SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY
Starting Your PhD/MPhil and the “Research Outline”
This form should be submitted within 3 months of starting your research degree (ideally
sooner). Please send an electronic copy to Lene Hyltoft (l.hyltoft@sussex.ac.uk). Your
primary supervisor must have read and endorsed your form before submission: please CC
your supervisor when you submit it .
Name of Student: _______________________
First Supervisor: ________________________
Other Supervisors: _______________________
PART A: GETTING STARTED
This section should be completed in the first week
YOUR SUPERVISORY TEAM
How often will you and your supervisor meet – in the first term, and thereafter? Will you
meet at a regular time and date? Who will initiate the meetings? How will the outcomes be
recorded?
Describe the role of any co-supervisors (or external collaborators) in the project. How often
will you meet them? Who will initiate the meetings? How will you record the outcome of
those meetings to keep other members of your supervisory team in the loop?
Will other PhD students or postdocs make a contribution to your research? How?
LOGISTICAL ISSUES
[Note: the supervisor is responsible for ensuring the overall logistical viability of the
research, but the student is expected to have some role in implementing it.]
Does your research require access to any special populations (e.g. children, clinical
groups)? How will access be obtained and who will be responsible? What is the timescale
for this? Does your research require you to travel to test participants? How will this be
done and paid for? [note: students should not incur significant travel expenses out of their
own pockets]
Does your research require access to any special equipment? Is this already available? If
not, how and when will it be obtained? What training is needed to use it?
When do you plan to submit for ethical approval? When do you intend to start preparing the
ethics application?
Do you need any of the following: DBS checks (Disclosure and Barring Service), Home
Office Licence, or NHS Honorary Contract? When will this be obtained?
YOUR TRAINING
What additional skills (e.g. statistical, new techniques) will you need to acquire over the
course of the doctoral degree in order to complete this PhD?
How will these skills be acquired? Do people on your supervisory team have these skills or
will you need to involve others at Sussex or beyond? How will any additional training be
funded?
STARTING WRITING
[Note: engaging with the literature is the key starting point for most students, but it is
important to keep this focussed rather than open-ended. Discuss the scope and length of the
piece of work with your supervisor. Agreeing an essay question with your supervisor can be
a good way of avoiding going off on a tangent. An annotated bibliography is an alternative
piece of initial writing.]
What will be your first piece of written work? When will you hand it in to your supervisor for
feedback? How long afterwards will your supervisor return that work?
PART B: THE RESEARCH OUTLINE
This section should be completed during the first term. It may be adapted from the initial
proposal that you submitted when you applied to do the PhD, but will almost certainly have
evolved in light of discussions with your supervisor(s).
The preparation of a research outline ensures that the expectations of students and supervisors
are aligned.
It also enables you to self-assess your progress against your initial targets.
OBJECTIVES (200 words suggested)
What is the overall aim of the research?
What are the secondary aims of the research?
BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH (400 words suggested)
Describe the rationale for the research in terms of how it will address current theories, and
fill gaps in our existing knowledge.
TIMETABLE & MILESTONES
Dividing your first year into three equal parts, describe the activities you will undertake and
the milestones that you hope to reach. Be realistic about what you can achieve: you might
want to separately list minimal targets and aspirational targets for yourself. Also be specific
about what you hope to achieve: so “complete Experiment 1” is too vague but “collect data
on the three cognitive tasks described above on at least 15 autistic children and 15 normally
developing children; analyse and write-up a first draft of the study” would give you a detailed
benchmark to assess your own progress.
0-4 MONTHS (normally September - January)
4-8 MONTHS (normally January - May; the deadline for submission of your annual review)
8-12 MONTHS (normally May - September)
RISKS & CONTINGENCIES
Consider what problems you may face (e.g. recruitment difficulties; approval delays). How
likely are these problems? What actions could be taken if this occurs?