Unit information: Professional Development in 2022/23

Unit name	Professional Development
Unit code	BIOLM0024
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director	Dr. Ford
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	None.
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	None.
Units you may not take alongside this one
School/department	School of Biological Sciences
Faculty	Faculty of Life Sciences

Unit Information

Students will develop the key transferable skills needed by professionals in life sciences, including many highlighted in the Research Development Statement endorsed by HEFCE and RCUK (http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers). Topics for seminars, lectures and workshops will include:

• information retrieval and management;
• academic literacy and scientific writing;
• self-management including time-management, integrity and critical self-reflection;
• working effectively with people and developing working relationships;
• how science is funded;
• presenting posters,
• writing grant proposals and understanding the assessment of research grants.

Your learning on this unit

At the end of this unit, students will be able to:

1. Identify different approaches to undertaking research.
2. Access and collect information from a range of different sources.
3. Appraise the quality and reliability of information coming from different sources.
4. Demonstrate personal qualities needed to be an effective scientist such as enthusiasm, perseverance, integrity, etc.
5. Practice effective time management to achieve suitable prioritization of commitments, including achieving a suitable work-life balance.
6. Apply the professional conduct expected in science in relation to aspects such as health and safety, ethics and integrity in recording and presenting findings, and appropriate practice.
7. Illustrate how science is managed and funded, including the role of peer review in this process.
8. Assess the balance between publication of science and the commercial exploitation of findings or their application to policy, with the understanding that sometimes there may be conflict between these.
9. Develop professional skills in presenting scientific ideas in a range of different media to a professional scientific audience.
10. Judge how to achieve career goals, and entrepreneurship in Biology, Zoology or Plant Sciences.

How you will learn

Seminars, workshops, lectures.

How you will be assessed

Formative assessment: CVs and cover letters.

Summative (numbers refer to assessment of learning outcomes listed above):

• Two reports on potential future research directions for two topics covered in departmental seminar series that run weeks 1-24: 40% (Tests ILOs 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 9). To do this, students will need to engage with the departmental seminar series.
• Travel grant application: 20% (Tests ILOs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10)
• Performance in an interview: 40% (Tests ILOs 1 - 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. BIOLM0024).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.