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2021/2022

This document is available at https://wiki.mas.ncl.ac.uk/mas/Postgraduate.

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1 INTRODUCTION 4

2 REGULATIONS AND CODE OF PRACTICE 4

3 KEY CONTACTS 4

3.1 Contact list 4

3.2 Who to Contact 5

4 ARRIVAL 5

4.1 Before you Arrive 5

4.2 When you Arrive 5

5 THE SCHOOL AND ITS FACILITIES 6

6 NU Reflect 6

7 PHD/MPHIL PROGRAMME SCHEDULE 7

7.1 Learning Agreement 7

7.2 Project Approval 7

7.3 Progression 8

7.4 Nomination of Examiners 8

7.5 Submitting your Thesis 8

7.6 The Viva and Corrections 9

8 RESEARCH ACTIVITIES 9

8.1 Sections and Research Groups 9

8.2 Postgraduate Forum 9

9 ANNUAL PG ACTIVITIES 9

10 SUPERVISORY MEETINGS 9

11 TRAINING 10

12 STUDENT WELLBEING 10

12.1 Disabilities 10

12.2 Mental Health 10

13 CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCES 11

14 DESK POLICY 11

15 ABSENCES AND ATTENDANCE 11

16 TRAVEL 12

17 COMPUTING SUPPORT 12

18 SUPPORT FUNDS AND EXPENSES 12

18.1 Support Funds 12

18.2 Expense Procedure 13

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18.3 Additional Conference Fund 13

18.4 Advances 13

19 MARKING, TEACHING AND OTHER DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES 13

20 STUDENT VOICE 14

21 COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS 14

22 HEALTH, SAFETY & SECURITY 14

23 USEFUL LINKS 15

23.1 Student Self-Service Portal (S3P) 15

23.2 Library 16

23.3 Careers Service 16

23.4 International Office 16

23.5 Student Counselling Service 16

23.6 Student Advice Centre 16

23.7 Student Disability Unit 16

23.8 Chaplaincy 17

23.9 Writing Development Centre 17

23.10 English Language Materials Online (ELMO) 17

23.11 Visa Support 17

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1 INTRODUCTION The School of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics (MSP) is part of the Science, Agriculture and Engineering (SAgE) faculty, and based in the Herschel Building. We supervise over 80 PhD and MPhil students across PGR programmes in mathematics, statistics and physics. This handbook covers key information for MSP PhD/MPhil students. Take time to read this during Induction Week and use it for reference throughout your programme. You can access an electronic copy on the School wiki at https://wiki.mas.ncl.ac.uk/mas/Postgraduate. Some PhD/MPhil students will be based in Merz Court or the Urban Sciences Building during their programme.

2 REGULATIONS AND CODE OF PRACTICE General details on research degrees at Newcastle, including the expectation for students and supervisors, can be found in the Code of Practice and Handbook for Research Students and Research Supervisors www.ncl.ac.uk/students/progress/student-resources/PGR/Publications.htm The formal regulations and specifications of your PhD/MPhil programme can be found here www.ncl.ac.uk/regulations/programme/2020-2021/math.php.

3 KEY CONTACTS

3.1 Contact list Internal phone numbers are of the form 0191 20x, where x is a 5-digit number. All offices are in Herschel Building unless stated. Role Name Email (@ncl.ac.uk) Phone Office Director of PG Studies

Dr Alina Vdovina alina.vdovina x87314 2.22

Subject PG Tutors Dr Aleksey Kozikov (physics)

aleksey.kozikov x828684 2.13

Dr Colin Gillespie (statistics) colin.gillespie x87248 2.30

Dr David Kimsey (pure maths)

david.kimsey x88639 2.33

Dr Gerasimos Rigopoulos (applied maths)

gerasimos.rigopoulos x88019 2.09b

PG Pastoral Tutor Dr Magda Carr magda.carr x84818 3.23

PG Administrator Maria Adair Rob White

maths.physics.pg

x87239 School Office, level 3

PG Representative Ashley Wilkins a.wilkins3 - Herschel Annex room B

Computing support

Herschel Building: Dr Michael Beaty / John Nicholson

maths.physics.it x87238

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Merz Court & USB: IT Helpdesk

