The UK’s European university

POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH AT KENT

2019/20

Dr Gurprit LallDean of the Graduate School

Hello Kent / Getting Started

• Familiarise yourself with the online Postgraduate Research Student

Handbook - blogs.kent.ac.uk/pgrhandbook/

• Meet your school’s Postgraduate Administrator.

• Find out who the Director of Graduate Studies is within your

academic school.

• Acquaint yourself with your School’s support processes –

tutor/student/academic advisor etc.

• Set up an initial meeting with your main supervisor.

• Find out the name of your academic liaison librarian and visit the

library to discover the resources available in your subject area.

• Check your Kent emails on a regular basis.

• HAVE FUN!

With passion and focus you

can achieve anything

The Graduate School works in partnership with academic schools, faculties, central service

departments and Kent Union to enhance the quality of the postgraduate student experience

across all campuses and create a vibrant postgraduate community at Kent.

Graduate School Highlights:

• Postgraduate Research Student Handbook: blogs.kent.ac.uk/pgrhandbook/

• Researcher Development Programme

• Postgraduate Community Experience Awards

• #PGVoice

• Kent Researchers’ Showcase

• GradPost

Researcher Development

Programme

Examples of workshops/training:

• Kickstart your PhD (1st year)

• Progressing in your PhD (2nd year)

• Finishing your PhD (3rd years)

• Research methods and statistics (including: Statistics, LaTeX, R, NVivo)

• Writing skills workshops (one-to-one tutorials and writing retreats)

• Writing for journals and getting published

• 1:1 coaching sessions

• Rapid reading

• Leadership and negotiation skills

• Information management skills

• Presentation skills and Impact

• Time / stress management

• Approaches to teaching sessions (for those who will be teaching)

Researcher Development Programme

• Our Researcher Development

Programme offers a range of

training workshops to help you

develop research and transferable

skills.

• These will be valuable to you during

your study but also for your chosen

career, whether in academia or

beyond.

• Our RDP is mapped to the national

Researcher Development

Framework.

Kickstart your PhD Workshop

• Compulsory for all PhD students.

• Workshops held throughout the autumn term.

• Workshop topics: • Researcher Development Programme

• Resources for PhD journey

• Responsibilities of PG researcher

• Supervisory relationship.

• The workshop also helps you to reflect on and assess your

current skills and introduces the Researcher Development

Assessment (RDA).

You must attend this workshop AND complete online assessment as part of the Probation process.

GradPost

The GradPost Editorial Team

A quarterly newsletter created by

Postgraduates for the

Postgraduate community.

For more information on how to get involved contact: gradpost@kent.ac.uk

Information on Gradpost opportunities that

will look great on your CV and enhance your

postgraduate experience at Kent can be

found on our website:

www.kent.ac.uk/graduateschool/news/gradpo

st/html

Postgraduate Space

Postgraduate space in your school – this may be a common room or shared desk space

• Study Space for postgraduate researchers -

Room DC105, Drill Hall Library

The Drill Hall Library provides this newly refurbished

room for Medway postgraduate researchers to study,

network, collaborate and meet peers. The room is on

the first floor and can be accessed from the Group

Zone. For more information, visit the Drill Hall Library

webpage.

• Senior Common Room - Room R2-04, Rochester Building

This shared communal space (for both staff and students) is available

for use by postgraduates for socialising, group work or private study.

• Drill Hall Library - silent, quiet and group study

spaces, café and refreshment area for relaxed

study, and techno booths for informal group

working with high-tech equipment

#PGVoiceGet involved and make your voice heard!

There are a range of mechanisms you can use to provide feedback on the quality of

your academic and social experiences as a postgraduate student at Kent. These

mechanisms include:

• Staff Student Liaison Committees (SSLCs) www.kent.ac.uk/academic/sslc/index.html

• Speaking to Kent Union. They are your students’ union and exist to make sure your voice

is heard.

• Talking to your Student Reps – student reps act as the link between the student body,

Kent Union and the University.

• Speaking to your Supervisor or Academic Advisers.

