Physics PG SSLC Minutes December 2010
Physics PG-SSLC
Minutes of the meeting held on 3rd of December 2010, P523
1. Welcome and Apologies
Present: , Nixon (Tung Fai) Yu (Chair), Nessa Fereshteh Saniee (secretary), David Leadley,
Geetha Balakrishnan, Gavin Bell, Ben Parkinson, Asef Federman, Chris Smith, Helen Ireland,
Simon Walker, Sam Hill, Thomas Edward, Rachel Edwards, James Mudd, Jo Higgs
Apologies: Nakariakov, Valery, Robin Ball (HoD Physics)
2. Minutes of the Last Meeting
(a) Agreement of Minutes

The minutes from the meeting held on 22nd of October 2010 were agreed to be
correct and accurate.
(b) Matters Arising

There will be no showers in the new building.

The bike rack will be back to the place it was.

There are still many students without a profile on the website and supervisors
should encourage students to improve their profile for example by adding a
paragraph description on their project.

Asaf Federman, senior careers consultant for Physics from the Careers and Skills
Office, is arranging PhD Careers forum in the New Year. Regarding the content
of the event, the forum will be an open informal meeting to discuss PG
Physics PG SSLC Minutes December 2010
students' career development. Asaf will talk through some resources and data
about PhD careers in academia and industry. This forum is open to PhD students
in all years.
3. Academic Matters

MPAGS transcripts
MPAGS transcripts are now available. Every MPAGs Training module has 5 credits. Each
credit unit represents 10 hours of student learning or 0.5 ECTS (European Credit Transfer
Scheme). External courses will have different equivalent of credits which will be specified
in the transcript.

MPAGS placements
MPAGS award will allow 10 students per year to gain experience working in industry for a
3-month period of time during their studies. Each student’s registration period would be
increased to take into account their placement period. This can take place at any time of
their PhD period.
This money would cover an extension in maintenance and fees to each students PhD
registration period, as well as provide travel money for commuting to the industrial
partner.
There are 250 companies who will collaborate with the Science City program. This funding
is preferably UK -based for contribution towards future physicist within the industry mostly
in Midlands area.

PGC in Transferable Skills
.All second and third year PhD students should already have started completing the PG
Doctoral Skills 1 and 2. Students should be aware of what tasks need to be done each year
so they recognise when they have completed them—do the paper work at that stage!
More information can be found on the website
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/pioneers/pgcts/modules/
Physics PG SSLC Minutes December 2010
4. Events

Physics PG Careers Evening
Following last year’s successful Physics PG Careers Evening, organised by Physics PG-SSLC,
similar event this year will be organised by Physics or joined with other departments.
External companies and internal speakers will be invited to tell PG students more about
career choices and what is it like in different career paths. The event would also give
chances to speak to them outside of scheduled talks. Some volunteers are required to help
with organising the event, and it is not necessary to be a part of the PG-SSLC team.
The date of the event needs to be defined. Last year the event was held in July, and from
feedbacks we would like to bring the event to earlier in the year. In order to achieve this
goal the team should be gathered as soon as possible.
Ben Parkinson also kindly helped with the venue and catering booking.
Below is a summary of what was done last year.

Decide event location, date, etc

Compile list of company invites

Contact company by email

Communicate with company representatives

Invite internal speakers

Advertise event within department

Host the Physics PG Careers Evening
5. Any Other Business

Library
The Library will close at midnight on Thursday 23 December and re-open at 11:00 until
17:00 on the following days
Physics PG SSLC Minutes December 2010
Monday 27 December
11:00-17:00
Tuesday 28 December
11:00-17:00
Wednesday 29 December 11:00-17:00
The Estates Department have advised us that essential electrical maintenance work will
begin on Thursday 30 December. The Library will be CLOSED on Thursday 30 December
2010 until 5 January 2011 inclusive.

Board of Graduate Studies (BGS) recent changes
It has been suggested the period of 4-year registration for all PhD students regardless of
their period of funding. This can solve the visa extension problem for the International
students; meantime students will not pay tax for a longer period of time. It might cause
more difficulty for 4-year PhD students to extend their registration after the 4th year.
6. Next Meeting
Friday 14th January 2011 (P523)