Log your query/request at nuservice.ncl.ac.uk/

Graduate School - gradschool

x88713 Student Services, King’s Gate

University Security - security.control Emergency: x6666 Other: 86817

Security Control Centre, Barras Building

3.2 Who to Contact Type of query Who to contact

Research project queries Project supervisor Programme queries PG Administrator

PG Tutors Director of PG Studies Research Student Support Team (RSST)

Pastoral support PG Pastoral Tutor Director of PG Studies PG Tutors School of MSP Office staff

IT problems Computing support team (Herschel Building) or nuservice.ncl.ac.uk (Merz Court / Urban Sciences Building)

Absences and leave PG Learning and Teaching Administrator

Desk and office issues PG Learning and Teaching Administrator

Finances and expenses PG Learning and Teaching Administrator Health and safety issues PG Learning and Teaching Administrator

4 ARRIVAL

4.1 Before you Arrive Before you arrive you will receive an email confirming your programme and be invited to register online for the university using the Student Self Service Portal (S3P, https://s3p.ncl.ac.uk). Online registration can be done before or after arrival. You will also be contacted directly by the School to arrange where and when to arrive. You should contact your supervisor before you arrive to arrange your first meeting. General pre-arrival information, including university-wide induction activities, accommodation and visa assistance, can be found at www.ncl.ac.uk/pre-arrival/.

4.2 When you Arrive Arrival: You should go to the School Office on the School of MSP, Herschel Building, as instructed by the PG Learning and Teaching Administrator, to be provided with a welcome pack and shown the location of your office.

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University registration: Soon after arriving you should complete your university registration, including collecting your Smartcard, as instructed here www.ncl.ac.uk/pre-arrival/arriving/complete/. Faculty induction: You will be emailed details of the faculty-wide induction and will be required to book your place. This session will introduce you to the SAgE Faculty and give you the essential information about your programme, resources and support facilities. School induction: You will be emailed details of the school induction. Here you will be given specific information regarding your programme, training and facilities, as well as meeting other new postgraduate students in the School of MSP. Freshers’ activities: During induction week you may also wish to attend some of the university “freshers’ week” activities (www.ncl.ac.uk/pre-arrival/welcome/freshers/). Societies: You may consider joining PhySoc (www.nusu.co.uk/getinvolved/societies/society/13797/), MathSoc (nclmathsoc.com/) or one of the many other university societies (www.nusu.co.uk/getinvolved/societies/) Computing induction: Once you are registered, a member of the IT team can take you through getting your password, how to log in, how the Windows and Linux networks work, and how to use the printers. They will also show you the School Wiki - which should be your first port of call if you have any IT or other queries. They will also show you the sources of the software available to students studying at Newcastle University.

5 THE SCHOOL AND ITS FACILITIES Location: You will be either based in the Herschel Building, Merz Court or the Urban Sciences Building, depending on the location of your research group. The location of these buildings is shown on the campus map https://www.ncl.ac.uk/about/visit/maps/). Wiki: The School of MSP has an internal wiki website (wiki.mas.ncl.ac.uk/mas/), which contains useful information, such as mailing lists, how to use the printers, thesis templates, etc. Office/desk: You will be provided with your own desk and PC or laptop in a shared office with other postgraduate students. Please remember to respect the other students in the office. Access: Outside of normal working hours (8am-6pm Monday-Friday) students can access the buildings using their Smartcard. Students must log their out-of-hours access on the online form https://apps.ncl.ac.uk/outofhours/home.aspx. Stationary: Contact the School Office if you require some stationery; they keep a supply of basic stationery such as pens, pencils, and writing pads.

6 NU Reflect NU Reflect (https://reflect.ncl.ac.uk/) is the university web-system for logging the timeline of your research programme and administering certain procedures.

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7 PHD/MPHIL PROGRAMME SCHEDULE You must undertake and pass various activities to successfully progress through your PhD/MPhil programme, summarised in the tables below. These activities are administered through NU Reflect. Your number of months studied is measured from your date of registration. If you take an Interruption of Studies, the clock stops during the interruption.

