Who Takes Research Training?

Who takes Research Training?

For the purposes of research training, postgraduates are classified not according to Faculty but according to Research Council remit. You do not have to be funded by a Research Council to be classified within its remit. If your area of research is within the area of the Council’s disciplines then you are within its remit. Your Department must certify at the beginning of your PhD research which Council your work falls under and notify the Graduate School accordingly.

 For the purposes of Research Training, there are 3 broad areas of Research Council remit:

  • Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
  • Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
  • Science Research Councils (EPSRC, BBSRC, STFC, MRC, NERC)

Further information about which disciplinary areas fall into which Research Council remits is given below.

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-Remit

PGM0210 and either PGM1010 & PGM1120 or PGM0910 & PGM1120 of the Research Training and Development Programme are compulsory for all full-time ESRC-remit PhD students in their first year of research, who have not taken these modules as part of an ESRC-recognised  Research Training Master’s and who are not eligible for an exemption. This means that modules PGM0210 and either PGM1010 & PGM1120 or PGM0910 & PGM1120 must be taken by first-year full-time PhD students in the following subject-areas:

 Management & Business;

  • International Politics (social science research areas);
  • Human Geography (social science research areas);
  • Law (social science research areas);
  • History and Welsh History (social science research areas);
  • Information and Library Science (social science research areas);
  • Education  (social science research areas);
  • Environmental Impact Assessment (social science research areas).
  • Theatre, Film and TV Studies (social science research areas)

AU recognises the need for greater flexibility of provision of research training across the entirety of the training programme for PhD students and has introduced a set of modules, workshops and activities to meet the advanced training needs of students in advanced quantitative and qualitative methods. These include the following: PGM0620, PGM0910 & PGM1120 and Advanced Research Methods. The Graduate Workshops offer advanced training in written communication skills (see further below). Support for postgraduates for whom English is a second language and advanced language training in languages other than English are also available (see further below). This training can be undertaken at any point in the PhD training programme, when it is considered most appropriate.

Departments will be responsible for identifying the advanced research training needs of their research students and may require research students to take elements of advanced training.

Part-time PhD or MPhil students within the ESRC-remit may be advised by their departmental postgraduate co-ordinators or supervisors about which elements of the Research Training and Development Programme should be taken.

Full-time PhD students within the ESRC-remit are also required to participate in subject-specific research training and transferable skills training organised at a departmental level. Details of this part of the Training Programme will be provided by the postgraduate co-ordinator in the student's department.


Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-Remit

Full-time AHRC-remit PhD students are typically required to take a basic 30 credits of institutionally-provided research training during their first year of study. This basic provision comprises of module PGM0120 (or MOR0120)  and either PGM0210, PGM0410 (or MOR0510), PGM1210 or PGM1420. This basic provision may be supplemented by other elements of the Research Training and Development Programme and by departmental research training and specific training tailored to individual student’s needs.

Part-time PhD or MPhil students within the AHRC-remit may be advised by their departmental postgraduate co-ordinators or supervisors about which elements of the Research Training and Development Programme should be taken.

Full-time PhD students within the AHRC-remit may also be required to participate in subject-specific research training organised at a departmental level. Details of this part of the Training Programme will be provided by the postgraduate co-ordinator in the student's department.

 

Science Research Councils (EPSRC, BBSRC, STFC, MRC, NERC)-Remit

Full-time Science Research Councils remit PhD students are required to take a basic 20 credits of institutionally-provided research training over the first year of study. This basic provision comprises of module PGM0120 (or MOR0120). This basic provision may be supplemented by other elements of the Research Training and Development Programme and by departmental research training and specific training tailored to individual student’s needs. Details of this part of the Training Programme will be provided by the postgraduate co-ordinator in the student's department.

Part-time PhD or MPhil students within the Science Research Councils remit may be advised by their departmental postgraduate co-ordinators or supervisors about which elements of the Research Training and Development Programme should be taken.

Full or part-time research student within the remit of the Science Research Councils who wish to opt into elements of the Research Training and Development Programme should use the Opting in to Research Training module form to register for them (this is available on the Graduate School web pages at http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/grad-school/forms/).

A programme of transferable skills training is available for research postgraduate students within Science Research Councils remit (see further below). Full-time research students funded by the Science Research Councils will be required to take elements of transferable skills training at the point when it is considered most appropriate. Departments will be responsible for identifying the transferable skills training needs of their research students.