• Send your feedback to the Graduate School: graduateschool@kent.ac.uk

• Annual Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES)

Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) 2019

• 83% Overall Satisfaction

Working During Your Studies

There are various opportunities to undertake paid and unpaid work

during your studies. Benefits include:

• Earning extra income

• Networking and making new contacts

• Gaining experience and learning new skills

• Tier 4 Visa Students

• All Tier 4 postgraduate students may work up to 20 hours per

week until the end of their course.

• PGR students may have the opportunity to undertake work

placements which are integral to your PhD research. These

opportunities should be discussed with your supervisor and

School.

Progression through your research degree

Key Contacts for Research Students:

• Your Main Supervisor

• Your Supervisory Team

• Your School Director of Graduate Studies (with responsibility for

research programmes)

• Your Postgraduate Student Representative

• Postgraduate Administrator

• Faculty Associate Dean (Graduate Studies)

Key Information for Research Students

• University and School Postgraduate Student Handbooks

• University Regulations for Research Programmes of Study

www.kent.ac.uk/uelt/quality/regulations/research/phdres.html

• Code of Practice for the Quality Assurance for Research

Programmes of Study in particular:

• Annex H (Supervision)

www.kent.ac.uk/teaching/qa/codes/research/annexh.html

• Annex K (Progression and Examination)

www.kent.ac.uk/teaching/qa/codes/research/annexknew.htm

Initial Meeting with your Main Supervisor

Ensure that you have a meeting set up with your Main Supervisor

within the first two weeks of registration to discuss:

• How your supervisory team-student relationship will work (e.g.

preferred means of contact, feedback mechanisms and turnaround

times)

• Your meeting schedule

• Your work plan

• Any initial concerns

• Skills training requirements

• What you will be required to prepare for your induction review

(six weeks after registration)

• How progression monitoring will be handled within your

academic school (i.e. any school specific requirements)

• Facilities/resources

Supervisory Interaction• You should have a meeting with your main supervisor at a minimum of

once every 4 weeks for full-time students (and every 8 weeks for PT

students)

• The “meeting” should generally be face to face, occasionally an email

exchange or telephone conversation may have to replace this.

• Following the “meeting”, you should complete a supervisory record

form on the Student Data System (SDS) and once this has been

completed it will be sent to your supervisor for agreement.

• The supervisory record template covers:

• Progress made since the last “meeting”

• Areas discussed at the “meeting”

• Work agreed

• Only one supervisory record is required for July/August.

• The SDS will remind you when a supervisory record is due for

completion.

• See p.4 of Postgraduate Research Student Handbook for details on

completing supervision reports

Supervision

• Supervisors and students are expected to treat one another with

courtesy

• Discuss any problems at the earliest opportunity so any issues to

be resolved quickly and effectively

• Should there be a more serious breakdown in the main

supervisor/student relationship, the matter should be brought to

the attention of the School Director of Graduate Studies who will

review the situation

• Concerns about supervision should be raised at the earliest

opportunity

Progression Monitoring

Review Stages Timing

Induction review Within 6 weeks of registration (for both PT and FT research

students)

Probation review At 10 months for FT research students and 12 months for

PT research students

End of year reviews At the end of each year

Mid-year reviews (if

necessary)

Mid-year reviews may be scheduled in cases where

concerns are raised at an end of year review

Submission review 3 months prior to the minimum period of registration (e.g. 3

years for FT PhD and 5 years for PT PhD students)

Annex K (Progression and Examination) of the Code of Practice provides detailed

information about the review stages and links to the review forms:

www.kent.ac.uk/uelt/quality/rescode2005/annexknew.html

Progression Monitoring on SDS

• Your review documentation will be recorded on the Student Data

System (SDS). See p.10 of Postgraduate Research Student

Handbook.

• The SDS will provide dates by which the different reviews are

due.

• It will be the responsibility of the Review Panel to complete the

documentation on-line but once it is completed you will be able to

view this on-line.

• Annex K (Progression and Examination) of the Code of Practice

for Research Programmes of Study provides details of what

needs to be prepared in advance of a review.

@UniKentGradSch

www.kent.ac.uk/graduateschool

@UniKentGradSch

Graduate School Online