In the Centre for Doctoral Studies, we offer a range of courses delivered both virtually and in-person, complemented by a suite of on-demand training that can be accessed online at any time.

These activities can help make you more efficient and effective in your research, and prepare you to thrive in your future career. Taking time out to develop a new skill can also refresh, motivate, and connect you with other postgraduate research students (PGRs) and research staff.

To help you navigate the support on offer, all our activities are arranged into eight key themes. You can also follow the instructions below to access and browse specific platforms and services.

Whether in-person or online, live workshops can offer a great opportunity to connect with other researchers. We aim to provide a stimulating and inclusive environment for everyone who attends our events, and to remove barriers to participation and engagement wherever we can.

Virtual and in-person sessions

We recognise that for many researchers, online content and virtual workshops are the most accessible way to participate. As a result, most of our live workshops are delivered online via Zoom or Teams.

For PGRs who prefer to participate in-person, additional on-campus versions of many of our workshops are scheduled throughout the academic year. By offering both options we hope to maximise flexibility to meet the needs of our PGR community.

How to book – SkillsForge

King's postgraduate research students and postdoctoral research staff can access and book places on the CDS training courses through our online system, SkillsForge. 

• Register for live workshops by logging into SkillsForge using your King’s username and password.
• Each workshop has a course code (e.g. PGR101) which you can enter into the search bar to find and register for a specific course.
• Select “Book a place on a course or event” to browse the full range of courses available to you.

SkillsForge will automatically manage course bookings and waiting lists, and will send automated emails confirming places on courses. Full joining instructions will be emailed to you in advance of each session.

You can also record all of your development activities undertaken in your personal development log.

Where there is high demand for a course, we try to respond by scheduling additional sessions. If a workshop you are interested in is fully booked, we’d encourage you to join the waiting list, as this helps us identify and respond to demand.

Course dates

Courses are opened for registration one term at a time. Bookings for 2023/24 will open on the following dates:

• Monday 04 September 2023 for the Autumn term courses (October to December 2023)
• Monday 04 December 2023 for the Winter term courses (January to March 2024)
• Monday 04 March 2024 for the Spring term courses (April to June 2024)

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

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

We have 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 researchers are regularly added to KEATS, the King’s virtual learning environment.

Highlights from these platforms can be found in all our eight Key Development Themes. Once you have created your free accounts you can also browse each platform individually to explore their full range of content.

If you need any support or have any feedback about the registration/access process please contact the Doctoral Training Team.

A note on data privacy: External platforms, including Nature Masterclasses, SAGE Campus, LinkedIn Learning, and Elsevier Researcher Academy, are hosted outside of King's and will collect and process your user data. They will also pass data back to King's. Please see their privacy notice page for further information.

Using our in-house expertise, we have created courses specifically for King’s PGRs in the PGR Core Library, which can be accessed through KEATS using your King's user details.

Highlights include Doctoral Essentials, Efficient and Effective Academic Reading, and the Wellbeing Toolkit for PGR Students.

Nature Masterclasses are online courses developed by experts at and working with Springer Nature specifically to be used on demand and at your rhythm. They are bite-sized (10-15 minutes per lesson) so you can dip in and out during natural gaps in your work.

The courses are designed to be Interactive with activities that will keep you engaged and give you plenty of opportunities to practice using new skills and concepts.

You will learn techniques and strategies to develop your skills and confidence across a range of essential research activities, such as scientific writing and publishing, collaboration, managing research data, grant writing, statistical analysis, and more. You’ll be able to apply these skills to your everyday professional life but also leverage them to develop your career.

To access the courses:

Note: do not register on the Nature Masterclass website, as this will cause a conflict with your account.

• Go to the  Nature Masterclasses homepage and click ‘Register’ at the top right of the page.
• Select King's College London from the institution list and complete the rest of the registration form.
• Click 'Register' and enter your King’s login details to complete the authentication process.
• You will then be asked to verify your email address. Your registration is completed when you verify your email address.

To log in to your account, please choose the 'institutional login' option on the right on the login page.

The SAGE Campus learning platform has 280+ hours of structured online learning for skills and research methods. The self-paced courses are designed by experts at and working with SAGE Publishing, and cover a variety of topics, from data management skills and qualitative research methods to data science, creating data visualisations, and publishing. 

To access the courses:

• Go to SAGE Campus and click ‘Register’ at the top right of the page.
• Select King’s College London as your institution on the next page and continue.
• Select OPENATHENS/SHIBBOLETH and enter your King’s login details to complete the authentication process. You can then create your SAGE Campus user account.
• Complete the required fields in the registration form and select Create my new account.

Everyone at King’s has free access to LinkedIn Learning and their library of 16,000+ courses covering a broad range of technical and professional skills that doctoral researchers will find relevant. You can learn specialist tools such as NVivo and Python, boost your knowledge of Excel and PowerPoint, get tips on time management and effective collaboration, and many more.

To access LinkedIn Learning, use your King's login details on the LinkedIn Learning platform.

The Elsevier Researcher Academy provides free access to countless e-learning resources designed to support researchers on every step of their research journey. They are in various formats, including webinar recordings, interactive e-modules, and audio interviews, to cater to different learning styles.

Highlights of courses and resources include:

• Research preparation
• Writing for research
• The publication process
• Navigating peer review
• Communicating your research

To access the courses:

Register a free account on the Elsevier Researcher Academy platform. Choose ‘Access through your institution’ on the registration page and follow the instructions.