Managing my PhD or MPhil research degree Jeremy Brown Faculty of Medical Sciences

Welcome! Learning agreements Project approvals (before Xmas) ePortfolio (log meetings)

What do you think is important in managing your degree?

Managing my degree Managing my supervisor(s)!

You and your supervisor?

Managing your supervisor Be organised Be honest (don’t try to disguise what you think to be failure) Be honest if you have made some errors! Discuss any difficulties If you don’t know ask! Show your enthusiasm Don’t be surprised when you start to know more than your supervisor Meet deadlines Don’t ignore advice

Planning your work Long-term plans Medium-term Short-term To complete my higher degree and……… Medium-term By the end of the year I will have done … Short-term Before the next formal meeting I will ….. Immediate plan By the end of the week I will … Today I will ...

Keep a diary Time keeping and planning is very important Don’t set up something and leave it to ‘cook’ for three days whilst doing nothing else ‘Dovetail’ your work together to optimise time

What shall I do first? First meeting with your supervisor(s) Discuss the completion of an on-line process for project approval. This details: Your proposed project with a timeline and objectives Any requirements for ethics committee approval The name of all supervisors The 2 members of your progress review panel The learning agreement

The learning agreement/ Intellectual Property (Geraint) The University requires confirmation that you have received, understood, and accepted the expectations of your research degree programme by signing a formal Learning Agreement with your supervisors Complete within one month of registration This document defines What you can expect of us What we can expect of you THIS IS A NEW AGREEMENT to the one for the MRes, is slightly different

- Richy

You are required to maintain regular contact with your supervisors. See your supervisors on a weekly, if not daily basis, especially if you are undertaking laboratory research. Have at least ten structured meetings with your academic supervisor per year and at least three of these meetings will be with all members of your supervisory team. Record these meetings in ePortfolio

How many supervisors do I need? You have a supervisory team 1 lead supervisor 1 or more co-supervisors

Formal meetings What is a ‘formal’ meeting? It is NOT: passing your supervisor in the corridor and (s)he says ‘is everything OK?’ You politely answer ‘Yes’ You are working in the lab/office/field next to one of your supervisors He or she asks how the work you are doing today is progressing and offers advice

Formal meetings - 1 Formal meetings are a vital part of your project Frequency Often more common at the start than at the end of your project You can initiate meetings make an appointment (perhaps even book a quiet room – no phone) Invite all appropriate members of supervisory team

Formal meetings - 2 What happens at the meeting? You take all your results and interesting papers and discuss these in detail Set an Agenda: Make plans Discuss problems Ensure the project is more than a series of small experiments Your thesis will ultimately tell a story

Formal meetings - 3 During the meeting After the meeting You take notes Arrange a date for the next meeting After the meeting You write minutes of the meeting with lists of what was agreed – you can add this to e-portfolio, and I recommend that you do so.

It is mandatory to record supervisory meetings Meeting records in ePortfolio, and any associated notes and documents, are shared and easily accessible to you and your supervisor(s). Adding notes and/or uploading minutes provide the team with a useful record of progress, a record of agreed actions for both students and supervisors Can act as an aide-mémoire to guide future action Helps prepare for future professional practice (recording meetings, and reviewing written reports are normal practice in most professions and organisations).

It is mandatory to record supervisory meetings Meeting records in ePortfolio, and any associated notes and documents, are shared and easily accessible to you and your supervisor(s). Adding notes and/or uploading minutes provide the team with a useful record of progress, a record of agreed actions for both students and supervisors Can act as an aide-mémoire to guide future action Helps prepare for future professional practice (recording meetings, and reviewing written reports are normal practice in most professions and organisations).

Work-life balance Research degrees in the UK are completed more quickly than almost anywhere else in the world (but have equivalent global status) You must work pretty hard! Try to adopt a basic 9 to 5 day (minimum) Be prepared to work late and during weekends But, when out of hours you must adopt appropriate safety procedures (get out of hours access approved!) Discuss with your safety officer/supervisor (covered in your Institute inductions)

Holidays The Graduate School states: Entitled to 35 days including annual shutdown over the Christmas period/Easter & bank holidays Discuss holidays with your supervisors Don’t go AWOL (absent without leave)!

Your Lab books NUMBER THE PAGES (& make an index) ENTER THE DATE Complete as you are working Do not need to be spotless or even neat Enter raw data, observations and calculations Detail all problems and errors (be honest – we’re all human!) DO NOT MAKE NOTES IN A SCRAP BOOK/ON BITS OF PAPER AND TRANSCRIBE INTO YOUR LAB BOOK LATER

Your lab books Your review panel may ask to see these Your examiner might also ask to see them!

Research governance You may have read of ‘scientific fraud’ We must manage our raw data to provide evidence in the case of disputed findings Do not erase text or cut pages from your lab book Use pen (rather than pencil) Remember lab books also protect us (you) if you discover anything that can be patented!

