Assessment procedures

All students in the School have a personal Thesis Committee (TC). In addition to the Chair (who will be a member of staff appointed by the School Postgraduate Studies Committee) each TC will include the Principal Supervisor(s), an Assistant Supervisor(s) and one other (External Adviser). The external adviser should have expertise in the area of the student’s research project and be able to offer advice where necessary. Your progress will be assessed at meetings and students will be allowed to progress to the next year of study only if this is satisfactory.

Year 1

10 week report

Students are required to write a research plan within 10 weeks of starting their project. This plan should be around two pages of A4 and should be agreed with the supervisors and submitted to the School Postgraduate Secretary. The TC Chair will then convene a TC meeting to discuss the plan and ensure that the student has made a good start on the project.

9 month assessment

Nine months after starting, students are required to produce a written report. This report should be around 20 sides of A4 paper and should include an Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results to Date, Discussion and Future plan. Details of courses attended and training received should be appended. The report should be submitted electronically to the School Postgraduate Secretary and hard copies give to all TC members. Both the student and the principal supervisor will receive a reminder one month before the hand in date.

These reports may be submitted for analysis to anti-plagiarism software. At a convenient date a TC meeting will be arranged to discuss the report. At the meeting, the student will give a short presentation covering the details in the report and any updated results. The TC Chair will write a report of the meeting which will be agreed and signed by all members of the TC, along with the student and submitted to the School Postgraduate Secretary. The report will be reviewed by the School Director of Postgraduate Studies and, if necessary, the School postgraduate studies committee.

The first year of PhD study is probationary and this meeting will decide if the student’s work is satisfactory and if the student will progress to full PhD status.

Year 2

In second year, students will be asked to give an oral presentation on their work at a TC meeting and the TC Chair will send a report to the School Postgraduate Secretary. Students on a 3-year programme are required to submit a detailed thesis plan at this meeting.

Year 3

Students on 4-year programmes are required give an oral presentation on their work to their TC at the end of their third year and to submit a detailed thesis plan at this meeting, A report of the meeting will be sent to the Postgraduate Secretary.

Year 4

All students must submit by 48 months.

Full details are available in the Postgraduate Research Handbook