Graduate School Director's Briefing November 23

Dear Postgraduate Researchers,

Also for the attention of Supervisors and Research-degree-related staff

For the Graduate School, October is an exciting season of renewal as we welcome new PGRs to start their research projects and welcome back existing PGRs to continue with theirs. Seeing the growing collection of research inspiration images from new starters is an invigorating reminder of how our PGR Community adds to the body of academic knowledge. It’s a privilege to be part of your stories.

This update follows a period of exceptional difficulty and disruption for everyone involved in postgraduate research. During the pandemic, exceptional changes to regulations and practice had to be made to enable PGRs to continue their studies; since that time there has been a significant change to the University with many staff working in a hybrid manner. We’ve seen some of these challenges emerge in the open comments of our Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) 2023 results. We will be telling you about these results in more detail and sharing our action plan with you in the last Town Hall of the year on 13 December.

A new academic year

Welcome to new OU PGRs

(for directly registered students and Affiliated Research Centre students)

PhDs On 2 October, we welcomed a new cohort of full- and part-time PhD students to campus and explained what OU research degrees entail. While the induction was not without IT snags, brilliant conversations and connections were forged and we’re excited to see what the next year brings for our new starters. For recaps look at our stash of Induction resources.

Prof Docs On the weekend of 7 and 8 October, the Professional Doctorate team welcomed their new cohort. Please take a look at our At-a-glance Graduate School resources for Prof Doc students.

ARCs For new PGRs at any of our Affiliated Research Centres (ARCs), you are also most welcome to the OU PGR Community. Please take a look at our At-a-glance Graduate School resources for ARC students.

Please find the Handbooks related to the different programmes here: Forms and Guidance | Graduate School Network (open.ac.uk)

Welcome back sessions

(for directly registered students)

We held a Welcome Back to Returning PGRs information session on 5 October, and a Welcome Back Resources session on 10 October.

Slides and recordings can be found in the PGR Community Team.

Please give us feedback if you attended (and haven’t already done so) using this Welcome Back Evaluation MS Form.

International PGR Town Hall

(for directly registered students)

It’s great to see so many PGRs signing up for our International PGR Town Hall on 29 November. Please remember to send your questions in advance, by 20 November, so we can research full answers. You can do this by emailing [email protected] or via your PGR Liaison Group rep. More info here Open University Graduate School International PGR Town Hall | Graduate School Network.

PGR wellbeing support group starting January 2024

(for directly registered students)

Build your network and discuss the stresses of PhD life by expressing interest in our new 8-week facilitated PGR wellbeing support group, starting January 2024.

Other news

Israel-Hamas war

(for directly registered students and Affiliated Research Centre students)

The OU has issued the following statement on the Israel-Hamas War. 

Like everyone in the OU community, we are deeply concerned about all those who are suffering. This is an intensely difficult situation and our primary interest is to support those in our community who are struggling. Please see all the sources of support open to PGRs at Student wellbeing | Graduate School Network (open.ac.uk), including the 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme that offers telephone counselling.

Some of you are wondering what you can say about your views on the conflict and where. We ask that all members of the academic community abide by the Academic Freedom Principles Statement | Student Policies and Regulations | The Open University. Specifically, we ask that users of the PGR Community Team make themselves aware of the Team guidelines.docx which ask that you consider, when posting on an issue that divides the community, whether it contributes to supporting each other’s doctoral journey. We ask that University channels are not used for this purpose, and when communicating as an individual or posting on your personal channels you ensure that it is clear that you are not speaking on behalf of the University and that your actions do not contravene relevant policies.

Ethics system

(for directly registered students students)

We recently promoted the new online Ethics System which will make applying for approval for your research more straightforward; however, the team have noted that for you to complete an application your supervisor needs to have logged into the system in order to create their user profile. If you are submitting an application and cannot assign it to your supervisor, please ask them to log in.

Next Carer’s fund deadline

(for directly registered students)

The CareTech Foundation PGR Carers Support Fund offers PGR carers financial support of between £200 and £1000. There will be two application points each funded year (running 1 November–31 October) and these will be in December and June.

The next PGR Carers Support Fund application cut-off is on 13 December. Please use the PGR Carers Support Fund guidance notes and application form to make your application.

The Graduate School Network has been updated 

(for directly registered students and Affiliated Research Centre students)

The Graduate School Network contains useful forms, guidance and information, as well as aggregating links to a lot of the platforms you use as a PGR. It recently received a makeover and a few sections have shifted – have a look at this Notice describing how to navigate the new site.

Graduate School Appointment system

(for directly registered students)

A reminder of our August mailing which covered how to get in touch with the Graduate School.

Reminder of some useful regs

(for directly registered students and Affiliated Research Centre students)

The research degree regulations are there to guide you through the degree. Here are some helpful ones to remind yourself of:

• Supervision notes (see RD 5.9, PD 4.9 and Appendix 2) Each supervisory meeting must result in a set of agreed notes. The PGR must write these and upload to PGR Manager and then the Supervisor approves them there (see PGR Manager: supervision meeting notes guide).
• Reasonable Adjustment Regulations: registered carer (RD 9.4c & PD 8.4e) The grounds under which a PGR can request a study break have been expanded to include registered carer.

Key dates section

29 November: International Town Hall (hybrid; primarily for PGRs on a Student Route visa; please note that there is a general University Town Hall that afternoon – not to be confused with this one)

29 November: Bake Your Research competition (in-person with online elements)

12 December: Tree planting event (in-person; details TBC)

12 December: PGR Social – End of Year Catch-up (online)

13 December: All PGRs Town Hall (hybrid)

19 December: PGR Social – Xmas party (in person)

January: International lunch (in person; details TBC)

Good luck with the next couple of months of research!

Best regards,

Lindsay

Professor Lindsay O’Dell, Graduate School Director