Working With PhD Students to Build Their Transferability and Researcher Skills in the FEASST@8 and SuCCEED@8 Projects

UK universities are under increasing accountability pressure to ensure that their students are ready for employment. Yet, not much attention has been devoted to the employability skills of PhD students. Despite much rhetoric and useful tools, such as the Researcher Development Framework (Vitae, 2011), employability is usually left to after the viva and confined to the boundaries of the student-supervisor relationship. Mindful of the fact that the traditional academic career is only one option, and becoming less straightforward and more competitive (Disney et al, 2013), this chapter illustrates and reflects on the process and outcomes of the two PhD students led initiatives FEASST@8 and SUCCEED@8. Part of the Enhancing Learning and Teaching Fund and strategic aims of the University of Northampton’s employability agenda (UoN, 2015; 2017), both initiatives drew from student voice principles to develop support activities for PhD students while ensuring that the students working as co-researchers on the projects acquired and applied researcher, teaching, and digital skills. The chapter will conclude with a set of recommendations on how to embed and build a culture enabling PhD students to gain valuable employability skills.