果冻影院

In a new spotlight video, part of UKRI鈥檚 101 Jobs that Change the World series, Ruth describes the support available to doctoral students through 果冻影院鈥檚 SPERO programme.

The programme, which has been running since 2018, has now equipped over a thousand 果冻影院 doctoral students with tangible entrepreneurial skills.聽

As Ruth explains, it鈥檚 a programme that鈥檚 beneficial to all students studying at a doctoral level, whichever direction they intend to go in later.聽

鈥淭he training we provide has value for anyone studying at this level, whether they have plans to stay in academia, work for a business or launch their own venture.聽

鈥淲e show people that entrepreneurship isn鈥檛 a scary word; that everyone has entrepreneurial skills. We simply help to highlight those skills, and give people the confidence to package them up and take action with them, so they can achieve their goals and have more impact.鈥�

Different levels of support

The SPERO programme is divided into three levels:

• Level 1: where students role play in a hypothetical startup, and learn to apply entrepreneurial skills to their current research and future career
• Level 2: where students work in groups to develop novel enterprises and pitch their idea to an entrepreneurial adviser
• Level 3: where students take a deep dive into the legal aspects of running a business, including IP rights, co-founder agreements, profit and loss projections and negotiating with investors

Students can choose to take part in one or all of the levels. It鈥檚 currently delivered online, so the training is very flexible and open to 果冻影院 students all over the world. The programme attracts students from a wide range of research areas.聽

鈥淚 love the eclectic aspect of it,鈥� says Ruth. 鈥淚t鈥檚 entrepreneurial alchemy. We have architects, neuroscientists, arts students, people studying in other countries, all mixed up, all working together, with a shared interest in entrepreneurship and taking their ideas forward. It鈥檚 very exciting to see people鈥檚 research and ideas coming to life.鈥澛�

The overlap between research and the startup world

A former 果冻影院 PhD student herself, Ruth wants to change people鈥檚 outlook on entrepreneurship.聽

鈥淚 used to think you鈥檙e either born an entrepreneur or you鈥檙e not. In fact, there鈥檚 a huge overlap between being a researcher and being a startup founder, in terms of the process involved but also the resilience that鈥檚 needed. It鈥檚 the parallels between the two endeavours that makes researchers such excellent entrepreneurs,鈥� adds Ruth.

Supporting doctoral students to achieve their entrepreneurial goals

Isobel Pagendam (PhD, Department of Geography) is one of the students who鈥檚 benefitted from the programme. Having never considered herself to be an entrepreneur before, she discovered a new affinity for entrepreneurship after taking part in SPERO, and went on to intern for the London Mayor鈥檚 Entrepreneur competition.

鈥淚t was interesting to get a broad overview of the different types of entrepreneurship and what counts as entrepreneurship鈥� Entrepreneurship doesn鈥檛 just mean developing a physical product: you can come up with a range of different services and offerings in a range of sectors,鈥� said Isobel.

Vishal Kumar (MRes Spatial Data Science and Visualisation) also attended both SPERO 2 and 3 to reinforce his entrepreneurship skills. He went onto launch his own startup, Alice Camera specialising in AI-accelerated hardware and software for modern photography.聽

鈥淏oth courses were very helpful in reinforcing some entrepreneurship skills I already had. But, most importantly for me, I had the chance to apply these skills... Working together in teams, listening to each other and pitching our ideas helped me in a practical way for real-life applications,鈥� said Vishal.

The SPERO programme is part of a wide package of support available to 果冻影院 doctoral students looking to build their entrepreneurial skills, delivered through 果冻影院 Innovation & Enterprise.

Links

• Entrepreneurship training for doctoral students (SPERO)
• Entrepreneurial support for 果冻影院 students
• 果冻影院鈥檚 entrepreneurship training gives boost to doctoral student鈥檚 research and career
• Entrepreneur profile: Vishal Kumar, Alice Camera聽founder

Screenshot of Ruth Weir is from the UKRI video 'Helping doctoral students prepare for their future careers 鈥� 101 Jobs that Change the World'