is your Transfer Assessment Review Meeting. This meeting marks the end of Stage 1 of your RPDP. Once you have had this meeting, you will progress to using Stage 2 of your RPDP.
By using your RPDP, you will identify particular skills, both research and professional skills, which you will need to develop over the course of your PhD. One way that you can develop these skills is by taking appropriate taught modules.
In addition to discipline-specific modules, there are also several Transferable Skills Modules available. These may be of particular help in developing your transferable skills, as identified by your Skills Self-Assessment.
In 2006 the Research and Professional Development Plan (RPDP) was piloted. As you continute your research your RPDP continues to aid in developing your research and also your transferable skills.
This section of the website is a resource for your Stage 2 documents, which can be found on the RPDP Document Templates page.
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact us by emailing graduatestudies@ucd.ie or by phoning +353 (0)1 716 4043.
The purpose of the RPDP process is to provide you with a framework for management of your research; and the development of research, academic and key transferable skills.
- Phase 1 –Draft and Agree RPDP Documents
- Research Plan
- Professional Development Plan
- Phase 2 - Review Progress
- Process Description
Phase 1 –Draft and Agree RPDP Documents
The process is divided into two phase, the first of which involves the drafting of a number of documents, which are discussed and finalised by the student and their supervisor at a meeting to be held approximately one month after the commencement of the RPDP programme. There are four documents involved in this process as follows - Research Plan & Professional Development Plan.
Research Plan
The research plan provides a means for you to identify, and agree with your supervisor, the key objectives that you wish to achieve in your research. It also enables you to identify, where relevant, milestones which you hope to achieve in the progress of your research project. Drafting this plan can act as a useful aid in focusing the discussion with your supervisor in the initial stages, when the scope of your project is being agreed. The plan provides a mechanism for review of progress, assessment of priorities and determination of future direction for your research work. As can be seen in the diagram below, the research plan acts as a high level roadmap for your work, while the more detailed activities are agreed in ongoing meetings with your supervisor.
At your 1 Month Meeting you can review your initial Research Plan with your supervisor. The level of detail in a Research Plan at this stage, may vary considerably from one student to the next depending on the nature of their project. However, as the scope of your work is clarified over time, you can update your Research Plan, adding detail as appropriate.
Professional Development Plan
In education and employment there is an increasing emphasis on skills and their development. It is important for individuals to demonstrate that their skills have been actively developed over time. The Professional Development Plan enables you to identify your current skills and to plan for development in any relevant areas. The plan comprises three documents: a Skills Self Assessment, a Skills Development Plan and a Skills Development Record.
The Skills Self Assessment is a document which you can use to review your current experience and training, in a more formal and reflective way, across a range of academic, research and key transferable skills (you will carry out the Skills Self Assessment at the start of your research programme and again at the end of each year of your programme). Evidence of the development of skills does not necessarily take the form of certificates or awards; rather it is a measure of your accomplishment, whether acting alone or as part of a team. Feedback from others, especially supervisors, also constitutes useful evidence. It will strengthen your claim to have mastered a variety of situations, personal as well as professional, in which you may have demonstrated your skills. Increasingly, employers are asking for such examples at interview and in continuing professional development. Having completed this review, you can then identify any skills which you may need to develop further over the course of your research project.
Your Skills Development Plan will assist you in planning your skills development as part of your academic studies, by documenting one or two skill areas which you intend to develop, during the next 12 months, through a series of agreed skills development activities.
You can then use your Skills Development Record to document all of the skills development activities that you complete (e.g.: training courses, seminars, publications, presentations).
Development needs and opportunities may change as time progresses, but the practice of intentional development of skills should give you the confidence to develop further in any area you choose. The diagram below highlights the interactions between the various elements of your Professional Development Plan.
At your 1 Month Meeting You can also finalise your Skills Development Plan with your supervisor, who can provide advice and guidance in the prioritisation of skill areas and the selection of appropriate skills development activities.
Phase 2 - Review Progress
The second phase of the RPDP process involves a series of meetings at which you and your supervisor review your progress since your last meeting and identify any research and skills development activities which you hope to complete before the next meeting. In addition to the four formal RPDP review meetings, the process also enables the student to document the outcome of other meetings with their supervisor, where relevant.
Process Description
In the sections below, each of the process steps are explained in more detail:
Draft Student Summary
Draft Research Plan
Draft Professional Development Plan
1 Month Meeting
3 Month Review
6 Month Review
12 Month Review
Tranfer Assessment Review
Update Skills Development Record
Ongoing Student Supervision Meetings
Draft Student Summary
You use your Student Summary template to record the following details:
- Personal details
- Supervisor Details (names of supervisors and members of Doctoral Studies Committee)
- Funding Details (details and outcomes of funding applications)
- List of proposed RPDP meetings with supervisor(s) and Doctoral Studies Committee
- You may need to liaise with your supervisor to obtain any missing information
(Back to Process Description)
Draft Research Plan
In consultation with your supervisor, you can define one or more research objectives to be achieved during the course of your research project. You may also identify a number of milestones that you hope to reach during the course of your work. The template incorporates the facility to record indicative dates, for both the objectives and the milestones. Based on the outcomes of these discussions, you can draft your initial Research Plan. This draft plan may be updated several times through discussions with your supervisor, until a final version is produced.
