Date: Friday 30 May to Sunday 1 June 2025
Workshop venue: Cumberland Lodge, Windsor Great Park
Registration site: CSC Secretariat, Woburn House Conference Centre, 20-24 Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9HF
Registration time: 13:00-13:45 BST on Friday 30 May
The CSC PhD Conference is a three-day residential focusing on contemporary issues in development and providing skills training to support your development impact work through a mixture of plenary sessions, discussions, and individual and group activities.
You must read the Scholar briefing and Code of Conduct before attending the workshop.
Please note that spouses, guests, and children of Commonwealth Scholarship award holders are not able to attend the conference.
Conference programme
You can see the full schedule of activities in the CSC PhD Conference programme.
Preparing for the conference
- Before attending the conference, you should ensure that you are prepared to present your research and engage in detailed conversations around your research objectives and impact. You will be split into various groups during the weekend therefore you must ensure you can present your research to a varying audience.
- Be prepared to reflect on your PhD journey.
- You must refer to the roundtable discussion topics to prepare for the discussions taking place on Sunday.
You have been pre-assigned to groups, please refer to the delegate group lists in your email for the weekend activities.
Venue details
Cumberland Lodge is an educational charity and a unique conference centre in the heart of the Great Park, Windsor. The beautiful seventeenth-century house is a former royal residence that has been permitted to be used for discussions aimed at the betterment of society.
You can view the venue plan to find out more about the layout of rooms at Cumberland Lodge. You can learn more by reading the Cumberland Lodge visitor notes for students.
Accommodation provided at Cumberland Lodge will be in twin-bedded en suite rooms and rooms are provided for single occupancy basis only. Towels and toiletries are provided, and there are facilities for ironing. A small safe for small personal items is also available in the bedroom.
On arrival at Cumberland Lodge, you will be welcomed at reception by a Duty Manager and the Duty Academic who will ask you to fill in registration cards and provide you with an electronic pass for accessing the building during the weekend. Your electronic pass will be unique to the specific bedroom you are staying in and will allow you to access communal rooms in the building.
You must check out of your room by 09:00 BST on Sunday 1 June and return your electronic pass before departing to return to London. Luggage can be left near Reception and the electronic passes can be handed in at Reception or placed in the ‘drop-in’ boxes by the main entrances of the main Cumberland Lodge building and Mews building. Please note that you will charged if you lose the electronic pass.
Photography at the workshop
We will be taking photographs throughout the conference and may also take videos or audio recordings with the intention of publishing these on the CSC Flickr, Facebook, and/or the CSC website.
If you do not consent to being in the photographs, videos or audio recordings, please inform the CSC Engagement Team by emailing engage@cscuk.org.uk in advance so that we can take steps to ensure your name, image, and audio are not featured in any recordings, photographs or videos.
Travel and accommodation
You will need to arrive and register at the CSC’s office located in Woburn House, London between 13:00 and 13:45 BST on Friday 30 May 2025.
The nearest national rail station to Woburn House is Euston station. King’s Cross national rail station and St Pancras International rail station are also within a 10-15 minute walk from Woburn House.
After registration, you will travel to the workshop venue by coach. The coach journey has been arranged to take all Scholars from the CSC office at Woburn House to Cumberland Lodge and will depart promptly at 14:00 BST.
Anyone arriving at Woburn House after 14:00 BST will have to make their own way to Cumberland Lodge as the coach cannot wait for latecomers.
We will also provide return coach travel on Sunday 1 June and expect to arrive in London by 17:00 BST. Please be aware that travel times are dependent on traffic.
Food and drink
Meals will be provided throughout the weekend as detailed below. Cumberland Lodge is able to accommodate dietary requirements. Please note you must specifically ask the catering staff to serve you the meal according to your dietary requirements.
Friday – evening dinner (you will need to arrange your own lunch)
Saturday – breakfast, lunch, and evening dinner
Sunday – breakfast and lunch
If you have made us aware about a particular dietary requirement, please speak to the venue’s catering staff on the day and they will be able to advise you about appropriate food and drink.
Drinks and refreshments will also be available throughout the workshop, though you may wish to bring some money along as there will be a cash bar offered in the evenings.
