Training

Information for research students

All information on research degree procedures, guidelines, codes of practice, etc. is now on the new Research Office website, available from Studynet. Go to your Studynet homepage and click on the Research tab on the top bar.

For day to day advice on your research degree, you should of course consult your supervisory team. In addition, please feel free to contact the PAM research tutor for advice and support.

PAM Research Tutor: Antonio Chrysostomou

The STRI Research Degree Administrator is Lorraine Nichols, supported by Michaella Guarnieri.

The Head of Research Degrees for STRI is Tim Gledhill

Training Opportunities for Researchers

Training is seen as a key element of personal development at all career stages. Teaching staff, Research Fellows and Postdoctoral Assistants have an annual staff development plan as part of their annual appraisal. Research students, in consultation with their supervisors, attend training sessions run by the Centre for Astrophysics Research (CAR), Faculty, University and external organisations, and their progress is reviewed annually through the student monitoring programme. Satisfactory performance in our training programme is also a requirement for the Initial Registration Assessment where the training plan will be more formally assessed. This page gives an overview of the training opportunities available to researchers, both within and outside the University.

Research Student Checklist

• Agree regular (at least weekly) meetings with your supervisors. Keep a note of all meeting dates and write a summary of the meeting. A list of meeting dates will be required at annual monitoring.
• Supervisory teams should meet with the student as a full team at least three times per assessment phase.
• Whatever training you have it is extremely important that you keep a record of all training activity. Do make sure you include skills you may have taught yourself (e.g. how to use LINUX, Starlink Packages, Stats packages, WORD etc). Such a record is good practice and you may be asked to show this at your annual monitoring.
• The Generic Training for Researchers (GTR) course booklet describes all Generic Training sessions and timetables. Here is the online version of the GTR booklet, also available via the Research tab on your Studynet homepage. Induction for New Research Students is also available online via StudyNet.
• In addition, students and their supervisors should agree an appropriate level of attendance at the CAR Graduate Training Course. It is expected that all full time first year students (PhD and MSc) will attend these lectures, which run for 2 hours per week throughout the year. A satisfactory training program, including University GTR sessions, is required as part of a student's Initial Registration Assessment. Second and Third year students should attend any session they have missed in the first year. The CAR training schedule s given in the table below.
• In addition to these training programmes, you and your supervisory team should be compiling a list of the specialised knowledge relevant to your research programme. This will normally be available through research papers, especially reviews, texts and web-based resources. This is particularly important in the first eight months leading up to the Initial Registration Assessment and thereafter the habit should be maintained in order to remain aware of the relevant research frontiers .

Centre for Astrophysics Research (CAR) Training

• CAR offers an extensive program of Astronomy Research Training sessions, intended to be directly relevant to those carrying out a program of research in astronomy and physics. Attendance at these sessions is mandatory at least once during your research degree. Students should agree a schedule of attendance at these sessions at the beginning of the academic year and this will be reviewed at the annual monitoring stage and will also form part or the Initial Registration Assessment.
• Research students will also run and participate in their own Journal Club. This is intended as a regular (weekly) forum for students to present material to each other, gain experience giving talks, discuss recent conference or observing trips, and to review recent important developments in their field (e.g. by appraising a recent paper).The Journal Club will be organized by Kieran Forde this year and is described further on the Journal Club Web Page: CAR Journal Club.
• Students are required to attend the CAR's Seminar Program. The Seminar Organisers this year are Ben Burningham and David Bonfield.

Student Talks

Talks by research students provide important opportunities to practise presenting their research in public and for all CAR members to gain a broader picture of CAR research activities. Staff are encouraged to provide constructive feedback or ideas to students and their supervisors after listening to these talks.

• First year PhD students, along with MSc (Res) students, are required to give a short presentation on their project to colleagues. This will normally take place in June ahead of the progression viva and will provide an opportunity to present the research programme to colleagues in CAR as well as to members of the progression assessment panel. The programme of talks will be circulated in advance.
• PhD students coming to the end of their second year will participate in the weekly lunchtime talks programme, organised by Elias Brinks.
• Final year PhD students will give a longer talk on their project within the setting of the CAR seminar program. This should be arranged with the Seminar Organizer to be timed within six months of thesis submission.

Other Training Opportunities

Further information on other opportunities including the University's GTR programme are listed here.