{"id":3019,"date":"2026-01-01T12:29:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T12:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/?p=3019"},"modified":"2026-07-01T13:15:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:15:16","slug":"how-to-complete-your-researcher-development-assessment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/2026\/01\/01\/how-to-complete-your-researcher-development-assessment\/","title":{"rendered":"How to complete your Researcher Development Assessment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\" data-start=\"145\" data-end=\"435\">All postgraduate researchers registered for a PhD must complete the <strong data-start=\"213\" data-end=\"256\">Researcher Development Assessment (RDA)<\/strong> before their <strong>First Year Probation Review<\/strong>. We recommend completing your RDA as early as possible so you can identify and plan training that best supports your research and future career.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"437\" data-end=\"599\">The RDA is an online self-assessment tool that helps you reflect on your existing skills, identify areas for development, and create a personalised training plan.<\/p>\n<h3 data-section-id=\"1coe3lu\" data-start=\"601\" data-end=\"629\">How to complete your RDA<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Attend &#8220;Milestone 1: Kickstart your PhD&#8221; to learn about the RDA and it&#8217;s importance. All new PhD Researchers will be emailed inviting them to attend, you can also check our <a href=\"https:\/\/student.kent.ac.uk\/life\/postgrad#events\">events page<\/a> for upcoming dates.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Login to <a href=\"https:\/\/grctraining.targetconnect.net\/\">Target Connect <\/a>and enrol on the Researcher Development Pathway<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-3020\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/files\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-01-124247.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"463\" height=\"262\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Once loaded, scroll down and complete all of the domains, scoring 1-5 for each answer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-3021\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/files\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-01-130622.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"382\" height=\"238\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Once all domains are completed download and complete the &#8216;Personal Development Plan&#8217;. Save it to your PC and then re-upload as an attachment and submit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-3022\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/files\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-01-130743.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"402\" height=\"263\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The GRC will let the Kent Vision team know when you have completed your RDA and this will be updated on your record (please note this is a manual process that is done in intervals and will not be updated straight away).<\/li>\n<li>Once completed, we advise meeting with your supervisor to discuss your completed RDA and agree your development priorities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1171\" data-end=\"1257\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\"><strong data-start=\"1171\" data-end=\"1185\">Need help?<\/strong> <a href=\"mailto:skills@kent.ac.uk\">Email us<\/a> for guidance..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All postgraduate researchers registered for a PhD must complete the Researcher Development Assessment (RDA) before their First Year Probation Review. We recommend completing your RDA &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/2026\/01\/01\/how-to-complete-your-researcher-development-assessment\/\">Read&nbsp;more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65655,"featured_media":3024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[312383,312387],"tags":[312393],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3019"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65655"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3019"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3025,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3019\/revisions\/3025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}