| A researcher's profile |
Evidence |
| Three to four years work related experience |
PhDs would describe their daily activities as going into work, they don't think of themselves as students |
| Highly developed analytical skills applied to investigating a range of problems |
Daily utilisation of analytical skills employed on source data, questioning and investigating a range of material and information |
| Strong project management skills with the ability to plan and manage short and long term activities |
Must be able to manage their PhD as a whole as well as set and meet interim project timescales. May be required to meet deadlines set by external organisations e.g. submitting papers for conferences or funding bids. Some will plan and organise events such as conferences and seminars for peers and senior colleagues. |
| Highly creative and innovative |
Original research no-one will have tackled this area before. Some in science and technology areas will have devised novel experiments and approaches, some may have patents. |
| Ability to question established methods, design and implement new approaches |
Links to the previous statement, the established systems and methods may not work and will need to be questioned. They need to make the research work and so have to be able to implement their ideas as well as come up with ideas. |
| Able to explain complex material and concepts to people of different specialisms and levels of understanding |
This may happen at conferences or in multi-disciplinary research or collaborative projects. May also work with undergraduates as project supervisors, or in a teaching role. Skills projects have involved PhD students working with local schools to promote science and technology. |
| Able to persuade and negotiate with senior colleagues |
Especially as they progress through PhD they will have to persuade and negotiate with their supervisor and other senior academics. May also have to negotiate access to equipment and resources with technical and administrative managers. |
| Ability to present written and oral reports to a wide variety of audiences |
From major international conference presentations to research presentations in their department. Working in the local community presenting their work or subject to a lay audience. Teaching small or large groups of students. Have to complete regular written reports of their work , some may publish articles in journals, contribute book chapters. All will submit a thesis. |
| Experience of working in a competitive and target driven environment |
Competition for research funding is fierce if they don't have personal experience of this they will have observed it in their working environment. More external funders mean that they have experience of needing to work to outside targets and to submit results on time. |
| Able to employ strong personal management skills, a self-starter with experience of setting own goals |
Have to manage their own work and their outside lives. Must be able to organise their own work schedules and be self-sufficient. May have to work unsociable and long hours to get access to equipment and take being last in the queue! |
| Resilient and able to take disappointment |
Experiments not working, someone else publishing before them etc, They have to be able to get on with it, sometimes change direction in order to complete their work. |
| Ability to work in formal and informal team environments |
Can be a very different experience dependant on the academic subject. Researchers often work in informal teams although some will operate within a research group, this is more likely to occur at the post doctoral stage. |
