Faculty of Humanities PGR Bulletin September 2022

General update

• Pure is being upgraded as part of RLP. The project timeline is Jan 2022 – Dec 2022. Current plan is to go live around mid-Nov 2022. There will be new functionalities eg Google Scholar, Fingerprinting, link to UN SDGs (included in attached slides). URLs of for individual researchers’ Pure profile remain the same. Leavers’ profiles will remain on UoM site for 1 year by default but may be taken down manually upon request. 
• PGR COVID FAQ page has been updated. Many of the questions had become obsolete and so have been removed. The Q&A format has also been removed (now an information page focusing primarily on COVID extensions). If there’s reference from School/Faculty communications to the FAQ page, the link should be changed to ‘COVID-19 Information and Resources’ tab on the Code of Practice page instead.
• PDS welcome reception is taking place on 13 October 2022. All scholars have been invited. 
• UoM internal awards will be paid at UKRI standard rate following UKRI's announcement earlier this month. This also applies to UoM-funded phase 2 COVID extension from 1 October 2022.
• Manchester-Melbourne dual PhD call for cohort 4 proposal deadline is 14 October 2022
• Manchester-Toronto dual PhD agreement is with Toronto
• Colleagues are reminded that PGRs in SPP cannot receive stipend payment. Should exceptions need to be made, please refer the cased to the Faculty PGR team in the first instance. 
• UKRI standard stipend rate will increase from £16,062 to £17,668 pa with effect from 1 October 2022. This also applies to internal studentships. 
• UKRI Submission Survey will open on Friday, 7 October 2022 and close on Wednesday, 7 December 2022. This will cover those students with an expected submission date between 1 October 2021 and 30 September 2022 (and any that were included in the previous two surveys for whom we do not have completed information). Je-S record updates have to be made by 5 October 2022. 

eProg and eThesis

IT are working on amending the system to allow staff on honorary contracts access to eProg. 

Policies and procedures

• PRMG are asked to feedback on the draft collaborative PGR provision policy and procedures (dual, joint and split-site PhD and visiting PGR). Once concluded, the second draft will be presented to MDCSG before going to open consultation stage.

SEP Technology and Process - Digital build (My Manchester) has started. SAR process will review BPDs and user stories. Development for Progress and Assessment will be assessed in October 2022.

SEP People and Structures - Grade 5 colleagues in cohort 3 will have received letters confirming their assignment and job match. Vacancies have been advertised on SEP site. 

Faculty of Humanities PGR Bulletin June 2022

General update

• The University will implement flat rate £400 thesis resubmission fee for all types of resubmission recommendation (with/without viva, with/without further research) from September 2022
• SPP fee waiver has been extended to include PGRs who started their programme before September 2022
• Humanitarian studentships will shortly be made available for PGRs in countries affected by conflict and violence. Further information will be provided in due course. 
• MDC Excellence Awards results are:
  • Distinguished Achievement Award PGR of the Year: Temidayo Eseonu (SOSS)
  • Best Contribution to PGR Environment: Poppy Budworth (SEED) 
  • Best Contribution to Internationalisation: Chantal Bright (SEED)
  • Best Outstanding Research Output: Barbora Cernusakova (SOSS)
  • Supervisor of the Year: Prof Francesca Gains (SOSS)

eProg and eThesis

• eProg access for staff on honorary contract is being arranged
• eProg notice of submission form will shortly be updated to remove reference to thesis binding
• eThesis submission windows created automatically from eProg notice of submission will no longer close 3 days before Campus Solutions Student Expected End Date. The windows will now close on the midnight of the Student Expected End Date.

Policies and procedures

• Examination policies and procedures have been approved by Senate and are available on PGR Code of Practice
• PGR carers policy open consultation has concluded and advice has been received from EDI office. Draft policy will be considered by MDCSG in July.

