If you are a full-time student, you are expected to spend around 35 hours per week on your research; if part-time, you are expected to spend around 12 hours per week studying.

You will have at least one formal monthly supervision meeting, although in practice you may meet with your supervisors more frequently than this. Often this will depend on your discipline area and stage of study. Formal supervision meetings should be logged on PhD Manager where you can also upload meeting notes.

If you are an International Student you should refer to the Procedures for International Postgraduate Researchers to find out about attendance and engagement requirements.

Please note: University term-times do not apply to research students; you are expected to be here all year round unless you have annual leave or the University is officially closed e.g. Christmas and bank holidays.

Your progress towards completion of will be monitored each year. You will complete an annual review of progress and your supervisory team will add their comments, and grade your progress to date. 

The Faculty Research Degrees Committee will use this information to decide whether you are invited to continue for the next academic session. Completing your progress review in good time is therefore essential. 

You will receive a reminder from PhD Manager when it is time to submit your annual review. Reminders are sent to your student email account so you should get into the habit of checking this and logging into PhD Manager on a daily basis.  

Transfer process

If you have registered for an MPhil/PhD, you will apply to transfer or upgrade to doctoral level study within 12 months of initial registration (if registered full-time) and within 24 months of registration (if registered part-time).

You will submit a transfer report of up to 6000 words via PhD Manager.  Your transfer report will be reviewed by an independent academic in your subject area who will also conduct a transfer viva.

Transfer outcome

If your independent specialist is to recommend that you continue on a PhD route, they must be convinced that your progress and the quality of your work is satisfactory and that you are likely to be able to demonstrate an original contribution in the time you have remaining.

For a full list of possible outcomes please refer to the Research Degree Regulations.

What to include in your transfer report

Your transfer report should include a brief review and discussion of work already undertaken and a statement of further work, including details of any original contribution to knowledge which is likely to emerge from your research.

If you are registered full-time you are entitled to take up to 35 days per year annual leave (which excludes bank holidays and closure days). This runs from 1st October to 30th September. If you have leave left at the end of your leave period you may carry over a maximum of five days. 

For those of you starting your studies in January or April your first year's leave will be calculated pro-rata e.g if you start in April you will have 17.5 days leave to take between April and October.

If you are a Home / EU student annual leave is agreed with your Director of Study and you should both retain a record of this.

If you are an International student you should refer to the Procedures for International Postgraduate Researchers. 

A variety of resources including Regulations, Codes of Practices, Research Governance Framework and other useful documents are available here.

The Research Engagement Fund exists to offer grants to postgraduate researchers to enable them to develop networks and research engagement profiles.  The maximum amount available is £850.

Research Engagement Fund Information for Applicants

Research Engagement Fund application form

Enquiries should be directed to Alison Crudgington in the Graduate School.

Ben used the money to pay for a research trip to Canada

Our Annual Postgraduate Researchers Showcase showcases inspiring and innovative research from across our postgraduate research community. The event provides postgraduate researchers with valuable experience in communicating and disseminating their research. It also allows for some thought-provoking questions and useful feedback from the academic community, and potential links and collaborations to be formed. 

Financial Difficulties

The University can offer support to UK students who are experiencing financial difficulties. The Student Support Fund is open to enrolled students. You can apply from October.

Wellbeing Service
The Wellbeing Service consists of the Health Service; Mental Health & Counselling Service and the Disability Service.

The Advice Zone

The Advice Zone offers confidential advice on anything that affects your ability to study,. They work with a range of other services to ensure you receive the overall support you need.