Centre for Communication Systems Research Postgraduate Research Students 21 January 2010

Current Students  Total number of students: 82 StatusFull timePart time Home53 Overseas551 Continuing7 Collaborative0 Part time/staff8 Suspended0 Submitted3

Income from Tuition Fees  Estimated income from fees for 09/10 at beginning of year (including I Lab) – – Home/EU 30,510 – Overseas729,600 Total £760,110  Estimated income from fees for 09/10 CCSR (including 2 for April) – Home/EU 25,425 – Overseas652,450 Total £677,875

Admissions  Our priority is to admit academically high achieving students who will produce top quality work  The admissions process is lengthy and prompt action by all would ensure we do not lose good students to other universities  Proposed actions – A new research area interest form to include:  Details of each academics specialist areas  2 or 3 specific project titles for each area  Standard ATAS statements for each project  Displayed on CCSR and Faculty webpage – Admin to continue to chase weekly the status of applications

Funding  For those Students who achieve well academically but are unable to fund their own research funding is available  There are several projects where funding can be used to enable good students to take up places in CCSR  For EU projects a maximum of £18,000 per year is paid to the student as a bursary. £6,000 of this is then paid towards overseas fees with the Centre paying the rest. – Once an applicant has been identified as having a good academic record, they will be offered a project – In order to apply for funding each applicant will be asked to provide a Research Proposal relating to the project offered – The Research Proposal will be considered and full or partial funding awarded as appropriate

Supervisors Responsibilities  The principal Supervisor is responsible for the overall direction and development of the student’s programme of study and research and the welfare of the student  In July 2009 Senate agreed: – That postgraduate research students would be required to meet with their supervisors once a month to discuss their academic progress; these meetings would be recorded; – Any non attendance to be reported to Registry  It is proposed that all academics and senior research fellows supervise at least 4 Research students each as 1 st Supervisor.

SupervisorFirstSecond T Brown2 F Carrez4 H Cruickshank119 M Dianati32 B Evans107 A Gluhak11 R Hoshyar64 M Howarth4 M Imran27 Y Ma33 K Moessner164 A Quddus11 Z Sun78 R Tafazolli1714 P Thompson N Wang2 Supervisors Number of Students

Additional Second Supervisors SupervisorFirstSecond A Awoseyila3 K Arshad4 M Ghader1 P Barnaghi1 P Navaratnam1

Students  Conference attendance – It is important that each student has the opportunity to attend at least one international conference in the duration of their PhD – These will be funded by the Centre or through projects – Records will be kept of these attendances

PhD Confirmation Process (Transfer)  The purpose of the transfer exam is to – Evaluate the approach to the research problem in terms of the theory and proposed or adopted research methods, in order to establish that the future objectives are feasible. – Provide the student with an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the research and its presentation  The transfer report should include – A definition of the research problem – A brief statement of any courses or training undertaken – A summary of progress to date including a literature review – Any material already published – An outline of future plans for research  Now to include a survey paper which would be published and available to industry to purchase

PhD Completion Process  The length of time taken to complete a PhD will vary but students taking 4 or 5 years to complete is not acceptable  At the 3½ years mark a first warning letter will be issued indicating that the writing up process should begin  Subsequent letters will follow detailing the action required  Applications to transfer to continuing status will be carefully considered  At least one journal paper will be required before the student is allowed to submit their thesis  A list of publications will also be required upon submission