Meet the Team
This handbook has been prepared by the School of Psychology, to help postgraduate researchers and supervisors find information regarding administrative procedures and support arrangements. This handbook supplements the information provided by the Doctoral College in relation to policies and procedures.
You will have already met with your supervisors and understand that their primary role is to offer you guidance and support in your studies.
Your PhD Researcher Representative is Amanda Gilmore. Amanda will represent your School on University level committees to ensure that your voice is heard, and any concerns raised. Each year, the School invites two PhD Researchers to nominate themselves as a Rep for the Doctoral College PhD Researcher Forum and the School of Psychology Board. These Reps attend the DC Forum and School Board each Semester and report back to the School of Psychology PhD Researcher cohort on issues raised of relevance to them. This is also an opportunity for the Reps to raise any issues of concerns to them at these meetings.
Your Research Director, Postgraduate Tutor and research area administrator are also available for you, should you require any additional support.
Research Ethics and Integrity
Research groups provide a focus for researchers within the department and a forum to discuss research within specific thematic areas. All research groups welcome associated postgraduate researchers to attend. Please speak with your primary supervisor about attending these meetings. There are three main research groups at present (currently under revision for REF2028 period):
- Mental health (led by Dr Orla McBride)
- Children, Young people, and Schools (led by Dr Jenny Davison)
- Healthy Ageing (led by Dr Niamh Kennedy)
It is likely that you will join the same group as your lead supervisor. Groups meet approximately twice a semester, and you should attend all meetings (unless there is a good reason for not doing so such as collecting data off site).
This is important for you to:
- learn about research outside your postgraduate research degree,
- to be an active contributor to the research life of the School of Psychology, and
- improve your knowledge of professional life in the academy to improve your employment prospects (whether inside or outside the University setting).
Details of the meetings will be sent by Donna Taggart via email at the start of each Semester.
All data collection as part of your postgraduate research thesis will need ethical consideration. As professionals training in Psychology, we are guided by ethical guidance from the British Psychological Society. If you need to submit an ethics application for your postgraduate research degree research, an electronic version of your ethical application should be uploaded by the Chief Investigator of the project (generally, your Chair of Supervisors). You should prepare the ethical application and protocol in collaboration with your supervisor, and a single document containing both the application form and the protocol will need to be created for submission.
The deadlines and Filter Committee (FC) for each Semester are available on the landing page of the online platform prior to the start of the Semester.
For any PhD Researchers who may need to submit to UREC after approval by the School FC, the UREC dates are also available online.
Please expect around 3-4 weeks for a decision (and it may be longer if you need to make additional or substantial corrections). Note you will need to send it to your supervisor in advance of the deadline to allow them time to upload it on your behalf.
In order to submit an ethical application for review you should complete an RG1a form (see links below), provide a proposal and if applicable complete and submit an RG3 risk assessment form. These documents should be merged into one single PDF document.
The documents required and guidance on how to complete depends on the category of risk associated with your research, but information can be found on the internal research area.
If your application requires Ulster University Research Ethics Committee approval (i.e., if you intend to work with vulnerable populations) then your application will go through the School Ethics Committee process first. It is important to build this into the timeline of your project.
Applicants should submit:
- RG1 (Application)
- Research Protocol (see guidance forms)
- Participant information sheet(s)
- Consent form(s)
- Debrief sheet(s) where relevant
- A copy of all the materials that will be used
The filter committee will return:
- RG2 (peer review completed by the filter committee). This will outline the recommended changes required for the project to progress (if any)
- RG3 (issued by chair of filter committee) when they are satisfied that all changes have been made and they are satisfied for the research to progress.
The university specifies that you must keep your data for 10 years. You should consider how you will label and securely store your data prior to collecting it. After 10 years the data can be disposed via confidential waste, arranged through physical resources (via Physical Resources Helpdesk on Portal).
Supervision and Attendance
From time to time, issues can arise which impact on your progress. If this happens to you, please get in touch with your supervisor in the first instance.
If the issue relates to more general postgraduate issues (i.e. is not a problem relating directly to the research you conduct on your postgraduate research degree), please get in contact with the Postgraduate Tutor, Dr Orla McBride to make an appointment to discuss.
Issues will be treated in confidence where possible, and the School will always aim to resolve the problem with your input to allow you to succeed.
The University and Postgraduate Researcher expectations are given below, and the Postgraduate Tutor will be happy to discuss these with you.
Regardless of what the issue is, please do not disappear - the Postgraduate Tutor, your supervisors, and the School are here to help you succeed as a postgraduate researcher.
What you can expect from the School and the University:
- To provide a supervision team of at least two supervisors, with expertise relevant to your research who offer regular supervision meetings.
- That you and your work become a part of the wider research contribution of your supervisors, the School, the University, and the field to which your work belongs, and that you receive credit for your activity through acknowledgement and authorship where appropriate.
- To assess your training and development needs and provide you with opportunities to address them.
- To provide you with training and support for any teaching duties you may undertake.
- To provide or arrange access to suitable library and IT systems.
- To support you to disseminate your research findings.
- To provide you with pastoral care.
- To offer you support to manage disabilities so that you can access and participate in research.
- To offer a range of student support services and advice on how to access them.
- To deal with any complaints or disciplinary matters in accordance with University procedures, where necessary.
- To offer careers advice and support to plan your future.
The University expects:
- That you should meet regularly with your supervisor(s) and check your university email regularly.
- That you regularly attend campus (3 days a week minimum for full-time funded PhD researchers).
- That you make the University aware via your supervisors of any issues relating to your progress at the earliest opportunity so we can provide you with support.
- That you should record minutes of meetings and share these with your supervisors.
- That you should participate fully in the life of the School including attending seminars and events and being supportive of your PhD researcher and Staff colleagues.
- That you will take opportunities offered to you to develop your skills and review your progress.
- That you will seek to disseminate your research both informally and formally.
- That you will accept teaching opportunities only if you are able to commit to the development of your teaching skills and if these will not impede your progress.