Programme Schedule for PhD Students

Full-time students Part-time students

Month 1 Learning Agreement

Month 3 Month 6 Project Approval

Month 9 Interim review

Month 9 Month 21 Stage 1 Progression

Month 33 Interim review

Month 21 Month 45 Stage 2 Progression

Month 57 Interim review

Month 33 Month 69 Stage 3 Progression

Month 42 Month 78 Stage 3½ Progression

~3 months before submitting Nomination of examiners

Month 48 Month 84 Submission deadline

Programme Schedule for MPhil Students Full-time students Part-time students

Month 1 Learning Agreement

Month 3 Month 6 Project Approval

~3 months before submitting Nomination of examiners

Month 24 Month 36 Submission deadline

7.1 Learning Agreement You and your supervisor/s must complete your Learning Agreement, where you will commit to the expectations and conditions of your programme. This must be completed within the first month of your programme during a face-to-face meeting with your supervisor, and then submitted on NU Reflect. The PG Administrator will give you details on how to submit. If a Confidentiality Agreement is appropriate (your supervisor will indicate if this is required or not), this can be downloaded from the system and should be printed, signed and uploaded as a scan. www.ncl.ac.uk/students/progress/student-resources/PGR/keyactivities/LearningAgreement.htm

7.2 Project Approval Within 3 months (full-time) or 6 months (part-time) of starting, you must go through the Project Approval process on NU Reflect. This involves submitting your research proposal, project plan, ethical approval and personal development plan. Your supervisor will assist you in preparing this information. This will then be considered by the School

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and Faculty. Further details of the documentation will be circulated in advance and can be found here: wiki.mas.ncl.ac.uk/mas/Postgraduate/ProjectApproval More general information about the project approval process can be found here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/progress/student-resources/PGR/keyactivities/ProjectApproval.htm

7.3 Progression At regular times during your programme you must go through the Progression process. This is to check that you are making progress and on schedule to complete your programme. It is also a good time to reflect on your progress and next steps. Progression takes place at around months 9, 21, 33 and 42 for full-time students, and months 21, 45, 69 and 78 for part-time students. Note that the yearly progression deadlines in our school are set as 31st May, 31st October and 31st January (your date will depend on when you started and whether you’ve had any interruptions). As part of this process, you are required to submit certain documents on NU Reflect to evidence your progress. Your supervisor will assist you in preparing this information. For your first and second progressions, you are also required to undertake an interview or presentation. Further details of the requirements will be circulated in advanced and can be found here: wiki.mas.ncl.ac.uk/mas/Postgraduate/AnnualProgression Your performance will then be assessed by the Progression Panel, who will pass their recommendation to the Head of School and on to the Dean of Postgraduate Research. If you are deemed to have not met the requirements for progression at the first attempt, you will be reassessed after 3 months. More general information on progression can be found here: www.ncl.ac.uk/students/progress/student-resources/PGR/keyactivities/Progression.htm

7.4 Nomination of Examiners No later than 3 months before you aim to submit your thesis, you must initiate the Nomination of Examiners process on NU Reflect. This involves stating your thesis title and a draft abstract. Your supervisor will then enter details of your internal and external examiners for approval by the School and Faculty. www.ncl.ac.uk/students/progress/student-resources/PGR/keyactivities/Examination.htm

7.5 Submitting your Thesis You must submit your thesis within 48 months (84 months) for full-time (part-time) PhD, and 24 months (36 months) for full-time (part-time) MPhil. Details on the required format of the thesis and how to submit it can be found here: www.ncl.ac.uk/students/progress/student-resources/PGR/keyactivities/ThesisSubmission.htm Theses will passed through a plagiarism-checking software. A Latex thesis template is available at wiki.mas.ncl.ac.uk/mas/ThesisTemplate.

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7.6 The Viva and Corrections After the viva, you will be formally emailed with the outcome, including the details of any corrections that must be addressed. Further details on the viva and what happens next can be found here: www.ncl.ac.uk/students/progress/student-resources/PGR/keyactivities/ThesisSubmission.htm Note that you may use any remaining funds in your PG support funds to cover the cost of the final hard-bound copies of the thesis.

