Training

Proteum

Proteum training is for the first 12 weeks of Year 1 the CDT programme (October to December inclusive).

  • Mondays - this is your doctoral project day - please arrange meetings with your supervisors and any project related activities for this day of the week.

  • Tuesdays - online CDT training sessions through Teams between 9am - 5pm. Please view the CDT Training Google calendar to see further details. Suggested view is ‘week’.

  • Wednesdays - you must schedule your travel using Key Travel to arrive at the traing host campus ‘ready to learn’ for 12:30pm. Accommodation is provided for one night for visiting students. Sessions will also be available online through Teams to those with permission to attend online in the event of illness, or other approved reasons not to travel.

  • Thursdays - you must arrive on campus ‘ready to learn’ for 9am. Sessions will also be available online through Teams to those with permission to attend online. Travel back to your home campus should be arranged for the afternoon from 1pm onwards.

  • Fridays - this is a PhD and CDT Design Project day - the cohort should arrange any online sessions themselves.

Hotels - Accommdation will be provided by the CDT when the train journey from your home university train station to the training location is greater than one hour. The CDT arranges Proteum hotels via Key Travel. Please note that for the Induction week only we relax the ‘minimum travel’ rule and willl arrange accommodation for all non-University of Manchester students.

Travel - With teh exception of the induction week, you must arrange your own return train ticket through Key Travel (standard class, off peak, single ticket each way, using a national railcard). See the Budgets page for more information on using Key Travel.

Expenses - we will arrange a Protium Bursary payment to start in the induction week, to cover two lunches and one dinner (£40 per week) for any week in the Protium training when you are away from your usual campus. All students will need to add their bank account details into MyManchester to receive the bursary. With prior approval you may claim for exceptional other costs via itemised receipts - see expense claim information here.

Teams etiquette - for all online workshops your camera should ON and your microphone should be OFF at the start of the meeting - and remain so unless the trainer advises otherwise. You must be ready to learn for the advertised start time of the session.

Training Resources - will be available online. A link the the training resources will be added below as they become avaialble.

Travel Itinerary Protium 2026

*All dates below refer to in-person sessions - don’t forget about Tuesdays!

  • Week 1 : Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday 28th/29th/30thSep/1st Oct - Induction - University of Manchester

  • Week 2 : Wednesday/Thursday 7th/8th October - Introduction to Fusion @ the University of Manchester

  • Week 3 : Wednesday/Thursday 14th/15th October - Plasmas @ the University of Birmingham

  • Week 4 : Wednesday/Thursday 21st/22nd October - Materials & Manufacturing @ the University of Birmingham

  • Week 5 : Wednesday/Thursday 28th/29th October - Design Lifecycles @ the University of Manchester

  • Week 6 : Wednesday/Thursday 4th/5th November - Digital Engineering @ the University of Sheffield

  • Week 7 : Cohort Design Project Sprint week - no in-person sessions, students arrange the timetable

  • Week 8 : Wednesday/Thursday 18th/19th November - Power Generation @ the University of Liverpool

  • Week 9 : Wednesday/Thursday 25th/26th November - Research Skills @ the University of Sheffield

  • Week 10 : Sunday/Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday 30thNov/1st/2nd/3rd/4th December - Tritium Fuel Cycles @ the University of Manchester - please note that this week is co-deliverd to the NTEC Masters students, hence depending on the teaching room size secured, we may split the week into 50/50 online/inperson attendance - each person will have 2 nights in a hotel and attend for half the week on campus, and half online.

  • Week 11 : Wednesday/Thursday 9th/10th December - Law & Ethics @ the University of Liverpool

  • Week 12 : Wednesday/Thursday 16/17th December - Experiments @ the University of Sheffield

  • 19/20/21st January - visits to fusion industry & UKAEA Culham campus *with a PhD research poster and 3-min flash presentation by each student, and a group presentation on the Cohort Design Project Plan.

Cohort Design Project Timeline

From November to July the cohort will work in smaller teams on a Friday for a design challenge that is launched in week 5. We expect this to be 5 teams, with ‘advisory’ support from a second year PGR student.

Peer review - There will be 3 opportunities to provide peer review on your team environment - the feedback will be colected annonymously, reviewed by the CDT Mangement group and any issues that warrant attention will be passed to the team Advisor to raise with the team.

  • 29.Oct - Design Project Launch.

  • Weeks 6 to 11 - Self-directed sessions for teams to progress planning.

  • 15.Dec - Presentation - Team Plans, Feedback & Peer Review 1

  • 20. Jan - Presentation (in-person event)

  • 01.Mar - Draft White Paper, Feedback & Peer Review 2

  • 01.Jun - Final White Paper, Feedback & Peer Review 3

  • 14.Jul - Group Presentation at the annual CDT Conference (University of Birmingham).

