Success in Research: Fulfilling the Potential of Your Doctoral Experience
Pam Denicola
Julie Reeves
Dawn Duke
SAGE Publications Ltd
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© Pam Denicolo, Julie Reeves and Dawn Duke 2018
First published 2018
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017937073
British Library Cataloguing in Publication data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-4739-7478-4
ISBN 978-1-4739-7479-1 (pbk)
Editor: Jai Seaman
Assistant editor: Alysha Owen
Production editor: Ian Antcliff
Marketing manager: Susheel Gokarakonda
Cover design: Sheila Tong
Typeset by: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd, Chennai, India
Printed in the UK
We would like to dedicate this book to every doctoral researcher, past, present and in the future. We hope this book honours your experiences from the true joy of idea creation and discovery to those moments of self-doubt and tainted thoughts of being an imposter. We, too, have had all these experiences and, through it all, we believe it is possible to ‘thrive with style!’ We also wish to dedicate this to those who passionately support doctoral researchers: the supervisors, mentors and support staff, who encourage, champion and stand with these newer researchers, helping them to fulfil their great potential.
About the Authors
Pam Denicolois an Emeritus Professor at the University of Reading, a chartered constructivist psychologist and honorary pharmacist, who provides consultancy on doctoral support and research methodology as well as examining doctorates in institutions worldwide. Previously she established, managed and developed the University of Reading Graduate School, providing a substantial contribution to its Research Methods, Generic Skills and Doctoral Supervisor training. Her passion for supporting graduate students and other early career researchers is demonstrated through her numerous successful doctoral candidates and her leading roles in national and international organisations such as the International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching, the Society for Research into Higher Education Postgraduate Network, the RCUK Impact and Evaluation Group, several working groups of Vitae including the development of the Researcher Development Framework (RDF), the QAA Doctoral Characteristics Advisory Group, and the UK Council for Graduate Education, all of which have resulted in many publications, presentations and workshops. Through these organisations she met up with Julie and Dawn who became inspirational collaborators on many projects, as well as valued friends. Pam edits and contributes to the SAGE book series: Success in Research, aimed at those in the early years of a research career, and co-edits and co-authors with former doctoral researchers a series with Sense, dealing with Critical Issues in the Future of Learning and Teaching.Julie Reevesis a Researcher Developer and Lecturer of Academic Development (Research) at the University of Southampton. Prior to this, she was the Skills Training Manager (Faculty of Humanities) at the University of Manchester. She has been involved with the Roberts agenda since 2005, working with postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers and academic staff. Her academic background is in politics and international relations; her doctoral research was in cultural theory and international relations. Her newly acquired knowledge and understanding was put to practical advantage when she taught in Eastern Europe for the Civic Education Project, where she then learned much about differing pedagogies. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE). Julie met Pam through the project to create the Vitae Researcher Development Framework; they became co-convenors of the Postgraduate Interest Network of the SRHE and, then, they published Developing Transferable Skills: Enhancing Your Research and Employment Potential together in 2014. Julie met Dawn through Pam, SEPnet and the SRHE, as they provided workshops for newer researchers and their supervisors/PIs. Together they produced a literature review on researcher development for Oxford Bibliographies. All three have been ‘partners in crime’ ever since!
Dawn Dukeis the Head of Researcher Development within the University of Surrey’s Doctoral College. She leads the team that supports the transferable/employability skills of postgraduate researchers and early career researchers across all disciplines, as well as delivers supervisor training. Dawn received her neuroscience PhD from Imperial College. In 2008, she moved from researching and teaching neuroscience to concentrate fully on researcher development. She has worked to embed and normalise skills training to better prepare researchers for the variety of opportunities available to them. Through her work at Surrey and a partial secondment as Director of Graduate Training for the Southeast Physics Network (SEPnet), she has focused on bringing researchers together with employers from a range of sectors, integrating this wider range of expertise into training, creating spaces for discussion and experience sharing. Dawn believes that the world would be a better place if the amazing research that is done within our universities had an even greater impact on policy, society and the economy and is dedicated to enabling the next generation of researchers to take on this challenge. Dawn met Pam through a mutual friend at University of Surrey, and they soon became not only colleagues but also good friends. Then Pam introduced her to Julie and the fun truly began!
Acknowledgements
We three authors thank every researcher who has ever attended one of our training sessions or talks. We are grateful to everyone who has shared their thoughts, comments, concerns and fears about all aspects of the doctorate with us and contributed during our sessions, and thus covertly to this book. Without them, we would have little to say. We would also