Recommended training

Recommended training for PGR students.

Recommended training for PhD students

The acquisition and development of personal transferable, employment-related and generic research skills is an important part of postgraduate research training. The School of Informatics works closely with the Institute for Academic Development's PG team to produce a programme of skills and research training specifically designed for its postgraduate research students.

This page will help you navigate through the wide variety of training opportunities open to students and also to help highlight the courses that are highly recommended or essential.

Most courses are half-day or full-day courses that have been designed specifically for Informatics students.

Although the formal requirements of research study do not include a coursework component it is expected that all students will attend all of the highly recommended courses.

In addition, supervisors may recommend that you attend one or more of the MSc courses available in the School of Informatics during your first year. If you wish to attend the lectures for a course, you must ask for approval of the Programme Director first. Please contact the Informatics Teaching Office (with your approval email) and request to be registered as 'Class Only' on the course - please provide the course name and course code. You are not allowed to attend any tutorial or lab sessions or submit assessed coursework for these courses; you will not be awarded credit for attending the course(s).

Informatics Teaching Office email: ito@inf.ed.ac.uk

Please follow the instructions provided on the Institute for Academic Development site to book places on courses and check the information on course content, background needed and eligibility to ensure that the course or resource is what you require.

Institute for Academic Development

English Language Education - Course List

English language courses on offer for PhD students include:

Writing a PhD first year report
Writing your PhD; reviewing your literature
Writing your PhD; qualitative research
Writing your PhD; scientific research

MSc courses available in the School of Informatics

Courses all PhD students are expected to attend

It is expected that all students will attend the courses listed below. Follow the link for more detail on the contents and date of each course.

All first years are expected to attend:

All second years are expected to attend:

All third year students are expected to attend:

Institute for Academic Development Courses

The Institute for Academic Development offers many other courses that will be of benefit to you during your PhD studies and afterwards. The courses are classified into categories:

Research Planning: essential skills for PhD research.
Professional Development: personal and professional skills relevant to your PhD and your future career
Communication: improve your written communication, presentation skills, and develop public engagement skills

Please visit the Course Lists for IAD and book onto all the courses that are relevant to your skills training requirements and at a time that suits your needs.

Anyone whose thesis has ethical issues or who is just interested in science and social responsibility can take the following online course:

Global Research Ethics and Integrity

Timetable for 2022/23

The IGS are currently liaising with IAD to confirm the schedule and dates for the 2022/23 academic year.

Confirmed dates will be published in due course.

Timetable for 2021/22

The IGS are currently liaising with IAD to confirm the schedule and dates for the 2021/22 academic year.

