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'....