Academic and career support
The Institute of Cancer Research is committed to the best practice outlined in the Concordat to support the career development of researchers and has been awarded the HR excellence in research badge by the European Commission.
The ICR’s Learning and Development team hosts a wide range of training opportunities for students. Acquiring more general research training and individual skills development during your studies is critical for enhancing your personal and professional experiences as a scientist and promoting your employability.
Academic support
Students are required to maintain a personal development plan in agreement with their supervisor which will include scientific objectives; skills objectives (laboratory, computer, generic transferable skills), and writing, reading and critical review objectives. It is reviewed by a member of the Academic Dean’s team as part of the annual monitoring process.
Students are also encouraged to keep an achievement record, which is a comprehensive record of their learning and achievement, including any formal training undertaken during their programme of study.
Students will progress through the following stages each year:
Year 1
- review at six months with Deputy Dean or Senior Tutor
- a comprehensive upgrade report submitted, including critique of work carried out
- the report is assessed by an independent assessor, as well as the primary and secondary supervisors
- student is examined orally by the supervisory team and independent internal assessor
- decision to transfer from MPhil to PhD decision is made
Year 2
- annual review with Deputy Dean or Senior Tutor
Year 3
- annual review with Deputy Dean or Senior Tutor
- second short report submitted, written as an extension to the first comprehensive report
- report is assessed by internal assessor and secondary supervisor
- submission of thesis plan
Year 4
- quarterly meetings with Deputy Dean or Senior Tutor
A student can expect to have regular formal progress meetings with their supervisor; the recommended frequency is at least every one to two months.
All supervisors receive formal training in research degree supervision and attend periodic update sessions. Every supervisory team must include an experienced member of our rigorously selected Faculty or Honorary Faculty.
Studentships are awarded to supervisors based on a number of factors including previous performance and success rate.
All students also have a secondary supervisor and, in some cases, an associate supervisor as well. Supervisors submit reports on the work of their students to the Academic Dean’s team at least once a year, highlighting any problem areas if appropriate.
Career support we offer
Free careers advice, guidance and information is offered to all current ICR students by The Careers Group, which is the University of London's higher education careers service. ICR students are also permitted to continue to receive advice for up to one year after they finish their studies.
The Careers Group professional careers consultants provide a range of services to students, including onsite workshops and webinars on CV preparation, interview skills, and employment search techniques including the use of LinkedIn. They also offer a special email advice service for ICR students, as well as Skype consultations with advisors.
The careers sessions are often co-delivered by ICR faculty and members of the Learning and Development Team, and the consultants themselves have backgrounds in scientific research. This ensures the support provided is highly relevant and of maximum benefit. Individual, confidential appointments with a careers adviser are also available.
The ICR acknowledges the challenge involved in successfully navigating an academic career path and aims to support this area as effectively as possible. Sessions on obtaining fellowship funding, finding the right post-doc position, preparing for academic interviews and writing research for publication are popular sessions run on a regular basis.
Careers events are also provided. The annual student conference is arranged for students by students and normally includes a variety of workshops and a career speed networking session with the opportunity to meet with a wide range of science career professionals both inside and outside academia.
In addition, a biennial research careers conference is provided for third and fouth year students and post-doctoral researchers, featuring speakers with a range of career backgrounds.
The ICR has close links and collaborations with industry through our teams in the Drug Development Unit, and many of our Faculty have backgrounds in industry themselves.
Learning and Development, together with the ICR’s highly experienced Enterprise Unit, provides a workshop on identifying and managing research collaborations, with input from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
Individual research sections also invite speakers from industry to talk about possible career paths.
We are proud of the successes of all of our former students and strive to continue to include them as part of the ICR community as they move forward in their careers.
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Training we offer
Training course catalogue
The ICR’s Learning and Development team’s Training Course Catalogue (PDF, 3.0MB) provides an overview of some of the training and development resources available to staff and students at the ICR. It includes:
- Technical courses, such as statistics, advanced computing, science communication;
- Career development training tailored for students, post-docs, and clinicians;
- Professional development training, with topics such as personal effectiveness, leadership development.
