Every year we give our Doctoral Researchers the chance to voice their opinions on EDI issues in an anonymous survey. The results of the survey are analysed, and suggestions are taken forward, wherever possible.

For example, based on the results from the first survey, we improved the signposting of support available in our handbooks that are given to students and supervisors at the start of each academic year.

We have also continued to invite researchers (both from within the two Universities, as well as externally) to present to the cohort, in order for them to learn more about leading researchers' backgrounds and career paths. Some of these talks have been opened up to the general public (see our Events page for details), and have led to some very interestic discussions!

We are currently developing a Supervisor Community to capitalise on the wealth of supervisory experience we have across the two institutions (Newcastle & Durham). As part of this, EDI considerations will form a key part of the Supervisor Community’s agenda, including sharing best practice and fostering a healthy research community. One of the advantages of the CDT is its cross-institutional nature, and we will continue to draw on the broader wealth of experience and insight this provides to the benefit of our staff and students.

MoSMed has lots of exciting plans for outreach activities. During covid lockdown, our enterprising Communications group initiated a MoSMed podcast.

We are currently working closely with the Outreach and Engagement Teams at both Universities, and are investigating further outreach options available to us, both virtual and in person.

Our Doctoral Researchers are very much looking forward to being able to get out and about in the local community, and to share their exciting research. We hope this will help to get young people interested in science, who may not otherwise have considered a future in STEM.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you are interested in partnering for Outreach activity with our MoSMed students and staff.

When lockdown started in March 2020, we quickly set up a weekly cohort catch-up, to ensure we could all get together at least once a week, and to check on everyone's wellbeing during a difficult time.

These weekly catch-ups soon turned into an exciting opportunity to get to know more about the interesting research being carried out within MoSMed by doctoral researchers and their supervsiors, as well as learning more about the supervisors' backgrounds and career paths. This led to a programme of weekly events lasting from May 2020 to August 2020, and included invited speakers from outside MoSMed, who also shared their stories and invaluable advice with the cohort.

These events were enjoyed so much, that it was decided to keep them going, but changing to fortnightly from September 2020, given that most researchers were back in the labs for at least some of the time.

In order to continue providing an opportunity for the cohort to catch-up informally, we host regular coffee mornings and virtual drop-in sessions so that members of all cohorts are able to keep in touch, get to know each other, and share their experiences as MoSMed PhD researchers. We believe open communication and informal social gatherings are a key part of maintaining a vibrant research community for our staff and students.