- That you will inform the Doctoral College promptly of any change of address or personal information.
- That you will discuss any activities outside the PhD which may take time away from your PhD with your supervisor to ensure you can continue to progress.
- That you will comply with any regulations stated by your funding opportunity or your immigration status.
- That you will be a responsible member of the research community, and comply with all relevant University policies, regulations, and codes of practice in the course of your research studies.
- That you make use of desk space in the PhD Hub.
- That you uphold the reputation of your School, your supervisors, and the University through positive engagement with the Academic and Wider Community.
Working Environment
Postgraduate offices
There is one PhD Researcher office Hub (H142). The hub operates on a hot-desking basis. Please refer to ‘Resource Booker & PhD Research Hub’ folder on Sharepoint for details on how to book your workspace.
There are 24 desks available. Please contact Mary Gervin if you are experiencing difficulties. Laptops have been allocated to all funded PhDs.
For full-time scholarship PhD researchers, in line with regulations for the DfE/VCSR scholarship, unless you have a good reason for doing so (e.g., out at a conference, or collecting data off site), the expectation is that you should come into the office three days a week. Please keep the offices clean and tidy as they are shared spaces.
Please also respect the noise level in rooms to allow others to concentrate.
If you are visiting another campus of the University, there are specific spaces PhD researchers can use called The Docs. The Docs also host events throughout the year to provide support, networking, and a bit of fun. They can be found at:
Campus | Location |
|---|---|
Belfast | Room BA-04-03 |
Coleraine | Room E008 |
Magee | Room MC026 |
When you complete your PhD, please take all your belongings home with you from the office space and arrange for appropriate storage of any data or other materials in line with your supervisor and Ulster University policy.
Coffee Room
We have a coffee room in the School of Psychology (Room G207). This is for the use of PhD researchers and staff only. This space is used for socializing at tea and lunchtime. We also use this space for social gatherings and some seminars. Please make use of this space!
You can pay to use the tea and coffee making facilities on an ad hoc basis or by academic year (£10/semester). Ask Jennie Reid about how to make a payment on a Semester basis. Please keep the kitchen clean and tidy, and return any cutlery or crockery promptly!
If you enter the university via the main entrance the library is located at the top of the staircase on your right-hand side. Postgraduate researchers can borrow up to 25 standard loans.
The library also offers training in RefWorks (to manage your references) and subject databases.
You can book RefWorks training via your portal (my studies tab).
If you would like to receive database training, you should contact the Faculty librarian directly.
Subject librarian | Faculty librarian |
|---|---|
Postgraduate researchers have access to several other facilities. Room G208 is a reprographics room. In this room there are binding machines, a laminator and collating machine as well as a Risograph printing machine for high volume printing.
The key for this room is held in the school office, Room G214 and technical support for these facilities is provided by the school technicians.
The school office also provides an internal mail service for hard copy items needing to travel to the other campuses. A standard external mail service is also available through the school office.
If you require bulk mailing services, please speak to Jennie Reid - there is a standard process for this.
Notice boards are located throughout the School of Psychology.
If you would like to advertise an event, you can place a poster on the noticeboards outside the school office.
You can display academic posters within the department by locating a free noticeboard.
Noticeboard keys are available in the school office.
OneDrive
OneDrive provides 1TB of free online cloud storage (part of Microsoft Office 365 environment). Files can be saved and accessed from any PC connected to the internet. We strongly recommend that you use OneDrive as your primary file storage location.
You can put various types of files on your OneDrive. Think of it as your "My Documents" in the cloud.
For more information visit the One Drive Resource on Digital Services.
Computer software
SPSS, NVIVO, MATLAB and Office 365 are available to download for free from your student portal (visit Getting Started for Students (ulster.ac.uk)). If you are installing software to your laptop/desktop you will need to contact the Digital Services team or our school Technical Services Co-Ordinator, Mary Gervin as an administrator password is required before any software can be installed on University IT equipment . For those of you that have University-owned laptops which have been “intuned” there is an application called “The Company Portal” which allows users to install software such as SPSS, RStudio and much more without the need for an administrator password. You can access this Company Portal by clicking on the Windows Start icon>select All Apps>select Company Portal>select the software you wish to download>select install and then wait for your download to finish installing.
The University moved to Multi-Factor Authentication in March 2021 to help ensure unauthorised access to your university account is prevented (What is Multi-Factor Authentication and how do I use it? (ulster.ac.uk) . )
If you have been allocated a University-owned laptop, Digital Services will talk you through the setup of this process. Additional IT and computing guidance is available on the Digital Services website.
Printing
The University operates an institution wide printing on multi-function devices (MFD) across all campuses. These devices offer a range of benefits and enhanced services:
- All devices support colour and mono printing
- All devices support Mac printing
- All devices now scan to email and One Drive
- Jobs can be submitted via Web print
- We are planning the integration to support file scanning to SharePoint.
Please refer to UU Digital Services page on printing instructions.
All PhD Researchers have a limited credit of £10 applied to their B-number for printing/photocopying. If you run out of credit during the year, please contact Donna Taggart to request additional top-ups.
Photocopying
The photocopying machine closest to the School of Psychology is in a small room located at the side of the Psychology PhD office. You will need your student card to use the photocopying machines.
School of Psychology
The School of Psychology is part of the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences and is based on the Coleraine campus.
Psychology Research
Research across three main themes of research in 'Mental health', 'Children, Young People and Schools', 'Health and Ageing'....
Subject Specific Training
In addition to the Researcher Development Programme (RDP) at Ulster which covers generic research and transferable skills, the School of Psychology also offers events and seminars.
Departmental seminars
Departmental seminars normally take place every two weeks on Wednesday afternoons and take the form of a presentation. Professor Victoria Simms arranges the seminar series, papers showcase research excellence, and are presented by a member of staff, visiting lecturer, invited guest, or postgraduate researchers. Seminars usually take place in E205/H219, but please refer to the schedule for specific details (see PhD Researcher Information folder on Sharepoint).
