Resilience Training for PGRs
In November 2019 we ran an Action Learning PPD course, attended by over 20 students who learned such problem solving skills as active listening, open questioning, and emotional intelligence. The attendees will continue to meet as part of Action Learning sets in order to collaboratively solve problems that can arise as part of PhD research.
In April 2019 we ran two mindfulness sessions titled Mind: Full? Practical Meditation Tools for Busy Research Students. These sessions aimed to provide PGRs with the opportunity to build a practical meditation toolkit, to improve resilience in relation to everyday challenges. We will soon also be offering Action Learning sets to postgraduate research students, an innovative, group-led approach to problem solving that PGRs can take forward into their future research projects.
January 2019 saw the start of two six-week Yoga for the Mind courses, tailored to help PGRs manage stress and improve their wellbeing. An Emotional Intelligence workshop ran in February 2019, which worked to help PGRs identify and overcome common emotional triggers associated with PhD research. The uea(su) also recently provided mental health first aid training for 32 postgraduate researchers, qualifying them as mental health first aiders.
We also have a PGR Placement researching the postgraduate response to resilience training, and its use within personal and professional development and training. This research is ongoing.