Computing Science Research Student Monitoring & Progression

These monitoring and progression rules work within the context of the CoPS Graduate School Research Student Monitoring and Progression framework, and it is important for students and supervisors to be familiar with this framework.

Monitoring Arrangements - Year 1

By the end of the 9th month (pro-rata for part-time students) every research student is expected to have submitted a first year report (around 4000 words excluding references). The report should address the following elements:

Summary of research question and justification for significance.
Knowledge of literature to justify novelty of research question.
Outline of approach to addressing the research question.
Outline of work plan (typically with a Gantt Chart).
Summary of engagement with discipline specific and generic skills courses.

Part 1 of the First Year Research Student Assessment Form should be completed and submitted with the report by Month 9 to the Research Secretary, who will then forward the report and form to the assessors.

By the end of the 10th month each student will have had a viva. Two internal assessors will be appointed to form a panel, which will evaluate the first year report, interview the student and complete the First Year Research Student Assessment Form. The Research Training Coordinator will inform the names of the assessors to the students. Students should contact their assessors to arrange the viva in Month 10. After the viva, the assessors should document the outcome of the viva and submit the assessment form electronically to the Research Training Coordinator, who will print out and sign the assessment form, and leave the signed form to the Research Secretary, so that the lead supervisor and the PhD student can also sign the form. Once that is done, the Research Secretary will submit the signed form to the Head of School. Before the completed and signed form is sent to the Graduate School, the Research Secretary should ensure that the student, supervisor(s) and the student file held by School should get a copy of it.

Monitoring Arrangements - Year 2

By the end of the 21st month (pro-rata for part time students) every continuing research student is expected to have submitted a second year report (around 1000 words -- no, not 10000 words) and given a presentation at a Postgraduate Research Workshop. The report should address the following elements:

Achievement against the work plan.
Summary of engagement with discipline specific and generic skills courses (since the first year report).
Plan for completion.
Evidence of external peer review of thesis research (included in the Appendix).

Part 1 of the Second Year Research Student Assessment Form should be completed and submitted with the report by Month 21 to the Research Secretary, who will then forward the report and form to the assessors.

Where there is no evidence of external peer review of the thesis research, the student is required to submit a technical report (around 5000 words) together with the second year report. The supervisor(s) of the student should arrange an external assessor for this technical report.

Examples of evidence of external peer review include:

Published peer reviewed papers.
Submitted paper to a conference/journal for which reasonable feedback has been received.
Poster at conference.

By the end of the 22nd month each student will have had a viva. Two internal assessors will be appointed to form a panel, which will evaluate the second year report, interview the student and complete the Second Year Research Student Assessment Form. The Research Training Coordinator will inform the names of the assessors to the students. Students should contact their assessors to arrange the viva in Month 22. After the viva, the assessors should document the outcome of the viva and submit the assessment form electronically to the Research Training Coordinator, who will print out and sign the assessment form, and leave the signed form to the Research Secretary, so that the lead supervisor and the PhD student can also sign the form. Once that is done, the Research Secretary will submit the signed form to the Head of School. Before the completed and signed form is sent to the Graduate School, the Research Secretary should ensure that the student, supervisor(s) and the student file held by School should get a copy of it.

Postgraduate Research Workshop

The workshop has two sessions:

Poster presentation session: for first year students.
Oral presentation session: for second year students.

Although first year students are not formally required to present at the workshop, we strongly enourage them to do so before they submit their first year report, as the workshop would provide opportunities for first year students through poster presentation to discuss their research ideas with colleagues.

The workshop will be run up to twice a year. The first one will be on the week after the Easter holiday. The second one will be in the 7th week of the new academic year. Extra workshops might be run (e.g. over the summer) when needed. The workshop is organised by the Seminars Coordinator and the Research Training Coordinator.