Researcher Development Initiative (RDI), 2005 - 2010

1/11/06 - 31/10/08

This was a programme of training and development activities for both researchers and research students in social anthropology, from four Scottish Universities. Provision comprised both state-of-the-art introductory training for pre-fieldwork students, and innovative training for completing postgraduate students and early career researchers. The advanced training was dual-track, addressing the need of both junior academic researchers and those using anthropological skills elsewhere in Scotland's rapidly expanding knowledge economy.

These activities were embedded in the training programme of each institution. The courses addressed issues of capacity-building, international collaboration, links between academic and non-academic practice, and the building of research careers. Short, intensive residential courses augmented existing subject-specific training for research students in social anthropology, at both introductory and advanced levels.

The courses contributed to the development of a consortium approach to postgraduate training in Scotland. Introductory students were trained in innovative methods of field research, while advanced students and early career researchers had the opportunity to relate their own work to cutting-edge thinking in the discipline, as represented in the work of its foremost international scholars, while also working with academic and non-academic practitioners on key areas of career development.

Principal Investigator: Professor Jonathan Spencer, University of Edinburgh
Co-Investigators: Professor Tim Ingold, University of Aberdeen,

Dr Justin Kenrick, University of Glasgow,
Professor Roy Dilley, University of St Andrews

Contact Details

Professor Jonathan Spencer, University of Edinburgh

Email: jonathan.spencer@ed.ac.uk
Tel: 0131 650 3944