Physics PG-SSLC
Minutes for the meeting held on 23rd October 2015, P523
1. Welcome
Apologies for absence: Valery Nakariakov
2. Minutes of the last meeting
Everyone is aware that the minutes from the previous meeting are on the PGSSLC website.
3. No condensed matter MPAGS
This year there are no MPAGS modules being offered for condensed matter PGs. There is a
microscopy course on offer but this is not useful for all condensed matter. It is not possible
to reach the required 6 MPAGS credits with these alone. There are DTC courses and summer
schools which can count, but is inadequate. Some modules are only run every other year,
however the B’ham condensed matter module has not been run for 4 years. Matt Turner has
contacted the B’ham MPAGS director about this, and they are not expecting any new modules
for this year—this is poor. Although it is possible to get to 6 credits through 3 week-long summer schools, this is expensive and so not possible for everyone—student conference funds
should not be used for this. DTC information should be made available to students. These
are assessed by written and practical components of the course. Labview and simulation formal training should also count—training must not be passive. The department should make
it as easy as possible to see DTC courses for PG physics students can attend. There are already
some links of the physics website. Presumably B’ham/N’ham students in a similar situation.
4. Clarification on PG students training UG students
This item has come up before. Results from previous discussions on this: PhD students can
be training UGs on equipment, however the PhDs should not be organising this. Overall supervision is expected to be from academic staff via weekly meetings. There are no specific
intstructions to supervisors on how projects are implemented. This does mean there is no
mechanism to see how project progress is going. The department is against PhD students
being uninvolved with UG projects. It is asked whether the guidelines can be placed on the
website. If a PhD student has a problem with the arrangement, they should talk to their supervisor, or if failing that, the director of studies.
5. Office Space for PGs
The government have regulations on space for office work of 11 m3 /person (for a room height
capped at 3m). See: http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/faqs/roomspace.htm
For many groups this regulation is not met for PhD workspaces. It is pointed out that it is not
required that PhD students are not required to have any space, e.g. for humanities many PG
students work mostly in the library. Desk space is instead offered to students. Students who
are thesis writing may have to ’hot desk’ to ensure enough desk space for pre-thesis writing
students. At the moment we can carry on as we are, but may have to ‘kick-out’ students once
their thesis is submitted. Another option is to put students in other rooms, but they would
be away from their group (e.g. some space is available on the 3rd floor of MAS if desperately
needed). Gheetha says “We’ll work on it”.
6. Warwick PG physics twitter account
A member of staff has mentioned that there is a physics PG twitter account that has not been
updated for more than a year. We should either use the account of deactivate it—it does not
look good to prospective PG students having a dormant account. Some point out that if used
regularly could provide another avenue to let students know of university events. However
with Susan’s other emails, and various other university twitter accounts, this would be quite
redundant. Most of the previous ‘tweets’ are ‘retweets’ of other university accounts. All of the
accounts’ ‘followers’ consist of other university accounts or ex-UG students. It is therefore
agreed that Susan will deactivate the account.
7. Any other business?
Gent’s 1st floor PS bathroom — The Physical Sciences gent’s bathroom suffers from rather
poor air quality. If the door is left open, this also affects the top floor of PS. The raisers want
to know if an extactor fan could be installed here. They are asked to contact Bob Bridgland.
PG students in MR/diamond groups — There are students in Milburn House in the MR and
Diamond groups (also the CDTs) who may have issues they wish to raise with the rest of
physics. There is attendance of the SSLC meetings from these groups or any group reps. It is
not only about just to raise issues but also to have a sense of belonging within the department.
Someone could contact Mark Newton/Steve Brown to encourage students in those groups to
attend SSLC meetings and PG seminars. Also, occasionally SSLC meetings/PG seminars could
be held in Milburn House to encourage attendance.
8. Next meeting
Next meeting will occur on the 12th February 2016 at 12:30 in the IAS seminar room (Milburn
House)
9. Elections
• Social Sec — Chris Lakey
• Athena Swan — David Wilson, Steph Greis
• PG seminars — Eduardo Mendive-Tapia
• Health and Safety — Daniel Mayoh
• Chair — Mark Hollands
• Secretary — Chris Manser
Group Representatives:
• Condensed matter — Dan Brunt
• Materials Science — Ollie Newell
• CFSA — Chloë Pugh
• Astronomy/Astrophysics — Chris Manser
• Particle Physics — Jan Greis
• Theory — Erick Martins Ratamero
Unfilled positions: MAS, Milburn House Reps; Second PG seminar organiser