1. Faculty administered PGR funding for 2015/16 Faculty of Engineering and Design www.bath.ac.uk/engineering URSA Annual University Research Studentship Account (replaced Graduate School Scholarships) £995,000 Confirmed Oct 2014 EPSRC DTP EPSRC Doctoral Training Partnership £299,930 Confirmed 17 Feb 2015

2. URSA award strategy agreed by Faculty Executive Oct 2014 www.bath.ac.uk/engineering Awards to be of 3 years duration for FT (6 years for PT). Awards can be used for OS fees (full or partial) or Home/EU fees and stipend. Priority to be given to new academic staff on probation not previously in receipt of a URS award. Students receiving URS awards expected to have UG First Class/MSc Distinction background, or internationally recognised equivalent (assessed via NARIC). English language offer conditions must be satisfied in advance of an offer of funding i.e. no offers of funding will be made conditional on English. Other conditions Only for newly registering doctoral students. Training support fund of up to £1000 per year allowed. Students to start October 2015 or asap afterwards, 1 st April 2016 at the latest. Target of at least 15 students.

3. URSA funding awarded for 2015/16 www.bath.ac.uk/engineering DeptH/EUOSSupervisors AR13 1 x Dr M Lawrence 2 x Dr T Kershaw 1 x Dr S Natarajan CE12 1 x Dr E Patterson 1 x Prof T Duren 1 x Dr S Eslava (CDT SCT) EE31 1 x Dr M Zhang 1 x Prof N Mitchell 2 x Prof F Li (includes 1 x NCPEU) ME42 1 x Dr J Du Bois 2 x Dr P Iravani 1 x Dr A Hillis 1 x Dr V Dhokia 1 x Dr M McManus Total9817 students (target = 15) Home/EU awards 100% fees + stipend + TSF £58,922 OS awards 100% fees + TSF £59,740 (one OS award of 75% fees award due to funds)

4. www.bath.ac.uk/engineering URSA project titles Control of Active Structures with Distributed Actuation Sustainable Systems: Industrial Waste Opportunities Novel Superconducting Machine for Electrical Aircraft Propulsion Developing High Performance Highly Insulating Construction Materials from Bio-Derived Aggregates Sustainable Chemical Technologies All in one pot: multi-reaction catalysis Design for Hybrid Manufacture Economic Network Pricing for an Integrated Energy Network Agile and dynamic robot locomotion Optimal Control of Wave Energy Converter Hydraulic Power Take-Offs Impact of energy efficiency and sustainable design measures on the building performance (measured and predicted) in composite climate of New Delhi Atmospheric Waves over the Southern Andes Antarctic Peninsula and Southern Oceans- Their Origins and Interaction with the Antarctic Polar Vortex Agile Robot Locomotion Metal-Organic Frameworks for Drug Delivery – Molecular Simulation Studies Manipulating the Urban Microclimate to Increase Resilience to Climate Change Development of Innovative Energy Products for Energy Suppliers

5. EPSRC DTP awards for 2015/16 www.bath.ac.uk/engineering DeptFunds Awards made SupervisorsOther information AR£0n/a CE£54,992 EE£48,8521 1 x Dr P Estrela(in CDT SCT), 3.5 yrs, with 6 month top up from CDT Also used some money left over from previous student withdrawing. ME£384,6765 1 x Prof G Lock 1 x Dr M McManus 1 x Dr F Ciampa 1 x Dr M Carley 1 x Dr D Cleaver Balance £39,816 All awards for 3.5 years Decided by each department Funding allocated according to EPSRC grant success

6. Key dates 2014/15 www.bath.ac.uk/engineering Nov New starters asked to supply details of projects for FindaPhD advertisement Dec Details of funding placed on Graduate School website and adverts placed on Find a PhD JanFirst call deadline Feb1 st allocation + waitlist April2 nd allocation June2 nd waitlist

7. What worked well this year www.bath.ac.uk/engineering Clear academic threshold for credible funding application Distribution of awards across departments Distribution of awards for Home/EU and overseas Requirement of complete application through SAMIS English language conditions to be met in order to be considered for funding Reduction in ring-fenced awards to just one (NCPEU) Not promising awards to individual academics who then struggle to recruit The open competition for high quality applicants has worked better

8. www.bath.ac.uk/engineering Challenges 2014/5Moving forward to 2015/16 A Identifying suitable applicants. Should we have a separate funding application form? B Keeping academic staff in departments informed about what funding is being offered and how it works. C PGR DoS keeping up-to-date with applications and identifying those suitable for possible funding. D New starters being told by colleagues they will automatically get a studentship E Incomplete applications which may lead to an applicant missing a deadline and not being considered for funding (ie reference). F Applicants accepting an offer of funding and then going elsewhere G Managing applicant expectations (ie being told they have or have not got funding)

9. Possible option – grade each application? Example below is taken from University of Edinburgh. Applicant is graded on four areas. Average of 3.5 or over indicates that a student is fundable. www.bath.ac.uk/engineering Grade Universities attended Quality of references Quality of research proposalOverall suitability 4.0 Top international university Outstanding references from leaders in the field Strong evidence of research potential Highly innovative proposal Demonstrates excellent knowledge of the literature and firm grasp of the methodology Candidate should definitely be funded 3.5 Top national university Good references from reliable people Evidence of research potential Demonstrates originality and knowledge of the literature but requires some additional work Candidate is fundable in principle 3.0 Lesser known university Lukewarm references from lesser known people Limited evidence of research potential Proposal lacks originality and requires a lot of additional work Candidate should only be funded if resources allow 2.0 Obscure university Negative references Little evidence of research potential Candidate should not be funded