SEP Technology and Process 

• Change of circumstances release date postponed following the recent announcement
• PGR progression, assessment and attendance monitoring release date postponed following the recent announcement

SEP People and Structures - All cohort 3 posts are scheduled to be assigned by the end of December 2022

Faculty of Humanities PGR Bulletin March 2022

General update

• UKVI remote study concesssion has been extended until Thursday, 30 June 2022. eProg forms will be amended accordingly. 
• There have been a few updates to PGR COVID FAQs regarding access to and safety on campus, COVID safety, remote study, extension support and fieldwork
• An agreement with University of Toronto for dual PhDs is being finalised
• Toronto dual PhD agreement is under discussion between the two institutions. The first likely cohort will be 2023/24 if going ahead.

Policies and procedures

• Examination policies and procedures re-draft following the open consultation will be considered by PRMG in April 
• PGR carers policy is being considered by MDCSG

SEP Technology and Process 

• Change of circumstances release date scheduled for October 2022, subject to confirmation
• PGR progression, assessment and attendance monitoring are due to launch in April 2023
• Communication about changes can be found in the Yammer channel

SEP People and Structures - PGR SEP Management Group consisting of Faculty PGR managers will meet to plan the transition period 

Researcher Development - PGR area has been created in Blackboard as a repository of online resources. All PGRs and supervisors have been informed.

Faculty of Humanities PGR Bulletin February 2022

Resubmission fees - MDCSG has approved/formally recommended £400 flat rate resubmission fee for all PGR degrees and regardless of recommendation. It is proposed that resubmission fee payment be paid into School/Faculty rather than central account. 

SEP Technology and Process 

• My Placement launch date is subject to confirmation. This will cover processes for all types of PGR mobility including fieldwork, placement, OIV
• Change of circumstances launch date is subject to confirmation
• Graduation CAF field due to be launched in August 2022
• Progression, assessment and attendance monitoring are due to launch in April 2023
• PEAM due to launch in summer 2023
• Appeals, complaints, conduct/discipline, fitness to study are to be confirmed

SEP People and Structures - Structures for grades 5 and below are due to be announced in April

Policies and procedures

• Supervision Policy for PGR has been amended. Summary of changes can be found on Summary of Changes - Supervision Policy PGR (January 2022) (The University of Manchester). 
• Examination Policy open consultation has now closed. Feedback will be collated for further consideration by PRMG and MDCSG
• PGR carer/flexible working policy is being proposed 
• TLSO is consulting colleagues on the revision of Regulation XIX: Academic Appeals Procedure
• PGR Travel Toolkit has been updated and can be found on PGR code of practice | Research and Business Engagement | StaffNet | The University of Manchester

Funding

Additional Research England funding has been announced. Funding will be for:

• Enhancing Research Culture Fund (Schools/departments to submit bids via online form: Microsoft Forms (office.com))
• PGR COVID Recovery Fund
  • Schools are allocated funds to manage locally (departments/individuals to submit bids via online form: PGR Covid Recovery Fund - £10,000 per School (Copy) (office.com)) 
  • Faculty-coordinated activities:
    • Post-submission Career Development Awards
    • PGR COVID Hardship Fund
    • Networking events
    • Careers events

Researcher Development updates

• Mental health first aid training will be made available in May for PGRs 
• PGR handbooks have been updated to reflect the new Researcher Development structure

Purchase of gift vouchers - New guidelines come into effect on 17 January 2022. This is also applicable to vouchers normally offered as part of postgraduate research study participation. Please see StaffNet for full details. 

Advice on research activities - PGRs have been informed of the latest advice from Professor Colette Fagan and Professor Nalin Thakkar on research activities which include PGR research projects as per StaffNet. 

January welcome event - Faculty-wide online event to welcome new PGRs took place on 18 January 2022 with welcome speech from Dr Admos Chimhowu, Deputy Associate Dean PGR.

Turing PGR placement scheme – There are 11 successful applications from Humanities PGRs in the 2021/22 session. Turing scheme provides living allowance with expectation that PGRs will make arrangements for travel costs funding individually or access School support.