8 RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

8.1 Sections and Research Groups Research within the school is divided into four subject sections - applied mathematics, physics, pure mathematics and statistics. Within some of these, there are smaller, more-focussed research groups. These groups can be seen by navigating through the relevant webpages at https://www.ncl.ac.uk/maths-physics/research/. Each section has a regular seminar series. You are expected to attend these to gain exposure to the latest research, both in your field and the wider subject. Each research group may also run regular activities for which you are expected to attend and contribute; you will be provided with more information by the organiser.

8.2 Postgraduate Forum This PGR-led seminar series has run since 1997. Attendance is optional but strongly encouraged. You will be provided with more information by the organiser. wiki.mas.ncl.ac.uk/mas/PostgraduateForum

9 ANNUAL PG ACTIVITIES There are a series of school activities and events which run every year:

● Welcome meal (October). This is open to everyone in the school and celebrates those who have recently joined the school, including new PG students.

● Christmas meal (December). ● Christmas quiz (December). ● Annual photo (April). ● PG conferences (June).

10 SUPERVISORY MEETINGS It is mandatory to record your regular meetings with your supervisor; the full policy on this attendance monitoring can be found at www.ncl.ac.uk/students/progress/student-resources/PGR/FormsPolicies.htm. There must be a minimum of 10 recorded meetings per year, although in our School you are likely to have many more since weekly meetings are the norm. Although not compulsory, it is recommended that you include a short summary of the meeting in the “notes” box.

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www.ncl.ac.uk/students/progress/student-resources/PGR/keyactivities/MeetingRecords.htm

11 TRAINING There are two types of training you are required to undertake as a PhD/MPhil student: ● Generic, transferrable skills training, run through the Faculty’s PGRDR

researcher development programme. Students must complete a certain number of credits each year. Some of these credits can be obtained through non-PGRDP activities, such as giving, organising or attending seminars, and publishing a paper (note: you can only claim credit for a particular activity once during your programme). More information on the PGRDP programme can be found here

www.ncl.ac.uk/sage/education/postgraduate/postgraduateresearcherdevelopmentprogramme/ ● Knowledge-based training run within the school. The details of this training

depends on which section you are in and the different requirements are described at wiki.mas.ncl.ac.uk/mas/Postgraduate/PoliciesProcedures.

Your supervisor may ask you to undertake additional training, depending on your background and the nature of the project.

12 STUDENT WELLBEING Your wellbeing is of utmost importance. To support you should you encounter any wellbeing difficulties throughout your programme, there are a range of routes for support:

● Discuss with a member of PG team (your supervisor, PG Pastoral Tutor, Subject PG Tutor, Director of PG Studies)

● Consult the University Student Wellbeing website for information (https://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/wellbeing/)

● Contact the Student Wellbeing Service (https://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/wellbeing/about/)

If you believe that your ability to study is adversely affected by unforeseen extenuating circumstances, you should discuss with the PG team. One option is taking an interruption of studies (see Mitigating Circumstances).

12.1 Disabilities If you have a disability or specific learning difficulty, you may require special arrangements during your PhD. You should discuss your situation with Student Wellbeing (https://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/wellbeing), who will be able to provide further advice, support and, if appropriate, recommendations to the supervisory team. You can also discuss your situation directly with your supervisors, who will make reasonable adjustments.

12.2 Mental Health The university provides a dedicated support service for mental health, available to PG students and their families https://www.ncl.ac.uk/wellbeing/mentalwellbeing/#counsellingteam

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12.3 Financial Difficulties The university provides assistance for students suffering from financial difficulties, such as emergency loans and hardship funds: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/wellbeing/finance/hardship/index.htm

13 CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCES If you wish to make a change relating to your programme, e.g. to interrupt, extend or change your programme, you must make an application to RSST. This includes: ● Interruption of Studies ● Extension to Thesis Submission Deadline ● Maternity/Paternity/Adoption Leave ● Change of Candidature ● Application for Early Submission ● General Concession ● Application for Outside Study ● Application for Previous Study to be Taken into Account ● Change of Supervisory Arrangements ● Programme Change ● Withdrawal from Programme

Usually, the application must be approved by your supervisor and Head of School. General information relating to these requests and how to log your application is listed at https://www.ncl.ac.uk/student-progress/pgr/circumstances/

14 DESK POLICY We will provide students with their own desk for the duration of their candidature:

● 48 months for a full-time PhD student. ● 84 months for a part-time PhD student. ● 12 month for a full-time MPhil student. ● 24 months for a part-time MPhil student.

