Welcome to your Doctoral Researcher Development Programme (DRDP)

The Doctoral Researcher Development Programme (DRDP) offers a suite of tailor-made workshops, specialist skills sessions, and personal development planning activities to help you excel in your doctoral studies and advance your future career.

The programme is based on the Vitae Researcher Development Framework a tool that helps researchers plan their career development. This means that the DRDP has been designed to help you explore and develop the wide range of skills, qualities and attributes of successful researchers.

You can view the DRDP workshops and activities via Inkpath, our live calendar or by browsing the sections on this webpage. We have grouped the menu into categories that reflect the various skills that might be developed as you embark upon and progress your research degree. 

You will see that some workshops are designed specifically for your School of study. However, most of our workshops are open to all doctoral researchers, offering opportunities to network and connect with researchers from different disciplines.

Skills Assessment and DRDP Engagement

During your studies, you should attend the DRDP training identified as ‘essential workshops‘  they cover core skills for your development as a researcher, preparation for key stages of the doctoral process and your Annual Performance Review (APR) alongside important information relating to the requirements of your PhD. The rest of the programme contains optional sessions to further your development as a professional researcher.

At the beginning of each academic year, you are required to complete a Skills Assessment Form. To prepare, we suggest meeting with your Director of Study (DOS)/Supervisory team early in the term to discuss and identify your training and development needs for the year ahead. This will include relevant workshops offered within the DRDP programme and taking advantage of other opportunities such as attending conferences, and external training. This form needs to be completed in time for your APR 1 and uploaded with the APR1 submission via the Virtual Research Environment (VRE).

Download the Skills Assessment Form
Skills Assessment Form 2024-2025

How to Book  

All DRDP workshops and activities can be searched, viewed and booked via the Inkpath platform. You can download Inkpath from your mobile app store (Android & iOS) or visit the Inkpath Web App.

Through Inkpath you can track and plan your development. You can record all your training and personal development activities in one place. This can include DRDP workshops, internal and external training and other activities such as conferences, publications, exhibitions, film screenings, curated projects, talks, etc., that will all contribute to your Inkpath portfolio.  

Inkpath Log-in instructions:

1. Open the Inkpath app, or go to: https://webapp.inkpath.co.uk/
2. Click on ‘Choose your destination’ and select ‘University of Westminster’ from the drop-down list.
3. Tick to accept the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.
4. Click on ‘Next’.
5. You will be prompted to use your University of Westminster sign-on.
6. On your first time entering the platform, you will be asked to complete some information about your studies and a short questionnaire about key areas you wish to develop.
7. On entering the Inkpath home page:
   • Click on ‘Find’ to search and book workshops and activities.
   • Click on ‘Create’ to add a past or external activity to your portfolio.
   • Click on ‘Export’ if you would like to download a copy of your development record (your supervisor may ask you for your development activity from Inkpath).

To help you navigate the main features of the platform,  watch this Introduction to Inkpath Video .

Please only register for activities which you fully intend to attend. The Graduate School is committed to providing a DRDP that supports and develops you as a researcher throughout your studies. To do this, we invest significant thought, time and money. However, low up-take of sessions, or students who register and then do not attend, threaten the programme. We know things happen at short notice that can make attendance difficult, but please cancel via Inkpath as soon as you know you will not be able to attend. 

Workshop Recordings and Materials

The majority of the workshops we offer are interactive and collaborative, fostering a safe and open environment for those present to share their thoughts and experiences. With this in mind, we do not automatically record workshops, and we do not share recordings with students who did not attend.

Where a workshop recording is made (and this is at the discretion of the workshop facilitator) permission will be sought by those present at the beginning of the session. Supporting materials and/or workshop recordings will only be shared with the doctoral researchers who took part. Many facilitators restrict the wider circulation of materials for business and copyright reasons.

Provide Feedback

The Graduate School is continually adding to and reshaping the sessions on offer through the DRDP due to sector-wide changes and as your needs change. We would love to hear what you think – this really helps us to make the DRDP as supportive as possible. You can provide confidential feedback on specific DRDP sessions you attend in the Inkpath app when you mark the activity as completed. 

If there is a specific gap you feel the DRDP team could better support, or if you have further feedback to share with us, please let us know by emailing the Doctoral Researcher Development Manager, Dr Nicola Allett: N.Allett@westminster.ac.uk