Alexander Green, Research Student and Teaching Fellow, joined the UCL Faculty of Laws in January 2013 and tells us about his experience working with The Brilliant Club, an educational charity that places current PhD Students in low participation London schools.

The Brilliant Club is an educational charity that places current PhD Students in low participation London schools, where they deliver a series of university style tutorials to gifted and talented students. The aim is to equip those students with the skills and knowledge necessary to enable them to successfully apply for places at highly selective universities.

I commenced my research at the Faculty of Laws in January of 2013. At that time I had just begun employment as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the LSE, teaching third year legal theory, and was tentatively feeling my way towards my own topic: the philosophical underpinnings of statehood at international law.

My involvement with the Brilliant Club began after I met a colleague at the International Graduate Legal Research Conference at Kings College London, who had completed a number of placements with the charity herself. Being generally interested in approaches to higher education, I thought that it would be illuminating to see how younger students reacted to the sort of tutorial teaching I was undertaking at the time. After investigating further, I discovered an affinity with the Brilliant Club’s mission of promoting equal access to higher education and decided to apply to them as a prospective tutor.

Tutors at the Brilliant Club are given the opportunity to either design their own course or to teach a prewritten syllabus. After passing the selection process, I decided to do the former, but was concerned that my research might translate poorly to students at an earlier stage of education. As a result, I composed a course entitled ‘An Introduction to Moral Philosophy’, which borrowed some of the themes and material from my undergraduate legal theory classes at the LSE. My aim was to get the students thinking about difficult moral issues, both in theory and in practice, and to teach them the critical and analytical techniques that moral philosophers bring to such issues.

Initially, I taught the course at Key Stage 4 level (14-16 year olds) at Harris Boys’ Academy in East Dulwich. My students were preparing for their GCSEs at the time and very busy as a result. Nonetheless, I enjoyed excellent contributions during class discussions and a series of strong essays in response to the final written assessment, ‘should governments be allowed to override individual rights in the interest of majority welfare’. I was surprised by the range of opinions the students held and their willingness to explore alternative viewpoints. Their ability to articulate moral arguments improved noticeably throughout the course and it was clear that they both spoke and wrote with greater confidence as a result of the programme. After the graduation of my Key Stage 4 groups, I was placed at Harris Chafford Hundred to teach an amended version of the course to Key Stage 5 students (16-18 year olds). These tutorials were more similar to my undergraduate teaching and gave me the opportunity to further improve my skills in that area. I was also able to offer those applying to law school (by coincidence an overwhelming majority) some practical advice on their CVs and personal statements.

I intend to work with the Brilliant club for the duration of my degree and am currently teaching a prewritten Philosophy course to Key Stage 2 students (ages 8-11) at two schools. Once again, this affords a totally new teaching experience and has broadened my appreciation of the techniques that can be used to communicate knowledge and get bright young people interested in the complex areas of moral philosophy that I find compelling. I would unreservedly recommend the work to anyone contemplating a career in higher education and to those who feel, as I do, that universities have an obligation to promote truly equal access to the benefits that they can provide.

Careers in Technology: Employer Forum for PhDs and Researchers

5:30pm – 7:30pm on 26 November 2013

The aim of this event is to help PhD and other research students with their career planning by providing an opportunity to hear from and network with employers from the IT & Technology sector who are PhD holders themselves. The panel of speakers will give tips on how research students can use their qualifications and experiences to enter this field as well as information about their sector.

Panel of speakers will be:

Tim Paulden – Innovation & Development Manager, ATASS Sports

Jens Riegelsberger – Senior Researcher in the Geo User Experience team, Google

David Houseman – Quantitative Analyst, G-RESEARCH

Wenjia Tang – Consultant in Business Dynamics, IBM

Robert Sackin – Patent Attorney, Reddie & Grose LLP

David Snoswell – Senior Research Scientist, Schlumberger

To find out more and to read the speakers’ biographies please go to: http://courses.grad.ucl.ac.uk/course-details.pht?course_ID=2193

PhD students can book a place via the following link : http://courses.grad.ucl.ac.uk/course-details.pht?course_ID=2193

Research Staff can book a place via the following link : http://www.ucl.ac.uk/careers/researchers/events

If you are thinking about possible career options after your PhD, and would like to know what kind of jobs are available for doctoral graduates, then check out Vitae’s labour market  information resources, which provide:

• an analysis of the main employment sectors for doctoral graduates; including the roles doctoral graduates commonly occupy in these industries, an analysis of future skills needs, and opportunities in these sectors
• profiles on some of the most important occupations for doctoral graduates, including numbers of doctoral graduates entering these jobs and their disciplinary backgrounds
• advice on using labour market information to assist with career planning

PhD graduate careers case studies     

In addition to the labour market information, careers case studies can help to illustrate the wide range of career options available to you after graduation. You may also find that they provide useful advice, and give you a valuable insight into day to day life in different job roles.

• UCL Careers was commissioned in 2010 to survey the career destinations of UCL research students who graduated between 2004 and 2008. 115 graduates were successfully interviewed. You can examine the results in the downloadable documents here (arranged by faculty). A summary of the overall findings are also available as a Powerpoint presentation
• We also have a selection of great resources  to help you access information  covering topics from academic career planning to networking and job hunting
• You can also check out Vitae’s comprehensive library of PhD careers case studies

There is considerable variation between disciplines, between institutions and between different academic roles. It is a good idea to talk to academics and to those trying to secure academic posts in your field about their career stories so far, and assess how closely their experiences match your own situation. Don’t forget that you can also access support and guidance from UCL Careers.  Research students have access to a specialist Careers Consultant in twice weekly sets of appointments. These last 30 minutes and you can discuss any career related issue.  Find out more about Availability and Booking.

Are you a PhD student or research staff member who is interested in finding out more about Group Exercises and Assessment Centres or Case Study Interviews?

Come to one of the Employer Led Careers Skills Workshops while there are still spaces free!

Group Exercises & Assessment Centres with the Civil Service

Monday 21^st October        2:00 – 4:00pm     

Do you want the opportunity to understand more about how to demonstrate key employability skills such as teamwork, communication and organisational skills to an employer? Employers value these skills and they often use Assessment Centres in order to assess them. However, Assessment Centres are the point where candidates often slip up in the recruitment process. This workshop will give you the chance to try some exercises and help you to navigate the tricky points of demonstrating your skills in an assessed exercise.

Case Study Interviews with Teach First

Tuesday 22^nd October      2:00 – 4:00pm   

Many recruitment processes for management, consultancy, technical and research roles involve the use of case study questions. This session will enable you to understand the reasons for asking scenario based questions and provide strategies on how you can tackle them.

PhD students can book a place via the following link: http://courses.grad.ucl.ac.uk/course-details.pht?course_ID=928

Research Staff can book a place via the following link and looking under the ‘Employer Events – Autumn Term Programme’ tab: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/careers/researchers/staff/workshops

Are you interested in brushing up on key employability skills and meeting/networking with prospective future employers who are interested in PhD and other postgraduate research students as well as research staff?

If so, you may be interested in the employer-led careers skills workshops programme.

For both academic and non-academic careers, these workshops help you identify and develop core competencies which are vital for you to compete in the job market by demonstrating the transferable nature of the research skills you have acquired. 

Further details about the events and how to book can be found on the Graduate School – Skills Development Programme website

Research Staff can make a booking for this event by going to the UCL Careers Research Staff events page and looking under ‘Employer Events – Autumn Term Programme’