It is compulsory for all full-time postgraduate researchers to attend these seminars. If you are unable to attend, please send your apologies to Professor Simms. These seminars are essential to your postgraduate training, allow for networking opportunities, and to learn from other disciplines. They provide a firm foundation of scientific knowledge, particularly outside the specific area of your postgraduate research degree and learning about other skills and applications in psychology will improve your employability. Seminars are a key part of the excellent research culture here at the School of Psychology.
If you have ideas for training that is important but not part of the existing provision, please get in touch with the Postgraduate tutor.
Psychology Postgraduate Researchers' Q&A Forum
Once a semester, the Research Director and PGT host a coffee morning with all PhD Researchers.
The aim of this coffee morning is to discuss issues relating to the postgraduate research experience. There is a small budget which can be used how the committee sees fit (within the University Finance Regulations).
Health and Safety
Health and wellbeing
The health and wellbeing of the postgraduate researchers of the School of Psychology is of utmost importance. Guidance on health and safety is provided on the portal, and risk assessments may be required for your research activity. If you need to spend a period of time studying away from the University, you should complete a form on PhD manager, which involves an assessment of risk and will provide the University with details of where you plan to be based. The expectation is that full-time postgraduate researchers should be on campus for three days a week.
You are entitled to 40 days leave per academic year, to include public holidays and periods when the University is closed.
Please take this leave. It is important for your mental health and wellbeing.
If you are experiencing issues which relate to your health and wellbeing there are a range of resources available on the Wellbeing Website.
Please also feel free to speak with your supervisor who is available to provide pastoral care where it is needed, and it is appropriate for them to do so. The University also has a walking trail around the campus. Why not suggest to your supervisor to have a walking meeting, or perhaps take a lunchtime jog with your colleagues.
There are a range of signs up around the campus (e.g., there is one as you walk from the main building down towards the train station towards the main entrance). Did you know that the campus has a waterfall, wildflower meadow, and beautiful views? The grounds are beautifully kept by Estates Staff at the University, get out and explore to clear your mind.
Mary Gervin is the Health & Safety Officer. She is also to be contacted for Risk Assessments.
Travel and Procurement Procedures
Process Map for Spend from Annual Research Training Support Grant (RTSG)
All PhD Researchers must obtain supervisor approval BEFORE any spend.
Once approval received, please upload to Digital Claimant Portal for Admin approval and authorisation.
| PhD Researcher | Supervisor | Admin | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase Card (used when purchasing items such as equipment or materials required for research which the University existing suppliers cannot supply) | Email supervisor with full details and cost of request for approval. | Respond to PhD Researcher's email – approval / decline by replying to email trail | |
| Forward approval email along with Requisition form to Admin ensuring you include supplier name and links to items required. No items will be purchased without links and full details to goods. | |||
Prior Approval Prior Approval must be completed prior to travel where you may accrue costs such as accommodation, food, transport. The PA (Prior Approval) number that is generated is to be used when claiming back expenses | Email supervisor with full details of request for approval | Respond to PhD Researcher's email – approval / decline by replying to email trail | |
| Complete Online Prior Approval Form and upload supervisor's approval in supporting documents. | Approve the Prior Approval and forward for authorisation | ||
Selective Travel All PhD Researchers must use Selective Travel to book all accommodation and travel. Please note that it is PhD Researchers responsibility to book all accommodation and travel. | Login to Selective Travel | ||
Expenses Claim Form These forms are available in the Digital Claimant Portal and should be completed when you have used your own money to purchase items / conferences / pay for travel / fees etc. and need to claim back. |
Submit expense claim form via the portal
(REMEMBER TO QUOTE PA NUMBER AS THIS IS PROOF OF APPROVAL) | Approve claim and forward for authorisation & payment |
Demonstrating and Teaching Opportunities
Introduction to Learning and Teaching for Postgraduate Tutors and Demonstrators
As part of the PhD experience, you will have the opportunity to support learning among students. During your 1st year you can attend a short course to introduce you to this. The course “Introduction to Teaching and Learning for Postgraduate Tutors and Demonstrators” is a half day course, three hours long and is compulsory for all who teach in Ulster University. You can book this course through the online Research Development Program environment. You need to complete this training before you can undertake any teaching or demonstrating at Ulster.
Demonstrating at Ulster
Throughout your PhD career there will be opportunities for you to get involved in teaching and demonstrating to build your skills and contribute to the teaching excellence in the School. This often takes the form of assisting academic staff with seminars, being an e-tutor for modules (supporting student learning on a module), and other activities where appropriate. You will be paid for your time as a demonstrator, but you will not be able to work over and above the six hours allocated as part of the postgraduate researcher terms and conditions. Opportunities will be communicated by a member of the School administrative team (usually Jennie Reid).
Demonstrating claims are now processed via Ulster University Claimant Portal.
Please follow the guides for uploading your claim, ensuring that you also upload a confirmation email from your Supervisor/person who you demonstrated for confirming number of hours worked – please upload this in the same section as the starter declaration.
Assessment Seminars
Periodically, the School will formally assess your progress. There are three assessment sessions, referred to as initial, confirmation, and final assessments. You will be expected to prepare a short report and presentation on your progress to date and fill out a form depending on your stage with your supervisor. Unless you are on a leave of absence, or have other extenuating circumstances, you should prepare for these assessments.
We do not postpone the assessments for those who may feel that their research has not advanced enough; this is a census point for which your assessors are there to help provide independent advice to help you progress successfully through your degree.
Assessments are usually held in January and June every year. The dates are:
- January 2024 25/1/2024 – 26/1/2024
- June 2024 19/6/2024 -20/6/2024
- January 2025 23/1/2025 -24/1/2025
- June 2025 18/6/2025-19/6/2025
- January 2026 22/1/2026- 23/1/2026
- June 2026 17/6/2026 – 18/6/2026
Usually, you deliver your presentation in person to two assessors (the PGT and one other staff member from the School) and the Chair (who is usually the Research Director). The aim of these assessments is to give you independent advice, review your progress to date, identify any issues to be addressed, and to ensure your training needs are being met.
