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

2. 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.

4. 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…

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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.

9. 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… weeks (6 weeks hols) days hours
In the map of your PGR journey we talked about the limited amount of time available.

10. 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

11. 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
The viva
The outcomes…

12. Exam criteria (PhD)

13. Outcomes (PhD)

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

15. 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

16. 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