StaffNet - There is a new promot box on StaffNet homepage for Student support with all information about resources to help support students

Library update 

• Library buildings have now re-opened after Christmas, in line with government guidance on keeping higher education settings open under Plan B. Face coverings are mandatory in all buildings, unless socially distanced to two metres. Disposable coverings are available at the entrances for those who need them. Opening times will vary by location. Find out more.
• The new postgraduate only spaces in OddFellows Hall and Prospect are temporarily closed. Further information on their re-opening will be provided in due course.
• The new ‘Sensitive Data workshop’ ran for the first-time during November and was well attended and received. Staff from our Research Data Management team are currently reviewing the feedback received in the initial workshop with our partners from across the university who were involved in delivering the workshop. This workshop will run again during Semester 2 (once the review has been completed) as part of My Research Essentials (MRE) researcher development programme. All other MRE workshops are now live and available for booking, with dates up until the end of June this year.
• There is a new PGR resilience focused workshop this semester, offering guidance on common pitfalls such as time management, procrastination and dealing with setbacks. There will also be a number of publisher-led sessions from Wiley, Sage and IEEE.
• Most workshops will continue to be facilitated via Zoom, though several sessions (such as Shut Up and Write and our popular Writing Retreat) will also be held on campus in the AGLC Training room. Clear guidance on whether a session is online or on campus is provide on the website.

PRMG updates

• SEP Tech & Process
  • Admissions – PGR Operational Group (leads across all 3 Faculties and the Product Owner: Application and Admissions, Student Experience Programme) have been working through the current log of requested process improvements for the new admissions application release in CS 9.2.  This list is extensive as it includes all career levels, requests are ranked in priority order. Improvements will be implemented where possible for PGR within the system parameters.
  • Current proposed release dates for Change of Circumstance process is Aug/Oct 2022 subject to confirmation and Assessment, Attendance and Examination is April 2023
  • eThesis migration - work is in progress
  • Detailed walkthrough of examination process is being planned 
  • RBAC - Faculty PGR Managers will be consulted about PGR roles and access
• SEP People & Structure
  • Transition arrangements are being put in place by the Operational Development Leadership Group
  • Cohort 3 structures have been finalised to be approved by governance board before going to consultation
• UKVI remote study concession remains valid until 6 April 2022 unless otherwise notified
• Researchfish Submission window for PGRs is 7 Feb – 17 Mar 2022. Due to COVID-19, submission is not compulsory. 
• PRMG is making a recommendation to MDCSG for flat rate thesis resubmission fee regardless of the recommendation (with or without viva) and for all PGR degrees. If approved by MDCSG, the recommendation will be presented to Senate. 
• RDRD team is liaising with People Directorate to review external examiner fees process
• PGR COVID expense fund guidelines have been amended to permit multiple applications per year
• Researcher Development team is looking into outsourcing some training to Epigeum who already provides online research integrity training
• PRMG/MDCSG have put forward a recommendation for a flat rate for PGR thesis resubmission of £400 regardless of whether a viva is required. This will be considered by Senate. 

PGR funding

• NWSSDTP CASE allocation committee meeting took place on 17 January 2022. The two successful proposals from Manchester are in SEED. Deadline for open competition studentship applications is 1 February 2022.
• NWCDTP CDA aresidential event for knowledge exchange is being planned
• EPSRC DTP studentship in Faculty of Humanities will be offered for September 2022 start. Please refer to call for School nomination email. Nomination deadline is 29 April 2022. 
• China Scholarship Council joint UoM awards Faculty panel meeting will take place on 28 February 2022 to consider Faculty nominations to CSC.
• Manchester-Melbourne dual award successful proposals are:
  • SoSS Simona Giordano; Safeguard or Constraint? An ethical analysis of the Criteria for the Treatment of Gender Diverse Minors (UoM project)/ Is informed consent the primary ethical foundation for treatment of gender diverse young people? (Melbourne)
  • AMBS Manuel López-Ibáñez Multi-criteria Automatic Algorithm Configuration under Streaming Problem Instances (UoM); Explainable Algorithm Selection and Configuration through Instance Space Analysis (Melbourne)

Faculty of Humanities PGR Bulletin December 2021

Thesis submission during Christmas closure – PGRs with thesis submission deadline between 23 December 2021 and 6 January 2022 have had their eThesis submission window deadline automatically extended to 7 January 2022. The change is now effective in eThesis.  Schools do not need to amend the Student Expected End Date in Campus Solutions.

