Student Participation, Seminars, Conferences and Teaching Opportunities
As developing researchers, and often teachers, research students make a very significant contribution to the academic, intellectual and social life of the College. Accordingly we place great emphasis on your participation in attending and organising seminars, conferences and reading groups, in presenting and discussing your work and the work of your peers. Details of events happening within the College can be found on the SharePoint site, in the weekly bulletin and in regular emails from event convenors.
Student led initiatives
It is important that you also have opportunity to meet socially with PGR students from other disciplines within the College, and encourage you to get involved with any student activity and journals.
If there are initiatives that you would like to start, we encourage you to contact the PGR Support Team to discuss, as funding may be available to support student initiatives.
Disciplines regularly hold research seminars with both internal and external speakers. The College consider these sessions to be a vital part of postgraduate training and student attendance at these seminars is therefore strongly encouraged. Further details will be provided by your supervisor or discipline DPGR, and at the Business School events page.
Students and their Supervisors have a duty to arrange for the presentation of their students’ work. If there is an opportunity where you are keen to present, it is important that you discuss this with your supervisor so that they can support any applications you need to make. There are several opportunities for this:
- Presentation of papers at the School’s Annual Research Conference or equivalent event.
- Presentation at an internal departmental seminar: ask your supervisor about this possibility.
- Publication in a School working/discussion paper. Consult your supervisor who will discuss the matter with the relevant series editor.
- Publication in an appropriate journal. Discuss this possibility with your supervisor who may be willing to co-author a paper with you.
- Presentation of a paper at an external academic meeting or conference.
The School strongly encourages this activity and may contribute towards its costs. The Business School and the University have a strong interest in students’ academic development and future careers, and therefore the School encourages you to present and obtain external expert feedback on your work, provided it does not detract from submitting your thesis on time.
The Annual PGR Student’s Conference is held each year in June and is an opportunity to get involved and gain experience of organising a conference and presenting a paper. Attendance at, and participation in, the College’s PGR annual conference is considered compulsory, unless there are mitigating circumstances. Each student is required to present a paper at least twice during their studies.
Get involved
The PGR Conference is an opportunity for you to work with the PGR reps and directors of PGR to arrange a college-wide event. If you would like to get involved, contacy your discipline DPGR to discuss further.
Each discipline in the College has a Postgraduate Research Liaison Forum, which is open to the entire graduate research student cohort in that discipline; it includes discipline DPGR participation, and is chaired by a student member elected by the forum members.
The PGRLFs are an important means by which to voice your views and concerns about your studies. Their purpose is to enable students and staff jointly to participate in the management and improvement of postgraduate provision within the College.
The College PGRLF meets twice a term. Notice of meetings and a request for agenda items are emailed around to all students prior to the meetings. Concerns raised by the PGRLF are addressed by the PGR Support Officer and, if necessary, the College Director of Postgraduate Research. The minutes of each meeting are emailed to all PGR’s within the discipline, the discipline DPGR and the student Guild. They are also posted on the PGR SharePoint and are considered by the College’s Graduate Research Strategy Group as part of its normal business.
There are discipline meetings once a term which are organised by the discipline student rep and DPGR.
Further information about the university’s policies around the PGRLF are available in the TQA Manual, Chapter 6, PGR Liaison Forums.
If you wish to undertake teaching or teaching-related activity, you must first complete at least the first stage of the LTHE course (Learning and Teaching in Higher Education).
For further information about the employment of PGR students as PTAs please refer to the University’s Code of Good Practice: Employment of Postgraduate Students.
Teaching is not guaranteed unless it is part of a financial offer sent to you with your programme offer prior to enrolment. You should check with your discipline to see what opportunities are available. Some disciplines may offer teaching opportunities on a competitive basis, with a requirement that you attend training sessions provided by the University.
PTA contracts are managed by Human Resources and not the PGR Support Office. Further guidance is available at the PTA webpages.
The Doctoral College and Business School are keen to ensure that there is a vibrant research culture amongst our PGR students, whether that is within the discipline, college or across the wider university. Throughout the year, there are events where we celebrate your research and can get involved in events run by the Doctoral College. Events include:
- Researcher led initiatives
- 3 minute thesis
- Postgraduate research showcase
- Opportunities across the GW4
For more details go to Researcher Development and Research Culture on the Doctoral College website.
