Take part in a light, fun, campus run (or jog or walk - whatever you prefer!), with members of the Doctoral College. There's no need to book, just turn up! Open to all doctoral researchers and staff :-)

Meet outside Graduate House for a 12:45 start time.

Route from Graduate House to be confirmed in due course.

This one-day course, specifically for those who are on the ‘frontline’ of doctoral researcher support (e.g. supervisors, Directors of Doctoral Programmes, PGR Administrators),qualifies attendees as Higher Education MHFA Champions*. Through a mixture of presentations and reflective activities, attendees will learn about:

• Mental Health First Aid
• Impact of mental health issues
• Stigma and discrimination
• Depression and anxiety disorders
• Alcohol, drugs and mental health
• Cognitive distortions and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
• Suicide
• Self-harm
• Eating disorders
• Psychosis
• Recovery and building a mentally healthy higher education community

*Full attendance is required to achieve MHFA accreditation and certificate.

Presenter biographies:

Nadine Skinner - Before joining º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ as a Trainer, Nadine worked as an Learning & Development Manager for a large regional law firm. Nadine is currently leading on staff mental health and wellbeing as part of the broader HR and Organisational Team. Nadine is an accredited Mental Health First Aid trainer and oversees the Universities Mental Health First Aider network.

Ian Beever - Before becoming a freelance consultant and trainer, Ian was the CEO of the Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) in London for 5 years.  Prior to working for the CVS, Ian worked in frontline mental health services in central London. As well as regularly training at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ, Ian also teaches at Kingston University, UCL Medical School and Imperial College.  He is currently designing a programme around the complexities of male mental health and toxic masculinity.

This one-day course, specifically for those who are on the ‘frontline’ of doctoral researcher support (e.g. supervisors, Directors of Doctoral Programmes, PGR Administrators),qualifies attendees as Higher Education MHFA Champions*. Through a mixture of presentations and reflective activities, attendees will learn about:

• Mental Health First Aid
• Impact of mental health issues
• Stigma and discrimination
• Depression and anxiety disorders
• Alcohol, drugs and mental health
• Cognitive distortions and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
• Suicide
• Self-harm
• Eating disorders
• Psychosis
• Recovery and building a mentally healthy higher education community

*Full attendance is required to achieve MHFA accreditation and certificate.

Presenter biographies:

Nadine Skinner - Before joining º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ as a Trainer, Nadine worked as an Learning & Development Manager for a large regional law firm. Nadine is currently leading on staff mental health and wellbeing as part of the broader HR and Organisational Team. Nadine is an accredited Mental Health First Aid trainer and oversees the Universities Mental Health First Aider network.

Ian Beever - Before becoming a freelance consultant and trainer, Ian was the CEO of the Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) in London for 5 years.  Prior to working for the CVS, Ian worked in frontline mental health services in central London. As well as regularly training at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ, Ian also teaches at Kingston University, UCL Medical School and Imperial College.  He is currently designing a programme around the complexities of male mental health and toxic masculinity.

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Alumni and author of the upcoming book ‘You only DIE once: How to LIVE every single day’, Sanjeev Sandhu, will visit º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ next month to deliver his life-changing session ‘You only DIE once – 5 ways to LIVE every day!’.

In his session Sanjeev will share a very practical, proactive and progressive approach to enable attendees to become the best version of themselves.

His content is a refreshing blend of the latest and best in positive psychology, and personal experience in an easily digestible manner – it’s 100% relevant for the modern world and Sanjeev’s number one priority is for attendees to leave going ‘WOW’!

Presenter biography:

Sanjeev is a Happiness and Positivity Trainer from the Art of Brilliance and has worked with numerous leading organisations (Accenture, Deloitte, BT) and educational institutions (Kings College London, Institut Montana) on positive psychology, resilience and mindset.

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Alumni and THE Dr of Happiness (yes really!), Dr Andy Cope, will visit º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ next month to deliver an energetic and motivation keynote on the infamous ‘The Art of Being brilliant’!

‘The Art of Being Brilliant’ provides an antidote to the crazy world that typifies modern Britain. Using cutting-edge research, Andy’s session will explore how you can be you, brilliantly. The aim is to share some of the ‘secrets’ of Positive Psychology, focusing on learning new habits of thinking and behaviour that will sustain personal ‘brilliance’. It is about the ‘whole you’ and, as such, is applicable in and out of work.

Please note that Andy's keynote will be different to his earlier 'Being a brilliant researcher' session - so if you're a Doctoral Researcher, come along to both!

Presenter biography:

Dr Andy Cope has used his º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ research as a springboard into the business world and the speaking circuit. In a world where wellbeing has gone AWOL, Andy puts it centre stage. He reports on his doctoral journey and presents his findings on happiness and human flourishing in a way that makes them understandable and applicable to every day.

Andy is a qualified teacher, best-selling author, happiness expert and recovering academic. 

Andy’s º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ PhD was 10 years in the making and while he appreciates that his ‘Dr of Happiness’ label is terribly cheesy it does afford him an important media platform. In times of rising depression and an epidemic of anxiety, Andy believes there has never been a more appropriate time to raise the wellbeing agenda. 

