The SGSSS Final Year Conference is designed to celebrate the hard work of social science doctoral students and to support them in thinking about their employability and transition post-PhD.
The event aims to help you to:
- Feel more supported and motivated towards PhD completion;
- Identify future opportunities that might be relevant;
- Be more aware and knowledgeable about academic and non-academic career pathways;
- Develop useful knowledge and skills for the employment market.
The conference is dedicated to final year students and will be hosted on Monday 19 June, 10:00-15:30 at Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh.
The core message behind the conference is the chance to reflect with others on the wide range of career opportunities available post-PhD, including non-academic routes, as demonstrated in the images below.
Each session will run for 45 minutes, including an introduction and plenary to reflect back on how the session relates to career journeys, as well as time to share and develop thinking with others, thereby helping to build support networks.
Please see below for the detailed programme of the Conference.
| Time | Training Session |
| 10-00-10.15 am | Welcome |
| 10.15-11.00 am | How to prepare for your viva (and talk about Covid-19) |
| 11.00-11.45 am | Keynote – The value of your PhD and Interdisciplinarity in a Digital future |
| 11.45-12.30 pm | Research careers beyond academia |
| 13.30-14.15 pm | Academic careers (including post-docs) |
| 14.15-15.00 pm | Career Development workshop |
| 15.00-16.00 pm | Summary – next steps |
Lunch and refreshments will be provided. SGSSS students are able to apply for the reimbursement of eligible expenses according to the SGSSS Expenses Policy. Please review these documents for guidance before submitting any claims or queries.
*** Please note ESRC students have booking priority for this event until Friday 26 May. After this date the event will be promoted amongst all last-year Social Science PhD students in Scotland ***