Scheduled RDP workshops and events
The Researcher Development Programme provides year-round training and development opportunities to help you successfully complete your research degree, and prepare for your future
RDP workshops open for booking at the start of each academic term, and close to bookings one working day before each session. Visit the all workshops pages for the full list of workshops taking place this year, and details of how the programme works, including our approach to accessibility.
Registrations are now managed through Eventbrite, enabling a smoother booking process. For online workshops, the Zoom link will be included on your Eventbrite booking page and in email reminders.
If you have any questions about our workshops or any issues with booking a place, email us at researcher-development@sussex.ac.uk.
Boosting your writing productivity
Theme: Grow
Date: Wednesday 14 January
Time: 12.30-2.30pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: Academic writing can be hard at the best of times. It's especially challenging when there’s so much going on. In this interactive session, you’ll discover how to make writing more manageable, even under difficult circumstances.
One-day academic writing retreat
Theme: Core
Date: Friday 16 January
Time: 09.30am-4.30pm (UK)
Location: Library Seminar Room
Description: Are you struggling to get started with your academic writing? Or have you hit a block? If so, this intensive one-day writing retreat can help you get back on track and make significant progress with your chapter, article or book. You get the time and space to focus. With guidance from an experienced facilitator, you’ll set realistic goals and achieve them in a supportive environment.
Becoming a postgraduate researcher: skills, strategies and support
Theme: Induction
Date: Thursday 22 January
Time: 1.30-4.30pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: Pursuing a research degree isn’t just about knowledge – you need to manage yourself, too. Make a successful start to your postgraduate degree with this practical workshop, designed to prepare you for the journey ahead.
Preparing for your viva in the Sciences
Theme: Core
Date: Tuesday 27 January 2026
Time: 10.00am-1.00pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: The viva can be a daunting event for postgraduate researchers. This workshop will de-mystify the viva process, rules and requirements, and provide you with useful guidance about how you can prepare for the big day throughout your PGR journey.
Open research: principles and practices
Theme: Core
Date: Tuesday 27 January
Time: 2.00-3.00pm (UK)
Location: Library Teaching Room
Description: What is open research and why does it matter? This workshop will introduce the concept of open research, and explore opportunities for implementing open research principles into your own practice. It will cover open access publishing, open data, open source software, open peer review, and tools and techniques to help you discover open access materials.
Handling perfectionism and imposter phenomenon
Theme: Grow
Date: Wednesday 28 January
Time: 10.00am-1.00pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: This workshop will introduce you to an array of techniques that help you minimise, address, and (with practice) overcome the unhelpful thinking patterns that underpin perfectionist behaviours and imposter feelings, increasing your capacity to effectively handle these issues as they arise in the future.
PGR Essentials: Introduction the library
Theme: Induction
Date: Thursday 29 January
Time: 2.00-3.00pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: This workshop will introduce you to the Library's collections and discovery tools. With guidance from the Library Research and Open Scholarship Team, the workshop will highlight key Library resources and services for PGRs.
How to edit your academic writing
Theme: Core
Date: Friday 30 January
Time: 10.00am-1.00pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: Are you close to a full draft of your book, article or thesis chapter? Does it resemble a baggy monster that needs taming? If so, this workshop is for you. Through activities and tutorials, you’ll learn techniques for getting your writing into shape. After the workshop, you will have a polished chunk of writing and a clear strategy for tackling the rest of your publication.
PGR Essentials: Introduction to the Library
Theme: Induction
Date: Monday 2 February 2026
Time: 11.00am-12.00pm (UK)
Location: Library Teaching Room
Description: This workshop will introduce you to the Library's collections and discovery tools. With guidance from the Library Research and Open Scholarship Team, the workshop will highlight key Library resources and services for PGRs.
Open publishing: your options explained
Theme: Thrive
Date: Monday 2 February 2026
Time: 2.00-3.00pm (UK)
Location: Library Teaching Room
Description: Green or Gold open access? Unsure about APCs? This workshop will demystify key terminology and guide you through the open access publishing options available to University of Sussex researchers.
PGR Essentials: Introduction to ethics
Theme: Induction
Date: Tuesday 3 February
Time: 11.00am-12.00pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: This workshop will look at the key principles of undertaking ethical research, and explain how to go about obtaining ethical approval from the University. There will also be opportunities to consider some case studies, ask questions about your own work, and gain insights on how to embed good ethical practices into your research.
