Domain C

Research governance and organisation
Domain C

1. Professional conduct

Knowledge of:

  • Health and safety issues, confidentiality and ethical requirements of his/her research field.
  • The legal requirements and regulations relating to the area of research and the research environment.
  • The principles of intellectual property rights (IPR) and copyright issues, as they relate to research, its commercialisation and dissemination.
  • Organisational and professional requirements and environmental impact of research.
  • The concept of corporate social responsibility.

Behaviour:
  • Respects, acknowledges and attributes the contribution of others.
  • Seeks to protect, where appropriate, the intellectual assets arising from research and to maximise the wider value of research findings.
  • Acts with professional integrity in all aspects of research governance.
  • Uses institutional/organisational resources responsibly and appropriately.
  • Seeks ways of working in a sustainable manner.
Attitude:
  • Respects, upholds and meets professional standards and requirements.

2. Research management

Knowledge of:

  • The contribution of research to the health of disciplines and institutional missions.
  • Project management tools and techniques.
Behaviour:
  • Applies appropriate project management tools and techniques.
  • Sets goals and plans and manages resources to deliver results.
  • Effectively assesses and manages risks.
  • Evaluates the effectiveness of research projects.

3. Finance, funding and resources

Knowledge of:

  • The requirement for research income generation and financial management.
  • Mechanisms for funding, the range of funding sources and the processes for making applications.
  • Local administrative systems, reporting procedures and infrastructure processes.
Behaviour:
  • Responsibly manages finances, resources and infrastructures related to research.

Research integrity: An introduction - What are the fundamental principles and how can I evidence them in my research?

Aimed at those who are new to research or wish to update their knowledge, this session will detail the expected standards, values and behaviours set out by the University, funders and regulators in the ‘Concordat to support research integrity’ (Universities UK). This session will give you an overview of regulatory frameworks and introduce you to the tools to help you develop integrity in your research and successfully demonstrate high quality research. Topics covered will include research governance, ethics, misconduct, regulators, training, data management and publication ethics.

Facilitator:  Dr John Martin
Applicability: Suitable for most research students and research staff.

Course dates and times: 

  • Dates for academic year 2020/21 - TBC

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Intellectual property for PHD students 

These sessions are designed to be interactive, and while they will cover the basic details of the standard forms of intellectual property, including copyright, patents, trademarks and design rights including topical examples, the sessions will attempt to explain the university’s policy context including origination, ownership and other access rights.

Facilitator: Dr David Mozley and Dr Justin Rigden
Applicability: Suitable for most research students and research staff.

Course dates and times: 

  • Dates for academic year 2020/21 - TBC

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Keeping laboratory records

This session will act as an introduction to the proper keeping of laboratory records. The keeping of the Laboratory book to a standard at which it will stand up as a legal document will be covered as will suitable curation of electronic and paper records including materials such as photographs, instrument outputs, x-ray films and biological samples. The concept that the Laboratory book is the larval form of a PhD thesis or paper will be promoted with the goal that attendees will be able to produce papers/chapters more swiftly from well-kept records. Date management, cloud storage, privacy legislation and laboratory information management are also introduced.

Facilitator: Dr Rich Boden
Applicability: Suitable for laboratory-based researchers, particularly those new to research.

Course dates and times: 

  • Dates for academic year 2020/21 - TBC

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Project management

The purpose of this session is to investigate the issues of project planning and control. The successful completion of projects demands clear objectives and the coordinated use of resources. This session sets out to address the issues of project planning and control, looking at how to determine feasibility targets and areas of risk, how to make things happen and what to do when 'things go wrong'.

Intended learning outcomes:
Participants should be aware of how to access the following range of information resources via the University portal:

  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the characteristics of projects.
  • Apply relevant methodologies for project evaluation and selection.
  • Determine project objectives and performance measures for different projects.
  • Analyse, synthesise and evaluate those factors that will be critical to the success of a project.
  • Apply project-planning techniques (e.g. PERT and CPA).
  • Assess areas of risk and develop contingency strategies.

Facilitator: Dr Jonathan Moizer
Applicability: Suitable for most research students and research staff. This session will equip researchers with the requisite project management skills for a career in industry, government or academia.

Course dates and times: 

  • Dates for academic year 2020/21 - TBC

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

MS Project 2010

MS Project 2010 is the most widely used piece of project management software. This session will provide you with a working knowledge of the MS Project 2010 basics. At the end of the session you should be able to use Project to set plans and schedules; and to define, schedule and monitor tasks using a variety of tools and views. In addition you will learn how to use the software to manage project resources and costs.

Intended learning outcomes:

  • Develop a working knowledge of MS Project 2010 management software

Facilitator: Dr Jonathan Moizer
Applicability: Suitable for most research students and research staff. This session will equip you with the know-how to use MS Project 2010 to plan and control projects.
Prerequisites: Participants are recommended to have completed the session 'project management' before attending.