Title	Date	Time	Where
Teaching as a PhD student	8 Sept 2021	11am - 12pm	Blackboard collaborate https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/f5084d168c684ef7b34558047e4807ae
IAD Course - Pitch Perfect; Public Speaking, Networking and Engaging	01 Oct 2021	9.30am - 12.30pm	Booking link: https://events.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?event=book&scheduleID=47777
How to do an Informatics PhD (year 1 students)	12 Oct 2021	9.30am - 12.30pm	Booking Link – https://www.events.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?event=book&scheduleID=50454
IAD course - 7 secrets of a highly effective PhD student	14 Oct 2021	9.30am to 12pm	Booking Link – https://www.events.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?event=book&scheduleID=48559
IAD Course - Good Research Data Management	1 Nov 2021 and 2 Nov 2021	1.30pm - 3.00pm	Must attend the two consecutive days. Booking link https://www.events.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?event=book&scheduleID=49915
IAD course - Research Posters	12 Nov 2021	9.30am - 11am	Booking link https://www.events.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?event=book&scheduleIS=49362
Writing an Informatics research paper (year 2 students)	16 Nov 2021	1.30pm to 3.30pm	Booking link: https://www.events.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?event=book&scheduleID=50453
Managing your PhD and your supervisor	25 Nov 2021	10am to 11.15am	This online session is hosted by Dr Mary Cryan (Deputy Director of IGS). The focus of the session is to help explain the PhD Annual Review process, the supervisor-student relationship and obligations and to share ways you can address problems and if they arise and where you can seek help. The session is aimed mainly at PhD students in their 1st year of research (for CDT NLP that would be year 2 of the program), however, it may be useful for some students later in the program so all are welcome. Powerpoint from the presentation. Managing PhD and Supervisor Relationship_25.11.2021 (626.48 KB PDF)
IAD Course - Presenting your research virtually	15 Feb 2022	1.30pm - 3.00pm	Booking link available. Please check the IAD Course Booking List for update.
IAD course - 7 secrets of a highly effective PhD student	15 Feb 2022	9.30am - 12pm	Booking link available. Please check the IAD Course Booking List for update.
How to do an Informatics PhD (year 1 students)	24 Feb 2022	9.30am - 12pm	Booking link available. https://www.events.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?event=book&scheduleID=50455
Using GPUs in Machine Learning	3 March 2022	2pm - 4.30pm	In person training in INF G07/G07a. Tom Sherborne will lead an introductory workshop on using our GPUs for Machine Learning. There is the requirement that students should do "prep" though the link below: https://github.com/cdt-data-science/cluster-scripts/blob/master/guides/pgr_cluster_guide_3_3_22.md Booking link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/using-gpus-for-machine-learning-tickets-265336638027
Preparing for your 1st year PhD Annual Review (year 1 students)	17 March 2022	11am - 12.30pm	Booking link available. https://www.events.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?event=book&scheduleID=50560
IAD Course - Pitch Perfect; Public Speaking, Networking and Engaging	24 March 2022	9.30am to 12.30pm	Booking link available. Please check the IAD Course Booking List.
Preparing for your viva (year 3 students)	21 April 2022	11am - 12.30pm	Booking link available. https://www.events.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?event=book&scheduleID=50562
Informatics PhD thesis workshops (year 3 students)	28 April 2022	28 April 2022	Booking link available . https://www.events.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?event=book&scheduleID=50620
IAD course - Presenting your research virtually	4 May 2022	9.30am - 11am	Booking link available. Please check the IAD Course Booking List for update.
IAD course - 7 reasons you'll pass your PhD viva	10 June 2022	10am - 11am	Booking link available. Please check the IAD Course Booking List for update.
Realising the Benefits of Good Research Data Management (Digital Skills and Training)	20 July 2022	10am - 12.30pm (online)	Book via MyEd Events This in-depth course will provide researchers at all stages of their career with an accessible and practical guide to Research Data Management (RDM) and how it can benefit their research. It covers the entire research data life cycle from Data Management Planning through to Improving the Visibility and Impact of research data in order to increase a researcher’s profile. With practical hints and tips throughout this course is ideal for those just setting out on a career in research as well as anyone looking to update or refresh their skills.
Archiving your research data (Digital Skills and Training)	20 July 2022	10am - 12pm (online)	Book via MyEd Events Learn how to keep your data findable, accessible and re-usable (FAIR) for the decades to come, and how to show your funder you’re complying with their data policy. The course includes a demo of DataVault’s new and improved interface.
Writing a data management plan for your research (Digital Skills and Training)	27 Jul 2022	2pm - 4pm (online)	Book via MyEd Events Why does Data Management Planning matter? An introduction to DMPonline What data will be collected or created? How will the data be documented and described? How will the data be stored, backed-up & secured? How will ethics and intellectual property be handled? How, when, & where will data be preserved & shared? Who is responsible & what will it cost?
Working with personal and sensitive data (Digital Skills and Training)	02 Aug 2022	10am - 12pm (online)	Book via MyEd Events Researchers today are pressured to share their research data and make it accessible to other researchers. But what if you have collected sensitive or confidential data? For many researchers, the sensitivity of research data is one of the main barriers to data sharing. Fear of violating ethical or legal obligations, lack of knowledge about disclosure control and the time required to anonymise data to a suitable standard often prevent valuable datasets from seeing the light of day. In this course, we introduce how to collect, share, store, and protect the sensitive data you may encounter as part of your work.
Introduction to reference managers (Digital Skills and Training)	24 Aug 2022	2pm - 3.30pm (online)	Book via MyEd Events At university you’ll be using a large number of documents in many different formats (e.g. journal article, book chapter, image, report, case law, conference proceedings etc.). Using a reference manager to collect, organise, annotate and cite these references can save you a lot time, improve accuracy and help you structure your work. This short session will introduce you to four reference managers: EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley and Citavi, all of which have free versions. This workshop will take place online via Blackboard Collaborate Ultra and can be accessed using the following link: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/32c70f61905f436d9ee3018a75f4ae81