View prior email communications sent from Graduate Studies to UCD graduate research students.
Dear students,
I would like to start my first email for 2024 by wishing you a very happy and prosperous New Year. I am happy to welcome a new cohort of graduate research students this trimester, while nearly 100 theses have been submitted already this month for examination. Whatever stage you are at – if you are just starting, continuing or completing your studies – I would like to congratulate on pursuing your graduate research degree.
Please see below some upcoming events you might like to attend and updates for this month.
Orientation for new graduate research students
Graduate Studies will hold an orientation for new January-start research students in the Red Room, UCD Student Centre on Thursday 8 February from 10 am to 1 pm.
You can register for Orientation via the Booking Centre.
Resources for incoming graduate research students can be found on our website.
Taught module registration
Registration is currently open for taught modules for graduate research students and will remain open until 10 am Tuesday 6 February. As part of a UCD PhD, students must complete 30 credits of modules relevant to their area of research over the course of their programme.
Details of recommended modules and the registration procedure can be found on the UCD Graduate Studies website.
Online and in-person Graduate Studies workshops
Please remember to check and register for a place on our PhD workshops, which run from February until April 2024. The programme of activities starts with online workshops, which are delivered by the international expert Hugh Kearns (Flinders University, Australia).
Based on your feedback to date, these are very popular workshops that students have found both enjoyable and useful. Graduate Studies also run in-person workshops, which help students to navigate their PhD. Please keep an eye out for workshops offered by colleagues in the Careers Network, Library and the Writing Centre below.
Please also note that Research Integrity Training is a compulsory element for all Research Degree programmes for students admitted after 31 August 2019.
WOW (Write on Wednesday)
WOW (Write on Wednesday) is an online writing group for research students, facilitated by the Writing Centre and supported by Graduate Studies and Students' Union. Participants meet every Wednesday morning, via Zoom, and work on their writing. Attending the group could be particularly beneficial if you are looking for motivation and a supportive community of fellow student writers. To register and to find out more about the purpose and operation of the group, visit the UCD Library website.
The Student Survey showed that being a part of a WOW writing community gave the students focus, motivation, and a sense of community and accountability, all of which helped their productivity.
UCD Student Adviser – Graduate Research Students
Eamonn McHugh, your UCD Graduate Research Student Adviser, can assist you to find pathways to deal with personal, social and emotional issues. An extended section on student supports that Eamonn can help you with is on UCD Student Advisers website.
You can also contact Eamonn directly by email at eamonn.mchugh@ucd.ie.
Come and meet Eamonn at the first graduate research student Coffee Morning of the New Year on Thursday, 25 January at 10.30 am in the Red Room in the Student Centre. If you are planning to attend, please register.
Tara Hughes, Career and Skills Consultant for graduate research students, will be joining us on the day.
UCD Careers Network
You can find the list of careers workshops available for bookings now via MyCareer. A number of Masterclasses are available:
Graduate Researcher Careers Masterclass
Graduate Researcher Careers Masterclass
Graduate Researcher Alumni Panel
Graduate Researcher Careers Masterclass
PGR StudentSurvey 2024
I would like to give you an update on the PGR StudentSurvey.ie. A UCD report based on the anonymised 2023 PGR StudentSurvey.ie data was generated and disseminated to all Colleges and Schools. This report provides data at University, College and School level.
Based on the received student feedback from the survey, each School was asked to develop a quality enhancement action plan, which will be reviewed before the next survey cycle in 2025.
As mentioned in an earlier email, the response rate for UCD in 2023 was 45%. This is a significant increase of 15% from the previous University response rate of 30%. While this result is higher, I want to highlight it is important to maintain and increase the level of participation for the upcoming surveys.
Your questions and feedback are always welcome via our Graduate Studies Connector.
Last but not least, please do not forget to visit our News and Events page regularly for events that may be of interest.
Wishing you all the best in 2024.
Very best wishes,
Barbara
Professor Barbara Dooley Dean of Graduate Studies
I hope you enjoyed your Halloween break as we head toward the end of Trimester 1.