 

Master’s Students

  • All Research Training Master’s postgraduates (ESRC-remit) are obliged to attend the Induction Programme. 
  • Research Preparation Master’s postgraduates (AHRC-remit) may wish to attend the Induction Programme but are not obliged to do so.
  • All Master’s students on Research Training Masters (ESRC-remit) take PGM0210 and either PGM1010 & PGM1120 or PGM0910 & PGM1120, with the exception of students taking the MA Audience and Reception Studies (Research Training) who take PGM1010 & PGM1120 but not PGM0210.
  • Master’s students on other degree schemes, especially Research Preparation Master’s (AHRC-remit), may be required to take some of the centrally-provided modules, and your department will advise you about this.
  • Masters students on MSc in Intelligent Autonomous Systems take PGM0120 (or MOR0120).

 

Research Students (PhD and MPhil)

  • All new full-time research students  (PhD and MPhil), whatever their Research Council remit, and whether their research is undertaken in the medium of Welsh or English, are obliged to attend the Induction Programme.
  • Part-time PhD and MPhil students are strongly encouraged to attend.
  • All PhD research students are required to meet with appropriate departmental staff (usually the departmental postgraduate co-ordinators or supervisors) to discuss research training needs and to agree a programme to address those needs. The outcome of these meetings is recorded in the Continuing Professional Development Portfolio (CPD) (available on the Graduate School web pages at http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/media/cpd-form-12.docx ). It is expected that a copy of Part two of this document will be lodged by the student’s department with the Graduate School.

 

Graduate Workshops

This year will see the initiation of annual, compulsory two-day workshops for PhD students.

Year 1

Part one of this workshop will run during Induction week and focus on Research Ethics and Teaching skills.  Part two will include a further day concentrating on academic writing and issues of plagiarism, confidentiality, copyright, data protection and freedom of information in the research and writing process; and there will be a follow-up (and chance to reflect for those who have been engaged in teaching during the first term) on teaching issues, and will take place in December / January (date to be announced later).

Research Ethics
All researchers should continuously examine the particular ethical implications of their work.  This is particularly so for those whose research involves human participants (e.g. focus groups, elite interviews, participant observations) or where the researcher or his/her sponsoring body may be placed at risk, including reputational risk.  But even research which does not involve human participants may raise ethical questions, for example over conflicting responsibilities, access to information, or accreditations.  Some funding bodies and many academic subject associations have statements on research ethics which you should become familiar with.  Aberystwyth takes its responsibilities both to the safety of researchers and to the ethical conduct of researchers very seriously.  All full time research students are therefore required to attend a half day training session held near the beginning of the academic year.  Following this, they are required to complete a form detailing the ethical implications of their research.  For some, especially those whose research may place them at risk or who are dealing with vulnerable groups, they may be asked to discuss their research with the University’s Ethics Committee.  This is designed to help the researcher by providing advice and guidance on how best to deal with difficult ethical issues.  The research student and supervisor should periodically examine if new ethical questions arise and inform their Departmental Director of Research of any changes.

Teaching
A significant number of postgraduate research students are expected to be involved in some aspect of teaching during their time at Aberystwyth University. This can range from tutorials, workshops and lectures to marking essays and assignments. To provide all postgraduate students with basic information about teaching at Aberystwyth University, there will be a half-day (compulsory) session during induction. Postgraduate students’ specific needs with respect to teaching should be discussed within their department with their supervisor and could be included in their CPD documentation, in which case it should be clear that for a significant number of students this can form an important aspect for their (long-term) career development. This final aspect is expected to be relevant for all postgraduate students, especially for those pursuing a career in academia.

Year 2

The scheme for Year 2 research students will encompass the Research Writing Schools, taking place in the summer.

The Research Writing Schools
The research writing programme is designed to bring together 2nd year PhD students from across the University to discuss aspects of writing and research. The programme includes discussion based workshops, presentations and tutorials. Participants have the opportunity to discuss the progress of their work with a team of writing specialists and to contribute to the discussion from their own experience. This experiential approach recognises the expertise of all participants and it is expected that all contributions will help in the creation of action plans for completion of research.

Year 3

The Year 3 workshop will be held on a couple of occasions early in term two. They will consist of a half-day session on academic dissemination/publication; a half day session on making an impact beyond the academy; and two half-day activity based case studies, fostering innovation, creativity and negotiation skills and boosting employability.