Managing my PhD,MD or MPhil research degree

Managing my PhD,MD or MPhil research degree Alison Tyson-Capper Faculty Postgraduate Tutor, Associate Dean The Graduate School Faculty of Medical Sciences

Welcome! • Settling in • Learning agreements • Project approvals (within 3 months)

What am I doing here? • Preparing a thesis! • Candidates for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy are expected to conduct original investigations, to test ideas, whether their own or others, and to understand the relationship of their work and its themes to a wider field of knowledge. A doctoral thesis should be a piece of work which a capable, well qualified and diligent student who is properly supported and supervised can produce in 3-years of full-time study. It should exhibit substantial evidence of original scholarship and contain material worthy of publication.

What do you think is important in managing your PhD/MD/MPhil?

Managing my PhD, MD or MPhil research degree Managing my supervisor(s)! Alison Tyson-Capper Graduate School Faculty of Medical Sciences

You and your supervisor? You now …..You later on

Managing your supervisor • Be organised • He honest if you have made some errors/experiments fail! • Discuss any difficulties • If you don’t know ask! • Don’t be surprised when you start to know more than your supervisor • Meet deadlines • Listen to advice

Planning your work • Long-term plans • To complete my higher degree and earn some money! • Medium-term • By the end of the year I will have done … • Short-term • Before the next formal meeting I will ….. • Immediate plan • By the end of the week I will … • Today I will ...

What shall I do first? • First meeting with your supervisor(s) • Discuss the completion of an on-line process for project approval. This details: • Your proposed project with a timeline and objectives • Any requirements for ethics committee approval • The name of all supervisors • The 2 members of your progress review panel • The learning agreement

How many supervisors do I need? • You have a supervisory team • 1 lead supervisor • 1 or more co-supervisors

It is now mandatory to record supervisory meetings • Meeting records in ePortfolio, and any associated notes and documents, are shared and easily accessible to you and your supervisor(s). • Adding notes and/or uploading minutes provide the team with a useful record of progress, a record of agreed actions for both students and supervisors • Can act as an aide-mémoire to guide future action • Helps prepare for future professional practice (recording meetings, and reviewing written reports are normal practice in most professions and organisations).

Formal meetings • What is a ‘formal’ meeting? • You pass your supervisor in the corridor and (s)he says ‘is everything OK?’ • You politely answer ‘Yes’ • Nice, but NOT a formal meeting

Formal meetings • What is a ‘formal’ meeting? • You are working in the lab/office/field next to one of your supervisors • He or she asks how the work you are doing today is progressing and offers advice • Should happen, but NOT a formal meeting

Formal meetings - 1 • Formal meetings are vital • You are required to maintain regular contact with your supervisors • Frequency • Often more common at the start than at the end of your project • In this Faculty should not be more than six weeks apart (or less than 10 per year)

Formal meetings - 2 • What happens at the meeting? • You take all your results and interesting papers and discuss these in detail • Set the Agenda: Make plans • Discuss problems • Ensure the project is more than a series of small experiments • Your thesis will ultimately tell a story

Formal meetings - 3 • During the meeting • You take notes • Arrange a date for the next meeting • After the meeting • You write notes of the meeting with what was agreed – add this to e-portfolio

Your data recording/lab books • Hard back with numbered pages • Always enter the date • Complete as you are working • Do not need to be spotless or neat • Enter raw data, observations and calculations • Detail all problems and errors (be honest – we’re all human!) • Your review panel may ask to see these • Your examiner might also ask to see them!

Use of computers • Backup regularly • Backup regularly • Backup regularly • Loss of results due to theft, disk failure, virus infection etc is not considered a viable excuse for delayed completion of your project

Literature references • Read around your subject (don’t simply print copies of papers) • Not all journals are equal (impact factor) • Your examiners will test your knowledge of current “related science” • Use a reliable reference database • Training will be given (Endnote) • Useful to have an ideas book • Make notes of good ideas as you have them

Write up as you go • Not always possible, but: • Always prepare high quality graphics output when you derive the data • this takes time when you are writing your thesis – good if you can simply cut and paste figures into your thesis • If a figure isn’t good enough for presentation have another go – don’t assume you will return to the problem later • Write up methods as you develop them • Make notes when you read good papers • don’t assume you will remember everything

Progress review • You will be examined by 2 reviewers • Not part of your supervisory team • Complementary and independent • You will submit appropriate written work before the review (electronically) • You and your supervisor(s) will receive formal feedback after the review • It’s good to gain experience of oral examination before the ‘big one’!

Cross institute – supervision Panel member Talks (internal & external) Collaboration

Time plan summary for PhD students Start Finish 1 Learning agreement 3 Project Approval at 8 months 1st annual assessment at 20 months 2nd annual assessment at 30 months 3rd annual assessment So much more than just these few milestones

Annual Progress Reviews: E-portfolio 2 3 4 School progress panel (assessors) Student report Supervisors report • Supervisors • Lab members • Mentors • Guidelines (online) 1 DPGT’s/PGRC (Institute nominee) • Evidence of student progress; • interview • Presentation • Research training portfolio- courses attended • conferences • Publications 5 Progression decision by PG Dean/PgR Tutor

“ A most venomous thing in the making of sciences: for whoever has fixed on his Cause, before he has experimented, can hardly avoid fitting his Experiment to his own Cause….rather than the Cause to the truth of the Experiment itself” Thomas Sprat (1667) Historian Founder of the Royal Society Don’t fall in love with your hypothesis

If you have a(any) problem • Seek help as soon as you can • Supervisors want your project to succeed as much as you do! • Postgraduate co-ordinators • Reviewers (progress panel) • Me through the Graduate School or directly (alison.tyson-capper@ncl.ac.uk; telephone x87156) • The Dean, Prof John Kirby (through the Graduate School)

Personal Safety - Smart Cards: • Wear it at all times on premises • Out of hours – login and logout Communication from the Graduate School • Computer/e-mails: campus log-in, use your university e-mail address

Lots of support available within the Faculty and University Our Support Wheel Graduate School/me/Dean Secretary/ administrators Supervisory team You Student groups/ reps Fellow students/buddy Progress panel PgR Tutors/Coordinators

Safety and Security Personal/family problems Accommodation You Financial problems Illness Stress Disability issues

Student advice service • Within the Union building

The bottom line • Don’t keep a problem to yourself! • The university has dealt with thousands of students – it is unlikely your problem is unique! • Don’t be afraid to talk to someone • You can talk to male and/or female staff • We respect discretion and confidentiality • If the Graduate School can’t help you directly, it will almost certainly be able to direct you to someone who can

What we want to achieve: To encourage you to see your PhD/MD/MPhil studies as a series of training steps rather than as a single final culminating project. This approach puts more emphasis on the process of training (transferable skills) and on potential personal and career development along the way.

Enhancing your experience and CV • Collaborate if appropriate/if it adds value • Research Seminars • External speakers (opportunity to meet/interact) • Present at seminars • Research Days, NEPG Conference • Conferences - promote yourself in the scientific community Teaching/Supervision Opportunities • Demonstrating • Seminars • Supporting BSc/MSci and MRes students

YOU want everything to go well WE want everything to go well ….and hopefully it will! • We want to enhance your experience • We want to help you get the most out of your time here

Good luck…….and I look forward to hearing about your research

Managing my PhD,MD or MPhil research degree