(Back to Process Description)
Draft Professional Development Plan
You can carry out a self assessment of your skills using the Skills Self Assessment template. The template enables you to review your current skills profile against a list of academic, research and key transferable skills. You may need to consult your supervisor for advice on the completion of the skills assessment. Once this is complete, you can summarise any areas where you intend to develop your skills over the course of your research programme. Based on the outcome of your skills assessment, you can identify one or two skill areas which you would like to develop during the coming 12 months. In consultation with your supervisor, you can identify a set of actions that you hope to undertake in order to develop these skills. You can then draft a Skills Development Plan based on the outcome of these discussions. This draft plan may be updated several times through discussions with the supervisor, until a final version is produced.
1 Month Meeting
From your initial meeting, you should work with your supervisor to draft your research and professional development plans. This may take a number of meetings and discussions to complete. A meeting is carried out approximately 1 month after the initial meeting in order to finalise your Research Plan and Professional Development Plan. In advance of this meeting, you can send copies of the draft documentation to your supervisor for review. In addition to agreeing a final version of the RPDP documents, you and supervisor can also set out a number of research activities and skills development activities that you intend to complete before your 3 Month Review. When the meeting is complete, you can make any final changes to the RPDP documentation and also document any agreed activities in the 1 Month Review template. You should file a signed copy of the final documentation in your RPDP Student Log Book; and send a copy of the documentation to the Graduate School Administrator and your supervisor(s).
3 Month Review
In advance of the 3 Month Review meeting with your supervisor, you can download the relevant template from the RPDP website and use it to document your progress since the 1 Month Meeting. This can then be sent to your supervisor for review in advance of the meeting. During the review meeting you can discuss your research and skills development progress with your supervisor highlighting any difficulties experienced. You can then identify the activities that you hope to undertake before your next review meeting. If the discussion leads to a change in your Research Plan and/or Skills Development Plan, then you can update these documents as required. A particular element of the 3 Month Review is indicating any actions that you may need to take in order to address requirements for specific procedures (i.e.: Risk Assessment, Health and Safety and Ethics) as they relate to your work. You can then use the 3 Month Review template to document the outcome of the meeting. You should file a signed copy of the final documentation in your RPDP Log Book; and send a copy of the documentation to the Graduate School Administrator and your supervisor(s).
6 Month Review
In advance of the 6 Month Review meeting with your supervisor, you can download the relevant template from the RPDP website and use it to document your progress since the 3 Month Meeting. This can then be sent to your supervisor for review in advance of the meeting. During the review meeting you can discuss your research and skills development progress with your supervisor highlighting any difficulties experienced. You can then identify the activities that you hope to undertake before the next review meeting. If the discussion leads to a change in your Research Plan and/or Skills Development Plan, then you can update these documents as required. You can then use the 6 Month Review template to document the outcome of the meeting. You should file a signed copy of the final documentation in your RPDP Log Book; and send an electronic copy of the documentation to the Graduate School Administrator and the student’s supervisor(s).
12 Month Review
In advance of the 12 Month Review meeting with your supervisor, you can download the relevant template from the RPDP website and use it to document your progress since the 6 Month Meeting. This can then be sent to the supervisor for review in advance of the meeting. During the review meeting you can discuss your research and skills development progress with your supervisor highlighting any difficulties experienced. You can then identify the activities that you hope to undertake before the next review meeting. If the discussion leads to a change in your Research Plan and/or Skills Development Plan, then you can update these documents as required. The requirements of the transfer assessment procedure should be covered in this meeting in order to prepare you for this process. You and your supervisor can also agree a date for the completion of the end of year 1 report for your funding body, if required. You can then use the 12 Month Review template to document the outcome of the meeting. You should file a signed copy of the final documentation in your RPDP Student Log Book; and send a copy of the documentation to the Graduate School Administrator and your supervisor(s).
(Back to Process Description)
Transfer Assessment Review
The Transfer Assessment Review meeting takes place after your transfer assessment has been completed. The purpose of the meeting is to incorporate the outcome of the assessment into your RPDP. The transfer assessment usually takes place between 12 and 21 months into your research programme. In advance of the Transfer Assessment Review meeting with your supervisor, you can download the relevant template from the RPDP website and use it to document your progress since the 12 Month Meeting. This can then be sent to your supervisor for review in advance of the meeting. During the review meeting you and your supervisor can review the outcome of your transfer assessment and identify any impact on your Research and Skills Development Plan. You can also discuss your research and skills development progress, highlighting any difficulties experienced. You should then identify the activities that you hope to undertake before the next review meeting. If the discussion leads to a change in your Research Plan and/or Skills Development Plan, then you can update these documents as required. You can use the Transfer Assessment Review template to document the outcome of the meeting. You should file a signed copy of the final documentation in your RPDP Student Log Book; and send a copy of the documentation to the Graduate School Administrator and your supervisor(s).
Update Skills Development Record
You can maintain a record of all skills development activities (e.g.: conferences, seminars, training, publications, etc.) in your Skills Development Record. This record can then be reviewed by you and supervisor at your meetings.
Ongoing Supervision Meetings
In addition to documenting the formal RPDP review meetings, you can also use the Supervision Meeting template to record the outcome of any other relevant meeting with your supervisor. The template enables you to record the key points from the meeting and any agreed actions.
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