The following provides some background information for procedures around the progress assessments for PhD researchers. Progress assessments are a mandatory part of your time as a PhD Researcher. The aim of the assessments is to check in on your progress, to identify and solve any issues you may have, and to ensure you feel appropriately supported to deliver high quality research and obtain your PhD qualification.
Your supervisory team should be your first port of call for support in this process, so please work with your team to produce the materials and prepare yourself for the assessment. Should you have any comments or issues regarding this guidance or other matters, please feel free to contact your Postgraduate Tutor or call into H249.
Summary of the stages of the process:
Step 1: Log into PhD Manager and initiate the process.
Instructions on how to do this are given in the PhD Manager guides under the relevant assessment stage. You must upload both the report AND a the full version of your Turnitin similarity report you generate yourself (instructions are here) for both initial and confirmation assessments.
For the initial assessment, you will also be expected to have completed the research integrity course and discussed any training with your supervisor. Please see the information below by type of assessment to help guide you through the production of the report.
Step 2: Your administrator will enter in the dates and times of the assessments, which sends an email to your supervisors to complete their part (initial and confirmation assessments).
Step 3: Supervisors complete their forms in advance of the assessments, which sends an email to the Panel Chair to complete their part (initial and confirmation assessments).
PhD Researcher presents their work at their allocated assessment and receives feedback
Step 4: The Panel Chair will complete the form on behalf of the panel when the assessment ends, which sends an email to the Research Director to complete their part (initial and confirmation assessments).
Step 5: The Research Director signs off the paperwork, which sends an email to the Doctoral College for final sign off (initial and confirmation assessments).
For those completing the final assessment, your supervisor will confirm that you attended the assessment on the PhD manager system.
Assessment Seminars
This is held 3 months post-registration (full time) or around 6 months post-registration (part time) and must be organized in close co-operation with the project supervisor. It comprises two parts, the oral presentation and the progress report. Please bear in mind the assessment criteria as you prepare your materials.
Oral presentation
This should provide a precise description of the proposed programme of work using the Ulster University powerpoint templates and must include the following:
- Title slide with the title of the project, your name, and the name(s) of your supervisory team
- Brief overview slide which describes what you plan to discuss in the presentation
- Brief background research which identifies the gap in the literature you plan to fill
- Overall aim of the thesis
- A broad outline of the methods to be employed and approximate chapter structure
- Overall timeline of the PhD including the objectives to be achieved in the first year
- Progress to date and any challenges
- Summary slide to conclude
Please note that you may have more than one slide covering information in each of the eight points. Please do not use full sentences in your presentations (use bullet points) and ensure your presentation can be read at a distance (i.e. no overly detailed tables that cannot be read on screen- identify and focus on key information, or overly wordy slides). Please use the Ulster University PPT template to give your work a professional look. We will provide you with some handwritten feedback following the session to help you improve your talk and remind you of the questions asked.
Duration of Initial Assessment – 10 minutes duration, followed by a 5-minute discussion period (please keep to time)
Progress report for Initial Assessment
Your written report for the initial assessment should be a length of approximately four pages (2,000 words). It should include the following information:
- Title of the project, your name and student number, and the name(s) of your supervisory team.
- Background. Use the background section to identify the gaps in the literature, show why your research question is important, and identify what is original and novel about your work in addressing the gap.
- Clearly state the overall aim for the thesis
- Describe what methods you plan to use in your thesis. You may have a chapter by chapter structure, or perhaps you may consider phases in your work.
- Indicate progress you have made to date (including any attendance at training courses so far, conferences, writing, pilot work, key meetings, etc).
- Include a Gantt chart, or other timeline to illustrate your planned route to completion with a clear illustration of your plan for progress in your first year of study. This may include the following where appropriate: ethical approval from the appropriate committee(s), conferences or training events, dissemination events, site visits, recruitment periods, applying for data, data cleaning, data analysis, writing and completion of chapters, funder progress reports, and other activities.
- References in APA format (not included in the wordcount).
As mentioned above we are using the PhD manager system. It will ask you a number of questions including:
a) Reference to further development of the research as the basis of a submission of PhD – i.e. what are you planning to do in year 1, 2, 3 in a short paragraph/ bullet points (a PhD thesis normally includes 3-6 empirical chapters)
b) Identify if your PhD has a practice component (for the majority this will be no)
c) Further comments on your training and development plan (if you have not done this with your supervisor yet, it would be worth doing this ASAP)
d) Evidence that any required background/Police checks and risk assessments have been carried out (you will be asked to upload evidence of this to PhD manager).
Assessment details
There will be a Chair and two assessors on your panel who are Academic Staff in the school. They provide a brief report of your progress using the following criteria as guidance and are empowered to recommend changes to the programme of work and re-consideration of the proposals after an agreed period if needed. They will also complete a one-page feedback proforma to allow you to recall their advice and your responses. The assessment process is designed to help you succeed in your studies by identifying the strengths of your programme of work and helping with any potential pitfalls.
Assessment criteria
The report and feedback will relate to the following assessment criteria. Please be mindful of these as you prepare your materials, and ensure it is easy for the panel to determine you meet the following:
- Is the project clearly defined?
- Are the objectives to be achieved within the first 12-month period realistic and achievable with the available resources?
- Will the project provide adequate research training for the PhD Researcher?
- Is the programme of work likely to provide a sufficient foundation for (potential) PhD study?
- Does the PhD Researcher show evidence of at least a basic understanding of the problem, the limitations of the techniques to be employed and the significance of the work within the broader context?
- Are the proposed supervisor/advisor arrangements satisfactory?