Annual leave or illness during protium

  • If you are unwell and unable to attend any training, you must led Sharon or Fran know immediately by email and completion of the Google form linked below.

  • For anything longer then 5 days you will need to provide a GP letter to Sharon or Fran, and ensure your supervisor is aware of your absence. This relates to everybody on the CDT regardless of your home institution.

  • PLEASE NOTE: If any training is missed you will be required to catch up on the content, and complete the assessment for an agreed later date - the revised assessment submission date should be proposed to Sharon and the training week lead by email, and approved by both.

PGR students do not follow undergraduate semesters. PGRs are entitled to up to 40 days annual leave in any rolling 365 days, including bank holidays, when approved in advance from the supervisor/CDT. All annual leave must be requested in writing in advance by completing the form liked below. Most universities have a few closure days at Christmas and Easter that does not use the annual leave quota.

If you need to request annual leave within the first 3 months, please let us know immediately. Please note that annual leave requests for this period will usually be refused, unless in exceptional circumstances.

How to tell us about absences

If you are unwell during your training (throughout your PhD), and are unable to attend, please send an email to Fran. If you will be absent due to holidays and industrial/project commitments or if you are unwell for longer than 5 days please fill in the form below. It is important that you also update your Supervisor of planned or extended sick leave.

Training absence notice & Leave notification Form

Conferences & Summer Schools

This budget is managed by the CDT for you to attend external events. Your conference budget supports your attendance at the CDT conference in your first two years and project-specific conferences and summer schools that you wish to attend.

How to access the budget:

  1. Complete the proposal Google Form for Conference & Summer School proposal form

  2. Email Fran/Sharon to advise that you have submitted an expenditure request, and await confirmation from the CDT that it is approved.

  3. Once approved, follow the UoM PGR Travel Process or the Non-UoM PGR Travel Process for your travel and accommodation. If you need to register for an event online using a credit card, please complete the Credit Card Request Form. See example copy. Non-UoM students - send the credit card form to Fran, UoM students - send the form to your local ops team with the CDT project code that Fran has sent to you (it is a person specific code).

Deuterium

This is a blend of training and doctoral research, from January to June of Year 1. Your tasks in this period are;

  1. Design Project -The cohort design project runs from October to July. Students will work in teams to design a fusion energy plant sub-system, with the aim of writing a white paper.

  2. National Student Conference in Fusion Engineering - the CDT hosts an annual PGR event, across two days in early July, at one of the partner universities, to provide an opportunity for PGRs from across the UK to give a presentation about their doctoral project.

  3. Project-specific training - Identify and complete existing courses or training in technical areas that will support your doctoral project. This might be attending lectures for courses that are run at your university in semester 2.

  4. Doctoral progression report - your university will require you to pass a doctoral progression milestone. This milestone is known by different terms (transfer report, confirmation review) and it is very important that you plan for being ready to submit your first year reportin June. Your progression review will be arranged and assessed by your home university supervisor - you should follow the standard milestone timelines for your university – usually this is;

    • report submission at 9 months (by 1st July) - The progress report will typically require a literature review to indicate that you understand current state-of-the-art for your research question, a research plan, a list of relevant training that you have completed, awareness of risks and mitigations, and your preliminary results.

    • viva examination - please ask your local PGR office and supervisor about the arrangements for your viva appointment

    • completion of the progression milestone by 11 months (1st September).

As this process is university-specific, please see below for some links to further guidance at some of the universities in the CDT. Please speak to your local docotral college to ensure you know the timelines for your university.

  • University of Manchester - Guidance here

  • University of Sheffield - Guidance here

  • University of Liverpool - Guidance here

  • University of Birmingham - Guidance here

Tritium

This is across Years 2, 3 and 4 of the programme, and aims to support the completion of a portfolio of CEng competencies and employability skills through quarterly training units (Autumn, Winter, Spring each year). Some units are short duration, others far longer, to ensure relevant learning and impact/employability outcomes.

All students must register to attend Tritium workshops using the Training Workshop Registration Form. IMPORTANTLY, if you do not book onto any Workshop before the advertised registration deadline, you will need to arrange your own travel and accommodation and expense it to your project Consumables budget at your host university. Please note that attendance is monitored, and will be reviewed by the CDT management group at the end of each academic year. Failure to engage satisfactorily with CDT training in any year may lead to withdrawal of the CDT RTSG funding (Conferences & Summer Schools and Placement budgets) for the remainder of the students programme.