IT access for December graduands – Following the postponement of December graduation ceremonies, we are checking with IT to find out when the December 2021 graduands’ UoM IT access will be extended until.

Award confirmation letters – The wording in the final award letter template in eProg remains the same which is to signpost graduands to the graduation website - Graduation | The University of Manchester for latest information.  

PGR handbook welcome page – We have updated the Welcome page of the PGR handbook to include the Faculty induction live event on Tuesday 18 January 2022. If there are local School events, please add them on T4 as normal.

January session registrants – Registration link will be visible from 20 December. If internally-funded PGRs complete the registration before the first payment run after the Christmas break, the January stipend payment should reach the PGRs’ accounts on 6 January. This would be applicable to both January continuers and new starters.

Here's a reminder of how to manage January continuers:

1. Schools to term activate January PGRs who’ve met academic requirements
2. Schools to then post the award on Campus Solutions (if the award is posted before the term activation, the award will get disbursed before PGRs complete the registration because the system would see that the registration from the previous session had been completed)   
3. PGRs to complete the registration and award will go through payment run during the first week of January unless manual release had been requested (see above)

PRMG updates

• SEP Tech & Process – SL7 implementation team is working on finalising extension and SPP application processes and thesis submission process and its interface with Pure which will act as a repository for final submitted theses. The team are reviewing screen content and training materials.
• Examination policies are at open consultation stage with January deadline. RDRD will look into whether a carers toolkit can be developed, in line with PGR parents toolkit.
• Various streams of Research England funding are made available to the University of Manchester including QR funding for Research Culture and post-COVID recovery support. Schools have been asked to send ideas to Sue Heath, Associate Dean PGR. MDC will consider proposals.
• Central Researcher Development team is developing a central website for researcher and PGR development to replace faculty websites following the re-structure
• UKVI concession remains valid until 6 April 2022 unless otherwise notified
• Researchfish exercise is on its way. Faculty will check records and liaise with Schools between now and January. Submission window (for PGRs) will be 7 Feb – 17 Mar 2022.

Faculty of Humanities PGR Bulletin October 2021

PGR Admin network is scheduled for 18 November 2021, 9:30am and will be held online. There will be an update of recent developments from RDRD, Researcher Development structure and SEP.

PGR COVID Expense Support Fund is still open and PGRs can apply more than once as and when eligible costs are incurred. Please see guidelines for eligibility criteria and how to apply.

PGR Virtual Open Week will take place virtually this year on 1-5 November 2021. Please see Postgraduate research virtual open week | The University of Manchester.

SEP Tech and Process

• SL7 has worked with SL9 to jointly design the process for interruption and withdrawal applications. Extension and SPP processes are being reviewed. 
• Implementation team are starting to look at writing test scripts for UAT

SEP People and Structure

• Grades 6-7 matching process has started. Colleagues will be matched to roles and the Operational Leadership Group will assign those matched to roles to appropraite teams/schools/faculties. Roles that are unfilled will be advertised initially to redeployees, those in-scope and normal recruitment stages respectively
• The task and finish group has finalised the first draft of the organisation charts at grades 5 and below to be presented to the Design Authority for feedback. In-scope colleagues should expect communication from their line managers. 

Policies 

• Examination and Theses Presentation Policies are currently being reviewed and will go to open consultation shortly
• PRMG has decided that for PGRs on 60% or 80% part-time loads, normal part-time extension rules will apply where they can apply for an extension (if required) within 6 months of the programme end date. 

Miscellaneous 

• For PGRs with thesis submission deadline during the Christmas closure (24 December 2021 - 3 January 2022) period, their eThesis submission window deadline will automatically extend to 7 January 2022

PGR FAQs page has been updated to include access to campus facilities and how PGRs can claim back the cost of quarantine hotel stay. PGR hardship fund has been discontinued and the remaining fund will be made available to PGRs through COVID expense fund. 

