Postgraduate Researchers: How the Bristol PLUS Award can work for you

‘As a Postgraduate Researcher, it can be easy to focus so intently on your research and forget how much university life still has to offer. The Bristol PLUS Award has encouraged me to seek out these experiences, and meet a wider range of students and staff, which I am incredibly grateful for.’

(19 – 20 PGR PLUS Award achiever)

Broaden your Horizons

A photo of volunteers outside in an allotment, standing together and smiling
Volunteers on the City Challenges programme

The Bristol PLUS Award is the university’s employability Award, giving you the opportunity to gain formal recognition for commitments you take on outside of your research.

Getting involved outside of your research is a great way to build connections and community. The PLUS Award recognises a broad range of activities, and for Postgraduate Researchers, lots of these are things you may well already be taking part in.

That could be teaching support, marking, or submitting a paper to a journal. Or experiences outside of the university such as part time work or volunteering. For more ideas, you can check out our list of common PGR options for the Bristol PLUS Award.

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Are you considering a PhD?

With most PhDs spanning 3 to 4 years, it is not a decision to take lightly.

For some students, their passion for research and a specific academic discipline is such that a PhD is an obvious choice as part of their career planning, however, for others it is just one possible option, prompting further questions.

Having an insight into what life is like as a post-graduate researcher is a crucial first step. Without any doubt, you will need to love learning, have a hunger for research, and be a self-starter happy to work for long periods independently. Advice from vitae.ac.uk is to be ‘really clear on your motivations for doing a doctorate, and that it [will be] a positive career step.’

Kayleigh Crouch is a Career Peer Support Adviser with the Careers Service, currently a PGR at the University of Bristol, and has shared her insights on what it’s like to be a doctoral researcher here:

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What is the Ideation fund and why should you apply?

The Ideation fund is a 7-week experimental learning programme, (running between the 2 November- 14 December), which provides applicants with specialist training, support and funding for founders who want to explore and test out an early-stage start-up idea. This programme is sponsored by The Bristol Grid.

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Completing your Masters application? Let us help!

Having explored whether postgraduate study is an option for you, and weighed up the pros and cons, you’re now ready to submit your application… but where do you start?!

We often meet students and graduates that find making a start to this process overwhelming. This blog gives you a checklist to inspire you to make a start and provide you with resources that can help you to complete your application.  (more…)

What’s the fuss with the PLUS for Postgraduate Researchers?

 

The Bristol PLUS Award is the University’s employability Award, open to students across all years of study – including Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs). In fact, PGR achievers speak so highly of the Award process, we thought we’d share highlights from their feedback: (more…)

8 reasons why you should do the Bristol PLUS Award!

As the new academic year starts, we are so excited to welcome you all back and *drumroll pleaseopen the Bristol PLUS Award for registration!  (more…)

Using the Careers Service as a PhD researcher, pt. 1

This blog is the first of two exploring how using the Careers Service can benefit you as a PhD researcher, each of which consists of an interview conducted via email. This first part was conducted with a History PhD who recently graduated from Bristol and secured a role in Professional Services at the University of Bristol.

Remember that all of our services are available to our PhD researchers, both whilst you are registered here and for up to 3 years after you graduate.

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Actuation Lab – Growth Stage New Enterprise Competition finalists 2018

Basecamp Enterprise Team caught up with Growth Stage, New Enterprise Competition finalist Dr Michael Dicker from start-up Actuation Lab to talk about their progress since winning 12 month SETsquared membership from the competition. Here’s what Michael had to say: 

Actuation Lab is now 4 months into its year long membership of the SETsquared Bristol incubator that it won as runner-up in the New Enterprise Competition. We have developed greatly as a business over that time and continue to refine our technology and market focus. We recently received a place on the Innovation to Commercialisation of University Research (ICURe) InnovateUK program which is providing us with funding and the ability to further explore market opportunities.  (more…)

How might the Bristol PLUS and Outstanding Awards support your career journey?

Update: The Outstanding Award process closed after the 2020/21 academic year. Current students who have made an outstanding contribution to their PLUS Award activity may consider engaging with the Outstanding PLUS Award, which launched in the 2021/22 academic year.  

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Postgraduate Researchers: stand out with the Bristol PLUS Award

Postgraduate Research students; why not challenge yourself this year and develop a range of skills and experiences to enhance your career prospects and opportunities after your research? Last year PGRs from all faculties took part in the Bristol PLUS Award. The feedback was fantastic, as these case studies show:

Hannah Barber: Part-time Medicine PhD

As a part-time PhD student, my schedule can be very busy. The PLUS Award provided me with a great opportunity to enhance my employability skills and CV without consuming too much time. The award encourages you to take part in extra-curricular activities which will help you seek out a career. The experience enhances your reflective skills which I found could also be transferred to my daily research.

Through the PLUS Award I learnt about career opportunities beyond research. It taught me how to lay out my CV in a clear and concise manner which will attract a future employer’s attention. I found the whole experience very useful and would recommend it to anyone who is keen to make their CV stand out from the crowd.

 

Ji Youg Li: PhD: Philosophy

Doing well in postgraduate research is not only about academic success, it is also important to develop transferable skills. In signing up for the Bristol PLUS Award I wanted to engage in activities that would be beneficial for my career. I branched out in the variety of activities for my work experience and had fun as well! I also became more productive in my academic work, as I learnt skills in maximising my time and effort.

Through PLUS I gained insight into how to articulate my skills to others, how to reflect on my experiences and how I can apply transferable skills to career-related opportunities as a PGR student. The employability workshops were especially helpful, breaking down the key points needed to enhance my CV and prepare for interviews. The great thing about the PLUS award is that it encourages you to try new things and go outside of your comfort zone. Bristol PLUS was not simply an ‘award’ but a source of inspiration for me to keep being proactive, and to continue to practice and apply my skills. I really enjoyed my experience; the award offers an invaluable experience for PGRs so I would definitely recommend it.

David Dewar:  MPhil: Music

Though a somewhat mature PGR, the Plus Award seemed a useful and potentially helpful achievement. I started thinking about how I could use the award in my own situation.

The workshops were relevant to my future aims, and were also interesting and not too time consuming. Reflection on what one has achieved was a further rewarding feature. More recently I have learnt from interviewers in academia, industry and music that the record of such an achievement on a CV stands out and demonstrates your abilities, achievements, and self-endeavours; very valuable skills to advertise when backed up by formal recognition from the University of Bristol. I would recommend it to everyone, particularly PGRs; it’s enjoyable and meaningful.

 

 

 

 

Visit the Careers Service website to find out more about the Bristol PLUS Award and book on to an Introductory talk before  9 February 2018. Intro talks are open to all students and PGR tailored Intro talks are offered on  19 October  and 19 January.