These Moodle pages contain the workshop schedule, syllabus, materials and news for the PGR Student Skills Development Programme delivered remotely via Zoom by staff at the University of Bolton and external contributors. You are entitled to enrol on this course whether you are pursuing your research on- or off-campus, in an educational establishment, in your workplace, or privately, in the UK or overseas. There are links to official University documents and forms for Researchers, to other useful resources that support the programme, and to a much wider range of useful material for Researchers.

Each of the individual sessions in the programme contributes to a specific aspect of your professional development as a researcher. These aspects are indicated by reference to VITAE's Researcher Development Framework (RDF) - see About the Vitae Researcher Development Framework — Vitae Website - which we will introduce early on in the programme. The graphic below summarises the domains and subdomains of the RDF, so you will, for example, see different sessions labelled with the notation: A1, B3, C2, and so on.

Communication about the webinars and your Continuing Professional Development is sent via the news forum for this Moodle course to your University email address, so you should check your University email regularly. As well as attending the online webinars, you should interact with the workshop material provided in Moodle, preferably during the week scheduled in the calendar, seeking assistance and clarification from your supervisor as necessary.

You are advised to download the Zoom application for Windows, ioS, Android, or Mac, as appropriate to your device. See: Getting Started – Zoom Help Center. Access to the Zoom webinars for the topics below is from the  link which is usually the first resource listed when you click on the 'date/time/topic/presenter' link. The Zoom link will also note the 'date/time/topic/presenter'.

Protocols when attending online webinars

Where students are required to engage in live sessions online, they are expected to:

1. write their full name and student number in their Zoom/Teams profile in advance of the session;
2. find a quiet workspace where they are less likely be interrupted for the duration of session – and/or wear a headset to reduce background noise disruption;
3. ensure their appearance and surroundings are appropriate for the online classroom (or use an appropriate background picture);
4. be prepared for the session and join punctually;
5. keep their cameras on to show engagement with the session (and agree with the tutor beforehand if this is not possible);
6. keep their microphones on mute when they are not speaking in the session to ensure background noise does not disrupt the session;
7. stay seated, be present and participate during the live session, as well as in breakout room discussions;
8. use the chat function to ask questions and raise points;
9. ensure what they write in the chat is relevant to the session and courteous;
10. use the hand up/wave icon if they wish to raise a point verbally.

This Moodle course is temporarily maintained by Dr Paul Birkett (p.birkett@bolton.ac.uk). The workshop topics and material, including presentations, handouts, videos, web links, further reading and exercises are available to interact with on this Moodle page.

This module is designed to further enhance your academic research skills. You will consider different forms of primary research and the ways in which data can be collected and analysed. You will explore the discipline of academic writing and further develop an awareness of secondary research sources and literature searching techniques. Ethical considerations such as confidentiality, data protection and unfair means will be taken into account.

The module provides students with an opportunity to undertake a substantial and independent piece of research. It allows students to synthesise their academic knowledge acquired from the taught MSc modules and to produce a document that demonstrates evaluative and critical discussion of an issue relevant to the degree topic. The dissertation module also aims to help students to develop their abilities in identifying a problem, establishing its significance, formulating a hypothesis or proposition, designing means of testing hypotheses, and evaluating the results.

The module provides students with an opportunity to undertake a substantial and independent piece of research. It allows students to synthesise their academic knowledge acquired from the taught MSc modules and to produce a document that demonstrates evaluative and critical discussion of an issue relevant to the degree topic. The dissertation module also aims to help students to develop their abilities in identifying a problem, establishing its significance, formulating a hypothesis or proposition, designing means of testing hypotheses, and evaluating the results.