Actions from PGR-GS Liaison Group meeting – 12 June 2024

Jurgi is replacing Melisa as WELS rep.

Action: Emily to check who the new person is for OU Students Association. Deputy President is Andrew Wilson who Terri will invite to future meetings.

Notes from last meeting

Progress Review – more work to do in Faculties to clarify dates

Action: Emily to check where Rob is on Intro for Reps Complete in time for the conference

Action: Graduate School to include abbreviations list as part of Induction materials.

Action: PGRS – To note that there are Library drop-ins every other Thursday, between 11.00-12.00 – PGRS to please get the word out.

To note that there is also a session at the Conference on 26^th June.

WELS Items

Suggestion that a microwave be provided in the Hub.

There is a different atmosphere in the Hub and it’s a central place to meet.  PGRS don’t want to have to heat food in the faculty and then carry it to the Hub.

Dietary requirements – occasionally it is difficult to find meals which are gluten free. 

Action: Emily to ask Head of Catering. Done, she is considering; Emily chased on 10 July.

Action: PGRS – If any dietary requirements are not being met, please tell us and we will pick up with the Director of Catering.

Action: PGRS to note that there is a microwave in the Common room as well as free tea and coffee.  These facilities should also be in your buildings.  Please let us know if not. 

OU Certificates

Query as to why OU PhD certificates do not show the department or the course studied, only that a PhD has been awarded.

Lindsay’s response was that doctoral degrees are not named.  Other than a pass or fail, there is no grade.  It is recorded in OU systems as the outcome of the exam, but it’s not a grade.

Action: PGRS Please let us know if you have particular needs, as we can provide you with a confirmatory letter.

Team Guidelines - outputs

Discussion as to whether the Guidelines hit the right balance between allowing community discussion and making safe spaces to discuss the doctoral journey.

• Think about when making a comment, whether it supports the doctoral journey.
• It should be clearer what PGRS are allowed to talk about, especially for part-time students with no community and be clearer what the purpose of the chat is.
• OU student Whatsapp groups need to be considered - are there guidelines?
• Participants must treat everyone with courtesy, some people are rude, even in a face-to-face setting.
• People shouldn’t be posting anyone’s contact details.
• Query as to who in GS has the duty of being Moderator?  It needs to be clear who the moderator is.
• ‘Moderator’ may be the wrong term as it’s not an active role.  Is there a filter which picks up words? – e.g. an obscenities/bullying filter could be used.  Action: Emily will check it out. Initially, I can see that we can filter words in transcripts of live meetings, and make posts pend moderation.
• If there is a problem, it would go to Emily and Rob who would discuss it with Lindsay. It may then go to Arlene Hunter – to find out how The OU is treating this issue.
• No training is provided to moderators, it’s escalated to Arlene Hunter who does have the training.
• It would help to have a pinned post advising where to go for help or to have guidelines tab at the top of the chat labelled ‘support’ - for example.
• Query as to whether there is a policy for Teams channels.
• GS to note that the Link re suicidal students doesn’t work anymore.  Action: Emily to investigate Asked Cameron to update.
• Suggestion that GS speak with OUSA to see how they moderate their forums.
• Suggestion that PGRS are directed to OUSA to debate.

Action: PGRS – If anyone has any views on how we can improve the guidelines, please let us know.

PGRS review – re developing academic profile (Rob Grant’s work in RES) – re profile page – PGRS to consider whether it will fit with PGRS needs.

Graduate School to note that non-stipend PGRS in FBL can have a manually created profile page.

Action: PGRS – Request for PGRS to work together with Graduate School to source a new set of pages on the GSN that help PGRs navigate useful resources by stage. Suggestions would be appreciated as to what PGRs need to be able to access at each stage in the doctoral journey. Please feel free to edit with Tracked changes and add comments.  The aim is to have these pages live for the new academic year, so feedback would be great by end of July.