Researcher Development restructure is currently under consultation. The training schedule for 2021/22 is being discussed and will be delivered under the current structure until the new structure is in place. 

University-wide PGR Admin Network will take place in November 2021. Theme and presentation suggestions are welcomed. 

PGR Open Week will take place virtually this year during the week commencing 1 November 2021. Please contact daniel.davies@manchester.ac.uk for any queries. 

SEP Tech and Process

• Detailed walkthrough of the examination process will be planned following dashboard walkthroughs earlier this year
• SL7 implementation team, in consultation with Faculty PGR managers, will carry out a journey mapping of pathway steps to including mandatory and optional steps to review that the pathways are still correct and include new programmes that have emerged in the past two years
• Attendance monitoring process is scheduled to launch in April 2023
• Change of circumstance process is schedule to launch in June 2022. SL7 and SL9 are working to produce the single solution for changes to study and withdrawal. SL7 team are due to start working on extension, submission pending application and approval process shortly.
• Digital dashboards are being worked on for My Placement application. Options will be presented to PGR focus groups for feedback. The expected launch is June 2022.

SEP People and Structure

• Grades 6-7 structures and job descriptions have been released and collective consultation with trade unions is now in progress. Briefing sessions have been held with in-scope colleagues.
• Voluntary severance applications deadline was 10 September 2021
• Job descriptions for grades 5 and below are being drafted which will then go through the appropriate governance channels

Policies 

• The University Guidance on Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTA) and Postgraduate Researchers has recently been published (August 2021) and should be referred to in addition to the Faculty of Humanities TA Policy.
• Examination and Theses Presentation Policies are due to be reviewed shortly. Currently, the Policy footnote states that "Please note that until further notice the University does not require physical copies of the thesis to be submitted. Only the electronic submission is necessary."  This arrangement continues until otherwise notified.

UKRI and funding

• Submission rate survey 2020/21 will take place 8 October - 8 December 2021. The University's internal deadline to update Je-S records is 6 October 2021. 
• PGR colleagues with funding responsibility now have access to add PGRs to new student groups which will help identify funded PGRs 

COVID support for PGR

• COVID Expense Fund - 143 PGRs have been awarded funding totalling £59k. Further information about the University-wide support for hotel quarantine will be confirmed but will come into effect in September
• Research England additional PGR support funding has been announced and information is available in PGR FAQs 
• NWCDTP has launched Phase 3 COVID extension scheme for their current PGRs with 4 deadlines per year. PGRs are asked to submit an application to the DTP within the final 6 months of their funding end date. Communication has been sent directly to the PGRs. 
• NWSSDTP will be launching Phase 3 COVID extension scheme by 23 July 2021

Policies

• Progress and review policy has been revised (May 2021), ratified and available online

Graduation

• The deadline for degree completion to be recorded in Campus Solutions for the graduands to be included in the graduation programme for summer 2021 is 28 July 2021

Collaboration 

• Manchester-Melbourne dual PhD - the institution partners have agreed to proceed with cohort 3 (2022 intake) with 2 awards committed per UoM faculty. The call for projects will be coordinated by Manchester to start in August and be considered in October. 
• The Faculty will coordinate the renewal of PGR exchange agreements with Universitas Indonesia, Chulalongkorn University (Thailand) and National University of Singapore. Exchange agreements with EUI (Italy) and Tongji Univerisity (China) are under negotiation. 

Miscellaneous

• COVID PGR FAQs page has been updated to reflect the Government announcement made on 19 July 2021 regarding the lifting of COVID restrictions 
• Mental health and wellbeing training for PGR supervisors session will be delivered in September by Gemma Dale
• PRES 2021 - detailed data and analysis will be provided to Schools after the briefing session on 22 July 2021
• Semester 1 planning - University position will be confirmed after 19 July 2021. It is expected that there will be a mix of online and face to face delivery. PGRs with CAS's are expected to be in attendance on campus no later than 6 April 2022.

