Postgraduate News and Views: Career opportunities for English PhDs, Psychology for Project Management

Research students may be fretting unnecessarily about their career prospects, according to a new study. There's a school of thought which says there's no point in taking a PhD – particularly in a highly intellectual field – unless you're a wannabe don. But while looking at training in research methods for postgraduate students of English, Sadie Williams found that career opportunities for English PhDs are much broader than might be thought. Many breeze into careers in the Civil Service, teaching, libraries, museums or the media, according to academics at universities around the country. "We are moving towards a knowledge economy and it is much more likely that [PhD] skills will be useful," said one. It's just as well such choices exist: the study also notes that while most people who undertake an English PhD want to become academics, large numbers will not succeed because there are too few jobs available in arts subjects.

¿ The dynamics of boardroom bust-ups are to be studied on a new MA course, Psychology for Project Management, at the University of Westminster from September. "Conflict resolution and negotiation" is one aspect of the programme, which aims to equip students to deal with 21st-century office politics. "We will show students how to play the team card effectively," says course leader Dr Stephen Benton. "Our aim is to address a gap in soft skills identified by the Association of Project Management." Students must buckle down to a dissertation as part of the course but will also get a chance to mingle with Westminster's MBA students for a module on entrepreneurial project management.

¿ Scottish philosophy is alive and well in Italian and French universities, but has been languishing over here... until now, says Professor Gordon Graham of Aberdeen University. He's heading a new centre for the study of Scottish philosophy which aims to pool the expertise of the universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews to rejuvenate the subject. Activities will include a new Journal of Scottish Philosophy, an affordable library of the writings of a range of Scottish philosophers, to be published by Imprint Academic, and a collection of online research tools, such as a biographical encyclopedia. Research students will also benefit from a programme of events. There will be three to five conferences or meetings a year, usually focusing on a specific philosopher, says Professor Graham. "We want to highlight the work of some of the lesser-known Scottish philosophers." James Beattie, a contemporary and scathing critic of the sceptic David Hume (who is said to have declared Beattie a "bigoted sot") will be the subject of a meeting in June.

g.mccann@independent.co.uk