Section outline

  • This seminar is guided by the philosophy that postgraduates can prepare for the large variety of responsibilities they will encounter at the next stage of their careers, including balancing high-quality research with excellent teaching.

    Sessions will follow two main areas:

    • Development of teaching practices within mathematics
    • Creation of a professional portfolio as a mathematician

    The first area focuses on TA Training and best practices in the classroom specific to the effective and clear communication of mathematics and mathematical concepts.  We will also propose mini-projects which should help participants develop meaningful Teaching Statements for postdoc/academic job applications.

    The second area addresses a variety of issues surrounding life as a mathematics Ph.D., including formation of a "complete" academic portfolio, giving talks, writing papers, looking for postdocs, and life beyond your viva.

    Sessions are intended to provide you with mentorship and interaction with staff and colleagues outside of your immediate research group, and to help you build important secondary relationships within the School. 

    We are planning the seminar this year flexibly so that we can prioritize activities based on your interests and input!  The seminar is meant to be dovetailed with the existing training in place at QMUL, including the 1st-year induction, PGR Teaching Support Day and available CAPD courses and can be claimed on the PGR Skills Points database (required at each of your annual reviews).

    Over the course of the seminar, we will be compiling resources with commentary for your use: suggested reading on effective teaching of mathematics, websites to look for postdocs and academic jobs, LaTeX templates for your CVs, outreach opportunities, etc. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have something you wish to add to the list or if you would like to see a particular topic included.


    Your teaching support network:

    The Module Organizers : Dr Shabnam Beheshti and Dr WolframJust

    PGR Student Representatives:

    Teaching and Student Support Manager: Simon Rawstron

    PGR Programme Officer: Katie Hale

    Director of Education: Mark Walters

    Director of PGR Studies: Alex Fink

    Student Support Officer: William Ng