Organisational Structure. While the DTP will be focused mainly in the Faculty of Science & Engineering (FSE), it also links into the Faculties of Biology, Medicine & Health; and Humanities. Our approach to the DTP involves both Strategic and Delegated elements, aligned with a new structure for the Faculty. FSE now comprises two Schools (Natural Sciences and Engineering), with discipline identities retained in their component Departments (Chemistry, Physics & Astronomy, Earth & Environmental Sciences, Materials Science, Mathematics in School of Natural Sciences; and Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Chemical Engineering & Analytical Sciences; Mechanical, Aerospace & Civil Engineering, and Computer Sciences in School of Engineering). All PhD activity in the Faculty is overseen by a 'Doctoral Academy' which provides a first point of contact for studentship allocation and student recruitment (http://www.se.manchester.ac.uk/our-research/funding/).
Allocation of Resources. DTP resources are top-sliced (20% of total) at the Faculty and School Level, allowing strategic support for important topics and programmes. Over the life of the next DTP, focus areas are: Mathematics, particularly mathematical modelling of materials behaviour, aligning with the completion of the Royce Hub; Industry 4.0 and related themes in AI; and Integrated Engineering, exploiting the move to the Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD). CASE conversion, International Doctoral Scholarships, and President's Doctoral Scholarships are also managed strategically.
The remaining 80% of DTP funding is devolved to Departments, which have autonomy on allocating this. The primary criterion for allocation of awards in every department is the quality of the proposed research project and the academic standing and research potential of the applicant(s), although special allowance is made for Early Career Researchers, where Faculty policy is for Departments to allocate at least one DTP- or CDT-funded student to each ECR during their first three years in post.
The Student Experience. A high quality PhD requires three things: an excellent research environment, a high quality student, and a high quality project and supervisory team. We offer a world-leading equipment base, including unique industry-, institutionally- and UKRI-funded facilities such as the High Voltage Laboratory and the Henry Moseley X-Ray Imaging Facility, as well as national centres of excellence (National Graphene Institute, Henry Royce Hub). Studentships are openly advertised and allocated competitively through a transparent panel interview process. An appropriate mix of role models is visible to all during recruitment visits and interviews.
At a minimum, all students have a supervisory team consisting of a supervisor, a co-supervisor, and an advisor; many students have more than 1 co-supervisor in order to cover the full range of academic expertise required. The formal main supervisor is always an experienced academic, and early career supervisors are carefully mentored. Each individual academic group is a member of a wider research grouping, giving the students an extended network of peer and academic support and we use an online platform to monitor student and project progression.
We offer students an exceptional research training environment, managed by the Faculty Researcher Development Team. Drawing on an annual skills audit, students can select from a very wide range of opportunities (173 sessions in 2017-18) in addition to attending compulsory activities, for example health and safety training, export controls training, research integrity and GDPR training). We also offer students opportunities to gain experience in teaching (potentially leading to Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy), in public engagement (e.g. Science Spectacular) and policy (e.g. Policy @ Manchester Evidence Week), and careers support in the later stages of their programme.
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