Professional Development Plan Example: Fill & Download for Free

In Australia, the main milestones usually include:A confirmation of candidature between 6 months and 1 year after starting. The format of this varies and at some universities might be fairly pro-forma, but at James Cook University, the student is required to submit a literature review and research proposal and to present and defend this proposal before an audience. The research proposal will have more detail than the proposal that the student submitted with their PhD application and will include a time-line, GANTT chart, titles and target journals for the papers that the student hopes to write during their PhD, and a plan for their professional development. There literature review is assessed by an independent expert outside the university as well as by the student’s advisory panel. The presentation and proposal are assessed by an independent academic staff member at the university, plus the student’s advisors.Annual progress reports, at which the student and their advisors summarise progress, note any obstacles, and indicate whether the PhD is on track.A mid-candidature review, which is similar to the annual progress reports, but in more detail. At JCU, students are required among other things to have made a presentation and to have completed a substantial piece of writing by the time of their mid candidature review.Submission of the PhD thesis, which is sent off to two or three independent external examiners.Submission of the final thesis after any revisions have been completed to the satisfaction of the examiners and/or school.Graduation.Many universities impose additional milestones along the way. For example, AIMS@JCU students are also required to:If they are international students (and optionally if they are domestic students), complete the SKIP program in their first year, which provides training in professional academic writing, critical thinking, research presentation and writing for journals.Complete a required number of hours of professional development training, which can be tailored to their needs. This may include, for example, coursework in statistical methods, training in laboratory methods for their field, training in scientific entrepreneurship, media training, scientific communication training and so on.Present at least one poster, two oral presentations, and one “speed talk” during their candidature.Present a formal final seminar just before they submit their PhD thesis. [This is a common requirement of many Australian PhD programs, and if the presentation is not approved, they may not be allowed to submit the thesis, though the formal part of the examination is the examination of the thesis itself].

I worked within China's Olympic program and team, as a Westerner/Foreigner, thus have had rare chance to view it from within. I can thus provide a better answer, one from what I know and viewed, from foreigner and western perspective.Before my answer, firstly I like correct some false bit of information presented already. Lot of false information presented in the western media, or 'glorified' articles made for mass reading. Some information in media is true, but a lot is false. Most have ignored the culture, the context, and the sports society of China. The fact that the majority of those 'torture' images, and information that have been used in Western media came from a reporter that went to 'random' training centers or private classes. This is not the Olympic training; thus voiding any conclusion from that source. Furthermore to make generalisations based on 'journalist selected' emotional photos taken at one school, and generalise them to an entire country is a rather false conclusion. In the same way that taking 10 photos of angry football coaches in UK (cue a few premier league coaches here), and then generalise that to say 'UK Football is Abusive' would be false conclusion to make also.However not to say that athletes within China's Olympic program don't train hard, they do, it's elite sport after all (elite sport around the world trains hard). And there is research that does suggest that they do experience high rates of injuries from their traiining. But in context of the so-called torture (as in those photos), well i have never seen it, seen lots of smiles though!!.In terms of athletes from a young age, training hard, and often away from families to go to training centers, this is true, but one needs to understand the context within China, the opportunities that present to these athletes (pay, education, better life), and these athletes’ background (from low socioeconomic families), before passing simple judgment. I will elaborate on this below at the bottom, as I also did in comment on someone else's answer.These facts below however are true of why China athletes succeed at the Olympics:1) The Chinese train harder than anyone else in the world; as other foreign coaches working with China's Olympic Team have stated in media in past: The Guardian. Following Confucius beliefs, the Chinese believe hard work gets results, and following a progressive long-term athletic development model with repetition of technique and skill they perfect every movement until optimised (thus why they succeed in sports like table tennis, diving, gymnastics, and even weightlifting requires perfection of technique).2) Centralised Training Program with High Government Support & Funding: The Chinese government has a heavily fund and centralized top-down training model; with the one goal to achieve Olympic Gold. The exact figures of the funding are unknown, and not as transparent as other nations, but still estimated to be the highest funded high performance program in the world. These funds help to pay athletes’ salaries, have full-time staff supporting those athletes, get the best coaches & foreign expertise to improve it further, build big training facilities, and really do anything they want. With a structured pyramid program, with around 5000 sports schools, filtering into province training centers, and then the best up into the Olympic center. Ensuring that the Chinese Olympic program can run smoothly and succeed at its goal.3) Foreign Expertise: The big jump made at Beijing 2008 and beyond, had a lot to do with foreign expertise. The sourced the world for the best coaches, the best staff. Head coaches alone, there were 28 foreign coaches for the last Olympics; so to say Chinese coaches are "torturing" kids, then ask yourself but what about the foreign coaches? I even know examples where athletes get injured and they fly in experts from around the world for their opinions. This spending of money for an athlete is rarely done elsewhere.4) Strong talent Identification and Long-term Athletic Development Model: At young ages they look for kids who have the physical capabilities that will allow them to succeed in a sport, and then build on-top of that strong base