Doctoral Development Programme (DDP)

Across the University, all doctoral students take part in the Doctoral Development Programme. It provides you with the opportunity to develop your skills and and offers training opportunities that you can tailor towards your research and your future career aspirations. More information is available on the University website.

Key Actions

1. Complete a Training Needs Analysis, and take it to your first supervisory meeting . This is a self-reflective assessment of your skills.

2. At your meeting, you'll discuss the TNA, make any modifications as necessary, and come up with a plan for review. This is usually after 3 months, and then every year.

3. Once your TNA has been approved, you and your supervisors need to sign it, and then upload it to PROMPT. This should typically be within 3 months of registration.

4. You can select modules or skills training units available within the University, as well as well as relevant experience not formally taught, or gained outside of the University. It is your responsibility to arrange for attendance of any training module or skill. You can sign up for taught modules via the DDP Portal.

5. Keep a record of all your training and development activities in your ePortfolio

6. Attend a Faculty induction at the first available opportunity. 

Taught Module Descriptions & Timetables

Module Descriptions

Teaching Timetables

ePortfolio

The ePortfolio provides a record of your personal development during your doctoral studies. The University suggests you use Pebblepad to keep this record, but it is up to you how you choose to record your training activities. A help sheet for Pebblepad is available to download below.

The minimum requirements for your ePortfolio are:

• A copy of your TNA

• Techniques and equipment usage (if applicable)

• List of training courses attended, both within and without the University (including DDP modules, health & safety training)

• List of completed and submitted items of work (e.g. Literature Review)

• List of seminars and conferences attended and whether you presented at these

• List of any outreach activities

• List of any extracurricular activities you wish to note

It is recommended that you submit your DDP ePortfolio summary by month 36 of your PhD (the end of year 3). If your DDP summary has not been completed, you can still submit your thesis and undergo your viva, but it will delay the award of your degree. The template is available here (please select the template for the Faculty of Engineering).

Useful Contacts

DDP Enquiries: ddpenquiries@sheffield.ac.uk

ePortfolio Enquiries: ddpsummary@sheffield.ac.uk

PebblePad: pebblepad@sheffield.ac.uk