15 ABSENCES AND ATTENDANCE Postgraduate research students are expected to study throughout the whole academic year, working for at least 40 hours per week (pro rata for part-time students). All absence from the University must be reported (illness, conferences, placement, research visits, holiday) through S3P. A student who is not able to attend University, e.g. due to sickness or other extenuating circumstance, should submit a Student Notification of Absence form S3P (https://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/progress/Regulations/SPS/Attendance/sickness.htm) and notify their supervisor/module leaders if relevant. For absences longer than 7 days, the form should include a medical certificate. Full-time PGR students will be entitled to up to 7 weeks (35 working days) annual holiday, which will include all University fixed closure days and the 8 public holidays. The closure days for the current academic year can be found here https://www.ncl.ac.uk/regulations/docs/term-dates/#closuredates.

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This holiday entitlement will be applied pro-rata to part-time PGR students. No holiday leave can be more than 1 month in length at a time. The full PGR holiday policy can be found here https://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/progress/student-resources/PGR/FormsPolicies.htm.

16 TRAVEL If you are travelling outside of Newcastle as part of our PhD, e.g. for a research visit or conference, you must notify the school and, for high risk cases, complete a travel risk assessment. By doing this correctly, you will be covered by university insurance. Details can be found here: https://newcastle.sharepoint.com/hub/maths/Pages/Travel.aspx

17 COMPUTING SUPPORT All students will be provided with a desktop PC / laptop and technical support. For students based in Herschel Building, the first point of contact for computing support are the School’s in-house computing officers Dr Michael Beaty and John Nicholson. For students based in Merz Court or Urban Sciences Building, computing requests should be sent to the IT Service Desk https://www.ncl.ac.uk/itservice/support/itservicedesk/. The University has licenses for a wide variety of proprietary software for research, teaching and general activities, e.g. MS Office, Matlab, MiniTab, Endnote, etc. See https://www.ncl.ac.uk/itservice/software/licences/ for an up-to-date list. Open source software, e.g. Latex, R, Python, Fortran, etc, are also available. The School also has a Teaching & Research Technical Officer, Dr George Stagg, who is able to assist with research-related computing, e.g. using the HPC facility and parallel-programming.

18 SUPPORT FUNDS AND EXPENSES

18.1 Support Funds You will be provided with funds to support your PhD research activities, into your individual university account (with an account number of the form OSR/xxxx/xxxx/xxxx). The amount you receive will depend on the fee band for your PhD programme or how your PhD is funded. You will be regularly notified of your account balance; you can also request an up-to-date balance by emailing maths.physics.ops@ncl.ac.uk. For band 1 students, this fund is mainly to support attendance at conferences, summer schools and research visits. For band 2 (and above) students, this fund is also to cover laboratory consumables and field work. The School expects students travelling to overseas meetings to make a contribution through poster or oral presentation of their work. Many conferences are able to provide at least partial support for attending PhD students and this assistance should always be sought.

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18.2 Expense Procedure Students should seek pre-approval for any expenditure by completing the Expenses Pre-Approval Form, pass to their supervisor for signature, and then hand to the School Office in advance of committing any expenditure. The form should estimate the likely costs but need not be exact. Once approved, the Office will advise you on how to process the expenditure or claim reimbursement. Travel costs can be reimbursed through the Travel Expenses Claim Form. This should be signed by the student and then passed to the School Office along with original receipts. It is unlikely that an expenses claim will be reimbursed if the pre-approval process has not been completed in advance of the trip being made.

