Thursday 20 March 2014

Annual report extract - Postgraduate Research Students

Fiona Cowdell, Graduate Research Director

Dr Fiona Cowdell 
Doctoral research activity in The Faculty of Health and Social Care has increased significantly over the last two years.  Supervision capacity has improved with the appointment of the new professoriate and existing staff taking on PhD supervision. We continue to receive large numbers of applications and are now in a position to be more selective with applicants. The required IELTS score has been increased from overall 6 with a minimum 5.5 for each element to an overall 6 with minimum 6 for each element.

We now have a cohort of 40 active PhD students, 12 from overseas and 28 from the UK, and 20 active Clinical Psychology Doctorate students. One student has completed and two have submitted and are awaiting viva. Six PhD scholarships were awarded September 2013, three funded by the university and three by the Alumni Association. We are currently advertising for scholarships students for September 2014 these include FHSC specific, interdisciplinary and, for the first time, NHS funded places. FHSC is reviewing the MRes programme. The new programme will consist of a range of blended learning modules with direct application to health care research and will provide a route into PhD studies.    

We are continuously improving the student experience  through initiatives such as: holding a welcome tea party and meet the Dean session; providing senior PhD student mentors to new starters;  integration of students into one of our three Research Development Groups; encouraging students to attend faculty and university seminars; developing a PGR Forum which consists of professorial master classes and the opportunity for students to present their own work for peer feedback and an annual PGR Spotlight conference which is largely organised by PGR students.


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