13.10.2015
School of Natural Sciences Structured PhD Programme
General guidelines
PhD students in the School of Natural Sciences Students will take 30 ECTS through courses
in addition to their research project. The assessment of all modules is on a pass/fail basis.
Pass level is 40% unless otherwise specified. Credit can be granted only one time per
module.
Modules to be taken have to be agreed between the student and his/her supervisor.
Moreover, for all modules that are not assessed directly by the supervisor, students must
first be accepted by the module owner. Before registering for a module, students should
therefore always contact module owners to check 1) whether the module is taught at all in a
certain time period and 2) whether space is available for them (since many modules have
quotas).
The School of Natural Sciences will abide by the College of Science Structured PhD
guidelines:
http://www.nuigalway.ie/science/postgraduatestructuredprogrammes/structurephdguidelines/
General guidelines for research degree programs can be found on the Graduate Studies
website:
http://www.nuigalway.ie/media/graduatestudies/files/university_guidelines_for_research_deg
ree_programmes.pdf
Modules offered
Different types of modules are available for the structured PhD program. General Graduate
Studies (GS) modules fall into two broad categories: Those modules that are assessed by
the supervisor (Table 1) and those modules that are delivered and/or coordinated by
dedicated "module owners” (Table 2). Module descriptions for all of these modules can be
found on the Graduate Studies website (http://www.nuigalway.ie/graduatestudies/currentstudents/gsmodules/) by clicking on the respective module codes. In addition
to GS modules, special modules are offered by various disciplines for structured PhD
students (Table 3).
Modules from the taught postgraduate programs in the College of Science (CoS) have also
been made available for PhD students although quotas may be in place and spaces may be
quite limited. It is therefore essential that prior acceptance by module owners is sought for
these modules. An overview of all taught postgraduate programs and the modules offered
can be found here: http://www.nuigalway.ie/courses/taught-postgraduate-courses/. Contact
the program coordinators listed there for details on module codes, module owners and
module contents.
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Moreover, students may also take modules offered by other Schools within the CoS (e.g.
Physics, Chemistry) or even from other Colleges (e.g. Medicine) with approval of the
respective module owners. If students wish to take modules from other Colleges than CoS,
they should first submit a request to the CoS. If granted, the respective module code will be
added to the CoS syllabus file.
Finally, modules from other Irish universities are also available and may be recognized by
CoS upon request:
http://www.nuigalway.ie/media/graduatestudies/files/externalmodules/iua_interinstitutional_c
ollaborative_mou_graduate_programmes_2013.pdf
Table 1: GS modules assessed by supervisor
Module Code
Title
ECTS
GS501
Seminar Programme or Conference
Participation
5
GS502
Participation in Journal Club Programme
5
GS505
Graduate Research Skills
5
GS508
Formulating a Research Project Proposal
5
GS509
Participation in Workshops/Courses
5
GS511
Research Placement 1
5
GS512
Engaging with the community: research,
practice and reflection
10
GS513
Research Placement 2
10
GS514
Research Placement 3
15
GS515
Research Paper Publication
5
GS516
Work-based Placement 1
5
GS517
Work-based Placement 2
10
GS518
Work-based Placement 3
15
GS526
Oral/Poster communication
5
GS527
Clinical Skill Development 1
5
GS528
Clinical Skill Development 2
5
GS529
Clinical Skill Development 3
5
GS532
Introduction to Psychopharmacology (BAP)
5
GS536
Communication & Outreach
5
GS5103
Conference Organisation
5
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Table 2: GS modules with module owner
Contact Person
Module
Title
Code
michelle.tooher@nuigalway.ie
GS506
Teaching & Learning
5
sandra.donohue@nuigalway.ie
GS507
Statistical Methods for Research
5
rosie.dunne@nuigalway.ie
GS530
Graduate Research Information
Skills
5
paul.anglim@nuigalway.ie
GS520
BioInnovate I Core: Needs
finding to concept generation
10
paul.anglim@nuigalway.ie
GS521
BioInnovate I core and project:
Needs finding to concept
generation
15
paul.anglim@nuigalway.ie
GS522
BioInnovate II Core: Concept
Development and
Implementation
10
paul.anglim@nuigalway.ie
GS523
BioInnovate II Core and project:
Concept Development and
Implementation
5
paul.anglim@nuigalway.ie
GS5101 BioInnovate I: Needs finding to
concept generation
5
paul.anglim@nuigalway.ie
GS5102 BioInnovate II: Concept
Development and
Implementation
5
yolanda.garcia@nuigalway.ie
GS525
Laboratory Animal Science
Training (LAST) Ireland
course
5
Induction & Professional
Development
5
seosamh.macdonnacha@oegaillimh.ie GS535
ECTS
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Table 3: Other modules
Contact Person
Module
Title
Code
kevin.sullivan@nuigalway.ie
BI504
Advanced Cell Biology
5
colin.lawton@nuigalway.ie
ZO509
Biometry – Statistics for Biologists
5
jamesp.ogara@nuigalway.ie
MI504
Advanced Topics in microbiology
5
tiernan.henry@nuigalway.ie
EOS6100 Balancing the hydrological equation
5
peter.croot@nuigalway.ie
EOS5101
Advanced topics in earth and ocean
sciences
5
cathal.seoighe@nuigalway.ie
MA570
Data analysis for genomics
technologies
5
matthew.griffin@nuigalway.ie
MD536
Advanced and applied immunology
5
ECTS
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