- Feedback on your presentation skills
This is held approximately 9-12 months post-registration for full-time students and 21-24 months post-registration for part-time students and forms the basis for the confirmation of registration status. It comprises two parts, the oral presentation and the progress report. As you prepare your materials, please be mindful of the assessment criteria used by your assessors, and ensure you clearly demonstrate how they are met (see 2.2.1)
Oral presentation
This should describe work completed and work planned for the remainder of the PhD programme using the Ulster University powerpoint templates and must include the following:
- Title slide with the title of the project, your name, and the name(s) of your supervisory team
- Brief overview slide which describes what you plan to discuss in the presentation
- Brief background research which identifies the gap in the literature you plan to fill
- Overall aim of the thesis
- A broad outline of the methods to be employed and approximate chapter structure
- Progress to date and any challenges mapped to your objectives from initial assessment
- Proposed programme for future PhD work
- Summary slide to conclude
Please note that you may have more than one slide covering information. Please do not use full sentences in your presentations (use bullet points), and ensure that your presentation can be read at a distance (i.e., no overly detailed tables that cannot be read on screen- identify and focus on key information, or overly wordy slides). Please use the Ulster University PPT template to give your work a professional look. We will provide you with some handwritten feedback following the session to help you improve your talk and remind you of the questions asked.
Confirmation assessment duration – 20 minutes duration, followed by a 10-minute discussion period (please keep to time)
Progress report for Confirmation Assessment
Your written report for the assessment should be a length of approximately six pages (3,000 words). It should include the following information:
- Title of the project, your name and student number, and the name(s) of your supervisory team.
- Background. Use the background section to identify the gaps in the literature, show why your research question is important, and identify what is original and novel about your work in addressing the gap.
- Clearly state the overall aim for the thesis.
- State the aim for each of your thesis chapters and describe what methods you plan to use in your thesis.
- Summarise the progress you have made to date (including any attendance at training courses, conferences, writing, pilot work, key meetings, findings, data collection, ethics applications, etc.). Map these to the objectives you have set from your initial assessment.
- Identify any threats to successful completion (such as delays in approvals, and any plans in place to mitigate any risk to completion).
- References in APA format (not included in the wordcount).
- [Separate document for confirmation assessment] Gantt chart, or other timeline to illustrate your planned route to completion. This may include the following where appropriate: ethical approval from the appropriate committee, conferences or training events, dissemination events, site visits, recruitment periods, applying for data, data cleaning, data analysis, writing and completion of chapters, funder progress reports, and other activities.
As mentioned above we are using the PhD manager system. It will ask you several questions including:
a) Reference to further development of the research as the basis of a submission of PhD – i.e. what are you planning to do in years 2 and 3 in a short paragraph/ bullet points (a PhD thesis normally includes 3-6 empirical chapters)
b) Further comments on your training and development plan (if you have not done this with your supervisor yet, it would be worth doing this ASAP)
c) Gantt Chart or other PhD completion timetable (you will be asked to upload this separately to PhD manager)
Assessment details:
There will be a Chair and two assessors on your panel who are Academic staff in the school. They provide a brief report of your progress using the following criteria as guidance and are empowered to recommend changes to the programme of work and re-consideration of the proposals after an agreed period if needed. They will also complete a one-page feedback proforma to allow you to recall their advice and your responses. The assessment process is designed to help you succeed in your studies by identifying the strengths of your programme of work and helping with any potential pitfalls.
Assessment criteria
The report and feedback will relate to the following assessment criteria. Please be mindful of these as you prepare your materials, and ensure it is easy for the panel to determine you meet the following:
(1) Have the objectives of the 9 months/year been achieved?
(2) Is the proposed programme of work a logical extension of the completed studies?
(3) Are the defined objectives likely to be achieved with the available resources?
(4) Is the work likely to provide adequate research training to doctorate level for the student?
(5) Is the work sufficiently well-defined to (potentially) provide publishable data within a 18-21-month period (full-time students) or 27-33 months (part-time students)?
(6) Can the practical studies be completed within a 21-month (full-time) / 27 month (part-time) period?
(7) Does the PhD Researcher show evidence of ability to critically evaluate the work and place it within the context of related studies?
(8) Is (are) the supervisor(s) satisfied with the PhD Researcher’s progress to date?
(9) Is the PhD Researcher satisfied with the current supervisory arrangements?
This is given approximately 28-30 months post-registration for full-time PhD Researchers and 48 months post-registration for part-time PhD Researchers. Designated academic staff are present to review progress, offer advice and highlight any problems which may hinder completion within the 3-year period or part-time equivalent. You must log on to PhD manager to initiate the process. The guidance says that you may need to produce a Turnitin report, but you do not. You should upload your abstract (max 250 words) in advance of your assessment.
Oral presentation
This should describe work completed and work planned for the remainder of the PhD programme using the Ulster University powerpoint templates and must include the following:
- Title slide with the title of the project, your name, and the name(s) of your supervisory team
- Brief overview slide which describes what you plan to discuss in the presentation
- Brief background research which identifies the gap in the literature you plan to fill
- Overall aim of the thesis
- Outline of the methods used and chapter structure
- Progress to date by chapter and any challenges to completion
- Proposed programme for final year of study, what remains to be completed
- Summary slide to conclude
Please note that you may have more than one slide covering information. Please do not use full sentences in your presentations (use bullet points) and ensure that your presentation can be read at a distance (i.e. no overly detailed tables that cannot be read on screen- identify and focus on key information, or overly wordy slides). Please use the Ulster University PPT template to give your work a professional look. We will provide you with feedback following the session to help you improve your talk and remind you of the questions asked.
Final Assessment - 25 minutes duration, followed by a 15-minute discussion period (please keep to time)
Assessment details:
There will be a Chair and two assessors on your panel who are Academic staff in the school. The presentation will be delivered in front of a small group of your PhD Researcher peers and School of Psychology staff members. The panel will provide a brief report of your progress using the below criteria as guidance and are empowered to recommend changes to the programme of work and re-consideration of the proposals after an agreed period if needed. They will also complete a one-page feedback proforma to allow you to recall their advice and your responses. The assessment process is designed to help you succeed in your studies by identifying the strengths of your programme of work and helping with any potential pitfalls.