PGR Essentials: Introduction to open research
Theme: Induction
Date: Wednesday 4 February
Time: 2.00-3.00pm (UK)
Location: Library Teaching Room
Description: This workshop will introduce open research, considering the benefits for researchers, institutions and wider society. It will provide opportunities for you to consider how open research methods could be embedded into your research and highlight sources of support and further information.
Working with your supervisor
Theme: Induction
Date: Thursday 5 February
Time: 10.00am-12.00pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: The supervisory relationship is crucial to the success of your research degree. In this interactive two-hour workshop you’ll discover practical tips and techniques for communicating with your supervisor, consider common problems, and develop strategies for overcoming them.
PGR Essentials: Introduction to Intellectual Property
Theme: Induction
Date: Friday 6 February
Time: 10.00am-12.00pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: This workshop will provide PGRs with an introduction to the topic of intellectual property (IP) and how to protect their research and ideas using intellectual property rights. Participants will gain insights into the different IP rights, including patents, designs, copyright and trademarks, and what ideas or creations can be protected.
Becoming a postgraduate researcher: skills, strategies and support
Theme: Induction
Date: Friday 6 February
Time: 1.00-4.00pm (UK)
Location: Library Teaching Room
Description: Pursuing a research degree isn’t just about knowledge – you need to manage yourself, too. Make a successful start to your postgraduate degree with this practical workshop, designed to prepare you for the journey ahead.
Making progress in your research degree
Theme: Induction
Date: Monday 9 February
Time: 10.00am-12.00pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: Are you part-way through your research degree and wondering how to keep going? Do you need a push to progress to the final stages? If yes, this session is for you. By the end of the workshop you will clarify where you are with your research degree, identify your critical success factors, and learn tools and techniques to boost your productivity.
Careers planning, including reviewing common destination and networking
Theme: Grow
Date: Monday 9 February
Time: 1.00-2.30pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: We’ll explore the different destinations and job markets that postgraduate researchers typically move into after achieving their doctorates. We’ll cover both academic ones as well as ‘beyond academia’ destinations (ie industry, public sector and NFP).
Stress, resilience and strengths
Theme: Grow
Date: Monday 9 February
Time: 1.00-4.00pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: A brief overview of stress will equip you with an understanding of general stress responses, from which you'll identify how stress affects you on an individual level. Having insight into your current landscape, you'll then work with three specific stress-management/resilience tools, in partnership with other researchers on the programme.
Online research profiles: increasing your visibility, impact and engagement
Theme: Core
Date: Tuesday 10 February
Time: 10.00-11.00am (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: Your online researcher profile is a key tool for increasing the visibility of your research, connecting with collaborators and demonstrating research impact. This workshop introduces the main platforms for creating and managing your online researcher profile and, focusing on the University's Elements tool, will demonstrate how to build your Elements profile to present your research, professional and teaching activities effectively.
Preparing for your viva (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences)
Theme: Core
Date: Wednesday 11 February
Time: 10.00am-1.00pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: The viva can be a daunting event for postgraduate researchers. This workshop will de-mystify the viva process, rules and requirements, and provide you with useful guidance about how you can prepare for the big day throughout your PGR journey.
How to edit your academic writing
Theme: Core
Date: Thursday 12 February
Time: 1.00-4.00pm (UK)
Location: Library Teaching Room
Description: Are you close to a full draft of your book, article or thesis chapter? Does it resemble a baggy monster that needs taming? If so, this workshop is for you. Through activities and tutorials, you’ll learn techniques for getting your writing into shape. After the workshop, you will have a polished chunk of writing and a clear strategy for tackling the rest of your publication.
One-day academic writing retreat
Theme: Core
Date: Monday 16 February
Time: 09.30am-4.30pm (UK)
Location: Library Teaching Room
Description: Are you struggling to get started with your academic writing? Or have you hit a block? If so, this intensive one-day writing retreat can help you get back on track and make significant progress with your chapter, article or book. You get the time and space to focus. With guidance from an experienced facilitator, you’ll set realistic goals and achieve them in a supportive environment.
PGR CVs, applications, and LinkedIn
Theme: Grow
Date: Wednesday 18 February
Time: 12.00-1.30pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: This event looks at ideas and methods to help you with your networking with organisations and people who might help your career choices. Building a network of resources and people who can help you can be important in researching and developing a career.
Understanding copyright and Creative Commons licenses
Theme: Realise
Date: Friday 20 February
Time: 11.00am-12.00pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: This session will cover the basics of UK copyright law and how this impacts what you can use in your work and how you can share the results of your own research. It will introduce concepts such as rights retention and fair dealing and will provide guidance on how to seek permission to reuse third party content in your publications.
