Minutes of Postgraduate Staff-Student Liaison Committee
Meeting
Friday 13th January 2006 at 12.30pm in room P523
Those Present
Students: Emma Barney, Andy Edmonds, Chris Fox, Ian Hughes, Dean Keeble,
Robin Orman, Ben Parkinson, Nicola Wilson, Jenny Wooldridge.
Staff: Malcolm Cooper, Mark Hadley, Diane Holland, David Leadley, Oleg Petrenko.
Apologies
Received from Dominic Pearman, Caroline Shenton-Taylor, Pam Thomas and John
Thornby.
Elections
The committee position of Social Secretary was open for election (held over from the
previous meeting). With no candidates for the post, it was decided that individuals
would be invited to organise social events as needed.
Approval of Minutes and Matters Arising
The minutes were approved as an accurate record of the last meeting.
A considered response from Mark Hadley concerning the IT issues raised at the
previous meeting was distributed to the members of the committee. Mark also
presented data from IT Services on the usage of Origin licenses on the Tree, showing
no occasions of overly high usage during the period October-December 2005. Mark
said he would keep an eye on the usage figures, and more licenses would be made
available on the Tree if required. Mark also added the following points to the
discussion over IT concerns:
•
If grants were obtained that included money for IT support, such support
would be provided, even if the funds were not enough to provide for full-time
employment of an IT technician.
•
People using Windows NT machines should seriously consider upgrading to
Windows XP if possible, since the former is no longer being supported by
Microsoft. It was noted that this may require new computers to cope with the
higher system requirements of Windows XP.
•
Mark would try to arrange for a member of ITS to present information on
their Science network options. Particularly as regards the backup of large
amounts of data, Mark believed this could potentially be a useful system to
take advantage of.
Mark also mentioned that he was looking into the email problems experienced by the
students formerly undergraduates at Warwick, and was waiting for a response.
Robin Orman reported that relatively few responses had been received to a
questionnaire on the current IT situation, but that these would nevertheless be
passed on to the IT Committee for their assessment.
Emma announced that Pam Thomas had offered her apologies for the delay in the
return of feedback sheets for the 3rd Year reports, and that all students should now
have received their copies.
Andy Edmonds asked for clarification on the new arrangements for the 2nd Year
poster/talk assessment, as discussed in the last meeting. It was established that
students would present talks to their research groups (or to several related groups
where necessary to ensure a sizable audience) whilst posters would still be put up for
the whole Department to appreciate on a specific day. The posters would be
assessed by two designated members of staff.
Academic Matters
Diane Holland wished it noted that problems experienced by those students
responsible for undergraduate Examples Classes (due to term starting mid-week)
would not be repeated. Malcolm clarified that this was a University time-tabling
matter, and it had been decided that terms would start at the beginning of the week
from next year.
Malcolm Cooper announced that a review of academic progress would be conducted
on the 27th/28th of February. All postgraduates are encouraged to be present over
this period. A session of posters given by students representing each research
group, followed by a session where the review panel could ask questions will be
organised for the reviewers.
Malcolm also reported on the outcome of PPARC student allocations and, in
particular, it was noted that the Department did not score as highly as possible in the
“generic training” category: as a result the Department will be placing greater
emphasis on student participation in University and Research Council courses in
future years. It was noted that many students were unaware of the courses on
offer, and it was suggested that email announcements of available courses would be
useful (in addition to information already available on the Physics website). It was
also suggested that a member of the SSLC should be assigned to find, filter and
disseminate information on available courses: this was deemed a sensible approach,
and Nicola Wilson volunteered to fill this role.
Safety Issues
It was noted by several members of the committee that the door on the lift in the
department was not opening smoothly, possibly indicating the beginning of a
mechanical fault. It was also announced that safety inspections were being carried
out throughout the Department over the next 3-4 weeks.
Ben Parkinson expressed concerns over the availability of recycling points within the
Department. Malcolm volunteered to raise the issue at the next Staff Meeting; in the
meantime it was noted that bags for paper recycling were available on request from
the cleaning staff, and printer ink cartridges could be returned to Stores for
recycling.
Social Events
Ben reported that the Postgraduate Seminar series had resumed this term, and
continued to be a success.
Emma reported that Pam Thomas had suggested the organisation of a combined
staff/student trip to see a play by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-
upon-Avon during the summer. The idea was met with some interest, although it
was noted that the play chosen would affect numbers and that a block-booking of
tickets would need to be arranged well in advance.
Date of Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held on the 3rd of March.
Any Other Business
There was no other business.
Robin Orman
Secretary