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College of Science and Engineering
Research Training Committee
Minutes of the meeting held at Friday 14th March 2014 in the
Hodgson Room, Weir Building, King’s Buildings.
PLEASE CHECK ATTENDANCE
Present:
Professor Bob Fisher (DoR)
Dr Tim Stratford (TS)
Dr Kate Heal (KH)
Professor Alex Lascarides
Professor Andrew Hudson (AH)
Professor Anita Jones
Dr Joan Simon (JS)
Dr David Williams (DW)
Ms Julia Ferguson (JF)
Dr Fiona Phillipi (FP)
Mr Sergio Elizondo Gonzales (SEO)
Dean of Research, Chair
Deputy Head of Graduate School, Engineering
Head of Graduate School, Geosciences
Deputy Head of Graduate School, Informatics
School of Biological Sciences
Head of Graduate School, Chemistry
Head of Graduate School, Mathematics
College Office, Head of Academic Affairs
College Office, Academic Affairs Officer (PGR)
Institute for Academic Development (IAD)
Student Representative
In attendance:
Ms Lynsey Noble (LN)
Mr Neil McGillivray (NMc)
Prof Andrew Hudson (AH)
Dr Andrew Liddle (AL)
International Student Adviser, International Office
Head of Knowledge Management, School of Informatics
Postgraduate Advisor, School of Biological Sciences
Deputy Head of Graduate School, Physics & Astronomy
Apologies:
Mrs Carol Ward (CW)
College Office (Committee Secretary)
OPEN BUSINESS
1.
Minutes of the meeting held on:1.1 November 21st 2013
The Minutes of the meeting were approved as an accurate record of the meeting subject to the
following amendments:


Correction: Professor Jones’ title to ‘Head of Graduate School’
Item 4: addition of a statement about the award by the Natural Environment Research
Council (NERC) of a Doctoral Training Partnership to the School of GeoSciences
The Heads of the Graduate Schools updated the Committee on progress in relation to the
suggestions listed in the paper presented at the November meeting, “PRES Results –
Responding to the Issues”. The School of Informatics has reviewed training for Tutors and
Demonstrators. The School of Chemistry has a feedback form on the PG intranet, however,
this is not widely used.
AJ agreed to forward a screenshot of the form to JF for wider
circulation to Schools.
ACTION
AJ
JF
HoGS were invited to contact FP if they wanted to be added to the distribution list for the IAD
monthly newsletter.
1.2 January 13th 2014
The Minutes of the meeting were tabled and members of the Committee asked to forward any
amendments and comments to JF. A second draft will be circulated by e-mail to the Committee
for approval.
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2.
Matters Arising Not Covered Elsewhere on the Agenda
2.1 Doctoral Training Prizes
(Item 2: November 2013 Agenda and Item 2.2: January 2014 Agenda)
The Doctoral Training Prizes are funding from the EPSRC Doctoral Training Partnership.
Seven prizes offering funding for up to two years were awarded in 2012/2013. No prizes were
allocated in 2013/2014.
The Committee agreed that two-year contracts should be funded if Doctoral Prizes are to be
offered in 2014/15. The Committee agreed to offer Prizes in 2014/15. The number of Prizes
will depend on the Doctoral Training Partnership allocation for 2014/15.
2.2 Review of Regulations
(Item 11: January 13th 2014 Agenda)
JF reported that the annual reviews of regulations, including the PG Assessment Regulations
for Research Degrees and the General Postgraduate Degree Programme Regulations, had
taken place in January and February 2014. Proposed changes to the regulations are currently
being considered by appropriate committees and the revised regulations will be in force from 1 st
August 2014.
ITEMS FOR INFORMATION
3.
Presentation by International Student Adviser
Lynsey Noble, International Student Adviser, gave a presentation to the Committee covering a
range of matters relating to Tier 4 PGR students including interruptions to studies, authorised
absences, internships, maternity leave and research visits.
The main points of the presentation included the following:




The University is obliged to report to Home Office any student who takes a break from study
resulting in withdrawal of sponsorship
As far as possible, all students who are no longer engaged in study should leave the UK as
soon as possible. If the absence is less than 60 days, the student will be able to return to
UK without re-applying for a visa. A student may only remain in UK during an interruption if
there are exceptional circumstance e.g. illness.
