1. Postgraduate Research at Kent Professor Diane Houston Dean of the Graduate School Dr Colin Johnson Associate Dean (Graduate Studies)
The Graduate School

2. Getting Started…
Enrol...get IT account…pay fees!
See your supervisor ...ways of working…teams
Check if there are any taught courses you need to attend
Check your access to office space/IT support
Find out when the School holds research seminars and make sure you attend
Find out who the Director of Graduate Studies for your School is
Make plans for the year

3. Getting Aquainted...
Walk down the hill and climb the Westgate towers, visit the Cathedral and St Augustine's Abbey
Walk up the hill and explore Blean Woodland – one of the largest and most ancient woodlands in the South
Rent/borrow a bike and cycle to Whitstable on the Crab and Winkle Way
Buy a railcard and spend 55 minutes getting to London – some of the world’s best museums and galleries are on your doorstep and they are free!
Book well in advance and travel to Brussels and Paris on the Eurostar

4. The Graduate School
Mission: to lead and champion the strategic development of provision for graduate education and research at the University of Kent.

5. Postgraduate Research Handbook
Updated for
Everything you need to know about being a postgraduate researcher at Kent
including information on:
Student Services
Local community information
Regulatory information

6. Kent Postgraduate Community
Student-Led
Graduate School
Postgraduate Community
Postgraduate Experience Awards
Multi-layer and interdisciplinary
Graduate Student Association
Researcher Development Programme
Postgraduate College
Postgraduate festival
The GradPost and Social Media
Dedicated PG Space
Staff Engagement
Review of feedback and activities
Research Cafe

7. Benefits of your Postgraduate Community
Career & Personal Development
Postgraduate Community
Research & Transferable Skills
Public Engagement & impact
Interdisciplinary research collaboration
Friendships & Social Media
Access to a range of expertise
Support & Networking
Variety of opportunities
Well-being

8. The GradPost The GradPost Editorial Team
A newsletter created by Postgraduates for the Postgraduate community.
The GradPost Editorial Team
Information on Gradpost opportunities that will look great on your CV and enhance your postgraduate experience at Kent can be found on our website:
Contact:

9. Postgraduate Experience Awards
Do you have a great idea for a Postgraduate event at Kent?
Apply for funding through the postgraduate experience awards and your idea could become a reality.
Applications for up to £1,500 are invited for the Graduate School postgraduate experience awards
Applications will be considered for funding to run events or projects with an interdisciplinary and/or external focus which will enhance the postgraduate experience at Kent.
Examples of projects funded in
Mun Ching Lee and Keith Grehan for their innovative interdisciplinary Biohacking project, sampling DNA to create music and art. 
Vanessa Dias, Chloe Tyler and Catarina Morais for their 'World Cafe'
Deadline for applications is 25th November 2016
Application forms and more details at

10. The Researcher Development Programme

11. The Researcher Development Framework
Transferable skills are the skills which once developed give graduates a clear edge in the
job market and make researchers more effective and efficient in their work.
Following Sir Gareth Roberts’ review of higher education, the UK research councils (RCUK) issued a joint skills statement to all universities, identifying seven areas in which UK postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers should develop further skills while pursuing their research. All of our training falls under the four headings of the Researcher Development Framework:
Knowledge and Intellectual Abilities
Personal Effectiveness
Research Governance and Organisation
Engagement, Influence and Impact

12. Kickstart your PhD: Researcher Development Assessment Workshop
Compulsory for all PhD students
3 hour workshops held throughout the autumn term
Workshop topics: the Researcher Development Programme, resources for PhD journey, responsibilities of PG researcher and supervisory relationship
The workshop also helps you to reflect on and assess your current skills and introduces the Researcher Development Assessment (RDA)
Once you have attended this workshop you will be prompted by the system to complete your RDA online.
Work with your supervisor to complete the assessment and use this as the basis of your research and skills training
Must attend this workshop AND complete online assessment as part of the Probation process
All new first year PGRs are sent an to advise them of the RDA workshop. This goes out every month until March.
Once they have attended the RDA workshop and their attendance has been logged on the system then they can do their online skills audit 12