Andy is lucky enough to work with some very large businesses, including DHL, Kelloggs, Hewlett Packard, Astra Zeneca, Nationwide and UEFA. Recently, he has tailored his workshops to meet the needs of children and teachers and now delivers to audiences from age 8 upwards!

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Alumni and author of the upcoming book ‘You only DIE once: How to LIVE every single day’, Sanjeev Sandhu, will visit º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ next month to deliver his life-changing session ‘You only DIE once – 5 ways to LIVE every day!’.

In his session Sanjeev will share a very practical, proactive and progressive approach to enable attendees to become the best version of themselves.

His content is a refreshing blend of the latest and best in positive psychology, and personal experience in an easily digestible manner – it’s 100% relevant for the modern world and Sanjeev’s number one priority is for attendees to leave going ‘WOW’!

Presenter biography:

Sanjeev is a Happiness and Positivity Trainer from the Art of Brilliance and has worked with numerous leading organisations (Accenture, Deloitte, BT) and educational institutions (Kings College London, Institut Montana) on positive psychology, resilience and mindset.

Doctoral researcher wellbeing is a huge issue in Higher Education. It is now widely agreed that universities and student unions must be cognisant of and both proactive and reactive to a range of interacting issues that can impact negatively upon the wellbeing of doctoral researchers. Not only is this important from institutional duty of care and doctoral researcher experience perspectives, it is also essential from a doctoral researcher developmental point of view since an individual’s ability to reach their full potential is heavily influenced by their wellbeing. Consequently, in recent years attention has focused on identifying doctoral researcher wellbeing challenges and associated resource needed to help prevent and deal with such challenges. However, less is known about the experiences and needs of those who provide ‘frontline’ support to doctoral researchers; do they know what their wellbeing responsibilities are, are they (and do they feel) equipped to assist effectively and appropriately when necessary, what are the perceived and actual enablers/barriers (institutionally/individually) to providing those on the ‘front-line’ with adequate wellbeing resource provision for doctoral researchers, and is enough support given to those on the ‘front-line’ to manage their own wellbeing needs?

Through a mixture of presentation and group interaction, this workshop will explore the wellbeing resource needs and challenges of those who work directly with doctoral researchers. Matters will be considered from a variety of perspectives and workshop attendees will be asked a series of questions to prompt discussion. Importantly, attendees will be encouraged to share examples of best practice and generate new ideas. Finally, workshop attendees will have the opportunity to hear about some of the steps º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ has taken to support those who support doctoral researcher wellbeing.

Presenter biography:

Dr Katryna Kalawsky is a champion for doctoral researcher wellbeing. She has intensively investigated and raised organisational, and Sector, awareness of the various wellbeing challenges doctoral researchers can experience. Her work in this area has been foundational in University agenda setting in this space, and she subsequently presented key findings and recommendations to various University Committees, working groups, team meetings and at four national and international conferences. In July 2019, Katryna received a Vice Chancellor’s of Award of Excellence for her work in this important area. She has used funding from the Award to organise the University's first Doctoral Researcher Wellbeing Week.

The Doctoral College’s Supervisor Forum has been established to support new and existing supervisors of doctoral researchers in dealing with the demanding and changing role of doctoral supervision. Forum sessions run in addition to the ‘Fundamentals of Supervision’ training already provided for new supervisors by the Centre of Academic Practice and the ‘Preparing for the role of PhD examiner’ which is provided via the Doctoral College. Also, Forum sessions are designed to complement the ‘Getting the most out of supervision’ workshop for doctoral researchers.

The next Forum will focus on doctoral wellbeing; a topic that has become a huge issue in Higher Education. It is now widely agreed that universities and student unions must be cognisant of and both proactive and reactive to a range of interacting issues that can impact negatively upon the wellbeing of doctoral researchers. Not only is this important from institutional duty of care and student experience perspectives, it is also essential from a doctoral researcher’s developmental point of view since an individual’s ability to reach their full potential is heavily influenced by their wellbeing.

Given that the supervisory relationship is essential to the experience of doctoral researchers and can influence doctoral wellbeing, the intended learning outcomes of this Forum are:

• Identify common pinch points/challenges experienced by doctoral researchers
• Acquire examples of good (and bad) supervisory practice in relation to supporting doctoral wellbeing
• Develop an appropriate response to support doctoral wellbeing

More information coming soon...

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Alumni and author of the upcoming book ‘You only DIE once: How to LIVE every single day’, Sanjeev Sandhu, will visit º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ next month to deliver his life-changing session ‘You only DIE once – 5 ways to LIVE every day!’.

In his session Sanjeev will share a very practical, proactive and progressive approach to enable attendees to become the best version of themselves.

His content is a refreshing blend of the latest and best in positive psychology, and personal experience in an easily digestible manner – it’s 100% relevant for the modern world and Sanjeev’s number one priority is for attendees to leave going ‘WOW’!

Presenter biography:

Sanjeev is a Happiness and Positivity Trainer from the Art of Brilliance and has worked with numerous leading organisations (Accenture, Deloitte, BT) and educational institutions (Kings College London, Institut Montana) on positive psychology, resilience and mindset.