During November there are several activities you may wish to participate in. You will see details of workshops on offer across Graduate Studies, the Library and Careers.
There is also an initial report on the results of the Student Survey and a big thank you to all who participated.
PGR StudentSurvey.ie
I would like to say a huge thank you to all PGR students who responded to the 2023 Student Survey. This year we had an unprecedented response rate of 45% (915 responses). This is a significant increase of 15% from the previous University (and national) response rate of 30%. The increase in engagement was across the University; the lowest response rate in any college was 38% and the highest was 59%. The data from this 2023 survey will be the most robust to date. Early analysis on the data reveals that students are reporting higher levels of satisfaction in comparison with 2021 results in all areas: supervision, research culture, progress and assessment, as well as development opportunities. It is important to highlight the big increase of almost 17 percentage points between 2023 and 2021 results in questions related to Research Culture. The reported improvement is very encouraging, but more work continues in this area (see in depth Research Culture Survey below). On the other hand, only 45% of students are stating that they have received advice on career options, which is higher than 35.3% reported in 2021 but is still an area to focus on.
At the core of UCD's graduate education strategy lies a commitment to fostering a consistently high standard of research student experience that is independent of funding, School or discipline. Your feedback is crucial to informing and driving quality enhancement initiatives in your Schools. By fully engaging with the University in the StudentSurvey.ie, you are ensuring that research students will receive the appropriate support and resources you need to succeed in your academic and professional pursuits.
ThesisIn3 Irish Universities Association National Final 2023
You are invited to attend the 3 Minute Thesis – IUA National Final 2023 on Wednesday, 15 November in the Royal Irish Academy, Dawson St and online. The competition will see 8 PhD students using one slide each to tell us about their research within a 3-minute timeframe.
Each of the 8 IUA universities will be represented by the winner or runner up of the individual university competitions held throughout the year. This promises to be a very exciting event with cash prizes for the winners and an opportunity for the audience to vote for their favourite presentation. The IUA website has details of the competitors, the programme and judging panel. We invite you to attend in-person or online.
Registration links:
Register to attend in-person
Register to attend online
Transferable Skills workshops
Graduate Studies TSkills workshops running this month and next month are open for registration.
There is a RESET workshop with Dave Delaney on Wednesday, 15 November 2023 (10 am to 11 am), with an additional workshop in December. This workshop will be hybrid, with a zoom link sent to all participants so you can choose how to join on the day.
In these sessions, Dave (Wellness and Community Projects Officer in the Student Adviser Unit) will expand your understanding of yourself. He will explain the process of thinking, perception and decision-making.
Final call for the Thesis Boot Camp with Peta Freestone
Apply by 10 November.
Library
There are a number of Library Research Toolkit workshops available.
Career Development Workshops
Tara Hughes is the Career and Skills Consultant for Graduate Research Students and can be contacted by email at tara.hughes@ucd.ie.
The Careers Network offer a series of workshops throughout the year, which can be booked via My Career.
Research Culture Survey
The Research Culture Survey 2023 opened on 6 November. All members of the UCD research community including graduate research students are invited to participate. This is your opportunity to share your views on the culture of research at UCD through an anonymous survey. In the 2021 Survey you told us that quality mentorship is essential for early career researchers, and in response we interviewed 10+ award-winning mentors and mentees about best practice and posted these on the Mentoring webpage available as part of the Research Culture toolkit.
We want to hear from you! Complete the survey today.
C’Mere Till I tell Ye Festival
As a friend of Simply Science, we'd like to offer you access to our festival – C'mere Til I Tell Ye.
It's a UCD, Simply Science, Science Foundation Ireland event for Science Week.
The website is live at www.cmere.ie and if you use the promocode 'simplysciencefriend', it'll give you a 100% discount on the ticket cost. People can still pay and proceeds will go to charity as it is a sponsored event already.
Student Support
We are always mindful of our students’ health and wellbeing at UCD. A list of available student supports is available on the UCD Graduate Studies website.
