Assessing your skills: Training Needs Analysis
All doctoral researchers and members of research staff should undertake an annual review (Training Needs Analysis or TNA) of their skills and development needs.
Doctoral Students: At least once a year, together with your supervisor(s) you should discuss your progress to date and plan your development activities for the next few months or year.
Research Staff: You will want to look at your training needs at least on a yearly basis. A good time to do it is shortly before your Staff Development Performance Review (SDPR). This will allow you to discuss those areas in which you need support or permission from your Principal Investigator.
What you should discuss during a typical Training Needs Analysis (TNA)
- Your assessment of your progress with your skills development, your research and your career plans
- Your supervisor/PI’s assessment of your progress, including specific and constructive feedback on your skills and performance
- Your development needs for effectively moving your research and career forward – the Researcher Development Framework is a useful tool to help with this
- The activities and training that you plan to do, in light of the development needs you have discussed
- Your specific development plans for the next 6 months or year until the next TNA, including dates of any activities, what you hope to achieve from them and apply to your research and career planning.
There is a lot advice on the Vitae web pages for developing as a doctoral researcher or developing as a post-doctoral researcher.
The development activities in your plan should take account of:
- Your personal learning style and interests
- The skills and experience you gained prior to your time at Bath
- The skills and experience gained since you started at Bath
- What you need to develop in order to be effective during the next phase of your research project, including any new responsibilities your would like to take on or areas where you need to build more confidence
- What you need to develop in order to prepare you for your next career move
- The budget available for your training from your funder, department or research group
To help you to plan we have developed a list of development activities for researchers [pdf, 51KB].
