Training and Development Activities

All trainees are expected to attend regular meetings that are scheduled (Room details will be provided in a separate timetable). These meetings will provide the opportunity to:

• meet regularly with one of the Programme Directors (who will normally take part of each session) and with the other trainees, to share experiences of progress, insights and any problems encountered.
• receive training specific to acquiring the Stage 2 competences; for example in consultancy, systematic reviewing, professional practice, documenting competences, etc.

You will also have the opportunity to join the other members of the health research group (i.e. all health psychology staff and postgraduate trainees) for the series of seminars run by the Centre for Clinical and Community Applications of Health Psychology (CCCAHP). These seminars will be presented by invited members of the international CCCAHP network, which includes eminent health psychologists as well as more junior researchers and practitioners, and will provide an opportunity for lively debate of cutting edges issues in health psychology (Times and room details will be provided in a separate timetable).

Trainees can also choose to attend an introductory CBT course run in conjunction with the MSc Health, DEdPsych and D.ClinPsych trainees. The introductory CBT course comprises four full day sessions over one week. Please see the link to the CBT Handbook for more information on the programme. As part of this programme you will need to sign an Experiential Learning Statement available in the CBT handbook.

 

Additional training/development activities should be selected by the trainee, together with the supervisory team, as required. These may include attending sessions or courses run by the School or Doctoral College (e.g. in teaching, intervention or research presentation skills), conferences, visits, secondments, shadowing and observation, team/joint working and networking. A range of seminars and advanced training is offered within the School which you are encouraged to attend:

• Academic Unit and Health Research Group Seminars
• Training for teaching within the School
• Generic skills training
• Research methods training

Trainees are required to take up the opportunity for generic skills training. It is a requirement that you receive the equivalent of 2 weeks worth of training (full time; or part time equivalent), and this may be fulfilled in part through attendance at the University’s PG Conferences, School seminars, other conferences, Research Interest Group Meetings, etc. It should, however, also include some training events (e.g. from Faculty’s generic skills training programme such that your training is suitable to the stage of study that you are at).

Generic Skills Training

At the start of each academic year, you will be asked to undertake a learning needs analysis (as part of your annual progress report) with the purpose of identifying the skills that you highlight as being important to develop within that academic year. This focus on self-reflection is useful because it enables you to identify your own strengths and weaknesses, and to identify areas where you might benefit from training. Equally, however, you may feel cautious about returning to study, or you may welcome the opportunity to brush up on your skills or acquire new ones. In this case, discuss your needs with your supervisor and they will help you select the appropriate generic skills courses for you. We recognise, however, that your experience so far might mean that you do not need some types of training. This is fine, and we merely ask you to justify exclusion from such training through a demonstrable experience route.

Once you have identified your needs, then you should identify how you are going to meet those needs. The Doctoral College provides a programme of Generic Skills Training Workshops which you are free to attend. You will be able to sign up to these courses online, and the system will give you an electronic reminder a few days before the training event. Details of this online system can be found on the Doctoral College website. Please note that if you sign up to a course and subsequently do not attend, the Academic Unit will nevertheless have to pay for your place, and this fee may be passed down to your supervisor. If you find that you no longer need a place on a course, you should therefore unbook electronically so that there is no fine, and your place can be taken up by someone on a waiting list.

Please remember that you do not need to receive training on everything all in one academic year – pace your training to your needs at each stage of your postgraduate programme. Remember also that generic training will not always take the form of attendance at a course or training event. Wherever possible and sensible, we will aim to provide support for training events in the form of online e-learning materials.

As a word of advice, we encourage you to keep a log of your completed training. When did you do it? What did you learn? How can you demonstrate your learning? This reflective practice will enable you to get the most from the training opportunities we provide and feedback from employers suggests that this awareness sets you apart from other candidates in the job market. This can usefully form part of your own Personal Development Portfolio (PDP) which we recommend that you develop and maintain for yourself.

Details of the PGR Training Programme can be found at the Doctoral College website: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/gradschools/graddev/trainingdirectory.html and courses can be booked via https://www.gradbook.soton.ac.uk/

Research Methods Training

You are welcome to attend any of the MSc Research Methods sessions that interest you (however, it is probably best to check with the tutor in advance). The sessions are detailed in the MSc Research Methods handbook, which is available online at:

https://www.efolio.soton.ac.uk/blog/handbook-jw-research-methods/

Seminars

Trainees are strongly encouraged to also attend, when able, the weekly Academic Unit seminars and the monthly Centre for Clinical and Community Applications of Health Psychology seminars (during term time). A timetable of speakers can be found at the following website: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/psychology/research/seminars.page

Teaching within the Academic Unit

If you wish to undertake any teaching within the Academic Unit you must have attended the training sessions at the beginning of the academic year. Please see the Doctoral College website, if you wish to attend the training and sign up for the relevant sessions.