NWSSDTP

The Postdoc Fellowship allocation committee has met in May and Manchester was successful in securing 4 awards out of 7 which is very good news.

COVID support for PGR

• COVID Expense Fund has been well received with 88 applications across the University with £40k disbursed of the £100k budget
• PGR COVID Hardship Fund – there’s also £100k available. The guidelines can be found online. PGRs can also apply for Living Cost Support Fund which is open to all students and PGRs for non-COVID related hardship support, subject to eligibility.
• SPP fee will be waived for all PGRs until 30 September 2022
• Phase 3 UKRI COVID extension is to commence. Applications are invited and will be managed by DTPs. 
• Research England additional PGR support funding will be announced after the MDCSG's discussion in June 

Funded offer holders welcome event led by the Faculty will take place at 11am-12.30pm on Monday 21 June 2021 with an introductory remark from Dr Admos Chimhowu, Deputy Associate Dean PGR, a keynote speech from Jaime Garcia Iglesias (PhD Sociology, 2020) and welcome speech from Professor Jerome De Groot (NWCDTP Director). 

Student Group 

• PRMG discussed existing and proposed new student groups related to PGR funding. New student groups are proposed such as Wellcome Trust Studentship, ECR-funded Studentship, Leverhulme Trust Studentship. For Humanities, the existing School-funded student groups will continue. It was agreed that new groups would be created: AHRC NWCDTP1 CDA, AHRC NWCDTP2 CDA, ESRC NWDTC CASE and ESRC NWSSDTP CASE groups. This means that reports can be easily run on UKRI collaborative studentships in Power BI.
• A new Split-site student group will be created to automate the 70% split-site tuition fee calculation. 

SEP - Technology and Process

• PGR focus groups took place in April with useful feedback from groups of PGRs across the University in relation to PGR dashboard.
• SL7 team are working on the eProg data migration, defining assessment (examination) steps.
• Walkthrough of the CRM solution of the staff dashboard and progression and change of circumstance processes took place in April and another walkthrough for PGR directors took place in June. CRM solution has been demonstrated for the progress and change of circumstance processes.
• SL7 team is currently reviewing access to facilities, impact assessment, review of user stories, eProg and eThesis data migration, RBAC
• Exit checklist is being drafted by Amanda

Policies

• Fitness to study – Alex Hincliffe attended working group meeting on 19 April 2021 and relayed feedback from faculties to the group. Suggestions will be taken forward and addressed in the next draft.
• Progress and review – MDCSG approved the revised policy and put it forward for Senate’s ratification
• Examination policies will be due for review shortly
• Presentation of Theses Policy and Resubmission and Re-examination Policy will be amended to include a requirement for a list of revisions in re-submitted theses

Graduation

• PRMG has proposed a new process - Faculty will liaise with Schools and Graduation Team on the production of graduation lists in place of POTG reports. This applies to PGR only.
• Operational group met and discuss the organisation of celebration events and future graduation ceremonies. Celebration events are to be organised by Schools for the time being. The summer 2021 virtual graduation celebration will take place 2-6 August 2021.

NWSSDTP

Manchester was successful in gaining 20 studentships at the open competition this year, including 9 international students. Only one student has declined, all the others have accepted the offers.

The Academic Management Committee is meeting on 11 May 2021 to allocate the next round of Postdoc Fellowships.

NWCDTP

Manchester was successful in gaining 9 studentships at the open competition, including 3 international students. One student has so far declined.

It is the first year the DTP has offered ring fenced studentships as part of its processes and the DTP will be taking a review of its recruitment practice, criteria and processes for next academic year.

Pathway leaders, Institutional leads and colleagues across the DTP are being consulted and we would welcome any feedback you may have on this too.

UKRI Extensions

Following phase 2 UKRI extensions, UoM has some remaining allocation to support further extensions. Therefore, MDC has decided to open up phase 2 again to those who did not apply in January 2021.

