What is the DNA, again?
If you are currently holding a WGSSS scholarship that was awarded in 2024 or later, then you will have had an introduction to our development needs analysis (DNA) during your application process. You will remember the two stages of DNA that every scholar completes (initial DNA and full DNA) and you will have been through at least one DNA cycle.
The DNA has replaced the training needs analysis (TNA), which pre-2024 scholars will be more familiar with. This is in response to ESRC’s Review of the PhD document, which made a range of recommendations about how the training offer for doctoral students should be reformed.
If you find yourself on this page and you are not a current scholar, then development needs analysis (DNA) is the process that the Welsh Graduate School for the Social Sciences (WGSSS) uses to determine the training needs of its scholarship recipients. This process helps us to plan our training provision and helps us to determine the length of the award that we might make to scholarship recipients, according to the training needs we identify. You can see details of how the first cycle of the DNA works on our studentship competition pages.
Our DNA process emphasises that an ESRC PhD scholarship is about more than just delivering a great research project. It’s important to see it as a high-level training programme that results in well-rounded Social Scientists, capable of pursuing a range of careers. The DNA process helps scholars to think more broadly about their personal and professional development, not just about the needs of the specific research project that they are working on. This is perhaps, a slightly different way of looking at a PhD than has traditionally been the case, and it might require you to think a little differently too.
Our core aim is:
To support each scholar and their academic supervisor(s) to devise a training plan, each year, that is:
- tailored to their specific needs
- as flexible as possible in terms of when and how they study
- meets the full range of skills that a social scientist graduating from a doctoral training programme should possess.
When is the DNA due?
The DNA is a collaborative process involving the scholar, their academic supervisor(s) and the WGSSS Training Lead. We work together to identify the needs of the scholar, taking into account their prior training experiences.
The DNA is repeated on an annual basis. We will contact scholars and their supervisor(s) directly when the time comes to complete a DNA, but you can also contact the WGSSS Training Lead if you’d like to request a DNA, or if you’d like to draw their attention to a specific training need that has become apparent.
You can also suggest training sessions that you would like to access. To do so, email the WGSSS Training Lead using the information at the top of this page.
What about access to training?
We take an ‘in-house’ first approach to training provision and work closely with the research development teams at each of our participating universities. The research development team at your institution will be in touch with you at the commencement of your studies and throughout your programme to support access to training that has been identified in the DNA. They will already be briefed regarding your needs and will be offering a tailored program to address them. If there is training that is needed that is not available at a scholar’s home institution, they we are able to draw upon our pooled training offer to access that training from other partner universities, strategic partners, collaborators and independent training providers such as the National Centre for Research Methods. We also commission a range of innovative training, such as the Futures module developed by the team at DECIPHER.
How was the DNA designed?
If you’d like to know more about how we developed our DNA process, you can read some of the documents that inspired it. We map our DNA process to the ESRC Postgraduate Development Guidelines, and it is cross-referenced to the Vitae Researcher Development Framework. We also collaborate with other ESRC DTPs in the design process, particularly with the Scottish Graduate School for the Social Sciences (who operate a similar structure to us). Training needs are met by a combination of courses held at your home institution and wider training opportunities provided by our network of collaborators and strategic partners.
WGSSS Training Lead
Dr Peter Wootton-Beard
Graduate School, Aberystwyth University
pcw1@aber.ac.uk
+44 (0) 1970 62 2942