Course dates and times: 

  • Dates for academic year 2020/21 - TBC

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Preparing to submit on PEARL including copyright and open access

Each student completing their PhD thesis will need to submit an electronic copy to PEARL, the University’s Open Access research repository.

This session will cover copyright considerations, the process of deposit and the requirements for submission as well as a brief introduction to Open Access, Creative Commons licencing and embargos.  Any questions and support please contact informationspecialists@plymouth.ac.uk

Facilitator: Information Specialists
Applicability: Suitable for all research students.

Course dates and times: 

  • 2 November 2020, 1100-1200 (UK time) via Zoom
  • 25 January 2021, 1100-1200 (UK time) via Zoom

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

GradBook student training

GradBook is the online progression monitoring system we use at the University of Plymouth for all research students and supervisors. GradBook is a tool to monitor your academic progress throughout your research degree programme at the University of Plymouth. It provides a framework for recording scheduled supervisory meetings and other details related to your research degree programme. GradBook will enable you and your supervisors to track progress and to plan and chart evidence of the development of academic, discipline specific and key transferable skills. It will enable you to take an active lead in the partnership with your supervisory team and to record your achievements.

Facilitator: Sarah Carne
Applicability: All research students

Course dates and times: 

  • 13 October 2020, 1030-1200 (UK time) via Zoom

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Introduction to applying for research ethical approval

The requirement for research ethical approval relates to all research involving human participants and the collection of personal information.

This session is designed for research students and will give an introduction to the process for applying for ethical approval for their project. This session is intended to demystify the process of applying for and obtaining ethical approval.

After the session students will understand what is expected of them in terms of an ethical approach to research. They will know how to find specific guidance relating to research ethical approval and what they should include in research ethics applications.

Facilitator:  Dr John Martin, Alison Bendall
Applicability: Suitable for research students requiring ethical approval to conduct their research.

Course dates and times: 

  • 12 October 2020, 1030-1200

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Introduction to research funding for researchers

This is anintroductory session about research funding for researchers aiming to pursue acareer in academia.

Facilitator: Ewa Thompson and Susan Eick
Applicability: Suitable for most research students.

Course dates and times: 

  • 22 October 2020, 1030-1200 (UK time) via Zoom
  • 16 February 2021, 1400-1530 (UK time) via Zoom

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Human tissue research

This course provides compulsory training for any staff or research students using human tissue in their research. It will also prove useful to anyone intending to do research using human tissue in the future.

The use of human tissue for research in England and Wales is covered by legislation in the Human Tissue Act 2004 and regulated by the Human Tissue Authority (HTA). Licences for research using human tissue are issued by the HTA and require that any staff teams working under the licence are suitably trained. As a Human Tissues licence holder the university has a minimum standard of training for all staff working with human tissue. This session provides an overview of Human Tissue legislation and the governance and standard operational procedures the university has in place to ensure that it complies with the HT Act regulations. Key areas covered include consent,disposal, transfer, data management and monitoring procedures. The legal status of human tissues stored as part of an NREC ethically approved project and material stored under the Human Tissues Act will also be discussed. A main purpose of this seminar is to ensure that all staff working with Human Tissue at the University of Plymouth are aware of their legal obligations in this field, as well as the help and resources that are available to them.

For more information on the content of this session please contact hta@plymouth.ac.uk

Facilitator: Konstantin Glebov
Applicability: Suitable for most research students and research staff.

Course dates and times:

  • Dates for academic year 2020/21 - TBC

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Introduction to research data management and data management plans

PGR students are responsible for exercising good practice in research data management and encouraged to make their research data openly available for reuse at the end of their project, within legal and ethical constraints. All PGR students commencing on or after 1st August 2019 are required to submit a Data Management Plan as part of the Project Approval (RDC.1) process.

This session will provide an overview of the factors that need to be considered early on in a research project (including ethics; data protection; copyright; secure data storage; file naming and organisation;documentation; data retention, preservation and publishing), and how to structure them to create a Data Management Plan that explains how data will be managed, protected and ultimately preserved and published. The workshop will include hands-on practice with writing a data management plan and students are encouraged to bring their research proposals with them to inform their planning exercise.

Please note this course will not cover research data management in great detail, however links to further guidance will be provided and signposted.

Facilitator: Information Specialists

Course dates and times:

  • 20 October 2020, 1400-1600 (UK time) via Zoom


Research Data Management information can be found on our Moodle page:  https://dle.plymouth.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=25918


Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk


An introduction to IRAS: electronic ethics submission to the health research authority using the online integrated research application system (IRAS)

This workshop will provide an introduction for people making an application to the Health Research Authority NHS ethics committee through IRAS. Participants will be able to set up forms and work on their own applications. 

Facilitator(s):  Sarah C Jones

Course dates and times:  

  • 9 November 2020, 1030-1200 (UK time) via Zoom

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk