Recruiting Research Students

John Kirby

Graduate School

Faculty of Medical Sciences

Prof. Kirby is the Faculty’s postgraduate tutor he has recruited and successfully supervised many research students this presentation will give some ideas of the things to look for when recruiting postgraduate researchers

Why do you want a student?

• The upside – Have excellent qualification and a high

degree of motivation• Can be easier to attract good students than

post-docs

– Can be good value for money• Projects often lead to new areas and large

grants

– Can be highly productive• Some groups report up to 1/3 of their RAE

submissions stem from PhD student research

– Positive contribution to research

Taking research students has many upsides and studentships can often be the starting points for bigger research projects with further projects spinning out from their work

Why do you want a student?

• The downside– Projects can be expensive

• Can be a drain on resource (not much money for consumables)

– Loss leaders…

– Can be very labour intensive for supervisors and other lab workers

• Time pressures• Assessment • Thesis writing

On the downside the costs of a project are not always covered by the studentship so may need to be supplemented. There is also a considerable amount of work in the Administration of the students, completing forms etc. They are also likely to need help with writing their assessments and thesis. There is also few guarantees of their quality or commitment than an experienced postdoc.

The bottom line

In order to maximise fee income, the faculty expects all members of academic staff to supervise a mean of 2.3 postgraduate research students.

Overall students form a vital part of the faculty’s research and academics are expected to have students. Obviously its impossible to have 0.3 of a person but this reflects studentships having supervisory teams allowing academics to have a portion of a student

How do you get a student? - 1• Apply for a studentship grant

– Examples:• Research Councils (various schemes)• Faculty schemes• Charities

– British Heart Foundation

– CRUK, etc ….

– Typically need ~ £75,000 for a 36 month studentship (home –EU- fees, with limited consumables)

• May also be 4-year schemes– Combine with MRes (1 + 3 year)

– Advertise the vacancy (through the graduate school)The easiest way to attract students is to have funding available for a studentship. This can come from a variety of sources, the faculty is keen to get research council funding and recently has awarded some studentships which are 50% funded by the faculty and 50% by the MRC. A range of Charities offer studentships, theses can be quite variable regarding the amount of overall funding with some not providing money for consumables. Stipends vary greatly and those with higher stipends will be popular for attracting good students. Increasingly popular is the 1+3 model. Studentships will be advertised through the graduate school, running ads is expensive ~£600 for a small ad in New Scientist so getting the graduate schools support with this is a good idea.

How do you get a student? - 2

• Consider an application in your research area from a candidate who is self financing or has other personal support– Often (but not always) an overseas

applicant

– E2R can be found at– http://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply/applicationforms.phtml

There are also the possibility that students may be able to get there own funding to work with you. Students may contact you directly but at some point they should make their application through the E2R (enquiry to registration) system

The Graduate school will advertise PhDs on findaphd.com this one shows a studentship offered by Prof Hirst

How do students apply?

• If responding to an advertised studentship– Students might contact the supervisor(s)

directly for informal information

But– They should also use a reference number

for specific web-based application through the ‘E2R’ (enquiries to registration) system

Studentships will have a quotation number that will be used when completing the E2R application form. The E2R form is also used for students who don’t have a specific studentship in mind. Search boxes should allow students to identify the correct person to talk to if they don’t have a firm idea of what project they are interested in

Specific studentships have a reference number for use with the E2R system as can be seen underlined in red on this advert

The E2R form looks like this and the reference number from an application can be entered where the red arrow points

How do students apply?• If making a general application for PhD

training, students also use the online system

• Student may not have identified a supervisor– but, should provide details (up to 500

words) listing research interests/plans

• Student may not have secured funding at this stage– A conditional offer from Newcastle can help

such students to secure a grant

Students without funding should not be deterred from applying as once they have a conditional offer they may be able to use this to help them get funding from their government or other bodies

What next?• Applications are sent to appropriate

graduate school contact (Lizzie Niven for PhD/MPhil)

• If application is for a specific (advertised) studentship, details of all applicants are forwarded to supervisors– Minimum requirements:

• Relevant good upper second class degree (or equivalent)

• Two satisfactory references• Language qualification (see later)

Students sometimes get in without a 2i degree or with some dispensation on the language requirements but these are often students which run into difficulties at a later stage

If overseas application, the graduate school will:• Check qualifications (including quality of the

issuing university)• Requests references• Pass application to Prof Steve Yeaman

– (who decides whether to proceed)

• Then to School/Institute PG tutor– (who selects most appropriate supervisors

• Then to individual academic– (who decides whether to offer conditional place

and level of fees)

Checks are made about the quality of the degrees from international universities and if a suitable level is reached the application is passed on finally reaching the appropriate academic

Sites are available to help check the quality of degrees from around the world

Fees

• Overseas students are required to pay fees at a high rate– Band 2/2a little ‘bench fee’– Band 2b: £4,440 comes to the lab– Band 3: £7,910 comes to the lab

• Good overseas students can apply for a competitive ORS award to pay the difference between home (EU) and overseas fees.

Overseas students fees will cover consumables, ORS can pay the difference between an overseas and a home students fees typically this will only happen after the first year

English language

• Measured by recognised examinations– Typically IELTS (international English

language test system)• Require overall score of 6.5

– 4 component scores» Writing (minimum score of 6

required)» Reading» Speaking» Listening

• Or successfully complete a pre-sessional programme of study

Writing is the key area as the other areas are likely to be improved when present but really a higher score in writing is better, higher scores tend to correlate to student’s success

The IRLTS page shows how a student performed on each section. Student may be able to have a summer of English lessons before starting their degree, this is known as a pre-sessional. If a student does not meet the language requirements it is ultimately up to the Dean to say if dispensation can be granted

References• Request specific rather than general details

– Do you anticipate (s)he will obtain at least a 2:1?– Does (s)he have research potential and motivation

towards biomedical science?– Can (s)he express ideas clearly?– Can (s)he work well with a team?– Does (s)he enjoy an intellectual challenge?– Does (s)he show tenacity in the face of difficult

problems? – Has (s)he demonstrated laboratory skills (although

we do anticipate that most PhD candidates will have little practical experience at this stage)?