Best wishes and warmest regards,
Paul
Professor Paul McCabe, Dean of Graduate Studies
As we are now in October and the first trimester is well underway, I hope you are settling into university life. It is nice to welcome you to our beautiful parkland campus, whether you are returning to campus or you are new to UCD.
Orientation
We had great attendance at our recent Graduate Research Student Orientation and feedback indicates that our incoming students found this a helpful introduction to research study at UCD.
Many thanks to all who attended and to Sergey Katsuba, Mary Davis and Ishani Atukoralalage who participated in the student panel to share their PhD experiences. We have gathered feedback from attendees to ensure we are taking your views into account for future events.
Details and presentation can be found at the ‘Graduate Orientation for Graduate Research Students 2023/24’ module on Brightspace.
Visualise Your Thesis
It's Trending on VYT week! Trending on VYT is the people’s choice award, recognising the entry that gets the most views across Figshare from 00:01 Monday 2 October until 22:59 this Friday 6 October (Australian Eastern Daylight Time).
Ishani Atukoralalage was the VYT 2023 UCD winner, their video can be viewed on the 2023 VYT International Figshare repository, please view and share.
The winner of Trending on VYT will receive a 12-month Gold Membership to the Research Impact Academy, sponsored by Figshare.
Transferable Skills workshops
We are pleased to announce that Graduate Studies will be running Transferable Skills workshops this month and next month. Registrations are now open.
There is a RESET workshop with Dave Delaney on Wednesday 11 October with additional workshops in November and December.
In these three sessions, Dave (Wellness and Community Projects Officer in the Student Adviser Unit) will expand your understanding of yourself. He will explain the process of thinking, perception and decision-making.
We also offer the Thesis Boot Camp with Peta Freestone
Complete the application form by 10 November to participate.
WOW (Write on Wednesday)
WOW (Write on Wednesday) is a writing group for graduate students which meets every Wednesday morning on Zoom. The group leader is an experienced UCD Writing Centre instructor. The Student Survey showed that being a part of a WOW writing community gave the students focus, motivation, and a sense of community and accountability, all of which helped their productivity. If you are interested in joining this group, please email the Writing Centre at writing.centre@ucd.ie for more information.
Career Development Workshops
Tara Hughes is the Career and Skills Consultant for Graduate Research Students and can be contacted directly tara.hughes@ucd.ie The Careers Network offer a series of workshops throughout the year, examples for October below:
Please book through My Career.
My Career can also be accessed through UCD Connect.
Coffee Morning
Your Student Adviser Eamonn McHugh (eamonn.mchugh@ucd.ie) continues his monthly coffee mornings. This month's Graduate Research Student Coffee morning takes place on Thursday 19 October at 10.30 am in the Red Room in the Student Centre. If you are planning to attend, please register.
We are keen to hear from you, this is a great informal opportunity to stay in touch with your fellow students and hear about activities in the university.
Student Support
We are always mindful of our students’ health and well-being at UCD. The university offers a suite of supports for research students and for the entire student population. Do stay connected and avail of these valuable supports and services, which are there to help you.
Best wishes for a successful academic year!
Warmest regards,
Paul Professor Paul McCabe, Dean of Graduate Studies
I am delighted to welcome you all to the new academic year 2023–24, whether you are starting your degree with us in UCD or continuing your studies.
As we prepare for the new academic year, I wanted to share some initiatives and information from Graduate Studies to support our community of research students.
Orientation Graduate Research Students 22 September 2023
UCD Graduate Studies will provide a Graduate Research Student Orientation for incoming graduate research students only on Friday 22 September 2023 at 10am in the UCD Village Auditorium. This event is intended to give research students a helpful overview of key information and supports at UCD as well as an opportunity to meet other incoming research students from across the University.
Welcome Guide for graduate research and taught students 2023–24
The Welcome Guide provides advice around starting life as a graduate student in UCD and I invite you to look at it if you are a new incoming student.
Graduate Research Student Handbook 2023–24
The Graduate Research Student Handbook is a key support for both staff and students. It is updated for the new academic year and can be found online in the relevant section of UCD Graduate Studies website.
