About this theme This theme is skills based. To improve your project management skills, it is advised that you complete the activities on the website and in the log book. Reading through the theme without completing the activities will be of little assistance. The aims of this theme are: to identify and develop personal attributes that enable postgraduate students to manage a research project to the correct standard and to complete it on time; to enable postgraduate students to plan and organise their research project in order to successfully reach their full potential in their chosen postgraduate degree; to enable postgraduate students to apply appropriate time management skills to the planning of their research project; to identify study skills and resource management strategies that can benefit postgraduate students to effectively organise and research their chosen field; to develop team work skills within the postgraduate cohort studying the Project Management core theme.

Advanced Personal Transferable Skills

• Time, resource and project management.
• Presentation skills, including the presentation of student’s research plan of action over a 1 to 3 year period, in both verbal and non-verbal forms
• Written skills, including the preparation of PERT, or Gantt charts
• IT skills, including the use of software such as Microsoft Excel

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this theme, you will be able to:

• critically evaluate personal time management attributes and study skills to review personal strengths and weaknesses.
• devise individual management strategies to more effectively use time, laboratory, IT facilities and people resources to research and organise his/her field of study and to maintain high motivational levels.
• organise and design research plans of action on a short (daily, weekly), medium (monthly) and long term basis (one to three years), using conventional time management skills to achieve short and long term research goals.
• write and present an appropriate project and resource management plan for your chosen field of study using appropriate IT software.
• demonstrate ability to work successfully with other members of the study group.