13. The Researcher Development Programme
Kickstart your PhD: Guidance, Skills and the Researcher Development Assessment (first years)
Writing skills workshops (one-to-one tutorials and writing retreats)
Writing for journals and getting published
Rapid reading
Research methods and statistics (including: SPSS, LaTeX, MATLAB)
Negotiation skills
Library skills
Leadership
Presentation skills and Impact
Time / Stress Management
Networking
Research Ethics
Teaching and marking skills

14. Online training Epigeum online courses The Good Viva Guide
The key advantage in using our online training is that you can access high quality training where ever you are and where you need it. Thousands of individuals regularly miss training because they cannot attend workshops either because they are part-time, distance-based, or because workshops do not deliver training when it is really needed. Using our online workshops, you can access training 24 hours a day/365 days a year wherever you are - at home, at your desk, in the halls of residence, at the library or in the laboratory.
Epigeum online courses
The Good Viva Guide
Viva Guidance
The Alternative Guide to Funding
Blueberry Training – training podcasts on a variety of business skills

15. Postgraduate Festival
Annual Postgraduate Festival takes place in May 2017
Open to all postgraduate students
Students can present their work to a wider academic audience
Opportunity to network with academic staff and peers
The Graduate School is running ‘Producing an Effective Research Poster’ workshops (21st March and 22nd March 2017). For more information please contact

16. Postgraduate Space
Postgraduate communal space – top floor of Cornwallis East
Woolf Foyer & Common Room
Graduate School Training Room
PCs and study hubs on campus
Templeman Library – study carrels, student PC rooms, silent and social study rooms
Postgraduate space in your school – this may be a common room or shared desk space

17. Website and Social Media

18. Structure Diagram for PG Programmes
Senate
Vice-Chancellor
Graduate School Board
Dean of the Graduate School
Programme Approval Sub-Committee
Faculty Boards
Deans
Faculty Graduate Studies Committee
Faculty Directors of Graduate Studies
School Graduate Studies Committee
School Directors of Graduate Studies
Staff/Student Liaison Committees
Supervisor/Supervisory Team

19. Get involved…make your voice heard..
Student Involvement
Get involved…make your voice heard..
Postgraduate Student Representatives – School, Faculty, University
Staff Student Liaison Committees (SSLCs)
Postgraduate Student Surveys e.g. PRES
Kent Graduate Student Association
The Graduate School 19

20. The library To get you started the practicalities of using the library
how to find your resources
how to manage your references
Find your Subject Guide and make the most of your Academic Liaison Librarian
Use your library Research Support Team for help with
Depositing your thesis in the Kent Academic Repository
Copyright and licensing choices
Open Access and funder requirements
Looking after your research data 20

21. More support and help Student Learning Advisory Service
Careers and Employability Service
PGCHE & AFS

22. Contact Details Professor Diane Houston, Dean of the Graduate School
Cornwallis East 3rd floor, room 323
Graduate School Staff
Suzie Morris, Graduate School Administration Manager ext: 3182
Ros Beeching, Graduate School Coordinator ext: 7838
Dr Jo Collins, Postgraduate Development Advisor ext: 16133
Carla Doolan, Postgraduate Development Coordinator ext: 4896
Joanna Addison, PA to the Dean and Graduate School Assistant ext: 4785
Deborah Molloy, Graduate School Assistant ext: 4089 22

23. The Faculty of Sciences
Biosciences
Computing
Engineering and Digital Arts
Maths, Statistics and Actuarial Science
Pharmacy
Physical Sciences
Sport and Exercise Sciences

24. Community and Diversity
Projects currently underway in the Faculty include:
Understanding how exercise can help people after illness and injury.
Understanding the fundamental algebraic structures in the mathematical world.
Finding new ways to capture images of the living eye
Preventing historical artefacts from decay.
Understanding how to effectively deliver medicines for maximum efficacy.
Using social media technology to help with the social challenges of aging.
Measuring and predicting how proteins fold and what the implications are for the living cell.
Finding new ways to protect personal information in computer networks. …

25. What makes Science Science?
The scientific method
"a method or procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.” (OED)
…but, is scientific practise the same thing?
Probably not…curiosity driven…serendipitous.
…but, in the end we need to present our results rigorously, disinterestedly and critically
…in whatever way is canonical for our subject.
Science and technology are also about skills…
...which we might learn in a formal course
…or from our neighbour at the lab bench/computer room

