Supervisors from across the DTA network were invited to apply for grants of up to £2,000, to be used towards the development and delivery of activities that would benefit and add value to the wider UA doctoral community of supervisors and doctoral researchers, through expansion of skill set and/or supervisory practice. Cross-institutional applications and activities and those that directly involved doctoral researchers as part of the proposal development phase were encouraged.

For the 2025-26 academic year, the following activities have been supported:

Building on the success of the That’s Me! Project, Jacqueline Taylor and Eli Ashong from Birmingham City University will host The Ideas Xchange event at STEAMhouse bringing together postgraduate researchers, supervisors, EDI experts and professional service staff from diverse backgrounds and disciplines to ‘Xchange’ ideas on inclusive and sustainable supervisory practices and doctoral networks.

Louise Lambert, Birmingham City University and Rebecca Bate, Aston University will host two participatory research workshops to explore the experiences and perspectives of neurodiverse postgraduate research students, with the aim of fostering inclusive dialogue and generating new knowledge around equitable doctoral practices.

Elisa Pannini, Anna Piazza and Guido Conaldi from the University of Greenwich will be delivering a workshop for postgraduate research students and their supervisors exploring the ethical use of AI in doctoral research.

Funds will be used to support the logistics of hosting the activities as well as provide travel bursaries and participatory vouchers for those attending.

Outputs will include open access best practice resources, a Doctoral AI Chart, and a collection of zines, along with blogs and seminars on the impact of developing and delivering such engagement activities – all of which we will be sharing later next year.

Dates

The Ideas Xchange Conference 

Thursday 4 June 10am-4pm - register directly with the organiser

 

Zine making workshop: Exploring the experiences and perspectives of neurodiverse PGRs

Wednesday 17 June 12pm-3pm - register via our website

Thursday 25 June - 4pm-7pm - register via our website

 

Exploring the ethical use of AI in doctoral research

Monday 1 June - registration details to be confirmed

Next round

Details of the next round of funding will be announced later in 2026. 

If you have any queries, please contact dta@unialliance.ac.uk