Assessment criteria
The feedback will relate to the following assessment criteria. Please be mindful of these as you prepare your presentation and abstract, and ensure it is easy for the panel to determine you meet the following:
- Has the work made, or is it likely in the very near future to make, a measurable and worthwhile contribution to the field of study?
- Is the practical component of the work completed, or almost completed?
- Has an outline of the thesis been decided upon?
- Has the work been, or will be in the near future, subject to external review through conference presentation or full papers?
- Are the PhD Researchers and supervisor(s) satisfied that the written thesis will be submitted on time? If not, are the assessors convinced that the thesis will be submitted within 4 years (full-time) / 7 years (part-time) of enrolment and would they support an extension on this basis?
Designated Staff should ensure that any extenuating circumstances e.g. Illness etc., Which may have hindered students' progress, have been recorded and brought to the attention of the doctoral college.
Disseminating and Publishing your Research
For some types of study, such as systematic reviews or randomized control trials, the established quality standard has emphasized registering your protocol (what you plan to do) before you do it. This is completed through online repositories such as PROSPERO the International prospective register of systematic reviews, or ISRCTN International Standard Randomized Controlled Trials Number platform.
In more recent times, there has been a movement to pre-register all studies in psychology for transparency and accountability, and to improve the quality of psychological science. This can include registering a full protocol (full details of what you plan to do before you do it), your hypotheses or research questions only, depositing your data in a repository (only with the appropriate ethical approvals in place, and on the Ulster University PURE site, see below), sharing your analysis input or output files, and other activities.
You may wish to consider this for your own thesis, as although this is a novel area in psychology, it is becoming increasingly common, and knowledge of the open science infrastructure will likely be a key skill in psychology in the future. A good guide and place to start is the Open Science framework who provide guides to open science, and a hosting platform.
We would also be keen to hear your feedback on how you are using open science throughout your degree as this is a novel initiative in the Psychology field not just in our School (please feel free to email your Postgraduate Tutor with your thoughts). We have produced a guide to open science to assist with this process which is available in the Sharepoint folder.
PURE is the central repository for all academic, researcher, and postgraduate researcher outputs. All postgraduate researchers will be issued with their own pure profile which can be populated using your research outputs, talks or conferences, and any other activity relevant to your postgraduate research career. It makes all of your research more visible and searchable and is a visible record of your activity to create current and future opportunities. You can add presentations, invited talks, conference participation, conference organization, editorial work such as peer-reviewing potential journal articles, memberships of organizations or of professional boards, network memberships, book chapters, posters, prizes or awards, data, input or outputs, or other contributions. To access your pure profile use your email address and password to sign in here. It is your responsibility to keep this up to date and accurate, and use it to your advantage. You can also look up your Ulster colleagues’ publications and see or cite other Ulster researchers’ work of relevance to your own. It’s worth taking a look and searching for key terms that relate to your work and familiarize yourself with the wider range of work in the School or at the University.
Most importantly, you will need to upload any of your research papers to the PURE system within three months of the date of acceptance. The type and nature of the submission will depend on the copyright agreement with the journal you have. Typically, you can submit either the pre-print (the word document submitted to the journal for review) or the post-print (final word version before acceptance), however, the video guide to submitting your article is available to help you.
Please do not skip these steps as all inputs are checked.
As always, your supervisor will be a great support to you in this process. You will also need to save the acceptance email (i.e. the email from the editor telling you that your article will be published). You can do this by clicking reply to the email, and copying the full email into a word document and saving this as a PDF (including the date at the top)
For example:
From: Journal of Awesome Psychology Editor In Chief
Sent: 1 September 2018 09:16
To: Researcher, Postgraduate <pg.researcher@ulster.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Your submission to Journal of Awesome Psychology JOAP-234-11R )
The reason this is important for postgraduates relates to the Research Excellence Framework (REF). If you are planning a career as an academic psychologist, it is important that you have journal articles which are of high quality, and that have been submitted to a University repository within three months of the date of acceptance of the article. If it has not been submitted, then it cannot be used in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) submission for your department.
Please note you should use the School of Psychology address in all publications related to your PhD work (even if you publish it when you work somewhere else, please use both the School of Psychology address, and your new work address).
If you are affiliated with more than one centre at the University (as some of those on interdisciplinary PhD studentships), please include the other affiliations alongside the School of Psychology affiliation.
Some postgraduate researchers publish research papers during their postgraduate studies. Although this is not a prerequisite it can have many advantages with regards to future employment/funding applications and employability. You may also feel more prepared entering into your viva with a few papers published or under review, and use the peer-reviewed commentary to help you prepare for your viva. If you would like to publish your research you should discuss this with your supervisor and to keep in mind that if your research is published before completing your studies you may require permission from the journal to print the published document within your thesis.
You should be first author on any publication arising directly from your postgraduate research degree findings, and it is usual your supervisor(s) would be a co-author if they have contributed to the intellectual content of your work (e.g., helping with the design, framing the question, correcting drafts, supporting analysis or methodological choices, contributing to interpretation, etc). For more details on authorship see http://www.apa.org/research/responsible/publication/ Responsible publishing is important. By this it is important that you consider your role as an author as one taking responsibility for the content, so it is important to get it right and take your time to iron out any issues before submission. Giving due credit (and ensuring you get credit for your work) is also vital. We take responsible publishing very seriously in the School, and you can ask the postgraduate tutor or your supervisor if there are aspects of the publication process to which you are unsure.
As you consider submitting manuscripts to journals for potential publication, it is very helpful to use the relevant checklist to help demonstrate the quality of the work and ensure you do not miss any key information that harm your chances of publication. A list of checklists by type of study can be found at the Equator Network. For example, the STROBE checklist would be used to help reporting in observational studies (e.g. large epidemiological datasets), the PRISMA checklist would be used for systematic reviews, or qualitative research might use the SRQR or COREQ reporting guidance. Don’t forget to tell the journal to which you submit about your commitment to open science also whether pre-registration, data archiving, or the deposit of preprints on servers such as www.Psyarxiv.com. Note some journals do not support preprints (you can find out here by searching on the title of the journal.