Once Phase 2 is closed, the DTPs will be able to open up the new UKRI phase of extensions. This means DTP will now have the flexibility to offer ad-hoc COVID extensions as and when needed. The UKRI has provided a small amount of money to both DTPs to help with this, and the rest will have to come from the grant (meaning potential reduction in future recruitment, and training activities to ensure we can offer extensions). There will be on-going deadlines throughout the next couple of years. More information will be circulated in due course.

PGR Communications

The Student Communications and Engagement team produces relevant and timely communications for all students across the University.  Newsletters are segmented by year of study for undergraduates, with separate ones for PGT and PGR students. The Team also manage the Facebook page students@manchester and share student-related content on the official UoM socials, communications cover university-wide academic support, non-academic support and services, wellbeing,  news, and features to improve students’ experience of living and studying in Manchester.

• Contact: studentnews@manchester.ac.uk , for any questions about our work or to submit news
• News website: https://studentnews.manchester.ac.uk/
• Weekly newsletter: Weekly newsletter to all students sent on Tuesday

Colleagues can keep up to date with all communications including recent examples of newsletters here.

Funded offer holders welcome event led by the Faculty will take place at 11am-12:30pm on Monday 21 June 2021, virtually in the same format as last year’s event. All funded offer holders are invited. Further information and invitation link will be provided in due course.

Staff change – Francesca Roncoli has been offered the PGR Admin position to commence 24 May 2021, moving from a PGR Recruitment Administrator role in FBMH.

Student Group -  PRMG recently discussed creating new student groups in Campus Solutions to respond to the reporting needs in FBMH and FSE. Some proposed additional groups that will apply to Humanities include Wellcome Trust, ERC, Conacyt, etc. In addition, the International Development team have created a new student group - Key International Sponsors so colleagues can use this student group in Power BI to report on PGRs funded by the University’s top 40 sponsors.

SEP Tech and Process

• Demonstration of PS and academic staff dashboards took place last week. CRM solution has been demonstrated for the progress and change of circumstance processes.
• SL7 team is currently reviewing access to facilities, impact assessment, review of user stories, eProg and eThesis data migration, RBAC
• Exit checklist is being drafted by Amanda

Policies

• Fitness to study – Alex Hincliffe attended working group meeting on 19 April 2021 and relayed feedback from faculties to the group. Suggestions will be taken forward and addressed in the next draft.
• Progress and review – MDCSG approved the revised policy and put it forward for Senate’s ratification
• Examination policies will be due for review shortly

PGR conference is to take place on 17 June 2021 virtually

PRES 2021 – Access issue (access to survey via My Manchester) was reported in April and has since been resolved.

NWSSDTP – The Allocation Committee took place on 16 March 2021. The DTP offered 39 standard studentships on top of the 17 case awards offered in December. UoM secured a total of 20 standard studentships and 4 CASE. Out of the 20 standard awards, 9 were international students. Offer letters have been sent to candidates on the 26 March with a deadline for acceptance of 15 April 2021.

NWCDTP – The Allocation Committee will take place on 23 April 2021. Applications from all pathways have now been received and 106 applications overall have been shortlisted for 36 awards.

UKRI Extensions – The UKRI has announced more flexibility for DTPs to grant further COVID extensions once Phase 2 has closed. Further details will be communicated to students and staff after Easter.

Council tax exemption – It has been confirmed that the University can issue confirmation of attendance letters in relation to council tax exemption. Each local authority will determine their own exemption eligibility criteria. In general, PGRs in SPP may be eligible for council tax exemption if they previously registered on a full-time programme prior to SPP and those who have submitted the thesis and beyond are not eligible for the exemption. Official University guidance will be available in due course.

Access to PGR Hardship Fund/LCSF Application form – update

Some PGRs and academics are having issues when attempting to access the LCSF application form. It seems that staff are not set up to access the relevant page from an IT perspective. So any PGRs with a staff status will experience the issues that were raised. Alex has referred to Patrick Ryan on this and Patrick is looking into resolving this but in the meantime, if you are contacted by PGRs who are not able to access the form/webpage then please could you ask them to contact funding@manchester.ac.uk, providing their username.

eProg – The broken link to the University printing/binding service in the eProg notice of submission form has been flagged to IT to fix the related codes. If the Schools are aware of any other errors in eProg University standard forms (eg Attendance & Engagement, Expectation), please let Anusarin know.

