Graduate School Network

Every christmas particularly around the days before christmas to after new year, scam operators are often working at their peak.

Typical scams and crime tactics I have heard of victims of, or been a victim myself or have seen reported by friends are listed below.

1. The parcel delivery card

Often we order things online to get a good deal, it is not unusual to forget.  sometimes people send gifts too, so you are not expecting anything but may get a card put through your door asking you to call a number in order to recieve your package.

Message from Careers and Employability Service

Are you a postgraduate research student who could benefit from some career advice? Now you can book a one-to-one career consultation via the Open University’s Careers and Employability Services (CES) here https://help.open.ac.uk/contact-a-careers-adviser. We recommend you do this after working through the resources relevant to your aspirations (see below) and identifying specific areas you would like to discuss.

Message from Sandra Higgins, Officer Administrator, AOUG:

"As this is the AOUG 30^th Anniversary the Officers would like to offer a bursary of £1,000 to an OU Research Student to enable them to undertake some further development.

Please note the following information for all final year PhD students and their supervisors.

Applications to be returned by Monday 20^th August."

We are pleased that the PRES 2017 results place the OU amongst the top 25% institutions in the UK and overall 87% of our research students are satisfied with their degree. This is ahead of the university sector as a whole. Notable highlights are that our students feel they receive good supervision and they are in a good research environment. This reflected in that 84% of our students said they were confident of finishing on time. We will be ensuring that good supervisors are recognised.

As you may know, there is possible industrial action planned by UCU that may fall on the following days:

Hi All,

PubhDMK needs one more speaker for the 24 January event: could you explain your research to a pub audience in exchange for a drink? This is a great opportunity to practice explaining your research in an accessible, engaging way!

Details below:

"A new event is starting at the OU and we need you!

The Open University’s Student Entrepreneurship Competition 2018 opened Monday 4 December 2017. The competition helps students and recent graduates take their business ideas forward by securing cash prizes to invest in their ventures.

Whether you’re just at the idea stage or already running your own small business, we encourage you to take part in this year’s Student Entrepreneurship Competition. We’re looking for new inventions, ground-breaking business ideas and life-changing social enterprises.

We've become aware that rental agencies are rejecting some research students because of income concerns. James Bruce, Director in the Graduate School, has written a letter for students to take to the agencies with them, to indicate that the studentship is tax-free and equivalent to a certain taxable income. If you are looking for accommodation and would like a copy of this letter, please contact [email protected].

Emily

We're grateful to Ketty Grishikashvili of FBL for compiling this list of Top Potential Probation/Viva Questions, and Jo Vincett of FBL for making us aware of it: https://www.open.ac.uk/students/research/content/top-potential-probatio…

Do any of them sound familiar? Do you have any tips on how to handle any particular ones of the list?

On behalf of Jo Vincett:

Dan Crane, Research Support Librarian, has confirmed a date that they can re-run the Research Data Management Seminar. It will be on Wednesday, 14 June, 10:00-11:30, in the Library Presentation Room.

Here is the link in OU Events Diary:
https://intranet.open.ac.uk/ouintra/event.aspx?id=26849