Career Orientated Training
SGSSS supports students to develop skills that will be useful for academic and non-academic careers.
SGSSS Career Pathways Mentoring Scheme
The SGSSS Career Pathways Mentoring Programme matches social science researchers at SGSSS partner universities with a PhD graduate who has succeeded in making the transition to a successful business career – or who has substantial experience building academic collaborations with business.
Applications have now closed for 2021/22.
SGSSS RSE Mentoring Programme
The Scottish Graduate School of Social Science has partnered with the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) on a mentoring programme that matches RSE Fellows to support ESRC-funded PhD researchers keen to enhance their research by exploring (or exploiting) its interdisciplinary potential.
Applications have now closed for 2021/22.
Internships
The Scottish Graduate School of Social Science runs a professional internship scheme for PhD students at Scotland’s universities in their second and third years of study. PhD internships enable organisations to access the talent of an early career social science researcher to deliver a specific piece of work whilst developing a range of transferable skills for our researchers. Internships can be undertaken full-time (for up to 3 months) or part-time (for up to 6 months). We run a biannual Open Call Competition, or you can get in touch with the SGSSS any time to discuss setting up an internship with a partner organisation of your choice.
Business Booster
The SGSSS annual Business Booster programme is industry-facing training designed to support PhD students in developing the practical knowledge and transferable skills to collaborate with businesses. The training is designed to support researchers that are interested in collaborating with businesses within academia, or who are interested in working in the private sector after their PhD is complete.
The Business Booster programme for 2021 is now closed and applications are not yet open for the 2022 programme. We will publish more information about the 2022 programme over the coming months.
Final Year Conference
The annual Final Year Conference takes place during summer and is designed for students in the final year of their ESRC funding. The 2021 event included workshops on non-academic careers, completing a viva, and
Postdoctoral Fellowships.
Eligible students will be invited to attend the 2022 Final Year Conference.
Targeted Professional Development Opportunities
According to the events you participate in, SGSSS provides specifically targeted professional development opportunities for participants.
Recently, participants of our COP26-related Shaping the Future event undertook workshops on public speaking, presenting and poster design. Similar opportunities will be available according to the needs of the event.