Managing your research data: Keeping your data organised and secure
Theme: Core
Date: Tuesday 24 February
Time: 10.00-11.00am (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: This session will help you consider how to keep your research data organised and secure. By the end of this session, you will be able to implement effective file naming conventions to improve the organisation and retrieval of your research data, develop a backup strategy to minimise the risk of data loss, and adopt secure working practices to prevent putting data and participants at risk.
Preparing for your final year
Theme: Induction
Date: Tuesday 24 February
Time: 11.00am-1.00pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: There's so much to fit into your final year and careful planning is essential. With clear guidance, individual exercises, and group discussion, this practical workshop helps you prepare for the last stages of your research degree, including submission, the viva, and what happens next.
Wrangling your workload
Theme: Grow
Date: Wednesday 25 February
Time: 10.00am-1.00pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: This workshop will help you review your 'rules' of how you work and adapt them to serve you better. You’ll review what really matters to you, and what that means for prioritising your workload in any given moment. Then you’ll be in a better place to define how you choose to work within and flex those changes. With greater clarity on your workload and what is really important to you, experiment with tools that help you optimise small pockets of time.
Interviewing for Success
Theme: Grow
Date: Thursday 26 February
Time: 1.00-2.30pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: What can you expect in an interview? Whether you have had ten interviews or zero, interviews can still be a daunting prospect. This session will help you prepare for success. Find out how to succeed at interviews for roles inside and outside of academia after your research degree. This webinar will look at different styles and approaches to help you market your skills effectively.
Preparing for your viva (Sciences)
Theme: Core
Date: Tuesday 3 March
Time: 10.00am-1.00pm (UK)
Location: Library Teaching Room
Description: The viva can be a daunting event for postgraduate researchers. This workshop will de-mystify the viva process rules and requirements and provide you with useful guidance about how you can prepare for the big day throughout your PGR journey. You will also learn how to craft effective preparation questions that fit your PGR project, receive tips on how to interact with your examiners, and benefit from an opportunity to participate in a mock viva.
Understanding and using publication metrics responsibly
Theme: Library Teaching Room
Date: Tuesday 3 March
Time: 2.00-3.00pm (UK)
Location: Library Teaching Room
Description: This workshop will introduce the benefits and limitations of a number of tools which provide publication metrics for both the individual researcher, research output and for institutional level analysis. It will provide opportunities to discus the importance of the responsible use of bibliometric data and it will also look at the University’s commitment to the responsible use of publication metrics.
Developing effective literature searching skills
Theme: Core
Date: Wednesday 4 March
Time: 11.00am-12.30pm (UK)
Location: Library Seminar Room
Description: This workshop introduces core techniques for literature searching. We'll start by exploring connections between research outputs and authors to uncover new sources. Building on this, we’ll demonstrate how to carry out structured, systematic searches, getting you familiar with the advanced techniques that can be applied across different academic databases. The session will also include activities to help you refine your own literature searching approach.
Managing your research data: Introduction to data management plans
Theme: Core
Date: Thursday 5 March
Time: 10.30am-12.00pm (UK)
Location: Library Seminar Room
Description: Writing a data management plan (DMP) is useful for researchers in all disciplines. Research data is produced by most projects, and can be anything: interview recordings, sensor data, economic models and more. A DMP covers how data will be collected, organised, managed, stored, secured, backed-up, preserved, and where applicable, shared. Writing a DMP will help you to anticipate any challenges for working with your data and make the research process much smoother.
Data management plan writing sessions
Theme: Core
Date: Thursday 5 March
Time: 12.00-1.00pm (UK)
Location: Library Seminar Room
Description: Data management plans (DMPs) are vital to help you efficiently manage your data during your research. It’s also a requirement to write a DMP to take to your progress review. These sessions are designed to give you time to work on your DMP with Library staff on hand to give advice. You are welcome to join the session whatever stage your DMP is at – we can help you to get started or you can bring a draft DMP for discussion.
Copyright and your thesis
Theme: Realise
Date: Friday 6 March
Time: 10.00-11.00am (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: Prior to publishing your thesis you need to ensure you have obtained permission to use any copyrighted material and, in addition, have thought about the terms under which you will be making your thesis available for others to use. As well as covering the publication of your thesis on Sussex Research Online (SRO), this workshop will explain the main principles of copyright, consider how and when UK fair dealing exceptions can be applied and establish, if you need to seek permission to use other people’s work in your thesis.
