Development opportunities

Need help with critical reading, research writing, thesis proposal, thesis writing or oral presentations? The Learning Hub offers intensive workshops that run over two or three hours, with some running over several weeks. The Learning Hub also offers individual consultations. To get the most out of workshops and consultations, bring examples of your work that you can use in the session.

To see training sessions for HDR students, view the Learning Hub calendar, use ‘Filter results by' and under the Student Cohort filter, select 'HDR Students' and click the 'Apply Filters' button to display upcoming HDR events.

Need help with literature reviews, EndNote or discipline-specific advice on research data publishing? The Library offers a range of HDR workshops to help you.

Explore the Library events calendar and choose to filter by category ‘HDR students’ to see upcoming workshops.  

Need help with research data and data software? Sydney Informatics Hub (SIH) runs various workshops to help you. HDR students can also request a consultation for support with their research project.

You can request support in the areas of data science and AI, statistical advice, bioinformatics, or modelling, simulation and visualisation. 

Visit the SIH website to register for upcoming workshops. 

The Research Ethics team runs training workshops on working with human ethics and animal ethics within a research project.

• Human ethics training
• Animal ethics training

If you need to improve your understanding of IP commercialisation, browse training workshops provided by IP Australia, Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia (KCA) and Cicada Innovations. 

Planning a career in academia? Visit the Researcher Development Hub website to see training sessions that are also open to HDR students. Filter by 'Career stage > HDR students' to see sessions that can help you build your researcher skills. The Researcher Development Hub website also has a suite of resources to help you explore and plan for a career as a researcher.

Your faculty or school may also offer HDR training events specific to your discipline – visit the relevant website below to learn more:

• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
• Faculty of Engineering
• Faculty of Medicine and Health
• Faculty of Science 
• School of Architecture, Design and Planning
• University of Sydney Business School
• The Conservatorium of Music
• Sydney Law School

Present and Connect

Join us for 'Present and Connect', a relaxed, mid-afternoon gathering where we welcome HDR students from all disciplines to come together to share their work, exchange perspectives, and spark new insights. Bring your research project, a cuppa, and your favourite snack to see other students’ work as diverse ideas rise to the surface.

This monthly gathering features a short presentation by an HDR student on their research project, followed by feedback from fellow HDR students (that is you!) and informal discussion.

This monthly session is the perfect opportunity to practice your presentation skills, provide and receive feedback, and connect with fellow research students across disciplines in a relaxed and supportive environment.

If you are interested in presenting in a session, feel free to email: hdr.development@sydney.edu.au.

Ask me how I became a...

Explore where your future career could take you by attending this monthly online event featuring professionals from different walks of life. Whether their careers went exactly as planned, or took an unpredictable turn, there’s a lot to learn from these stories about life after PhD. Among the guests we might have museum curators, University publishing house editors, librarians, researcher developers, statistical consultants, learning advisors, and many more. Keep an eye out for the announcements on the events page.

Design Your Life Workshop Series

Using proven methodologies developed at Stanford University and made popular by the bestselling books Designing Your Life and Designing Your New Work Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, life design has impacted millions of lives around the world.

We are inviting HDR students to navigate life’s ambiguity and design lives and careers full of joy and meaning during a series of three interactive workshops. Launching in June, the workshop series will explore three main themes:

1. Building your life compass: where you are, where you are going and what is guiding you
2. Networking, pitching and prototyping interviews
3. Resilience, decision making and building a village that helps you succeed

Choose a combination of the workshops that appeal to you most or attend all three.

Being an HDR student can be a solitary and sometimes isolating experience. We’re here to help you stay connected with your fellow students and researchers across multiple fields. Networking can also help you stay on top of the current research trends and make informed future plans. This is why we encourage you to attend the Wicked Research for Wicked Problems series. These events provide an opportunity to learn about complex, real-world problems and the ways researchers tackle these effectively.

In 2023, the Wicked Research series focused on the State of Environment report and featured a keynote address from Professor Emma Johnston, one of the report’s authors.

In 2024, we explored the importance of multidisciplinary approaches to enhancing sustainability across the world and heard an inspirational keynote address from Professor Greg Fox.

In 2025, we will again zoom in on a wicked problem that challenges the best research minds. Keep an eye out for the announcements on the events page.