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Fostering the Career Development of Doctoral Students
Fostering the Career Development of Doctoral Students
A number of doctoral students conducting research at the University of Malta in different fields of maritime studies participated in a five-day online training event addressing career development outside the world of academia. The event formed part of the Erasmus+ Strategic partnership SEA-EU DOC project set up by the consortium of Universities of the Sea from France (UBO, Brest), Poland (Gdańsk), Croatia (Split), Spain (Cádiz), Germany (Kiel), and Malta (UM).
Participants were introduced to tools and techniques that can enable them to demonstrate the competences they acquire during their PhD journey, including the use of DocPro.
‘Many students were surprised by the range of transversal skills and competences that lie at the core of their research activities’ said Professor Nicholas Vella, Director of the Doctoral School. ‘During the training event students were exposed to ways of identifying their achievements and how they can demonstrate competences to prospective employers effectively.’
Jyothi Thomas who has embarked on doctoral studies in environmental law in the Faculty of Laws was satisfied by the training: ‘It advocated the importance of recognizing the skills that we develop during our PhD, the importance of building networks, of knowing ourselves better; it also provided assistance in preparing pitches for different occasions. The experiences and ideas shared by doctoral graduates made us more confident about our journey.’
Ing. Ryan Bugeja, a doctoral researcher at the Institute for Sustainable Energy, had this to say: ‘I have to admit that initially I was sceptical about the event however, I found the course to be very informative especially on the way doctoral students and graduates should promote their skills. I would recommend this training event to other doctoral students since it opens up a whole new world beyond academia.’
Organised by the University of West Brittany (UBO), the event was in part attended by academics and by staff engaged by the universities to provide support to students and supervisory teams.