Imperial-KAIST Global Fellows Programme

Students from Imperial College and KAIST will participate in the professional skills course. The primary purpose of the course is to enhance both the personal and research effectiveness of participants and it will cover topics including:

• Managing your research project
• Intercultural awareness and effective team working
• Succeeding in collaborative research
• Building successful working relationships
• Communication with Impact: reaching different audiences
• Enhancing networking skills

Participants will work in small groups, assisted by a tutor from one of the participating institutions. The course provides students with a chance to develop their professional and research skills in an international environment.

Following the professional skills summer school, Imperial students will commence a three-week research placement at KAIST. Students are responsible for researching placement opportunities by contacting the relevant academics at KAIST directly, or via their own supervisors/departments. The idea of this programme is to help students gain valuable skills for their PhD (both international professional skills and academic skills). Research placements should be identified and details should be given on the application.  For more information, please see the Frequently asked questions.

It is very important that students complete both the summer school and research placement parts of this programme.

The Summer School has a capacity of 32 and 16 of these places are available to Imperial students, 16 for KAIST students.

Imperial College participants must:

• Be a current doctoral student (from any discipline)
• Be between 3 and 24 months into their doctorate at the time the course takes place (6 and 48 months for part-time students)
• Not have taken the Graduate School's 3-day Research Skills Development (RSD) Course
• Not have taken part in a previous Imperial international summer school
• Be interested in gaining an insight into Korean culture

APPLICANT CRITERIA

Successful applicants will:

• Gain the most from this specific programme and explain how in their application
• Be willing to undertake some preparatory work in advance of applying (e.g. enquiring about setting up a research placements)
• Have realistic expectations of the experience
• Demonstrate awareness of and ability to adapt to Korean culture
• Demonstrate enthusiasm for engaging with peers from KAIST
• Possess awareness of the skills necessary to develop links with international collaborators
• Be willing to be a good ambassador for Imperial

Students who do not explain how they meet the above criteria in their application will not be offered a place on the course. 

Completing the research placement portion of the programme is a requirement of the programme.  Students do not necessarily have to have secured research placements by the time of application, but will need to do so to confirm participation in the programme.  The International Relations Office can assist students in finding placements if necessary.

Applications will be assessed by members of staff from the Graduate School and International Relations Office.  Each application will be rated from 0 (does not meet criteria) to 3 (fully meets criteria) for each of the above criteria.  Applicants with the most points will be shortlisted for the programme.

In an increasingly competitive research environment, multi-disciplinary and multi-university collaboration is necessary for problem solving as well as to gain funding.

This development opportunity is designed to challenge participants to assess their research skills and develop their interdisciplinary and intercultural awareness. The summer school presents a potentially career-changing international networking opportunity.

Research placements will enable students to forge global links with academics and students based in South Korea. As well as enhanced personal and research effectiveness, participants will gain new insights to their work and lives through activities on project management, creativity in research, team working, networking, developing self-awarenessand effective communication to reach different audiences.

This course meets the professional skills requirements for the Early Stage Assessment (ESA). Students are therefore not required to take additional courses. However, attendees are still entitled to take other courses, if desired. 

Imperial will arrange and pay for accommodation for participants for the four weeks, in addition to providing a contribution of £300 towards travel costs.  Advice and assistance can be provided with arranging travel. Please see the FAQs for more information. 

Applications are now open and are being accepted on a rolling basis.  Please apply now to avoid disappointment.

If you have additional questions, please see the FAQs available online.

Any additional queries not answered in the FAQs, please contact phdsummerschools@imperial.ac.uk