2022

POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE SURVEY (PRES)

The PRES is a national survey of postgraduate research students inviting them to comment on their experiences of:

  • Supervision
  • Resources
  • Research culture
  • Progress and assessment
  • Responsibilities
  • Support
  • Research skills
  • Professional development
  • Opportunities
  • Motivations
  • COVID-19 

Keele takes part in this Advance HE survey.

The survey will launch on April 4th 2022 and will close on May 16th 2022.

Please know that your participation is greatly appreciated. Your feedback will be combined with those of others to help improve the experience of postgraduate researchers like you. If you have any questions regarding the survey, please see your Supervisor, or alternatively, please contact KDA@keele.ac.uk.

We received the PRES results from the survey in May 2021, where 144 of you responded. Whilst there were some really positive outcomes from the results, there were some areas that we clearly needed to work on. As a result, over the last 10 months we’ve implemented a range of initiatives looking to address those areas of weakness:

  • In 2021 we were able to fund 79 Covid funding extensions out of 88 applications, giving many students short funded extensions within the constraints set by UKRI. We also worked with the communications team to ensure that emails sent centrally are directed to PGR issues, and set up our own KDA monthly newsletter to keep you informed of key developments.
  • We launched the new Research and Innovation Sharepoint, which is developing nicely into a great hub for research at Keele. It includes the new Researcher Training Centre – where we now advertise all of our training sessions and are regularly adding new research related training materials.
  • The KDA have been meeting with all of the schools to discuss their overall research plans, including those related to the PGR experience, and their plans for the future of PGR provision. We’ve had some really interesting discussions, and are excited to see the changes they’re seeking to implement in the future.
  • We now have three new PGR specialist Student Experience and Support Officers, one for each Faculty. They’re there to talk about anything to do with your PGR experience and can be contacted via student.services@keele.ac.uk.
  • We have launched our new writing retreat programme ‘Write-On’ and will be hosting in-person and online writing retreats for all researchers for the foreseeable future. You can book to attend via Keele People.
  • We now have a new Presentation Skills Group, who will be meeting regularly to practise their presentation skills and share feedback. If you would like to join please contact Ben Coleman (b.coleman@keele.ac.uk).
  • To help improve employability options we are hosting the first Keele Industry Day on Tuesday 24 May and will be working closely with the Business Engagement Team to create more opportunities for PGR students to interact with potential employers. Book via Keele People.

We really appreciate the feedback we get, and it helps us immensely to inform the improvements we are trying to make. With that in mind, please make sure you complete the PRES survey at your earliest possible convenience and use the free text questions to tell us about areas where we can improve further.