1. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences
Gareth Phoenix

2. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences
APS PGR overview:
40 academic staff / IRFs
109 PhDs and rising (120 soon)
Annual intake ~35
Lead/manage DTPs / CDTs :
NERC - ACCE
Leverhulme – Advanced Biological Modelling
Grantham Centre
Students, FTEs, rates FT PT DL #
107 2 % 98
Home EU OS # 74 13 22 % 68 12 20

3. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences
Completion rates overview:
Recent 4 yr average (fully finished cohorts) = 89%
Home 95%
EU 75%
OS 76%
(71% on horizon ??)

4. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences
Our approach to PhD completion
Quality students from competitive processes
Ownership of completion with student/supervisors
reminders not monitoring
Good completion rates are student driven (yes, of course they are!)

5. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences
Maximising student quality through competition
Most APS PhD opportunities are competitive against students applying for other PhDs in the dept
A single best applicant for each advertised PhD in competition
Strong competition - increases the quality of the students coming in.
Most PhDs not “allocated” to staff (not “its your turn to have one”).
HoD discretionary allocation carefully considers supervisor quality
Quality students more likely to complete on time

6. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences
Ownership of completion with student/supervisors
reminders not monitoring
Day 1 of student induction week:
4 years is the absolute deadline (which means absolute)
Aim for 3 years no matter what your funding
reminder and desk poster
Thesis timeline and submission meeting for 3rd and 4th years (second years also welcome)
Same message
Horror stories
Staff know that it reflects badly on them and the dept if students fail to meet 4 years.
Emphasised at staff meetings.
PGD support – work together with student and supervisor if problem foreseen.

8. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences
Ownership of completion with student/supervisors
reminders not monitoring
Day 1 of student induction week:
4 years is the absolute deadline (which means absolute)
Aim for 3 years no matter what your funding
reminder and desk poster
Thesis timeline and submission meeting for 3rd and 4th years (second years also welcome)
Same message
Horror stories
Staff know that it reflects badly on them and the dept if students fail to meet 4 years.
Emphasised at staff meetings.
PGD support – work together with student and supervisor if problem foreseen.

9. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences
Other good practice:
New staff paired with experienced
PhD student away days
Mentoring scheme (peer-to-peer support)
In a nutshell:
We don’t micro-manage.
We get quality students and let them take ownership of completion.
Students and supervisors are very aware of the deadline.
We support student and supervisor, but…
…we do not set lots of targets/hurdles since that would take responsibility away from the student.