Preparing for your viva (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences)
Theme: Core
Date: Tuesday 10 March
Time: 10.00am-1.00pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: The viva can be a daunting experience for which you need to be well-prepared. This workshop will de-mystify the viva process and requirements, and provide you with useful guidance on preparing for the big day. You'll also hear examples of real questions and experiences from recent successful vivas across different Schools, and benefit from the opportunity to participate in a mock viva.
Managing references using Zotero
Theme: Core
Date: Wednesday 11 March
Time: 1.00-2.30pm (UK)
Location: Library Teaching Room
Description: This session covers the key features of Zotero, a free and user-friendly reference management tool. You’ll learn how to add sources to your personal library, generate citations, and organise your references. We’ll also highight additional features for note-taking, annotation and keeping your library backed up and accessible across devices. By the end, you’ll be able to integrate Zotero into your research workflow to support efficient and collaborative practice.
Managing your research data: Supporting qualitative data sharing
Theme: Core
Date: Monday 16 March
Time: 2.00-3.00pm (UK)
Location: Library Seminar Room
Description: Qualitative data has rich potential for re-use in future research, but it can be challenging to navigate routes for data sharing. This session will support attendees with data management planning that will help embed consideration of data sharing principles throughout the research process.
Online research profiles: increasing your visibility, impact and engagement
Theme: Core
Date: Wednesday 18 March
Time: 2.00-3.00pm (UK)
Location: Library Teaching Room
Description: Your online researcher profile is a key tool for increasing the visbility of your research, connecting with collaborators and demonstrating research impact. This workshop introduces the main platforms for creating and managing your online researcher profile, and focusing on Elements, the University of Sussex's platform for capturing and sharing research-related activities, will demonstrate how to build your Elements profile to present your research, professional and teaching activities effectively.
One-day academic writing retreat
Theme: Core
Date: Friday 20 March
Time: 9.30am-4.30pm (UK)
Location: Library Teaching Room
Description: Are you struggling to get started with your academic writing? Or have you hit a block? If so, this intensive one-day writing retreat can help you get back on track and make significant progress with your chapter, article or book. You get the time and space to focus. With guidance from an experienced facilitator, you’ll set realistic goals and achieve them in a supportive environment.
Data management plan writing sessions
Theme: Core
Date: Wednesday 15 April
Time: 2.00-3.00pm (UK)
Location: Library Seminar Room
Description: Data management plans (DMPs) are vital to help you efficiently manage your data during your research. It’s also a requirement to write a DMP to take to your progress review. These sessions are designed to give you time to work on your DMP with Library staff on hand to give advice. You are welcome to join the session whatever stage your DMP is at – we can help you to get started or you can bring a draft DMP for discussion.
Open publishing: your options explained
Theme: Thrive
Date: Tuesday 21 April
Time: 11.00am-12.00pm (UK)
Location: Library Teaching Room
Description: Green or Gold open access? Unsure about APCs? This workshop will demystify key terminology and guide you through the open access publishing options available to University of Sussex researchers.
Developing effective literature searching skills
Theme: Core
Date: Wednesday 22 April
Time: 11.00am-12.30pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: This workshop introduces core techniques for literature searching. We'll start by exploring connections between research outputs and authors to uncover new sources. Building on this, we’ll demonstrate how to carry out structured, systematic searches, getting you familiar with the advanced techniques that can be applied across different academic databases. The session will also include activities to help you refine your own literature searching approach.
Understanding and using publication metrics responsibly
Theme: Realise
Date: Thursday 23 April
Time: 10.00-11.00am (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: This workshop will introduce the benefits and limitations of a number of tools which provide publication metrics for both the individual researcher, research output and for institutional level analysis. It will provide opportunities to discus the importance of the responsible use of bibliometric data and it will also look at the University’s commitment to the responsible use of publication metrics.
Copyright and your thesis
Theme: Realise
Date: Wednesday 29 April
Time: 11.00am-12.00pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: All PGRs need to understand how copyright relates to their thesis. Prior to publishing your thesis you need to ensure you have obtained permission to use any copyrighted material and, in addition, have thought about the terms under which you will be making your thesis available for others to use.
Open research: principles and practices
Theme: Core
Date: Thursday 30 April
Time: 11.00am-12.00pm (UK)
Location: Online via Zoom
Description: What is open research and why does it matter? This workshop will introduce the concept of open research, and explore opportunities for implementing open research principles into your own practice. It will cover open access publishing, open data, open source software, open peer review and tools and techniques to help you discover open access materials.