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Oliver Bird training programme
The Graduate School of the College of Life Sciences and Medicine (http://www.abdn.ac.uk/clsm/graduate/) arranges a full programme of generic training of all new PhD students registered in the Schools of Medicine and Medical Sciences.
The concept of personal development planning is strongly encouraged (http://www.abdn.ac.uk/clsm/graduate/current/pdp.php), including completion of a personal development plan (PDP). Students are advised to make liberal use of the Aberdeen Skills for Postgraduate Innovation, Research and Employability (ASPIRE) system to book their own courses and complete their PDP.
In addition, the MP Research Programme, to which all Oliver Bird students belong, runs an extensive postgraduate teaching course, focused specifically on topics directly related to bone and skeletal tissue physiology and disease, along with detailed tutorials and demonstrations on the methods available to study these factors. This teaching course was created specifically for the OBRP students, but has now become compulsory for all Postgraduate students in the MP Programme and in some cases open to other staff. The training course, which has now run and evolved for 3 years, consists of an introductory series of "catch-up" lectures by senior staff and Oliver Bird supervisors, run specifically for the benefit of staff and students who have started in that year. Topics covered include: Bone structure and bone cells; Therapeutics options in bone diseases; Composition and mechanical strength of musculoskeletal tissues, and Clinical and translational studies in musculoskeletal disease. Current research by members of the MP Programme, including the Oliver Bird students, in those areas is highlighted. This series gives an "essential introduction" to the current work in the MP Programme. In addition, and restricted to postgraduate students (OBRP and all others), we run a journal club series, chaired by senior post-docs within the group, where students have to present (in pairs) twice yearly. We also run a series of 3-4 tutorials annually focusing on topics of interest generally to those working within the musculoskeletal and rheumatology arena. Topics change every year, tutors are drawn from the senior academic staff within MP and can include senior post-docs/fellows. Students must read several papers and the tutorial itself is an open discussion around these. Topics covered recently are: Imaging of bone; Genetic studies; Bone cell signalling; Nutrition and bone quality, Animal studies in bone research, Ethical consent in clinical studies. Finally, the students themselves have started (in 2006-07) to run a "methods club", where they discuss specific laboratory methods in depth. These alternate with journal clubs such that they have to attend one "club" every fortnight. The topics covered in 06-07 were all related to protein studies (isolation, proteomics, detection, and immunolocalisation).
All courses, whether organised by the Graduate School or our MP programme, are highly rated, very popular and well attended by all UoA postgraduate students, including the OBRP students.