A national review of emerging practice on the use of Personal Development Planning for postgraduate researchers

The UK GRAD Programme commissioned this review in response to requests from the sector to audit current activities within institutions around Personal Development Planning (PDP) and Training Needs Analysis (TNA) specifically for postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers. Institutions are keen that UK GRAD provides an overview of current systems in order to share good practice, help inform their PDP/TNA development and avoid 'reinventing the wheel'. Our report summarises key issues in respect of the role of PDP for postgraduate researchers (PGRs). It looks at current practice, within the context of an increasing emphasis on personal development in all higher education degree programmes in the UK, and a growing focus on embedding personal and professional development in research degree programmes (RDPs). We aim to highlight some of the key factors for successfully supporting postgraduate researchers’ personal development planning processes, as evidenced within a growing database of reported practice2, and responses from current postgraduate researchers.