Your student life Dr Steph Colvan Researcher Development Programme Manager Dr Campbell Reid PG Cert Researcher Professional Development Lead

Your student life Strathclyde Doctoral School Setting expectations Clarity of purpose and process Postgraduate researchers are the powerhouse of our institutional research endeavour. Supporting PGRs and providing opportunities and challenges for PGRs brings benefits to the University and to the individuals involved – but it is important that you understand your role in your research degree journey. You are striving to be an independent autonomous researcher and you need to take responsibility for your progress and development throughout your time here. We use PRES to guide our priorities for development… many of the changes you’ll see happening in the coming years are being delivered in response to PRES Under the banner of the Strathclyde Doctoral School we are working hard to bring consistency and clarity to the journey and we have a programme of work underway to enhance the processes and systems that underpin administrative lifecycle. For the next 15 minutes we are going to give you an overview of the ‘admin’ processes that are in place to help keep you on track.

Interim and annual reviews Months 1,13, 25 Every six months Months 12, 24, 36 By month 42 By month 48 Induction supervision Interim and annual reviews progression finishing examination Here’s a high level schematic of the administrative touch points that are used to make sure that you are progressing and have the support you need to be successful in your studies. You should all have met with your supervisor/supervisory teams by now…

Viva MAX SUBMIT Starting out Interim review Interim review In month 10 you should be preparing for you annual review meeting Starting out Interim review In month 12 you will reach a progression point and a decision will be taken on your continued registration Half way!! There are key things you need to do in month 1-3 Agree supervisory meeting schedule Agree research plan Do training needs analysis (TNA) Create training plan Do you have a thesis plan yet? TNA and update research plan Interim review Annual review TNA and update research plan Annual review Interim review Viva Submit thesis Final PG Cert RPD essays Final annual review Interim review The maximum period of study for a full time PhD student is 4 years… the minimum is 3 years…. Many of you will have funding that covers different somewhere between these two points – regardless of your funded period you are required to submit your thesis within 4 years. Each box on this diagram is a month and we’ve plotted out the key institutional reporting and progression points. Many departments will have additional requirements – make sure you know what they are. Similarly funders may have reporting requirements which you’ll need to adhere to. What we’re trying to highlight here is that 4 years may seem like a long time at the start of the journey – but it flies in. Get organised, get focussed and make the most of every opportunity MAX SUBMIT Earliest point for submission

Supervision Agree a schedule of meetings Create a plan for your research Talk about your training and development needs Be clear on reporting requirements Interim/annual reviews PG Cert Researcher Professional Development Funder requirements Matthew has covered the majority of this – but if you are starting out then make sure that you do these things

Annual review Review of progress against original plan Data management plan Overview of training undertaken Proposals for future training and development While we’ve made every effort to bring consistency to processes – there are different requirements across disciplines We currently have 2 online systems that support this process – Gabrielle will talk to you in more detail about this later this morning. But the overarching principle is that the university has a duty to be ensure that research students are progressing appropriately. For you annual review you’ll likely be asked to write about the progress you’ve made against the plan you set and then to set out the forward plan for the next year. Typically the process is that you will start the document, your supervisory team will complete a section providing their perspectives on progress and any feedback and then a panel will consider the appropriate outcome of the review process

Outcomes Satisfactory Satisfactory with reservations Unsatisfactory Once a review is held, update the review on Neptune and Spider with one of the following outcomes: Satisfactory: The student is progressing well against their research and training and development plan, and is ready to engage with the next stage of the research. Students receiving a satisfactory outcome can register for the next year Satisfactory with reservations: The student has not made sufficient progress against the research plan or the training and development plan, and the supervisory team has put a remedial plan in place to get the student to the required level to progress to the next stage of research. The remedial plan should have a deadline attached to it, at which point the student should be review again. Unsatisfactory: There are significant concerns with the student’s progress, and their ability to progress to the next stage of research. An unsatisfactory outcome should result in a registration review to assess the circumstance around the student’s progress and determine if the student can be provided with support to get them back on track, or if the student should consider a period of voluntary suspension, be recommended for an exit award, or recommended for withdrawal from the programme. Please ensure to provide the student with constructive and meaningful assessment feedback as this will help to keep them engaged with their programme and take the remedial action needed to get their progress back on track.

Your timeline to submission The “10,000 hour rule” suggests that it take about 10,000 hours to master something. This was popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers. (“10,000 hours is the magic number of greatness.”) You have…. 132-176 weeks (6 weeks hols) 660-880 days 5280-7040 hours In the map of your PGR journey we talked about the limited amount of time available.

DRG Conf MAX SUBMIT Starting out Interim review DRG Conf Annual review RDP: PG Essentials online Oct Starting out Nov training Dec Jan training Feb Mar Interim review Apr DRG Conf Engage week May Jun Jul Explorathon (public engagement) Aug Half way!! RDP: writing and presenting research Training Engage week Apr Mar Feb 3MT Jan Dec Nov Images of research Oct Sep Annual review Interim review RDP: Planning your professional development May Oct Images of research Nov Jun Jul Aug Sep Dec Jan Feb Mar DRG conference Annual review DRG Conf 3MT Interim review Apr Apr Mar Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Final annual review Aug Jul Jun May Interim review Progress in your research is only one part of you journey… the vast majority of you will be required to complete the PG Cert Researcher Professional Development or some other form of personal and professional development. Do a training needs analysis, think about the skills you want to develop and plan your training and development activities. The handbook in your packs goes into some more detail on this and we’ve got a session coming up after the coffee break. May Jun Jul Aug MAX SUBMIT Sep

The end game The thesis The examiner The exam – see our guidance Have a look at other theses in your field – get a sense of structure, layout, volume Have a thesis plan that maps to your research plan Write. Write early. Write often. Write anything. Establishing a writing habit is a really effective way of taking the pain out of writing. Although you’ll hear the term ‘writing up’ you are expected and will be asked to write throughout your studies. Writing 80,000 words takes time Examiners – consider who you might like to examine your thesis – discuss this with your supervisor – they’ll have views too https://www.strath.ac.uk/professionalservices/is/help/indepth/thesissubmission/ The viva The outcomes…

Exam criteria (PhD)

Outcomes (PhD)

The end... Or just the beginning… Get involved Take advantage of the opportunities Enjoy your time at Strathclyde

Help us help you Seek out support and help when things are tough Departmental staff PGR Director Other students Reseacher Development Team Student Support Services

Some key policies University Regulations Policy and Code of Practice for Postgraduate Research Study Code of Practice on Investigations involving Human Beings Framework of Professional Doctorates Research Code of Practice Research Data Policy Research Data Deposit Policy Student Discipline Procedure There will be other relevant policies – discipline or Department specific. Seek them out and