The scope of preparation for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars is evolving to keep pace with the dynamic shifts in academia and society. Professional development (PD) plays a crucial role in this evolution, equipping students with a broad range of essential competencies for their future careers. Engage in PD to build confidence and develop into a versatile professional positioned to thrive in academia and beyond. At USask, there are a number of professional development opportunities that are completely free for graduate students.

Get Started

Seamlessly integrated with USask's Learning Management System, the LevelUP dashboard offers a diverse selection of professional development (PD) options developed by CGPS' PD Specialist. Choose from a variety of self-directed or face-to-face offerings tailored to your needs. Sign up!

Individualized Development Plan (IDP)

The GradHUB’s Individual Development Plan (IDP) from the College of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (CGPS) is a tool to assist you in mapping your program and development towards your desired career(s). The IDP is designed to facilitate identifying desired career goals, development opportunities, and the necessary tools to assist you in these pursuits.

The ultimate goal of the IDP is to help you in planning for your future and making the most of your graduate student journey.

Download the IDP tool

Career Exploration

In an innovative approach to preparing graduate students and postdoctoral scholars to adapt to the job market, CGPS partners with Beyond the Professoriate to offer you free access to the Beyond the Professoriate (BtP) career exploration platform.

Platform Access

Bridge the Communications Gap

Knowledge translation and communication skills are essential for graduate students, as they bridge the gap between research and practical application. Effective communication makes complex ideas and findings accessible to a wider audience, including policymakers, industry professionals, and the general public. This not only increases the impact of your research but also promotes collaboration and innovation across disciplines. By being a strong communicator, you can advocate for your work, secure funding, and contribute to informed decision-making.

Get involved in a communications competition and benefit!

Falling Walls

Falling Walls is an exciting pitch competition that challenges students, postdoctoral fellows, and early career professionals to develop a compelling argument for their innovative research and its potential to change the world. USask joins the University of Alberta's Falling Walls Lab to compete for a spot at the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin, Germany.

SSHRC Storytellers

The SSHRC’s Storytellers Challenge asks postsecondary students to show Canadians, in up to three minutes or 300 words, how social sciences and humanities research is affecting our lives, our world and our future for the better. Get Inspired! View the Storytellers gallery.

3MT

80,000 words are in a typical PhD thesis. Years of gruelling research, sleepless nights, and history-making breakthroughs. Presenting something of this scale would take approximately nine hours.
3MT competitors do it in 3 minutes. Find out more!

Find a Conference

CGPS fosters relationships with various agencies, academies, student and postdoc-led groups and other organizations to provide graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with valuable professional development opportunities. These partnerships are designed to support students in building strong professional networks, gaining industry insights, and enhancing their academic and career prospects.

Mitacs	Our courses and workshops revolve around eight-course bundles, comprising eight online self-paced courses and seven online instructor-led workshops. The synchronous components (instructor-led workshops) are offered in an engaging and interactive learning environment, with small groups typically ranging from 10 to 24 participants. A variety of workshop dates are offered. Visit Mitacs, and bookmark CGPS' calendar.
BtP Career Conference	Started more than ten years ago as a way to show PhDs the many opportunities open to them — and how to transition from academia into a new professional career. Keep an eye out for information distributed through CGPS.
BtP Webinars & Info Sessions	Through our partnership with BtP, sign into the platform and get registration access for ongoing info sessions and recorded material like 'what do employers really value about your degree', 'how to unlock the hidden job market', and more. Platform access
GPDN	As members of the Graduate and Postdoctoral Development Network and sponsors of the annual career conference, CGPS arranges for you to get free access to the annual career symposium for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. Watch for registration info from CGPS every year in November.

ProSkills

To help graduate faculty equip students and postdoctoral scholars with professional skills for success both inside and outside academia, we’ve developed a suite of easily deployable modules that can be integrated into any course, providing valuable resources to enhance your students' career development.

This project was initially led by former Associate Dean Ryan Walker and a team of subject matter experts from CGPS and GMCTL.

ProSkills materials have been developed in USask's LMS (Canvas) to enable seamless integration within any instructor-created materials for graduate-level courses. Resources are built for use by the instructor, intended to support students and postdocs to leverage their degrees within and beyond academia, are structured with choices for how the student might learn and demonstrate professional skills and self-assess their competence based on peer and instructor feedback. Modules include:

Professional Communication
Intercultural Engagement
Project Management
Interpersonal Relations
Ideation & Entrepreneurial Thinking
Leadership

Connect.

Meet Kenisha, the Professional Development Specialist at CGPS.
A chartered professional in human resources (CPHR) and lifelong learner, Kenisha is passionate about collaboratively impacting the lives of other professionals through her work. Ask about developing your
proskills content!

kenisha.blairwalcott@usask.ca
306 966 1385