1. Progression Monitoring
Director of Postgraduate Studies
School of Physics & Astronomy
Cardiff University

2. PhD Milestones Initial Reporting Progress report
Within 3 months
Progress report
9, 15, 21, 27, 33 months etc.
Annual Formal Progress Review
9, 21, 33 months etc.
Funding ends
36 months
Deadline for submission
48 months

3. Progress Monitoring Initial Reporting Progress Report
to be completed within the first 3 months of registration for the research degree programme
Progress Report
the first to be completed within 6 months of the Initial Reporting (so within 9, 15, 21, 27, 33 months, etc.)
Annual Formal Progress Review
the first to be completed within 9 months of the student's first registration, then annually thereafter (so within 9, 21, 33 months, etc.)

4. Initial Reporting – 3 months
The student and supervisors are required to agree a Research Plan and to complete a Development Needs Analysis (i.e. a skills audit and plan)
The Initial Reporting requires confirmation that these have been undertaken, and requires the student and main supervisor each to submit an Initial Report
Completion of the Initial Reporting must be endorsed by the Director of Postgraduate Studies

5. Progress Reports 9, 15, 21, 27, 33 months, etc.
to assess a student's progress with sufficient frequency to allow for remedial action to be taken if necessary
to review and updating the Research Plan and so help maintain the focus of the research, while re-evaluating the student's skills training needs
Student's Self-Assessment Report
Supervisor Report
Progress Meeting

6. Annual Formal Progress Review
9, 21, 33 months, etc.
The progress of every research student is formally reviewed on an annual basis up until the successful submission of the thesis
Substantial piece of written work
Meeting
Documented outcome of the review
Recommendation

7. Recommendation A documented outcome of the review panel
the student's progress and standard of work is satisfactory and that the student is likely to complete their degree successfully and within the expected timescale
the student’s progress and standard of work is satisfactory overall but that one or more unsatisfactory aspects of progress and/or performance have been identified
the student's progress and/or standard of work is unsatisfactory

8. Unsatisfactory Progress
If the student's progress and/or standard of work is unsatisfactory
Then either;
Student required to change registration to MPhil (the Review Panel having satisfied itself that the revised research project is appropriate for MPhil submission within a revised time-scale
Or;
Student placed on a Warning of Exclusion and required to provide evidence of improvement against a clear set of stipulated criteria within a time period of no less than three and no more than six months

9. Initial Reporting – More details
Details are on the web at:
You need to submit section A of the form:
At three months, you also need to submit:
A research plan: One or two pages describing
the broad aims of the PhD
the progress you have made so far
a (rough) timeline of how you expect to get there
A skills audit: Typically one page of text describing
The skills you expect to need during your PhD (e.g. experiment/clean room, computation, presentations, writing)
The things you have already learned since starting
The things you need to learn, and how you will do this. It’s an opportunity to identify useful training courses.

10. Initial Reporting – Next Steps
After you submit part A with the research plan and skills audit:
Your supervisory team fills out part B – their assessment of your progress
You meet with your supervisory team:
First Supervisor
Second Supervisor
Mentor
Following the meeting, they submit the form with parts B and D completed.
The Director of Postgraduate Research Studies needs to endorse the recommendation of the supervisory team
What about part C?
This gives you a chance to make confidential comments regarding your supervision
If you wish to complete part C, please return it directly to Louise Winter or the Director of Postgraduate Research Studies.