The Learning and Development Team hosts many of these courses. The team is comprised of former postdocs who work with Registry, the Academic Dean’s team and the Student Association to tailor training to meet students' needs. Where appropriate, events are run in collaboration with partner institutions such as Imperial College London, while ICR Faculty also deliver training for students, for example on the research integrity course.
E-learning resources
ICR students are also provided with two key e-learning resources to aid in developing the knowledge and skills that are necessary to excel in cancer science research:
- Perspectives in Oncology is a modular e-learning website providing a basic grounding in several aspects of cancer science.
- Skills is a blog-style resource giving advice on transferable skills useful for research at the ICR and beyond.
To find out more about our e-learning resources, see our E-learning webpage.
We offer a broad range of transferable skills training and provides all research students with tailored personalised development opportunities throughout the year. Workshops cover a range of topics including statistics, scientific writing, obtaining research funding and project management.
Research students are expected to engage in a minimum of ten days of skills training per academic year. Some courses are mandatory, others optional, some taught face-to-face and others online. This training is recorded online, via individual student personal development plans.
Lunchtime seminars
The Learning and Development team works with the Postdoc Association and the Scientific Officer Association to provide a series of introductory technical seminars at lunchtimes to train and support students and staff in the use of core scientific techniques. These are normally delivered once every two years by ICR scientists who are experts in the field, and include topics such as structural biology techniques, chemistry for non-chemists, bioassays in drug development, 3D tissue culture and CRISPR.
The team also works with ICR experts to support informatics and scientific computing, with courses including an Introduction to Bioinformatics, High Performance Computing and Linux, Python, programming and statistics.
They also collaborate with the Scientific Computing User Forum, which meets on a regular basis to share expertise and advice. Places are also made available on regional ‘software carpentry’ boot-camps providing basic skills in scientific computing.
Employability statement
All students at The Institute of Cancer Research are given access to professional careers consultants, who offer workshops on CV preparation, interview skills and employment search techniques. Individual appointments with a careers adviser are also available.
MSc in Oncology
Our MSc in Oncology is aimed at specialist postgraduate students in the fields of clinical and medical oncology. It equips students in the field of clinical oncology to sit the Part 1 and Part 2 examinations for Fellowship of the Royal College of Radiologists (FRCR).
For medical oncologists, the course meets the identified need for a theoretical basis to their structured training. Educational supervisors in NHS Trusts are invited to an annual stakeholders’ meeting to contribute to course development. Revision sessions for the Royal College exams are also provided.
Developing skills
The ICR’s research students gain a variety of research-based experience, working within teams that include post-doctoral and senior scientists.
We have a broad range of transferable skills training and we provide all research students with 10 days of personal and professional development each year. This training is recorded online, via individual student personal development plans.
Our training policy is equality impact assessed. We provide workshops giving advice on topics such as statistics, science writing and project management.
We also promote ‘outreach’ activities to our students, such as the STEM ambassador programme and e-mentoring, to develop self-confidence and presentation skills, whilst offering a valuable service to the wider educational community.
Supporting career progression
A biennial research careers conference is provided for our 3rd and 4th year students and post-doctoral researchers, featuring speakers with a range of career backgrounds.
The ICR also has an active student body and post-doc association, both of whom arrange for additional external speakers throughout the year. We also offer a number of funded places for 3rd year students on the Nature Jobs Careers Expo.
Collaborating with industry
There is advice and support available for students considering a career in industry. The ICR has close links and collaborations with industry through our teams in the Drug Development Unit, and many of our Faculty have backgrounds in industry themselves. Individual research sections also invite speakers from industry to talk about possible career paths
The ICR funds a limited number of external enterprise-related training courses, and provides a workshop on identifying and managing research collaborations, with input from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
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