Please also note that you may not get into your first preference journal or first time. Rejection is common from early career to very senior researchers. Don’t be disheartened and keep going. Take the comments on board, and move on to the next opportunity. Building resilience is a key skill you will learn in your PhD and your supervisory team (and School is here to help and support you).
Professional and Career Development
- Professional Development
- Furthering your Career
- CV Guidance
- Social Networks
- Research Excellence Framework
Whilst completing your postgraduate studies at Ulster University, membership of professional bodies is highly recommended to keep up to date with research developments in your field and also network with other like-minded Masters/PhD researchers and academics.
The British Psychological Society (BPS) is the governing body for all psychology students and professionals. The BPS has a range of divisions suited to your specific research interests and more information on how to join this organization and corresponding divisions can be found on the BPS Website.
Here is a list of some alternative professional bodies associated with the varying disciplines in Psychology that you may be interested in:
- Health Psychology- European Health Psychology Society (EHPS)
- Social Psychology- Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP)
- Sports Psychology-Association for Applied Sports Psychology (AASP)
- Behavioural Psychology- European Association for Behaviour Analysis (EABA)/ UK Society for Behaviour Analysis (UK SBA)
- Cognitive Psychology- International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology (IACEP)
- Mental Health- British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
It is extremely worthwhile to make yourself aware of jobs that are being advertised throughout your PhD studies. It can be helpful to scan the essential and desirable criteria for jobs you might like to obtain to help plan your skills development and training.
PhD researchers are permitted to apply for jobs during their final year (six months prior to obtaining PhD), therefore keeping abreast of job sectors is vital. Below are some ways to receive notifications of jobs in your field bearing in mind there may be good opportunities both inside and outside of the University sector:
Obtaining Post-doctoral funding is another possible avenue to explore and think about during the latter stages of your PhD and postgraduate studies, more information on funding opportunities for post-doctoral study can be found at:
- The Economic and Social Research Council and NINE DTP
- Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships
- British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellowships
CVs are a fantastic way to document your achievements, both professional and personal throughout your postgraduate studies/PhD. Often, it is not until we take time to reflect on our achievements that we realise how much we have accomplished. It is helpful to list conference attendance, presentations, publications, financial support obtained every year then update your CV at the end of every academic year. This way you will not be in the position of finishing your PhD and having to recall three or more years of achievements.
An academic CV differs from the CV’s that you may have been used to writing in the past, you can build your CV with the help of the Career Development Centre at Ulster University on your portal. Your supervisor(s) should be able to share a copy of their CV so you can see the general format. The Professional and Career Enhancement System (PACE) web space on your portal is extremely useful for this, and a record of your activities in PURE will also help.
If you are applying for jobs outside the University setting, you will need the more traditional CV, however, many of the skills you will achieve during your postgraduate research time at Ulster are transferable, such as writing, presenting, teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving, administrative skills, methodological skills in qualitative or quantitative analysis.
The biggest skill of course is planning and completing a big project (your thesis!). If you are thinking about taking on other activities alongside your CV to build your skills, please discuss with your supervisor to ensure you do not compromise your ability to complete your thesis.
Some useful websites include:
- https://www.vitae.ac.uk/
- http://www.theprofessorisin.com/
- http://www.linkedin.com/groups/PhD-Careers-Outside-Academia-1844342/ (need to be a member of LinkedIn)
It can also be helpful to join social networks. However, approach these with caution, and a useful rule of thumb is to pretend there are no passwords: would you be happy with everyone you know seeing what you post (e.g. a grandparent). Some key social networks include:
Google Scholar (need to use university email and have at least one publication which can be/include a published abstract from a conference)
Research Gate (can have a profile without publications)
Facebook (often used for ‘personal’ life but be cautious, as friends of friends can see things that you may not want as public knowledge, can be useful to join groups in your field)
X/Twitter (useful for networking and following the key people in your field)
You can follow key conferences if you know the hashtag e.g., this year’s British Psychological Society Conference was #BPSconf. Allows for conversation between people you admire and may not get a chance to speak to in real life, but remember to keep it constructive, and positive where possible. Issues of libel/defamation are becoming increasingly common, so be careful what you tweet (it is in the public record even if you delete it). Also consider who you follow and who that says you are as a professional (so if you follow political figures what that says about your objectivity in a policy setting). You may also wish to note that retweets or posts are not an endorsement. Also please follow @UlsterUniPsych and tag @UlsterUniPsych in posts about your research successes (and potentially your supervisors too if they are on X/Twitter or Instagram).
LinkedIn (useful for networking with those inside and outside the University sector)
There are also many other options including YouTube, blogs, podcasts, websites, and other activities. Be conscious of how much time you are spending on these, consider if it might be better spent elsewhere, and/or if it is compromising your ability to complete your postgraduate research.
If you are hoping for a career in a UK University, it can be helpful to be mindful of the Research Excellence Framework. This is a National exercise to rank the research by broad department groups across the United Kingdom. It has several parts, but the core of the REF is outputs or published articles. These articles must be of high quality, and are ranked by a panel as ungraded up to four star. Typically departments will only submit articles thought to be three star and above (and if you are employed as a Lecturer, you will need at least one of these).
These categories are:
Four star: Publication is world-leading in originality, significance, and rigour.
Three star: Publication is internationally excellent in originality, significance, and rigour but which falls short of the highest standards of excellence.
It is hard to know where publications arising from your thesis might stand in the ranking, however, you can give them the best chance by submitting to quality journals, engaging with open science, using sound methodologies, using the equator network checklists, and being absolutely clear in the introduction and discussion about the contribution your paper makes to the field. In this evaluation cycle, citation of papers does appear to play a role, so let your network know (maybe people you have met at conferences or events) about your publications, you can tweet about it if you have a twitter account (usually helps to use the twitter link at the journal site, but reword it so there is some statement of the findings to hook the reader (and tag the @UlsterUniPsych and/or your supervisors/co-authors twitter account too for wider reach and a re-tweet). Please note that @UlsterUniPsych is managed by a range of staff across the School and we try to keep an eye on new work or ways to amplify the work of our PhD researchers. However, do not be disheartened if we miss something, we are all working on a range of things, and we usually see things when they tag us in photos.
