Collaboration is at the heart of UKCRIC’s mission and skills development is one of UKCRIC’s priority activities. The Doctoral Skills Network was launched in December 2021 to allow UKCRIC to communicate directly with research students and staff, whilst supporting their professional development.

Since January 2022, The Doctoral Skills Network has run and collaborated on a wide range of events including UKCRIC webinars hosted by Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs), online communication skills training, Net Zero webinars with ERA and conferences hosted by CDTs. It has proved to be an extremely popular initiative and by June 2022, had hosted 17 events and attracted nearly 200 members. This highlights a desire from researchers to connect with like-minded postgraduates across the UK.

Aims of the Doctoral Skills Network:

• Offer developmental opportunities to doctoral researchers based in UKCRIC institutions focusing on research in infrastructures and cities
• Create a vibrant doctoral community and promote collaborations and ideas exchange
• Support the development of research-minded leaders that can address national and international priorities
• Coalesce the collective expertise and capabilities of the UKCRIC universities and partners in support of the activities of the doctoral network

The UKCRIC Doctoral Skills Network was supported by a UKCRIC project grant (Sept 2021 to March 2022) and is part of the UKCRIC CDTs project that is investigating how UKCRIC can support University bids and win EPSRC funding for Centres for Doctoral Training across the UK.

For further information and to register please visit The Doctoral Skills Network page.