26. Key Information for Research Students
University and School Postgraduate Student Handbooks
University Regulations for Research Programmes of Study
Code of Practice for the Quality Assurance for Research Programmes of Study in particular:
Annex H (Supervision)
Annex K (Progression and Examination)

27. Research Students’ Responsibilities
Annex H (Supervision) of the Code of Practice outlines the responsibilities of research students (see Section 5).
Responsibilities include:
Ensuring that you are familiar with University Regulations.
Preparing adequately for supervisory and progress review meetings.
Agreeing a clear programme of work with your supervisor.
Making records of supervisory meetings.
Contributing to the research environment of your academic school and the wider University community.
Seeking advice from your supervisors in an active manner and taking the initiative in raising problems or difficulties.
Attending a Researcher Development Workshop, completing a Researcher Development Assessment and discussing this with your Supervisor.

28. Supervisory Interaction
You should have a meeting with your main supervisor at a minimum of once every 4 weeks for full-time students (every 8 weeks for PT students)
“Meeting” should generally be face to face, occasionally an exchange or telephone conversation may have to replace this.
Following the “meeting”, you should complete a supervisory record form on the Student Data System (SDS) and once this has been completed it will be sent to your supervisor for agreement.
The supervisory record template covers:
Progress made since the last “meeting”
Areas discussed at the “meeting”
Work agreed
Only one supervisory record is required for July/August.
The SDS will remind you when a supervisory record is due for completion.
See pp.6-7 of Postgraduate Research Student Handbook for details on completing supervision reports

29. Initial Meeting with your Main Supervisor
Ensure that you have a meeting set up with your Main Supervisor within the first two weeks of registration to discuss:
How your supervisory team-student relationship will work (e.g. preferred means of contact, feedback mechanisms and turnaround times)
Your meeting schedule
Your work plan
Any initial concerns
Skills training requirements
What you will be required to prepare for your induction review (six weeks after registration)
How progression monitoring will be handled within your academic school (i.e. any school specific requirements)
Facilities/resources

30. Supervision
88% of Kent students are happy with their supervision (PRES 2015, top quartile nationally)
Supervisors and students are expected to treat one another with courtesy
Discuss any problems at the earliest opportunity so any issues to be resolved quickly and effectively
Should there be a more serious breakdown in the main supervisor/student relationship, the matter should be brought to the attention of the School Director of Graduate Studies who will review the situation
Concerns about supervision should be raised at the earliest opportunity

31. Progression Monitoring
Review Stages
Timing
Induction review
Within 6 weeks of registration (for both PT and FT PhD students)
Probation/end of year review
10 months for FT PhD students and 12 months for PT PhD students
End of year reviews
At the end of each year
Mid-year reviews (if necessary)
Mid-year reviews may be scheduled in cases where concerns are raised at an end of year review
Submission review
3 months prior to the minimum period of registration (e.g. 3 years for FT PhD and 5 years for PT PhD students)
Annex K (Progression and Examination) of the Code of Practice provides detailed information about the review stages and links to the review forms: 31

32. Progression Monitoring on SDS
Your review documentation will be recorded on the Student Data System (SDS). See p.7 of Postgraduate Research Student Handbook.
The SDS will provide dates by which the different reviews are due.
It will be the responsibility of the Review Panel to complete the documentation on-line but once it is completed you will be able to view this on-line.
Annex K (Progression and Examination) of the Code of Practice for Research Programmes of Study provides details of what needs to be prepared in advance of a review.

33. Working During Your Studies
There are various opportunities to undertake paid and unpaid work during your studies. Benefits include:
Earning extra income
Networking and making new contacts
Gaining experience and learning new skills
Tier 4 Visa Students
All Tier 4 postgraduate students may work up to 20 hours per week until the end of their course.
PGR students may have the opportunity to undertake work placements which are integral to your PhD research. These opportunities should be discussed with your supervisor and School.

34. The Employability Points Scheme Get Involved! Get Rewarded!
Gain both ‘real life’ skills and work experience through the EP Scheme to stand out to prospective employers.
1. Take part in extra-curricular activities
Activities can include: volunteering, attending workshops, joining societies, working part-time, etc. :
Over 6,784 students
132 business and organisations
617 rewards E: W:
You can log activities and receive ‘points’ on MyFolio (
2. Claim Employability Points
Rewards range from internships, project placements, work experience, training sessions, assessment centres and vouchers!
3. Get rewarded!