Each student requires two references, sometimes references are collected as a matter of course sometimes pre-selection occurs first it is a good idea to ask questions that invite comment.

References

• Few academics will write strongly negative references– Read between the lines– Look for faint praise or coded messages

• ‘with the benefit of strong supervision this candidate should…..’

• ‘although this applicant has no direct knowledge of the subject area, with appropriate training (s)he…..’

• If in doubt, phone the referee for a chat

as referees are reluctant to be negative. It is important to read between the lines and make sure they have the qualities required of a good researcher, tenacity is as important as academic brilliance.

If possible, interview potential students

• Minimum of 2 experienced supervisors– Supervisory team– Ideally, an additional academic

• Decide in advance what you will all contribute to the process– Who will ask what?– Keep notes

• Has the candidate taken the trouble to find out about your work?

Interview if possible using a team to help you, telephone conferencing maybe an alternative if this is difficult. It’s a good idea to maintain an element in informality. There is no excuse for a student not knowing about your work

• Why did the candidate apply for this project?

• What relevant experience has (s)he?– Final year project?– Summer vacation projects?

• Will the candidate achieve at least a good 2:1?

• Do you think the candidate will accept the studentship if offered?

• Remember to offer to pay expenses!Try to make sure the candidate will accept the offer if it is made, the graduate school may take sometime in making the offer and you want to be sure that they will be coming. Expenses should be paid and if you aren’t going to pay travel expenses this should be explained prior to the interview. This must come out of your own budget.

Discrimination• Be fully aware of (and comply completely

with) the University’s policy on discrimination– Age– Sex– Disability – Race

• But be aware that not all funding bodies will support applications from non UK or EU nationals– For example, EU Marie Curie PhD fellows training

in the UK must be citizens of any country in the EU but the UK!

Make sure you are aware of the correct policy for each studentship Marie Curie awards are for EU students while UK research councils tend to fund only UK students

Premia helps with information about disability, remember this can be at all levels a student with colour blindness will have problems using flow cytometry

What next?

• Let the graduate school know your decision (complete a studentship form)– detail project title, supervisors, fee band,

start date, HoS signature etc• The graduate school will make a formal offer to

the successful applicant• The graduate school will also let unsuccessful

applicants know the result– You might also wish to provide specific feedback

It is good for candidates to know why they weren’t selected so you might like to contact them in order to let them know why they weren’t chosen

Selection is critical

Every year a number of research students withdraw after registration

1995/96 131996/97 151997/98 191998/99 131999/00 212000/01 222001/02 28

2002/03 192003/04 102004/05 92005/06 72006/07 10 (so far)

This represents a significant waste of time, money and effort

Each year a number of students withdraw this can be for a variety of reasons but its important this number is minimised as it is a considerable waste of resources if they do leave

Reasons for withdrawal• Personal/Health/Financial• PhD study not what expected/wanted• Lack of results/wrong project for me• Unhappy with supervision• Student gone AWOL• Studies terminated by Dean of Postgraduate

Studies• Transferred with supervisor to another

institution

If a student is ill they can apply for a suspension of studies and this is better than having time troubles. Good selection should help to cut down on the number that withdraw.

Is withdrawal predictable?• Life events – not really

– Suspension of studies?• Weak students – yes

– there is a correlation between students with a 2:2 or whose language entry criteria have been waived and subsequent withdrawal

• Has the supervisory team experienced a greater than average withdrawal rate? (some have)

• Was the student really motivated to undertake this specific project?– Should this have been apparent at an earlier stage?

• Some students only decide to do a PhD when they get a better degree than was anticipated…

• Was the project well-designed and achievable within the timescale?

Students who drift into a PhD, those with a 2ii, or with language difficulties are all more likely to end up with difficulties. Rigorous assessment of the project is important and does take place

‘Exit routes’ along the way

• It is a good idea to encourage untested PhD students to register for a four-year MRes – PhD programme.

• If the MRes does not go well, the student can leave after 12 months with (hopefully) a positive outcome– Successful students will also benefit from

the experience gained during the MRes and will hit the ground running at the start of the PhD.

The MRes route has the benefit of giving students some experience of research and exiting with a degree, only suitable candidates will end up doing a PhD

What about 3-year PhD programmes

• The 9-month assessment identifies students who are unlikely to achieve a PhD– However, a clear decision MUST be

reached within the first 12-months• Many grants will re-generate first year funding if

a student departs in the first 12 months• Withdrawal after 12 months shows as non-

completion in our overall rates

If a student withdraws in the first year of the degree this often means the studentship can be taken up by another student. If a student is not likely to complete their studies this is the best solution for all parties

Induction• Barry Hirst is currently touring the

faculty explaining this process

– Project approval• Defines project goals, timelines, supervisory

team, assessors• Crucial for assessors to approve projects which

have not already been peer-reviewed (eg: overseas or self-funded students)

– Learning agreement

Appropriate induction is very important, this subject is being covered within Schools and institutes. It is very important that projects are approved as this ensures the rigour of the project. The students also must sign their learning agreement to make sure they understand their responsibilities