Personal Development Planning (PDP)
All Research Students are expected to participate in Personal Development Planning (PDP). PDP is an active and continuous process of self-appraisal, review and planning of professional and personal development. In other words, you look at what you can do and what you have done, think about what you need to do and would like to do next, figure out how you will do it and then congratulate yourself for having done it. You then start the process all over again.
PDP is a process not a single document or product. PDP is a collection of active documents that should be revisited regularly to enable you to evaluate your own progress and development.
The PDP process is structured by:
- The Skills Audit (an on-line questionnaire that allows you to assess your skills)
- Records of meetings with supervisor(s)
- Training Plan
- Records and Evidence of Achievements
- Formal Reviews - held at 6 months and the end of year
- Student Evaluation and Reflections
- Research Diary
PDP is a continuous cycle of:
- self-assessment and evaluation
- the identification of needs and goals
- planning a course of action to meet these needs and goals
- carrying out the action plan and recording the achievements
- reflecting on outcomes and evaluating progress, which should reveal new needs and goals.
PDP requires a series of documents:
- some documents should be revisited on a regular basis
- some documents are confidential to the student
- some documents are owned by the institution
- some documents are shared jointly between the student, the supervisor and institution.
PDP outcomes:
- Supports the timely submission and completion of the thesis
- Provides the basis of a CV
- Encourages a positive approach to lifelong learning
- Establishes greater awareness of 'What your PhD did for you'
Key benefits of PDP are:
- It breaks the research process down into manageable and achievable portions
- You can set short-term and intermediate goals that you can successfully complete within a limited period of time (for example every 6 weeks)
- You can look back on your achievements with satisfaction