18.3 Additional Conference Fund For PhD students who are on the standard band 1 support package, they can access additional travel funds of up to £1000 in total. This is available in their third and fourth year of study (full-time or equivalent), and when the original support funds have been exhausted. This scheme is primarily to fund conference attendance or research visits, and it is expected that the applicant will present their research (as a poster or talk). Students should discuss their application with their supervisor in advance of applying. Applications should be made via the Additional Conference Fund Form, and emailed to maths.physics.pg@newcastle.ac.uk. Applications will be considered by the school PG Committee.

18.4 Advances Advances can be made for future PhD-related expenditure, e.g. conference attendance. No more than one advance will be permitted at one time, and the advance should not exceed £2,000. Advances must be cleared, by submission of an Expenses Claim Form, with any amounts not spent repaid to the University, no later than two months after the end of the trip to which they relate.

19 MARKING, TEACHING AND OTHER DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES PGRs have the opportunity to take part in a range of paid non-research-related activities within the school. ● Marking and demonstrating on taught modules. Each year we will circulate details

of these opportunities. You will need to complete certain training activities to undertake marking or demonstrating.

● Outreach. If you are interested in supporting our outreach activities, get in contact with our outreach officers: Drs Kate Henderson and Lee Fawcett (MAS), and Drs Angela Dyson and Paul Branch (PHY).

● Industrial placements. If you are interested in working with one of our industrial partners on a short-term project, contact our Director of Business and Engagement Dr Magda Carr.

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Remember that you are here, first and foremost, to undertake your research project. It is your responsibility to manage any additional activities you undertake to ensure that it does not detract from your research project.

20 STUDENT VOICE We are keen to hear about your experiences and suggestions for improvement. The main forum for discussing this is the school PG Committee. In recent years, this has led to significant improvements in marking, social spaces, training and funding. Note that the minutes for the PG Committee can be found here wiki.mas.ncl.ac.uk/mas/PostgraduateCommitteeMinutes. Overall, the various mechanisms for providing feedback on your experience are: - To directly contact the Director of Postgraduate Studies or other member of the PG

team. - To submit a feedback comment on our online form at

https://forms.ncl.ac.uk/view.php?id=2627828. Comments can be submitted anonymously.

- Your PG Representative sits on the school PG Committee, the school Student-Staff Committee, and the faculty-wide Graduate School Committee, and can provide feedback on your behalf.

- Every odd year (2019, 2021, etc) you will also be invited to provide feedback for the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey, an important national survey for postgraduate study. Further details can be found at https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/reports-publications-and-resources/postgraduate-research-experience-survey-pres#reports

21 COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS Should you encounter any major difficulties or concerns with your programme, contact the Director of PG Studies, Head of School or RSST. Should you wish to lodge a formal complaint about a service, member of staff or another student, you should follow the University’s established procedures for complaints http://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/progress/Regulations/SPS/complaints.htm. Should you wish to appeal any outcomes of your programme you should follow the Academic Appeals and Query procedure http://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/progress/Regulations/SPS/appeals.htm .

22 HEALTH, SAFETY & SECURITY The School Safety Officer is Christine Wright (MSP School Manager). Security: The NU Security staff are on call 24 hours a day on x86817 (security.control@ncl.ac.uk). In an emergency (imminent and serious danger to people or property) dial x86666 to contact the University Security Control Room or dial x9999 to contact directly to the Police, Fire and Ambulance Services. https://www.ncl.ac.uk/estates/services/security/.

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Fire: If the fire alarm sounds (barring the short routine weekly tests) then you must vacate your building immediately. Fire wardens will assist in the evacuation. For the Herschel Building you should assemble at Assembly Point O, which is in front of Herschel Building, next to the INTO building. There is one fire drill per building per year. When arriving at Newcastle you should familiarise yourself with the nearest exit – look for green ‘running man’ signs - and the nearest first aid providers.

For first aid assistance out-of-hours, contact security on x86666 or dial the emergency services using 9999.

Accidents: Report any accidents to the School Safety Officer.

