Progress Monitoring for Cardiff Business School PhD students 2014-15
During the MSc Social Science Research Methods phase for PhD Business and Management
students, or the MSc Economics and MRes Advanced Economics phase for PhD Economics students,
progress will be monitored via a paper-based progress monitoring procedure conducted in June/July
each year.
From October 2014, research student progress monitoring from the start of the PhD research phase
will be conducted via SIMS. The standard* key dates and events will be:
1st Year of Research Phase
(commencing October after MSc SSRM year for PhD Business & Management students, and October
after MRes Advanced Economics year for PhD Economics students)
Initial report email from SIMS
Initial report – Student due date
Initial report – Supervisor due date
Initial report – Director due date
Progress report email from SIMS
Progress report – Student due date
Progress report – Supervisor due date
Progress report – Director due date
Annual Formal Progress Review email from SIMS
Annual Formal Progress Review – Student due date
Annual Formal Progress Review – Review Panel due date
Annual Formal Progress Review – Director due date
27 November
11 December
18 December
1 January
27 May
10 June
17 June
1 July
22 April
17 June
1 July
1 July
Subsequent years in the research phase - all students
Progress report email from SIMS
27 November
Progress report – Student due date
11 December
Progress report – Supervisor due date
18 December
Progress report – Director due date
1 January
Progress report email from SIMS
27 May
Progress report – Student due date
10 June
Progress report – Supervisor due date
17 June
Progress report – Director due date
1 July
Annual Formal Progress Review email from SIMS
22 April
Annual Formal Progress Review – Student due date
17 June
Annual Formal Progress Review – Review Panel due date
1 July
Annual Formal Progress Review – Director due date
1 July
* Dates may be different for students who transferred into Cardiff Business School on a date other
than the 1 October entry point.
Initial Report
The purpose of the initial reports is to allow any early difficulties to be highlighted and acted upon as
appropriate.
 An Initial Report form will be made available to student and the main supervisor
 The student and main (or monitoring) supervisor will agree a Research Plan/Timetable and
complete a Development Needs Analysis (i.e. a skills audit and plan). The Initial Report will
confirm that these have been undertaken.
 The student will complete and upload an Initial Report to SIMS
 The student will upload the completed Research Plan/Timetable and Development Needs
Analysis to SIMS
 The main supervisor will complete and upload an Initial Report to SIMS
 The Initial Report will be endorsed by the Director of Postgraduate Research Studies
Six-monthly Progress Report
The purpose of the six-monthly Progress Report is to assess a student’s progress to allow for
remedial action to be taken if necessary.








A Self-Assessment Report form will be made available to the student
The student will complete and upload to SIMS the Self-Assessment Report recording the
work completed since the last Self-Assessment Report
The Self-Assessment Report will prompt the student to:
o reflect on progress made against agreed objectives and milestones for the period
o reflect on progress made with the production of the written thesis
o highlight any specific problems associated with the research
o append a record of training and development undertaken during the reporting
period
A Supervisor Report form will be made available to the main (or monitoring) supervisor
The main (or monitoring) supervisor will produce and upload to SIMS a Supervisor Report for
each student working under their direction. The supervisor will be prompted to:
o confirm whether the student has maintained regular contact
o assess the student’s progress and the standard of their work
o highlight for the School’s attention any matters that have impeded (or will impede)
the student’s progress
o identify if there is a risk that the student will not complete within the expected
timeframe
o consult with other member(s) of the supervisory team in accordance with their role
The student and main supervisor will hold a Progress Meeting to discuss their reports and
consider the work to be undertaken over the next six-month period, in order to produce an
updated Research Plan and to undertake a further Development Needs Analysis
The student will upload the updated Research Plan/Timetable and Development Needs
Analysis to SIMS
The Progress Report will be endorsed by the Director of Postgraduate Research Studies, who
will inform the student of the outcome of the reporting exercise
Annual Formal Progress Review
The progress of every research student is formally reviewed on an annual basis up until the
successful submission of the thesis. An independent Review Panel Convenor (who will not be a
member of the student’s supervisory team) will arrange a meeting with the student to consider
his/her progress. The Review Panel may also include member(s) of the student’s supervisory team.
Each Annual Formal Progress Review contains the following elements:
 A substantial piece of written work from the student (commonly equivalent to a thesis
chapter) to be considered by the Review Panel and made available to the panel members in
advance of the Review Panel meeting, allowing for adequate consideration
 A meeting of the student and the Review Panel
 A documented outcome of the review and a recommendation
Following the meeting, the Review Panel will make one of the following recommendations:
 that the student’s progress and/or standard of work is satisfactory and that the student is
likely to complete their degree successfully and within the expected timescale
 that the student’s progress and/or standard of work is satisfactory overall, but that one or
more unsatisfactory aspects of progress and/or performance have been identified
 that the student’s progress and/or standard of work is unsatisfactory, and that either:
o the student is required to change his/her registration from a doctoral degree to
MPhil, or
o the student be placed on a Warning of Exclusion from Research Study: this
Procedure will require the student to provide evidence of improvement against a
clear set of stipulated criteria within a time period of no less than three and no more
than six months
 Occasionally, the Review Panel may seek to defer its recommendation (for up to one
month), and require the student to provide additional evidence relating to the student’s
current work with which to inform its assessment
 The Review Panel will provide a documented outcome, summarising its assessment of the
student’s progress and/or standard of work
 The Review Panel’s report and recommendation will be referred to the Director of
Postgraduate Research Studies for consideration together with evidence from the Progress
Report
 The Director of Postgraduate Research Studies will confirm or amend the Panel’s
recommendation, which will be notified to the student and main supervisor
 The student and his/her main supervisor will be provided with a copy of the documented
outcome once confirmed by the Director of Postgraduate Research Studies
 Any unsatisfactory aspects of progress and performance should be clearly stated in the
documented outcome. Where weaknesses have been identified but a balanced evaluation is
to recommend that the student be permitted to proceed on the research programme, the
documented outcome should include clear action points agreed by the Director of
Postgraduate Research Studies and the main supervisor