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Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why can’t I get into the online booking system (‘SkillsForge’) to book an online training course?

  • Check you are using the correct address: https://training.kcl.ac.uk.
  • Check you are using your King’s email username and password to log in.
  • If your username begins with a ‘k’ try changing the case.
  • If none of the above work, reset your password.
  • If you are still unable to log in please contact the IT Services help desk.

2. Why can’t I find a course on the SkillsForge website that has been scheduled in the training brochure?

  • Courses are available to book onto one term at a time, so please check that the course you are interested in is open for bookings. Course bookings will open on the following dates:

19 September 2022 for October to December 2022 courses

5 December 2022 for January to April 2023 courses

3 April 2023 for May to June 2023 courses

  • Your user status will affect the courses you can view and book onto on SkillsForge. For example, if you are a student and try to view a course that is for research staff only, you will not be able to see the course online. This will also occur if you are a member of staff trying to view a course that is for students only.

3. How many training days am I entitled to?

  • All King’s research students are entitled to 10 days of transferable skills training per year. All research staff are also encouraged to undertake 10 days of training per year.
  • The Research Councils require all their funded students and post-docs to fulfil the training requirement of 10 days per year.
  • Not all this training needs to be taken through the CDS. For example, some might be used for career development activities undertaken during a research conference.
  • The most important consideration for whether an activity will be considered appropriate is that it has a clearly identifiable developmental component. Courses that involve skills specific to your research and are of no use beyond the end of the project are not considered to be ‘transferable’.
  • If you are a student, remember it is your responsibility to discuss your training activities with your supervisor at least once a year and that you need to record all of your development activities on your progress monitoring reports.
  • Research staff are encouraged to discuss their training and development needs at their annual appraisal.

4. What happens if I can't attend a course?

  • Please see the detailed information regarding "no shows".
  • To withdraw from a course, login to SkillsForge and cancel your online booking. Please note that you must cancel your booking at least 48 hours before the course is due to take place.
  • If you are sick on the day of the course, please contact us as soon as possible via doctoraltraining@kcl.ac.uk.

5. Will training courses be run on campus over the 2022-23 academic year?

  • Yes, we will be offering some of our courses in-person and on campus this year. To ensure that those who are unable to attend on campus courses, most of these courses will also have online occurrences.
  • Even though we are reintroducing in-person courses again this year, we will still be delivering the majority of our training virtually, either as live sessions or on-demand. Please check the venue information when you're booking onto a course on SkillsForge.

6. How do I book onto a course?

  • Go to training.kcl.ac.uk. Under Development Activities on the left-hand side, click on Book a place on a course or event. Enter the course code into the main search area and it will bring up available courses.

7. How will my course attendance be recorded in my progress report?

  • Any course that you book through SkillsForge will be processed through a SkillsForge register, then your attendance will be automatically fed through to your progress report. If you experience any problems with this process, please contact the course organiser.

8. What counts as 'attended' for an online workshop?

  • Attendance reports will be taken in the live workshop session(s). If you don't attend the live session this will not count as being attended in your progress report.

Booking Information & Support

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