Specific safety training for PGR students is also offered by the SAgE Faculty PGR training. The available workshops can be found on their booking system https://workshops.ncl.ac.uk/ Covid-19 update: In order to ensure the wellbeing of colleagues and students the University has a 2 metre physical distancing rule across campus unless it is impossible to do so. In these situations, a ‘1m plus’ rule is in effect, which will include a number of additional mitigations such as the mandatory use of face coverings and screens. To help with this, one-way systems, 2m markers floor markers and additional signage can be found in our buildings. If you are experiencing Covid-19 symptoms, you should report them asap using the University Covid tracker: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/wellbeing/coronavirus-studentsupport/ Please also remember to stay at home, arrange a Covid test and contact the School for academic support. Please ensure that you stay up to date with the latest University policies regarding Covid-19. https://newcastle.sharepoint.com/news/nuconnections/Pages/Your-health-and-safety-on-Campus-.aspx

23 USEFUL LINKS

23.1 Student Self-Service Portal (S3P) The Student Self Service Portal (S3P) allows you to register on your programme of study and keep your personal details up-to-date. You can also pay fees online, produce standard documents to confirm your status (e.g. for council tax purposes) or report an absence. Use this system as your first point of call if you want to: • Register on your programme of study • Keep details (addresses etc.) up-to-date • Pay fees • View and print documentation to confirm your student status • Report an absence to your institute https://s3p.ncl.ac.uk/login/index.aspx

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23.2 Library The University Library Service provides access to a wide range of resources and professional expertise to help you to be successful in your studies and research. The libraries house over one million books, subscribe to over 26,000 journals and provide access to more than 6 million ebooks. Library Search (libsearch.ncl.ac.uk) can be used to locate books, ebooks, journal articles and a lot more information using a single search. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/library/

23.3 Careers Service The Careers Service, situated in King’s Gate, Level 1, provides careers advice and support. This includes planning your career, developing your CV, building contacts and networks, and finding a job. They offer tailored advice for Postgraduate students and Researchers; PhD students have a designated Careers Adviser from the Faculty who can offer one-to-one support, and the Careers team run training sessions through the PGRDP. The Careers Service can also provide advice on your CV, and offer an ‘Interview Simulator’ as well as interview coaching sessions. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/careers/ The Careers Service also run Jobs on Campus, a student temp pool which offers temporary and casual paid work assignments within the University for current students. https://www.ncl.ac.uk/careers/jobs/parttime/#about

23.4 International Office The International Office provides information and advice for international students. This includes information on programmes, English language requirements, Erasmus/study abroad information and finance/funding. It also provides an orientation welcome programme and airport collection service. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/international/

23.5 Student Counselling Service A free and confidential service for students. www.ncl.ac.uk/students/wellbeing/support/counselling.htm

23.6 Student Advice Centre A source of information, advice and assistance on practical problems encountered by students. https://www.nusu.co.uk/support/sac/

23.7 Student Disability Unit The University has a Disability Unit which is committed to providing a friendly and accessible service for disabled students so that they may study effectively and make full use of the opportunities at Newcastle University. Advice, information and guidance is available to disabled students at all stages of their university career. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/wellbeing/disability-support/

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23.8 Chaplaincy The Chaplaincy is a team of chaplains working together, appointed by faith communities, recognised by the University and affiliated with the Student Wellbeing Service. The Chaplaincy is committed to working with students and staff of different faiths (and those of no faith) and to making the University a place of religious tolerance and respect. https://www.ncl.ac.uk/wellbeing/supportservices/faithandspiritualitysupport/#covid-19support

23.9 Writing Development Centre The Writing Development Centre offers guidance and tuition for students who wish to improve their writing skills for study or employment purposes. https://www.ncl.ac.uk/library/subject-support/wdc/

23.10 English Language Materials Online (ELMO) ELMO is a website of multimedia, self-study English language activities to help you improve your English for Academic Purposes (EAP). It is free for Newcastle University students and staff. https://elmo.ncl.ac.uk/Home.aspx

23.11 Visa Support A range of assistance from student visa renewal to advice on the immigration implications of changes of study plans. https://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/progress/visa/