Use of computers Backup regularly Loss of results due to theft, disk failure, virus infection etc is not considered a viable excuse for delayed completion of your project

Lab book electronic data More and more data are electronic and/or digitally captured Make sure your lab book and data are cross-referenced Make sure your data are backed up on University servers

Literature references Read around your subject (don’t simply print copies of papers) Not all journals are equal (impact factor) Your examiners will test your knowledge of current “related science” Use a reliable reference database Training will be given (Endnote) Useful to have an ideas book Make notes of good ideas as you have them

Write up as you go Not always possible, but: Always prepare high quality graphics output when you derive the data this takes time when you are writing your thesis – good if you can simply cut and paste figures into your thesis If a figure isn’t good enough for presentation have another go – don’t assume you will return to the problem later Write up methods as you develop them Make notes when you read good papers don’t assume you will remember everything

Keeping everyone on track is complex! A full-time PhD (regulation a) must be submitted within 4 YEARS A full/part time PhD (regulation b) must be submitted within 5 YEARS A part-time PhD (regulation c) must be submitted within 7 YEARS A full-time MPHIL (regulation a) must be submitted within 2 YEARS A part-time MPHIL (regulation b) must be submitted within 4 YEARS

Progress review You will be assessed by 2 reviewers Experts in your field Not part of your supervisory team You will submit appropriate written work before the review (electronically) You and your supervisor(s) will receive formal feedback after the review It’s good to gain experience of oral examination before the ‘big one’!

Time plan summary for PhD students Start Finish 6 months 12 18 24 30 36 42 months 1 Learning agreement 3 Project Approval at 8 months 1st annual assessment at 20 months 2nd annual assessment at 29 months 3rd annual assessment 4th annual assessment at 42 months So much more than just these few milestones

Annual Progress Reviews: E-portfolio 2 3 4 School progress panel (assessors) Student report Supervisors report Supervisors Lab members Mentors Guidelines (online) 1 DPGT’s/PGRC (Institute nominee) Evidence of student progress; interview Presentation Research training portfolio- courses attended conferences Publications 5 Progression decision by PG Dean/PGR Tutor

First review We recommend the following structure for your report: Table of contents A literature review A clear statement of the aims of your project A summary of the methods developed and results obtained to date A discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of your work to date An outline of your future work In order to stop students from submitting over-long mini-theses, the Graduate School suggests a maximum word limit for this report (excluding references and figures) of 7,500 words (or 3,000 for MPhil)

Dates for your diary: 26/2/18: Your Personal Development Plan – Preparing for the Progress Review Panel (Mandatory for PhD/MD/MPhil) 01/03/18: Writing your First Year Report (strongly recommended)

Oral presentations (PowerPoint slides) included at each annual review Plenty of opportunities to develop your presentation skills Viva Seminars: Each student will present a seminar on the day of their PhD viva examination, ahead of the viva.

Cross institute – supervision Panel member Talks (internal & external) Collaboration

If you have a(any) problem Seek help as soon as you can Supervisors want your project to succeed as much as you do! Postgraduate co-ordinators Reviewers (progress panel) Alison Tyson-Capper Medical Faculty Postgraduate Tutor, Associate Dean (alison.tyson-capper@ncl.ac.uk; telephone x87156) The Dean, John Kirby (through the Graduate School)

YOU want everything to go well WE want everything to go well ….and hopefully it will! We want to enhance your experience We want to help you get the most out of your time here

Personal Safety - Smart Cards: Important for gaining access to facilities within the University (do not give your card to anyone else!) Wear it at all times on premises Keys for office and desk space Mail: delivered daily, placed in pigeon holes Computer/e-mails: campus log-in, University e-mail address Out of hours – login and logout

Lots of support available within the Faculty and University Our Support Wheel Graduate School Secretary/ administrators Supervisory team You Student groups/ reps Fellow students/buddy Progress panel PgR Tutors/Coordinators

Being human! You Safety and Security Personal/family problems Accommodation You Financial problems Illness Stress Disability issues

What am I doing here? Preparing a thesis! Candidates for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy are expected to conduct original investigations, to test ideas, whether their own or others, and to understand the relationship of their work and its themes to a wider field of knowledge. A doctoral thesis should be a piece of work which a capable, well qualified and diligent student who is properly supported and supervised can produce in 3-years of full-time study. It should exhibit substantial evidence of original scholarship and contain material worthy of publication.

Enhancing your experience and CV Collaborate if appropriate/if it adds value Research Seminars External speakers (opportunity to meet/interact) Present at seminars Research Days, NEPG Conference Conferences - promote yourself in the scientific community Teaching/Supervision Opportunities Demonstrating (some of you are already doing this) Seminars Supervising Undergraduate BSc/MSci and MRes students

http://ne-pg.co.uk Workshops Keynote speakers (Matt Ridley, Anya Hurlbert) Mitochondrial research discussion Graduate student presentations (talks & posters) http://ne-pg.co.uk

Important factors for success “Make the most of your PhD/MPhil” Think about your ‘training’ early Make full use of the facilities and opportunities available Proactive and Assertive Take ownership Aim high

What we want to achieve: To encourage you to see your PhD/Mphil studies as a series of training steps rather than as a single final culminating project. This approach puts more emphasis on the process of training (transferable skills) and on potential personal and career development along the way. To help you maximise what you achieve during your research training and experience in FMS