Supporting the professional development of our graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in a multifaceted way drives the mission of Graduate Studies at York and is key to creating success. Our commitment is to ensure that you have all the tools you need to succeed within and beyond the academic world, informed by reflection and intentional planning through the Faculty’s Individualized Development Plan (IDP). The Graduate & Postdoctoral Professional Skills (GPPS) program is divided into six broad areas to connect you to opportunities and resources that will help you develop your professional plans and goals, and to strategically meet those goals:
- Career Exploration and Planning
- Communication
- Health and Wellness
- Managing Time and Resources
- Research Dissemination
- Teaching
How to Search for Opportunities and Resources
- Use the ‘Select a Theme’ dropdown to filter opportunities and resources by skills area and click ‘Submit’
Additional Search Options
- The ‘Select Format’ option can also be selected to filter opportunities by mode of delivery
- The ‘Search by Keyword’ box can also be used to browse by keyword
- To reset previous selections and see all available opportunities, click the ‘Reset’ button
- 1x1 Writing Appointments* (Writing Centre)
- Academic Presentation Skills in an Online World, for Graduate Students (Learning Skills Services)
- Accelerating Women Led Ventures - ELLA Accelerator (Innovation York – ELLA)
- Beyond the Professoriate's Career Training Platform
- Campus Recreation (York University Athletics & Recreation)
- Certificate of Proficiency in Teaching for eLearning (ONLINE) (Teaching Commons)
- Clear Language Writing and Design (Knowledge Mobilization Unit)
- Commercialization (Innovation York)
- Creating 360-degree Videos with Insta360 Cameras (York University Libraries)
- Creating 3D Models of Objects from Photos (York University Libraries)
- Creating a Podcast: Basic Tools and Techniques (York University Libraries)
- Creating Digital Exhibits with CollectionBuilder (York University Libraries)
- Creating Side Hustle From Your Skills (Innovation York)
- Data Cleaning and OpenRefine for Social Scientists (York University Libraries)
- Data Discovery in the Academy (York University Libraries)
- Designing a Meaningful Career for Graduate Students and Postdocs (Career Education & Development and Faculty of Graduate Studies)
- Eight-Step Editing: For Graduate Students & Postdocs (Faculty of Graduate Studies)
- FGS Certificate in Personal Wellness and Learning Skills* (Faculty of Graduate Studies)
- Fireside Chat: Leveraging Your Graduate Degree with the City of Toronto
- Graduate Student Personal and Professional Development on Teaching (Teaching Commons)
- Graduate Writing Café Seminar Series* (Writing Centre)
- Health and Wellness for Graduate Students (Faculty of Graduate Studies)
- How to Write a Thesis Proposal (York University Libraries)
- Incubating & Accelerator Startup Growth (Innovation York – YSpace)
- Industry Engagement (Innovation York)
- Knowledge Mobilization Planning (Innovation York)
- Learning Skills Services Workshops (Learning Skills Services)
- Leveraging Your PhD in Social Science and Humanities Outside of Academia (Career Education & Development and Faculty of Graduate Studies))
- Leveraging your STEM PhD Outside of Academia (Career Education & Development and Faculty of Graduate Studies)
- Making Connections – Expanding your Professional Network (Career Education & Development and Faculty of Graduate Studies)
- Managing Academic Stress (Learning Skills Services)
- Master’s and PhD Student Career Advising (Career Education & Development)
- Mitacs Training Workshops (Mitacs)
- MobilizeYU (Knowledge Mobilization Unit)
- Navigating the Academic Job Search in an Interdisciplinary Context (Faculty of Graduate Studies)
- Ontario’s First Food & Beverage Accelerator (Innovation York – YSpace)
- Organizing Your Zotero Collections (York University Libraries)
- Persuasive Pitching and Networking Skills - Capturing Attention (Faculty of Graduate Studies)
- Planning and Design (Teaching Commons)
- Practise Your Conference Presentation Skills (Faculty of Graduate Studies)
- Presentation Skills (Learning Skills Services)
- Reading & Annotating with Zotero (York University Libraries)
- Record of Completion Certificate (Teaching Commons)
- REDI© (Respect, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion) Professional Development (Centre for Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion)
- Remote Teaching Strategies (Teaching Commons)
- Reproducible Research Version Control (York University Libraries)
- Research Ethics 101 (Office of Research Ethics)
- Safeguarding your Research Data: Privacy and Security Tools (York University Libraries)
- Safeguarding Yourself: Online Harassment in Academia (York University Libraries)
- Scholarly Publishing and the Visibility of your Research (York University Libraries)
- Senior Teaching Assistant (STA) Program (Teaching Commons)
- Social Media Planning for Research (Innovation York)
- TA Certificate in Teaching (TACT) (Teaching Commons)
- Teaching Assistant Orientation (Teaching Commons)
- Teaching Commons Tutor (TCT) Position* (Teaching Commons)
- The Employee & Family Assistance Program (EFAP) for Postdoctoral Visitors (PDVs) (Health, Safety & Employee Well-Being)
- The Teaching Commons and Transferable Skills for Graduate Students (Teaching Commons)
- Time Management for Graduate Students (Learning Skills Services & Faculty of Graduate Studies)
- Time Management Resources (Learning Skills Services)
- Tri-Council and OGS Scholarship Application Workshops – Doctoral* (Faculty of Graduate Studies)
- Tri-Council and OGS Scholarship Application Workshops – Master’s* (Faculty of Graduate Studies)
- Understanding and Creating Data Visualizations (York University Libraries)
- Understanding Research Data Management (York University Libraries)
- VR for First-Timers (York University Libraries)
- Wellness Consultations for Graduate Students* (Faculty of Graduate Studies)
- Wellness Consultations for Postdoctoral Fellows (PDFs) (Faculty of Graduate Studies)
- Writing Support for the Graduate Community (Writing Centre)
- Writing Workshop Series for Graduate Students* (Faculty of Graduate Studies)
- York University Libraries Instructional Workshops (York University Libraries)
- Zotero for Collaborative Research Projects (York University Libraries)
- Zotero Pro Tips (York University Libraries)
FGS and its various partners strive to support graduate students and postdoctoral fellows with a variety of workshops, lectures, presentations, seminars and other resources to enhance their experience at York and add to their skillset. If you have any questions about available offerings, please contact the Postdoctoral Services & Professional Skills Coordinator.
Please note that offerings marked with an asterisk (*) are available only to graduate students.
Other units and centres at York also strive to support graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in specific research areas. They offer a variety of workshops, presentations, resources, and opportunities with a focus on a particular community. Professional development resources relevant to specific research area include (note: this list is not exhaustive):
- City Institute Professional Training Program
- Schulich’s Case Competition Program
- Robarts Connects Series
Individualized Development Plan (IDP)
York University's IDP is designed to help students identify their professional goals as well as to better understand the skills and competencies needed to achieve those goals. The IDP includes a framework that will help to develop a plan for professional skills, but is intended to be supplemented by ongoing consultations with academic supervisors, graduate program directors as well as relevant individuals across the university and beyond.
Please visit Individualized Development Plan (IDP) for more information.
If you are a postdoctoral researcher, please visit Individualized Development Plan (IDP) - Postdoctoral Researchers for more information on a tool to assist in identifying and developing goals during the fellowship.