with a long-term athletic development plan. E.g., start with basic skills and foundation until that is perfected, then build on top of that with another skill, etc.5) Top-down sports system vs. bottom-up: China is a top-down sports system, a system where the top level controls and manages everything with the goal to achieve Olympic success. Meaning the entire reason athletes enter the system at the bottom (the sports schools), is with the aim to achieve the government’s goal of Olympic success. Some other Asian nations however have similar systems. This contrasts however to Western nations, whereas it's a bottom-up system, whereas the community and club levels develop athletes, and athletes enter sport for their own goals. One where they just naturally develop going through lower levels, until they have a talent, and then get recognised and selected for national program (and not until then does the government or national sports governing body have much influence on that athlete’s life). Of course arguments and debate on which is optimal. However it's not hard to see that if you have a control of athlete’s life and sports development from the day they enter sport, and plan & goal for those athletes to succeed at Olympics, then it is much easier to plan for accomplishing that goal (in point 4 above), e.g., what education do they need, what skills do they need, what physical requirements do they need, how much sleep do they need, what medical support do they need, etc.6) Year round structured training (More prepared): Not to say not all athletes train year round, but the Chinese have a 365 days/year training together as a team generally in most sports. Although some sports like Basketball they have around 6 months (as they spend the other 6 months in their professional teams), but that's still lot more time together in national team than other nations. What does this mean? Well it means they are going to function better as a team, be more prepared to work with the national coach, better skilled, and better in team environment & teams culture, and with the physical resilience and technical skills to succeed. A lot of other programs in Olympic sports around the world do not follow such a professional program, for example some Olympic teams athletes train independently and then only come together to join the national team in the months or even just weeks before the games.7) Smart Allocation of Funding: They concentrate on sports that they can win, or succeed at, be it sports that they see an opportunity (less competitive) or sports that they know they win (e.g., table tennis). For example many gymnasts are changed into snow boarding, aerial skiing, and diving. Because of the Chinese athletes’ great gymnastic abilities, they thus would make a good for a similar sports that requires these skills to help and thus can become more competitive then people without those same gymnastic abilities. They also focus on sheer medal numbers; they concentrate on sports with different weight classes (e.g., weight lifting or wrestling) or sports with more medals (e.g., swimming). But then this same approach is done by most centralized sports systems, including Australia.8) Repetition of Skill or Technical Focused Training: the old rule, repeat until you are perfect or 'practice makes perfect'. Very much following Confucius thinking here, in China the kids do ONE sport, and repeat the same skill over and over, day in and day out. This is something not done or rare in many nations, for example kids in Australia or America would play many sports in their childhood, they develop better motor skills and coordination but not fine tuning one skill like the Chinese. Is thus the reason China often succeed in technical focused sports like table tennis, diving, gymnastics, because they have trained until they perfected the routine. However all sports do have a technical focus, even track & field, weightlifting, and swimming; related to efficiency and ease of movement.9) Rewards for Athletes & Better Life: The rewards for those who make it are great. Some Olympic athletes earn more a week than their poor family can in a year. That way it’s a great way forward for poor families to jump to a better social class. This provides excellent motivation for them to train hard. China Olympic champions are suggested to get $200,000USD for an Olympic Gold (figure appears to vary in different sources), and add in houses, a high level job within the government upon retirement; even winning the All-China Games grants athletes $100,000USD (depending on the province). Most of these athletes come from families that work in factories, and/or farms, earning just enough to feed the family.10) National Pride: sports is seen as a sign of power similar to GDP. A collective culture still, looking to better the community they are within. They do it for the family, nation, and less for themselves (opposite to the west). A way to show a strong and powerful nation.However above all, one big factor: they want it more than anyone else in the world (similar to the Kenyans in distance running), that motivational factor is big thing in elite sport.#Also important thing is the numbers? ......Yes China does have one of the largest talent pools in the world to pick from. China has around 200,000 full-time athletes within their Olympic or Institute of Sports programs. Probabilities of "1" champion being produced out of that talent pool is thus much more likely, in comparison to the 1000 or few 1000 in other Olympic programs. Also the width and differences of the 'ethnicities' across China mean they get various people of different physical capabilities. But at the same time, you could consider the fact that USA has 36 millions kids playing organised sport, whereas China has few kids outside of the sports programs playing sports (until recent years). Yes China has more athletes in their Olympic program, but in total, their athlete talent pool was* actually less (*China's rising middle class, & recent sports reforms have changed this, and now sports in public and community run level are becoming more common). However talent pool just means they have more to pick from, but they can still only send same number of athletes to the Olympics as other nations, and they still need to develop that talent into something. Similar example would be India, they have a large population yet they don't go well at the Olympics. And despite the country being crazy for cricket, they still get beaten in cricket by many small populated nations like Sri Lanka, Australia and South Africa.Ps: People write on the Torture (as one other answer did). But you need to put this into Context:These articles are not true representation by the way, similar to a lot of western media's take on China. A total different context one firstly needs to understand. I work for the Chinese Olympic Team as a foreigner; so my opinions are West but