Other aspects of the REF are income (grant income) which can be difficult to get as a PhD student, but if applying for jobs, it is useful to have identified a funding stream (e.g. NIHR) you plan to target, and a broad research question for a potential bid. A key aspect of the process is environment and it is one you are directly involved in as it concerns PhD completions. This is in part why we emphasize you get in contact with us to discuss any issues arising which might compromise your postgraduate research experience, or your ability to complete your degree and move on to an exciting future as an Ulster University graduate. We are invested in your success and research excellence, and we are here to help.
Finally, the last aspect is impact, or broadly speaking the good you can do in the world. There is a good guide to planning impact written by Professor Mark Reed here that is specifically written for PhD students. Again, it is helpful to discuss this with your supervisors as you plan for impact on your PhD, and don’t forget to share your best practice with the School.
Conference Attendance
An important aspect of being a postgraduate/PhD researcher is networking with other researchers, and one the best ways to do this is by attending relevant conferences in your field. Conferences give you an opportunity to hear what current research in being conducted in your field of interest, meet fellow researchers and professionals from your topic area and to present your own research.
The best way to hear first about conferences is to be a member of professional bodies for example the British Psychological Society (BPS), the European Health Psychology Society or the Cambridge Centre for Behavioural Studies. As a postgraduate researcher there is usually a discounted student membership fee, however this varies depending on the society you wish to join. By becoming a member, you will be the first to receive information regarding conferences, courses, talks, research in the area and much more, so it is well worth joining.
Conference bursaries to support your conference attendance are available from PSYPAG. These are competitive applications which can provide up to £300 for an international conference, and £100 for a national conference. As you apply for these, consider how your application may be ranked against other people, and think of how it might stand out to the panel. For example, it may be helpful to specify that you are presenting a paper or poster (like all applicants), but that you also plan to meet a specific person in your field for a specific reason, or go to a postgraduate workshop alongside your presentation, spend a day at a relevant research Centre local to the conference, etc.
Other postgraduate bursaries are available such as Brain Trust, and the Experimental Psychology Society. Similarly, some conferences have bursaries for students (check their website) or will waive the conference fee if you volunteer to help at the conference (if you send a polite email to the organizer to ask). Funded PhD researchers are awarded an annual Research Training and Support Grant (RTSG) to support their research during each academic year. All expenditure must be used for research related activity and permission for any spend must be obtained via Prior Approval as noted above.
It is important that you liaise with your Supervisory Team with regards to identifying suitable conferences. Once you have identified an event, you should complete the Prior Approval process as detailed above.
The next thing you need to do is decide if you wish to put in a submission for your chosen conference. Submissions are usually for oral or poster presentations and both require an abstract submission which gives a brief outline of what you would hope to be presenting. These are usually limited to 250 words, however this varies depending on the conference. Note the deadline for submission and guidelines on the conference website. If you are accepted for an oral presentation, then you must use the Ulster University template for your PowerPoint presentation. Branding is important in building our reputation in research excellence, and you can do your bit to help by following the University guidelines.
If you have been accepted for a poster presentation, then it is also recommended that you use the Ulster University approved template for A0 posters (see below). Don’t forget to put your (University) contact details on the poster, and it may be helpful to print off some copies of the poster for conference delegates to read later. Each Faculty has a unique template, and you can have the poster printed A2, A1 and A0. To get a poster printed you must go to the reprographics office in which there will be a fee to print (September 2018 prices):
A2 420 X594mm - £19.91 + VAT
A1 594 X 841 - £26.72 + VAT
A0 841 X 1189mm - £36.32 + VAT
Allow five working days for poster production
Contact information:
Reprographics: m.millar@ulster.ac.uk
A useful way to stay connected at conferences is by distributing business cards. Your business card should include your name and contact details and also perhaps links to your social media e.g., Twitter, that way you can stay in contact with the people you meet. Business cards are fairly cheap to print and can be done on a number of websites (e.g. vista print). Also do not forget to ask others for their business cards too. Be prepared to speak briefly about your research findings and your general research interests.
Finally, the most important thing to remember is to have fun and enjoy your time at conferences by making connections with people who share an interest and passion in your area of interest.
Don’t forget to upload details of your conference attendance on your PURE profile to show your research contributions to the field. This may also be a good time to follow up with any contacts you made at the conference, for example, if you promised to send a paper to a delegate you met or promised to share contact details. It is helpful to keep a note of the people you met, and what you talked about, and you can use these contacts in the future to ask about job opportunities, perhaps to send a paper you have published (I’ve just published this paper, thought it might be of interest, hope all is well with you, kind of thing). Research is a global industry, and people do appreciate the personal touches.
Funding and Fellowships
Funding
For those of you who are part-time and self-funding your PhD research, you may wish to consider looking at the following sources including the Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding and the Directory of Grant Making Trusts, and Charities. Please also contact Professor Victoria Simms to discuss if there is any support available during the academic year.
Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology BPS Fellowship
There is an opportunity to spend three months (with a paid stipend) in London to work in the Houses of Parliament, on Select Committees, or in the House of Lords on a Psychological area of interest for Lords and MPs. This fellowship opens doors to contacts in the UK or beyond to discuss matters of psychological importance with a view that you will write a POSTnote to summarise the evidence on the topic (both for and against). This is a very prestigious fellowship which will enhance your career considerably. Full details of the funding and the fellowship will be hosted on the British Psychological Society and Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology websites, and the deadline is usually end of August 2019. You will have to undergo security vetting to obtain your passes to the Palace of Westminster and Parliamentary Estate.
Some of the POSTnotes in previous years include
- Selective education
- Domestic abuse and family courts
- Migrants and housing
- Policing domestic abuse
- Palliative and end of life care
- Special educational needs
- Mental health and the workplace
- Impact of video games