The University can decide that a break from study is an ‘authorised absence’ (eg. field
work). Authorised absences are not required to be reported
Internships (work placements) are not permitted under Tier 4 unless they are an “integral
and assessed” part of the overall degree programme and take up no more than 50% of
overall programme
LN strongly encouraged Supervisors and other members of staff dealing with Tier 4 PGR
students to contact the International Office for guidance. The International Office aims to
support both staff and students.
LN agreed to e-mail the presentation to JF for wider circulation.
The Committee thanked LN for attending the meeting.
ACTION
LN
JF
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ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION
4.
Institute for Academic Development (IAD) Updates
4.1 Supervisor Briefings
FP reported that 107 supervisors have attended the briefings run in 2013/14 to date with
another 30 registered for the forthcoming event in Biological Sciences. A final briefing for
2013/14 will take place on 6th May and will include supervisors from the School of Chemistry as
well as supervisors from across the College who were unable to attend previous briefing in their
own School.
AJ asked IAD to consider what is useful and practical at supervisor level and what at Graduate
School level when reviewing effectiveness of the Supervisor Briefings.
IAD is considering supplementing the Supervisor Briefings with optional training for supervisors
e.g. joint sessions with Edinburgh Research and Innovation and the International Office. No
decision has yet been made about whether this will be organised centrally or by the College.
Professor Tony Lynch has organised an English Language Teaching Centre (ELTC) session on
handling student writing issues that will take place on 27th March 9-11.
4.2 Devolved Funding for Masters, PhD and Research staff
FP has emailed Schools requesting information about how the devolved funding was used last
year. IAD plans to launch a ‘good practice’ wiki in April 2014 and currently has several
examples from the College of Science and Engineering. Examples of good practice and
relevant photographs and videos (if available) should be forwarded to FP.
4.3 Falling Walls Labs
Falling Walls Labs are international events which aim to build connections between young
researchers and representatives from academia, business and policy. Masters, PhD student
and post-docs have the opportunity to demonstrate how their research benefits society.
The deadline for entry to the competition is 31 May 2014 with the competition itself taking place
on 29th July 2014.
Further details are available at: http://www.ed.ac.uk/schoolsdepartments/institute-academic-development/research-roles/falling-walls-lab
4.4 Post Docs
The DoR is working with IAD and the Careers Service on a session for staff supervising postdocs. AH suggested that the session includes a staff member from Biological Sciences as the
School has been the recipient of a Times Higher Education award in this area.
The DoR requested input and advice from Schools.
5.
Master of Science by Research (MScR) – Recommendations of Curriculum and Student
Progression Working Group
RTC 13/14 4A
DW reported that a working group had been meeting to lay out some principles for MScR to clarify
the structure and mode of assessment. The current University regulations are not clear and are not
consistently applied across Colleges and even within Colleges.
There are a number of recommendations from the group and feedback is being sought from
Colleges prior to the proposals being presented to the Curriculum and Student Progression
Committee (CSPC) in June 2014.
The committee discussed the proposals and examples of eligible formats in Paper RTC 13/14 4A
“Structure of the degree of MSc by Research, MScR”. The DoR advised inserting “no more than” in
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front of “…two thirds in favour of the research elements…” in the second recommendation. DW
confirmed that research training would have to be an assessed and fully defined course in EUCLID
with Learning Outcomes. The order of taught activity would not be an issue.
KH suggested that the examiner report forms give a specified date by which dissertation results are
to be returned to the College as current experience is that it can be difficult to get the results in time
to permit a student to graduate at the November graduation ceremony.
Committee members were asked to forward any further comments about the proposals to JF. DW
will feedback the outcome of the CSPC discussion in June.
6.
ACTION
DW
Programme Approval
NMc reported that the EPSRC-funded Centres for Doctoral Training that will be based in the School
of Informatics have opted to use the ‘1+3’ programme model. Separate Degree Programme Tables
(DPTs) have been created for each programme. The proposed programmes have been discussed
with EPSRC and DPTs can be used as a way to demonstrated to the research council that research
training will be integral to the CDT programmes.
There are issues around how students apply to a 1+3 programme via EUCLID and this has been
managed by the School.