Research and professional development planning
Research and Professional Development Planning (RPDP) is an integral part of all research degree programmes at UCD. Its purpose is to ensure that your work is clearly focused on achieving your research and professional goals. The RPDP Record captures the outcomes of meetings between you and your Research Studies Panel (RSP): that is, your current research plan, the progress you have made in your research, future plans, and a record of credit awards and any professional development activities undertaken.
Some updates and events for this month:
Programme Registration for Graduate Research Students – Reminder for September Start students
Please note that all graduate research students need to confirm their enrolment/registration at the start of each year of their studies. To do so, please log into your SISWeb account via UCDConnect and confirm your details and pay fees. Failure to do so might cause your account to be deactivated and incur a penalty. Further information can be found on UCD Online Registration Guides.
Module Registration for Graduate Research Students
All graduate research students have the opportunity to take taught modules relevant to their area of research or for their professional development in the course of their programme. Each research programme differs in taught module requirements.
For the academic year 2023-24, graduate research students can register for modules using online systems from Friday 1 September to Thursday 14 September 2023. Further information about registration and a full list of curated modules is available on the Taught Modules for Research Students webpage.
Hello from your Student Adviser
As the new academic year commences I want to reach out to you and wish you well. As Student Adviser for Graduate Research Students, I offer a confidential, non-judgmental space for students to discuss and explore any concerns or difficulties they may be experiencing throughout their time in UCD.
Should you wish to meet in confidence, either in person or on Zoom, you can email me directly at eamonn.mchugh@ucd.ie to arrange an appointment. During the year I will be hosting monthly coffee mornings/networking events and wellness sessions. Keep an eye out for details.
Graduate Research Student Coffee Morning – 26 September
The first of this year's Graduate Research Student Coffee mornings takes place on Tuesday 26 September at 10.30 am in the Red Room, in the Student Centre. Your Student Adviser, Eamonn McHugh and members of the PhD Society will be available on the day so come along and say hi.
For those of you new to UCD or those yet to come along to one of the events, this is a great opportunity for you to meet with other grad research students and make new connections.
Throughout the year guest speakers will be invited to these events, the details of which will be shared closer to the time.
Career Development Workshops
Tara Hughes is the Career and Skills Consultant for Graduate Research Students.
Please book through My Career. My Career can also be accessed through UCD Connect.
Email tara.hughes@ucd.ie with any questions or comments.
Student Support
We are always mindful of our students’ health and wellbeing at UCD. The university offers a suite of supports for research students and for the entire student population. Do stay connected and avail of these valuable supports and services, which are there to help you.
Join the PhD Society
If you want to meet and connect with other PhD students in UCD, join the PhD Students Society!
Find more info on how to join and follow the society under PhD Society.
FindAUniversity are thrilled to announce that University College Dublin UCD PhD Students' Society has been shortlisted for a Postgrad Award in the category of Outstanding Contribution to Support & Wellbeing.
We received a number of high quality nominations so congratulations to all shortlisted nominees. Our expert judging panel now have the difficult job of selecting the winners, who will be announced in September.
About FindAUniversity:
FindAUniversity are experts in everything postgraduate. Since 2001, they’ve been passionate about helping colleagues in the higher education sector to meet their postgraduate recruitment targets. Their portfolio of websites, which includes FindAMasters.com and FindAPhD.com, helps thousands of students to find their perfect postgraduate degree every year. They also work in partnership with leading universities to deliver a series of the UK’s largest and busiest postgraduate study fairs. Launched in 2019, the Postgrad Awards celebrate everyone working in the postgraduate community. Find out more about us at FindAUniversity.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
I wish you all the best as we commence this academic year. I will be communicating regularly with you and you can always keep an eye on the Graduate Studies website for the latest news and events.
Best wishes for a successful academic year!
Warmest regards,
Paul Professor Paul McCabe, Dean of Graduate Studies
Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
See previous Graduate Studies email communications.
Access Introduction to UCD and Orientation modules (Current UCD students only)
A useful summary of guidance and policies on research degree programmes at UCD
Checklist of starting items for new research students
View information and resources for UCD staff involved in supervising graduate research students