Physics PG SSLC Minutes October 2009
UNIVERSTY OF WARWICK
Physics PG-SSLC
Minutes of Meeting held on 23rd October 2009
1. Welcome and Apologies
Present: Stephanie Liggins (Chair), Jo Higgs (Secretary), Geetha
Balakrishnan, Ben Parkinson, Helen Ireland, Peter Wheatley, Gavin Bell, Dan
Baker, Lieke van Spaandonk, Phil Petcher, Ulrika D’Haenens-Johansson,
David Duncan, Aoife O’Brien, Natalie Ellis, Tom Tam, Olga Young, Simon
Walker, Joao Bento, Rachel Tunnicliffe, Kathrin Wuensch, Matt Brewer,
Laurence Blaxter, Nathan Barrow, Martin Mee, Kevin McAughey, Tung Fai
Yu, Matt Williams and Valery Nakariakov
Apologies: Malcolm Cooper, David Leadley, and Liam Fishwick.
2. Minutes of the Last Meeting
(a) Agreement of Minutes
The Chair apologised to Tim Sansom and the Students’ Union for
misquoting him with regards to the support provided by the Students Union
with the issue of car parking. The minutes have now been amended.
The minutes from the meeting on 18th September 2009 were agreed.
(b) Matters Arising
i. Car Parking
Since the last meeting, Stephanie Liggins and Dan Baker have met with
the Pro Vice Chancellor for Student Experience, Ann Caesar and Katie
Hughes, Director of Student Services to voice the argument for staff car
parking permits for postgraduate research students. They were joined by a
number of PG SSLC chairs from the faculty of science, Peter Sadler from the
department of Chemistry and Dr Andy Howes from the department of Physics,
having collected a number of written statements of support from department
chairs from across the faculty. The request was for students to be eligible to
apply for a staff permit considering their hours of work throughout the year
and for the cost to be proportional to their stipend income.
In summary, the result was that research students are now eligible for
exemption certificates at a cost of £200 per year as opposed to £300 but
would not be eligible to apply for the staff permit. It can not be confirmed
whether the number of these permits is limited but application for the
exemption certificates is for limited periods during the year. A written
1
Physics PG SSLC Minutes October 2009
statement from Ann Caesar is appended to these minutes. Dan Baker and
Stephanie Liggins will continue to follow up on this issue and report back to
the committee and have been invited to attend the Transport Strategy Group
meetings tasked with looking at the broader strategy regarding transport to
and from campus and practical ways to move forward.
ii. New PG Students
42 new postgraduates started at the beginning of this term and a few more
will arrive later post resolution of visa issues. David Leadley forwarded his
thanks to the PG-SSLC members who helped to make them welcome and
served refreshments at the induction event.
3. Academic Matters
i. Transferable Skills Certificate
There will be a session on Tuesday 27th October at 4pm in P520 when
David Leadley will explain more about this Certificate and its requirements.
This is open to 1st and 2nd year students.
ii. Deadlines
Due in on 26th October:
•
Year 1: project outline
•
Years 2 and 3: progress report and research plan
•
Year 4: progress report and revised thesis plan
Submission is via the online webform.
4. Social Events
i. Social events
About 50 people attended the first postgraduate seminar of the year,
approximately half of whom were new students. After the seminar, students
were invited to the Dirty Duck for a social event which was well attended by
current and new students.
A suggestion was made that a future event could be to go to the
Kennilworth fireworks on November 7th.
2
Physics PG SSLC Minutes October 2009
5. Elections
The results of the elections for the new committee are as follows:
Chair:
Secretary:
Soc. Sec.:
PG Seminar Co-ordinator:
International:
Condensed Matter (UF):
Condensed Matter (LF):
Millburn House:
Astronomy & Astro:
Particle Physics:
Medical Physics:
CFSA:
Theory:
CSC:
Liam Fishwick (Surface & Interface)
Jo Higgs (Solid State NMR)
David Duncan (Surface & Interface)
David Duncan (Surface & Interface)
Kathrin Wuensch (CFSA)
David Duncan (Surface & Interface)
Aoife O’Brien (Ferroelectrics & Crystallography)
Natalie Elllis (Solid State NMR)
Joao Bento
Matt Williams
Tung Fai Yu
To be elected
To be elected
To be elected
There were no nominations for group reps for the CFSA, Theory or CSC
groups.
6. Any Other Business
i. Problems Class Tutor Support
The dissatisfaction of a number of student tutors was discussed. It was
considered that there was a lack of support to tutors who received little
communication for the overseeing academic and did not receive adequate
resources for the courses. Since these formed the basis of many questions
arising in classes, it was requested that there was a more structured
interaction programme between academics and tutors to ensure consistency
in teaching and an opportunity to discuss the course content and problem
sheets. A proposal of twice termly meetings was made.