6.1 Doctor of Philosophy
RTC 13/14 4B
DW clarified that material from the MScR stage of the programme cannot be used in the PhD.
6.1.1 PhD in Data Science
6.1.2 PhD in Pervasive Parallelism
6.1.3 PhD in Robotics & Autonomous Systems
The Committee approved the PhD programme proposals
6.2 Master of Science by Research
DW reported that the Learning and Teaching Committee had endorsed the taught elements of
the MScR proposals as meeting current regulations. CSPC will be asked to approve ‘opt-outs’
for the 15-credit courses that will be offered by Heriot-Watt University. Exit routes will be
available from the MScR. In some cases, however, a Diploma will not be an option because
the student will not have completed sufficient credits.
6.2.1 MScR in Data Science
6.2.2 MScR in Pervasive Parallelism
6.2.3 MScR in Robotics and Autonomous Systems
RTC 13/14 4C
RTC 13/14 4D
RTC 13/14 4E
The Committee approved the MScR programme proposals.
Secretary’s Note: CSPC has approved ‘opt-outs’
The DoR reported that six CDTs have now been awarded to the University and therefore further
programme approvals will be brought to the Committee in due course.
DW reported that the PhD with Integrated Study degree will not be fully ratified until the next
meeting of Court on 1st June 2014.
7.
Senate Committees Symposium - May 9th 2014
RTC 13/14 4F
Committees across the University have been asked to submit priorities for 2014/15 to allow for
integrated planning at the Senate Committees’ Symposium on 9 May. Committee members are
asked to e-mail JF if they have any further comments on Paper RTC 13/14 4F “Research Training
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Committee Priorities 2014/15”. These priorities identified at the RTC meeting in January 2014 have
been forwarded to the Research Experience Committee.
8.
Funding for PhD Studentships
8.1 EPSRC Doctoral Training Partnership 2014
The DoR reported that EPSRC’s DTP award to the University of Edinburgh will be £3.3m in
2014. Schools will be notified shortly of DTP allocations. The College of Medicine and
Veterinary Medicine (CMVM) and the College of Humanities and Social Science (CHSS) will
also receive allocations.
The DoR has been discussing proposals for joint studentships with the Deans in CMVM and
CHSS and notified Heads of Graduate School about these opportunities. It was noted that the
University requires a student to belong to one School only. JF will liaise with colleagues in
Academic Services and Governance and Strategic Planning regarding registration issues.
ACTION
JF
8.2 CDT Update
The DoR reported that EPSRC has confirmed funding for six CDTs that the University is
involved in with seven reserve bids under consideration. A decision about reserve list CDTs is
due to be made following the Budget on 19th March 2014. The Scottish Funding Council has
agreed to fund one studentship per CDT per year for any ‘reserve CDTs’ that are awarded
EPSRC funding.
EPSRC has submitted a capital funding bid to the Department for Business, Innovation and
Skills.
8.3 CASE Conversions 2014/15
EPSRC requires a minimum of 10% of the DTP award to be converted to CASE studentships.
This will equate to five fully-funded full-time PhD studentships. The College will ring-fence
funding for the five CASE conversion studentships.
DW will forward guidance to Schools regarding the allocation of these studentships.
ACTION
DW
8.4 Edinburgh Global, CSC, PCDS 2014/15 - update
The nominations for China Scholarship Council awards have been forwarded to Scholarships
and Student Funding Services. SSFS will forward nominations to CSC for consideration.
PCDS and Edinburgh Global nominations are being forwarded by Schools to the College.
8.5 Funding after the Prescribed Period End Date
This item will be discussed at the next meeting of the Research Training Committee.
9.
University of Edinburgh’s Student Attendance and Engagement Monitoring Policy
RTC 13/14 4G
DW reported that the policy applies to all students, in particular, to Tier 4 visa students. Paper RTC
13/14 4G “Student Attendance and Engagement Monitoring Policy” is not expected to change
significantly from the current draft version.
Current recording of attendance and engagement is not as rigorous and robust as it needs to be.
The policy details procedures for monitoring attendance and engagement and recording attendance
and engagement. Student Administration will increase the number of Census Points (where Tier 4
visa students are required to confirm attendance to Student Administration in person) to five per
annum.
