Completing the RED Professional Development Award
Stage 1: Registration
Getting started is simple! Just follow these steps:
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Log in to
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Click the ‘Pathways’ tab
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Select the RED Professional Development Award pathway
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Click ‘Start’
Once registered, you can begin logging your activities right away.
Stage 2: Points Submission
To complete the award, you’ll need to earn at least 25 points by taking part in a range of eligible activities aimed at increasing your employability. Points are allocated based on the activity's level and time commitment - the more time and effort required, the more points the activity is worth.
For the Professional Development Award, you must have:
- At least 1 point from Volunteering
- At least 2 points from Careers Engagement (e.g. careers sessions, workshops, or fairs)
If you are new to the award but have already completed some of this activity, you can backdate anything you have done since you started at the university!
Reflection
You do not need to upload any evidence to earn points. Instead, for each activity you claim, we will ask you to write a short reflection of at least 100 words explaining the nature of your activity and how the activity supported your professional development.
Your reflection should be:
- Personal
- Specific to your experience
- Explain how it has helped you as an individual.
Stage 3: Professional Development Advocacy
This is your opportunity to demonstrate how you will use the RED Professional Development Award to improve your employability.
You have the freedom to choose how you present your advocacy; this could be through the following mediums:
- Create social media content (e.g. for the University’s Careers socials or another organisation), explaining how the award strengthens your CV or interview responses
- Write a Student Life blog post
- Produce a short video reflection
- Submit a written piece, such as a reflection suitable for a covering letter or an interview answer
Check out our Advocacy page for submission guidelines and more information.
Write This Yourself
Please do not use AI to write your reflections and Advocacy sections. We want to understand your unique RED Professional Development journey, and AI-generated content is often too generic. Writing it yourself also helps you practise non-AI assisted communication skills. This is an important skill, as employers can detect AI-written content, and relying on it may negatively affect future applications.
Final stage: Award Completion
Once you have completed all steps of the RED Award pathway, including submitting your points, reflections, advocacy, and the after survey, the RED Awards Team will review your submission within a few weeks.
If you are successful, we will email you your RED Professional Development Certificate. Your achievement will also be recorded on your RISIS profile and included in both your Diploma Supplement Annex and the graduation brochure.
If you need to make changes and resubmit, please reach out to the team and we will support you through this process.