All students must record the competencies developed through Year 2, 3 and 4 in the CEng Competencies Register.

Year 2 Workshops

  • CDT Research Network

    • An academic year series of online seminars and journal clubs, arranged by PGRs in research themes [such as Advanced Materials & Manufacturing, Digital Twins & Virtual Engineering, Breeder Blankets & Fuel Cycle, Structural Integrity, Diagnostics & Sensing Sustainability, Policy & Infrastructure] as determined by the cohort.

    • Each researcher should arrange either;

      • a seminar - delivered online, arranging a speaker and topic that supports the UKAEA Fusion Strategy (can be an academic or industrial speaker). and chairing the seminar. Or,

      • a Journal Club - the PGR convenes and chairs the meeting - invites the cohort(s), gives precis of a selected publication, facilitiates discussion about the applications of, merits of, and any short-comings of the paper.

    • Expected time commitment - 20 hours across the academic year (to lead and attend the Network events)

    • Learning outcomes: organisational skills, leading/chairing meetings, critical review of publications, awareness of fusion across other HEIs, connecting EngD topics across the CDT.

  • Creative Media Skills

    • An in-person workshop to learn how to design, produce and deliver outreach and creative media for student-led external engagement activities, in collaboration with a techical expert from the Royce Discovery Centre;

    • Expected time commitment - 3 days, in person, Sheffield University

    • Learning outcomes: Research project supervision, Project proposal including budget & scope, Non-technical impact creation, Direct engagement outside of usual network, Communication skills.

  • Profesional Behaviour

    • An in-person workshop to understand the research environment, professional expectations and how fairness, inclusion and equity affect everyday experience, such as;

      • Fairness, inclusion and equity (FIE), why people can experience the same environment differently and how FIE can be used to identify practical improvements to everyday.

        research environments.

      • Awareness, judgement and confidence to create healthier professional working relationships via behaviour, power, boundaries, intent and impact, and practise proportionate responses to difficult situations.

      • How confidence is developed, interpreted and rewarded in professional environments, including the role of tacit learning, informal expectations and the difference between confidence and

        competence.

      • Benchmarking Researcher Access, Culture and Experience (BRACE) provides an evidence-based snapshot of the PGR journey, highlighting where the CDT environment is working well and where pressure points or barriers may exist.

    • Expected time commitment - 3 days (including travel to Manchester/Liverpool), in person

    • Learning outcomes: Move from individual awareness to collective responsibility for the CDT environment, strengthen both individual researcher capability and the quality of the CDT research environment, moving from awareness to evidence, action and continuous improvement.

  • Data Science Skills

    • Short online course provided by the RSE team at the University of Manchester.

    • Expected duration - 1 day online

    • Learning outcomes: Storage of data, Sharing of data, meta-data standards, data management plans.

Year 3 Workshops

  • Impacting Industry

    • Working with a fusion SME as technical consultants, on a part time project (1-3h per week)

    • Teams of students aim to provide technical R&D to a real issue rasied by a fusion SME.

    • Project runs from January to June, determined by the PGR team.

    • Expected time commitment - 70 hours across the academic year - this can include some in-person activites for the team on site with the SME partner, as meets the needs of the project.

    • Learning outcomes: Project management skills, Communication skills, Business reporting & presentation, Understanding industry business priorities

  • Coding skills

    • Short course provided by the RSE team at the University of Manchester.

    • Expected duration - 1 day online

    • Learning outcomes: Software use cases - Python, VS, R, Spyder, Jypiter, Anaconda, Version control for thesis, Coding skills.

  • Data Qualification for Nuclear

    • Short course provided by UKAEA.

    • Expected duration - 1 day online

    • Learning outcomes: Data collection, error mgmt, Qualification for nuclear, Auditable trail of standards for calibration.

Year 4 Workshops

  • Fusioneer Careers

    • CEng portfolio review with professionally qualified fusion engineers via Portfolio writing retreat & annual peer review.

    • Expected duration - 1 day in-person per year

    • Learning outcomes: CEng competencies portfolio completion, CV preparation, Career options to consider, How to build an online CV.

  • Standards and Codes

    • Short course building awareness of Codes & Standards, delivered by industry speakers.

    • Expected duration - 1 day online

    • Learning outcomes: Building awareness of Codes & Standards in the nuclear/fusion sector, Review for own thesis inclusion.

  • Safety in practice

    • Short course linked to West Burton STEP.

    • Expected duration - 1 day in-person

    • Learning outcomes: Building awareness of real site constraints, Understanding the challenges of designing for safety in practise in a highly complex safety-critical environment.