I see the truth in the East.In the West kids enter sport for enjoyment, or a hobby, their families can easily feed them and provide good education, their is no reward from the sports for that kid. Yet still in the West like America or Australia, parents torture kids also, e.g., parents glory with pushing little kids into ballet or football, you see parents screaming at their kids on the sidelines almost every weekend at the local u12 football game.But in China it's different context altogether. Athletes usually come from poor rural provinces, where their families cannot afford to send them to school, and where the kid needs to work in a factory for 14hrs/day, or on the farm doing hard labour just to feed the family. Now they enter sport, the family is happy, because now these athletes get food, accommodation, education, etc.... That ignoring the fact to start with that these photos are not even taken at an official sports school in China. And that athletes anywhere in the world train hard.Within the Chinese Olympic program, when the athletes get selected many feel that they are actually lucky. Some become very wealthy, with many of my athletes driving fancy cars that not even I would afford (Bentleys, Porsche, you name it). Gain houses, high positions in government, and around 200,000 USD for an Olympic Gold medal. However that said, of course not all make it, only the select few do. Most do not. But still the ones that do not are given accommodation, food, education, and now they get university degrees. Now not only whilst as an athlete do they have opportunity for pay that is better than the factory or farm, now have opportunity for good degree and future employment that would have never been possible based on their socioeconomic background. And now they work less hours then they would have been doing following their normal family path working within the factory or the farm. This is easier (or less torture) then what they would have been doing before.Thus they now have:-Better Pay-Accommodation & food provided-Less hours/easier than a 14hr+ shift in a factory in China.-Education (university)-Medical Treatments.We need to put in context of the nation, & the culture!!Source: Myself, I have worked for the Chinese Olympic Team.

I think you are like most people, but what makes you different is that you openly ask these questions, whereas many people think about this topic but don't stop to ask.Questions are good for getting clarity on things that don't make sense, they are great for taking the mystery out of things that seem out of our reach, and they are excellent for getting ideas and guidance on how to approach problems we face in our daily life.So let's look at this question: are there people who actually enjoy life?Definitely yes.Who are they?Young children. To them, everything is new, everything that happens during the day is exciting, every small step they take and every obstacle they overcome (grabbing a spoonful of food, falling down and getting back up, opening a door, putting a toy on the table) is a big deal to them. They learn effortlessly not because it's a choice. They learn because they have to. And another thing: they laugh a lot.People who give themselves the permission to be human. Those are the people who understand that mistakes are a normal part of life, and it's okay to make them and make them often. They get that life is one big learning curve and that nothing is perfect (as it shouldn't be). Best of all, they get really good at forgiving themselves. They fall, they get up, they dust themselves off, and they continue on their path.People who know what their path is in life. People who have a sense of purpose, and who lead a life that is, to them, full of meaning. There is an excellent book by famous psychiatrist Viktor Frankl called Man's Search For Meaning, which points out that we cannot avoid suffering BUT we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with our lives with a renewed sense of purpose.People who say "thank you" often. Practicing gratitude rewires our brain to think about positive things. These are the things that we have going for us, the things we already have in our lives, whether that is a home, an education, a family, friends, creativity, problem-solving skills, knowing how to take care of ourselves and be independent, etc. By focusing on the positive we are deactivating and lessening the negative thoughts about what we do not have and that can leave us feeling frustrated and unhappy.What can you learn from these people?Be friends with your inner child.Just because you are now all grown up and have adult responsibilities does not mean you should ignore the child that is still in you. Acknowledge it, ask it what it would like to do today, give yourself some time to be silly. Get an ice cream cone and walk through the park eating it slowly. Take out your crayons or water colors and paint something just for fun. Drink a lemonade, a milkshake, or bubble tea with a straw and enjoy it. Watch your favorite cartoons or funny videos on YouTube. Laugh out loud.Give yourself the permission to be human.Forgive yourself for the mistakes that you made. Learn from them, but don't hold on to them. Find out what you can do to become happier. One of Harvard University's most popular lecturers, Tal Ben-Shahar, wrote a book called Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Happiness. He focuses on positive psychology and how to apply the concept of happiness to daily life, for example in school, the workplace, and in our personal relationships.Explore and define your goals.Set aside an hour or two this weekend to write down your top 3 goals (can be personal, professional development, or both). Then, under each goal, write down 3 things you would need to do on a consistent basis to get you closer to it. Next, create a schedule for the week ahead so that you can devote blocks of time to making progress in the areas you've identified. Finally, next Sunday evening, evaluate the progress you made. Did some activities take more time than you anticipated? Did you need to plan better so as not to waste time on things that are less relevant to you? What could you have done better? Learn from your experiences, and make adjustments to your schedule for the following week.Practice saying "thank you" every day.Create a gratitude journal and write in it for 5 minutes each morning or before you go to sleep at night. Every day, just list 3 things you are grateful for. It can be the simplest of things, such as having a warm bed to sleep in, a roof over your head, a family that loves you, food in your fridge, a dog or cat that you have as your pet, living in a war-free zone, having an education that allows you to read and write, etc. Be as specific as you can; for example, if you are grateful for having a specific person in your life, write down which of their personal traits you are most grateful for.