Schools will be required to monitor engagement, for example, meetings with supervisors,
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completion of progress reviews and milestones. A minimum of five engagement points need to be
recorded annually for Tier 4 visa students. Whilst it is recognised that monitoring is only legally
required for the Tier 4 students, the monitoring of all students’ attendance and engagement is
preferred in order to best support students.
EUCLID is being developed to include a mechanism whereby a supervisor can record a meeting
with student and this should be available for Autumn 2014. Recording meetings once a year by
means of an annual report is not acceptable as it is possible for representatives from UK Visas and
Immigration (formerly UKBA) to visit the University at any time and ask for student engagement
records.
Schools will report a pattern of non-engagement by a student to the College using a form. The
College will then write to the student requesting a response. If a satisfactory response is not
received, the College will begin procedures to exclude the student from the University and, for Tier 4
students, will also report the non-engagement to Student Administration who will, in turn report any
attendance and engagement issues to UKVI.
DW reported that further information will be issued to Schools over the summer and training on the
new EUCLID engagement module will be offered.
10.
Delegated Authority
RTC 13/14 4H
The Committee approved Paper RTC 13/14 4H “Delegated Authority”.
11.
Dean’s Business
11.1 Code of Practice for Supervisors and Research Students : Review
The DoR reported that the working group reviewing the Code of Practice for Supervisors
and Research Students will meet shortly to discuss comments received.
The revised Code of Practice will be available online from Autumn 2014.
11.2 Research Integrity and Ethics Session
The DoR reported that 40 people had attended the Research Integrity and Ethics Session
held on 17th February 2014 and that it had been a worthwhile event. There is now an
expectation that PhD students will have explicit training in research integrity and ethics, as
the University is a signatory to Universities UK’s The concordat to support research
integrity.
http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Documents/2012/TheConcordatToSupport
ResearchIntegrity.pdf
11.3 Leverhulme
The University of Edinburgh can submit only one application for the Leverhulme Doctoral
Training scheme that will award 15 studentships over a period of three years.
Schools have been asked to propose topic areas and one are will be selected by the Vice
Principal Planning, Resources and Research Policy and the Head of Research Office.
Proposals will need to demonstrate engagement, preferably across more than one College.
11.4 Naked Scientist
The DoR reported that there is an opportunity for two students to undertake electives with
The Naked Scientists in Cambridge. These will be particularly relevant to students on the
Public Engagement strand of the Principal’s Career Development Scheme. The Naked
Scientists promote science to the public through online and other media.
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12.
Student Voice
SEO reported that he had tried to meet with other student representatives to discuss becoming a
member of RTC but so far he had had no response.
ACTION
SEO
JF
JF to discuss with SEO.
ITEMS FOR INFORMATION OR FOR FORMAL APPROVAL OF THE COMMITTEE
13.
PhD with Integrated Study Proposal
RTC 13/14 4I
The Committee noted Paper RTC 13/14 4I “PhD with Integrated Study”. This is an update to the
proposal considered at the January meeting of RTC.
14.
Any Other Business
The winners of the School heats of the Three Minute Thesis will receive £50 in Amazon vouchers.
The winners of the College heat will receive vouchers to the value of £100.
15.
Date of Next Meeting
12th May 2014 at 10.30am in the Hodgson Room, Weir Building.
Please note that the meeting on 12th May is scheduled to finish at 1pm, not 12.30pm.
The Committee was concerned that it had been difficult to cover the agenda in reasonable time.
This had been the case in other recent meetings of RTC. It was suggested that the Committee
either identify additional meeting dates in 2014/15 or allocate more time to each meeting. The
frequency and length of RTC meetings will be considered at the meeting in May.
Glossary
CASE
CDT
CHSS
CMVM
CSC
DTP
EPSRC
NERC
PRES
PGR
REC
RTC
SSFS
UKVI
Collaborative Awards in Science and Engineering
Centre for Doctoral Training
College of Humanities and Social Science
College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
China Scholarships Council
Doctoral Training Partnership
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Natural Environment Research Council
Postgraduate Research Experience Survey
Postgraduate Research
Senatus Research Experience Committee
College of Science and Engineering’s Research Training Committee
Scholarships and Student Funding Services
UK Visas and Immigration (formerly UKBA)
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