Training and development support to help PhD students flourish 

Every King’s doctoral researcher develops valuable skills and experience. We’re not just talking about the specialist skills gained in the lab, the archive, or the field. We’re talking about transferable expertise from project management to presentation skills.

Through King’s Doctoral College, our doctoral students have access to:

• Our extensive range of live courses
• Our suite of online, on demand training
• Dedicated one-to-one support in key areas.

This comprehensive programme of support pinpoints and tackles your training and development needs setting you up for success in your future career. We find that taking time out to develop a new skill can also refresh, motivate, and connect you with other doctoral research students and the wider research community.

To help you navigate the support on offer, all our activities are arranged into eight key doctoral development themes.

Whether online or in-person, live workshops are a great opportunity to connect with other researchers. We provide a stimulating and inclusive environment for everyone who attends our events, enabling participation and engagement for all.

For many researchers, online content and virtual workshops are the most accessible way to participate, so most of our live workshops are delivered online via Zoom or Teams. However, additional on-campus versions of many of our workshops are scheduled throughout the academic year. By offering both options we hope to maximise flexibility and meet the needs of our diverse doctoral community.

Getting the right training at the right time is an important part of your doctoral journey. That’s why we’re continually expanding the on-demand training opportunities available to you.

With on-demand training, you can choose your own learning path – whether that’s working your way through a course, or dipping in and out of modules.

We’ve partnered with academic publishers to give you free access to their extensive library of self-paced online courses. And new courses created specifically for King’s research students are regularly added to KEATS, the King’s virtual learning environment.

Choosing, planning and creating your career

Our dedicated researcher careers consultants offer confidential, one-to-one advice sessions to all doctoral students, with appointments offered both online and in-person that will help you understand and articulate the value of your doctorate.

You may just be discovering what’s out there – in or out of academia – or perhaps you’re focusing on a couple of ideas, or even applying for jobs. Our specialist careers consultants for researchers are committed to helping you, whatever stage of career planning you’re at.

Improve your writing

We host two Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellows – professional authors employed to help researchers from any discipline refine their writing skills.

Meeting with you in-person or online, they can offer support with:

• Thesis organisation and structure
• Accurate grammar
• Overcoming writer’s block
• Punctuation
• Fluent academic style
• Literature reviews
• Correct use of idiom and register.

Visit the King's Doctoral College Hub (internal) to register for courses, browse resources, and much more.