Studying in Zoology

Courses

Doing a Phd isn’t just about your research; it’s also about gaining new skills and further developing old ones which will be useful down the line, whether you stay in research or move into another career.

The Department and Graduate School of Life Sciences therefore require students to engage in transferable skills training. By completing courses and other activities you accumulate credits (half a day worth counts for 1 credit). If your Phd takes 3 years you should aim to get about 60 credits, if it takes 4 years you should aim for about 80.

There are some compulsory or recommended courses, but generally you should just do what you think sounds interesting or useful. You can find full details of courses on the School's website or on the University Skills Portal for PostGrads.

Recommended courses

In your Log Book you’ll find courses or activities which you are expected to do in each year. These include:

Year 1: safety course, introductory day, preparing your feasibility report, statistics course for Graduate Biologists, a seminar presentation, a group talk, preparation of 1st year report.

Year 2: Scientific Ethics course, poster presentation, preparation of 2nd year report, Beer talk, group seminar, Graduate School course on thesis preparation.

Year 3: seminar presentation, Group Seminar, Careers Service ‘Moving on from Research’.

In addition there are a number of courses which may help you plan (and maybe even complete) your work. The Graduate School’s Starting Your Phd and Time Management courses are good when you’re just starting out. Towards the end of your research the Completing Your Phd course can be useful too.

Finding Specific Courses

The Graduate school courses include subject specific courses which may help you complete your work. The school also puts on a wide range of transferable skills courses which cover career planning, communication skills, IT skills and other general topics. You can browse these courses on the graduate school website.

Other institutions within the University put on courses, including the Careers Service and the Computing Department. Depending on where you get your funding from you may also be able to go on external courses supported by your funding body.

Notable external courses include Researchers in Residence, a teaching placement scheme, and the UK and National GRADSchools, a popular personal development and careers course.

All these various courses have been linked together under the University Skills Portal, which is a good way of finding courses to suit your needs and desires.