PhD workshops

UCD Graduate Studies invites all incoming graduate students on a research programme (i.e Doctoral, MD and Research Master’s degree programmes) to attend our graduate orientation programme on Wednesday, 17th September 2025 from 10:00- 12:00 in A&L Goodbody Theatre (L023), on the  ground floor of the UCD Sutherland School of Law. 

This event is intended to give research students a helpful overview of key information and supports at UCD as well as an opportunity for you to meet other incoming research students from across the University.

Register for Orientation 2025/26 here.

Dr Janet Carton, 
Tuesday October 7th 11am – 12.30 pm in room AGR1.19 (Agriculture and Food Science Centre)

A PhD is a major undertaking, yet many people spend more time planning a weekend away than they do planning the next four years of their life. This generally leads to missing deadlines, running overtime, regular crises and lots of stress. If you want to finish on time and enjoy the process along the way then it is important to have a good plan. You need some very specific skills and tools to plan a PhD. This workshop will introduce you to the PhD skills and tools you will need to navigate you PhD.

Dr Janet Carton
Tuesday October 14th 11am – 12.30 pm in room AGR1.19 (Agriculture and Food Science Centre)

This workshop will discuss best practices in a student-supervisor relationship and building working relationships between research students and supervisors.

As a research student at UCD, you will have a Principal Supervisor, and co- supervisor if appropriate, assigned to you who will provide quality supervision, mentoring, guidance and advice throughout your programme of study. They will also endeavour to make you aware of all regulations, policies and codes of practice relevant to you. There is a need from the beginning for all parties (student and supervisors) to have a clear understanding of the institutional requirements of supervisors and doctoral students and the first task is to discuss these and to negotiate how they are going to be met. Link to further details.

• Are you a late-stage PhD student struggling with the writing-up battle?
• Do you put off writing tasks until ‘tomorrow’?
• Are you finding it tough ‘going it alone’?

We have just what you need – Thesis Boot Camp! Dedicated solely to helping you write your first draft, we’ll help you get over that final hurdle, or to kick-start your writing progress if it has stalled.

The award-winning Thesis Boot Camp — designed and developed by Dr Peta Freestone — has proved a winning formula for more than a thousand graduate researchers in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the UK.

Further details and application form can be found on our Thesis Boot Camp page.

The UCD Writing Centre provides free, one-to-one tuition and a range of workshops on all aspects of the writing process for UCD students. The Centre runs specific supports for research students, such as (opens in a new window)Writing on Wednesdays (WOW) starting October 2025. 

Suitable for all stages

The UCD Library offers a plethora of supports to help students become accomplished researchers. The Library has developed a bespoke suite of workshops for research students called theResearch Toolkit, covering topics such as:

• finding and using information
• your digital identity as a researcher
• promoting your research
• publishing with impact
• data management planning
• searching for systemic reviews 
• GIS
• mapping and timeline tools for visualising your research

Suitable for all stages

UCD has a dedicated Careers Consultant for Graduate Research Students. This position is currently occupied by Tara Hughes ((opens in a new window)tara.hughes@ucd.ie). Tara offers one-on-one consultations and a suite of career-focused workshops across the academic year, which support research students in identifying their career path, their strengths and skill sets as well as tools and tips for enhancing CVs and interview skills. These workshops are advertised on the Career’s Network and Graduate Studies Website. Tara can be contacted directly for one-on-one careers sessions.

Suitable for all stages

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23 Things International is a unique global collaboration of research universities (11 in 2022) in the northern and southern hemispheres. This online programme introduces researchers to powerful online research tools for all disciplines, has targeted blogs, podcasts and pods, where research students from around the world can get to know each other by working through the activities. 23 Things opens for registration in February each year.

Suitable for all stages

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