Geetha Balakrishnan and Stephanie Liggins will be following up this issue
with Jim Robinson and report back to the next committee meeting.
Response from David Leadley:
“[The committee] has made a number of sensible suggestions and it is
now an issue to be taken up by Jim Robinson and the departmental Teaching
Committee for further discussion.”
ii. PG Admissions
The University is holding a postgraduate open day on 18th November and
the Physics Department is holding an event for current undergraduates on
19th November. Volunteers have been found to help at the university wide
open day and students should be aware that potential students may be
looking around research groups during this period.
The PG admissions website is in the process of being updated. Gavin Bell
3
Physics PG SSLC Minutes October 2009
would like some first year postgraduate students to assess the website and
compare it to those of other universities. Four students volunteered for this at
the meeting.
Gavin Bell is also making a webcast for the website to show the PG
community in the department. For this he has recorded a PG seminar and will
be recording some footage of experimental procedures and undergraduate
teaching. Suggestions were made of other footage to include such as a social
event and Millburn House.
iii. Library
Mike Allen is the new the Departmental Library Representative replacing
Evan Parker. The route for book requests via Mike Allen or Helen Ireland
(academic support librarian) has yet to be finalised. The departmental budget
may be less than last year.
Library training is available for first year postgraduates who request it.
Please contact Helen Ireland for further information.
iv. Surface Science
Members of the Surface, Interface and Think Films Group are concerned
about the amount of experimental time that has been lost due to the recent
and regular power failures. Minimal notice of the works was received despite
their apparent planning. It was requested that consideration be given to these
students with regards to extension of their registration period. They were
advised to note the disruption in their upcoming progress reports. Stephanie
Liggins will also contact David Leadley with regards to this to make him aware
of their concerns.
Response from David Leadley:
“I am aware of the power outage issues which have also disrupted
semiconductor group work with minimal notice. The need for an extension will
be looked on favourably, but on an individual basis to see how much each
person was actually delayed – e.g. not being able to do experiments might
have meant more time analysing data, thinking or reading. The students
affected and their supervisors should quantify the disruption and let me know.”
v. Thanks
Stephanie Liggins thanked the committee for their efforts this year, in
particularly Lieke van Spaandonk, Ruth Nicol and Dan Baker for their work on
the Careers Event and Dan Baker for his efforts with the issue of car parking
permits. Additionally, the committee wanted their thanks to Stephanie Liggins
noted for her work as Chair.
6. Next Meeting
The next meeting will be on Friday 27th November 2009 at 13:00
4
Physics PG SSLC Minutes October 2009
6th October, 2009.
Statement from Ann Caesar Concerning Car Parking
Firstly, thank you to you and your colleagues for your time and contributions
to the meeting on Thursday morning. It was helpful to discuss in detail the
concerns amongst the postgraduate researcher student community across the
Science Faculty relating to the new arrangements for car parking.
We are working with the departments across the Faculty to ensure that all
applications for parking certificates from postgraduate research students are
processed as a priority and that account is taken for any additional costs
incurred before of the issue of the certificates. The charges will be consistent
for postgraduate research students at £200 for the full year, which is also
equivalent to the annual permit charge for parking for academic and
postdoctoral staff (who are paid on the University’s salaries payroll).
Those postgraduate research students who are paid as a result of their other
duties, such as teaching or demonstrating within their department, are paid on
the variable monthly payroll, as are many other casual, and other staff in the
University, all of whom are on the same terms and conditions of employment
(which are different for those paid on the salaries payroll). In the case of
postgraduate research students, payment is based on an hourly rate and this
is not linked to a full time equivalent (FTE). All the staff on the variable
monthly payroll are also charged £200 for an annual car parking permit. You
will appreciate that it is important that all those with the same terms and
conditions relating to their work for us are treated equally.
It will be important for the University to give detailed consideration to all the
issues that you and your colleagues have raised, many of which are not solely
relating to car parking, but relate to recognition and relative status in the
institution. I will advise you how I intend to take this wider discussion forward.
I can assure you that the impact of the new car parking arrangements will be
carefully monitored and a review paper, including the range of views that you
have specifically raised and those from other parts of the University and
beyond, will be presented to the University’s Steering Committee for
consideration later this term. You are aware that we are in a transitional year
and further developments, with your help and input, will be worked on during
the coming weeks and months. If any changes to the charging policy are
approved, appropriate adjustments or any refunds will be made.
Professor Ann Caesar, Pro Vice Chancellor for Student Experience
5