SEP

• Exit checklist – It has been agreed that a mandatory exit checklist should be included as a pathway step in the SEP solution which will include core (University standard) items and Faculty-specific items (to be agreed within each faculty).
• Split-site PhD – split-site student group will come into use from 1 August 2021 in order to calculate tuition fees for PGRs on split-site programmes (currently at 70% of full tuition fee). This means that PGRs on split-site arrangement/agreement can be registered on standard PGR programmes and there’s no need to create new split-site progs/plans in Campus Solutions. Progress and attendance monitoring for split-site PGRs will follow the normal process.
• Dashboards - Work is being done to design PGR, academic and admin dashboards. The SEP team will conduct PGR focus groups on PGR dashboard design.

Policies – Progress and Review policy open consultation has concluded. The revised policy will be considered by MDCSG on 24 March 2021. Examination policies are due for review later this year.

eThesis – There will be no automatic eThesis window extension during the Easter break because it’s not expected that there will be many windows expiring during this period.

MDC Excellence Awards – The deadline for nominations is 15 April 2021.

PGR Forum – The next meeting will be on 5 May 2021. Please let us know if you have items to add to the agenda by 27 April 2021.

Coronavirus

UKRI and UoM-funded Extension due to COVID-19 for PGRs with programme end date on or after 1 April 2021- Eligible UKRI-funded PGRs must submit their extension application by 22 January 2021. Eligible UoM-funded PGRs should apply within 3 months of their programme end date. For the latest guidance, please see https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/coronavirus/faqs/pgr/#fundedextensionbeyondmarch2021

Research council updates and funding news

Researchfish - UKRI has announced that the exercise will be light touch in acknowledgement of impact from COVID. PGRs are encouraged to make their submission but it will be optional this year. Offical communication is forthcoming soon.

A reminder that the University has agreed to ‘waive’ fees for all international students successful in gaining a UKRI award for September 21. School PGR offices will need to enter the difference between international fees and UKRI standard fees as a ‘school scholarship’. The funds will come back into the PGR account once the fees portions are returned to schools following the December census.

ESRC

• CASE Awards - the CASE Allocation committee met in early December to allocate awards. The NWSSDTP has now contacted successful candidates to start recruiting. UoM was successful in gaining 4 awards out of the 5 applications submitted
• Postdocs - the competition for the NWSSDTP Postdoc Fellowships is now open. Expressions of interest need to be submitted to local Research Offices by early February. Jonathan Starbrook and his team have taken the lead on this and contacted academic colleagues with an internal process to follow.  Please see https://nwssdtp.ac.uk/pdf-scheme/ for information
• DTP COVID extension (pre-phase 2) - the NWSSDTP ran a pre-phase 2 COVID extension scheme with a deadline of 31 December 2020 for all students whose funding end date is after 30 September 2021. Applictions have been received and reviewed by the DTP panel. The outcome will be notified to all PGRs by 1 February. UoM PGRs' applications have been scrutinised for eligibility ahead of the phase 2 deadline (22 January) to ensure that they could still apply to phase 2 if they were not eligible for pre-phase 2
  

AHRC

• DTP COVID extensions (pre-phase 2) - the NWCDTP ran a pre-phase 2 COVID extension scheme with a deadline of 31 December, for all students whose funding end date is after 30 September 2021. Applications have been received and reviewed by the DTP panel on 15 January. The outcome will be notified to the PGRs before the end of the month 

Faculty activities

PGR Knowledge exchanges and collaborations

We have a new website listing our full array of Knowledge Exchange opportunities for PGRs in the Faculty, which also includes a showcase of current projects in our Case Studies pages.

Collaboration Labs

2020 Round - The 2020 edition of the ESRC funded Collaboration Labs programme concluded in November with the announcement of the 2020 Project Excellence Award to the research team who partnered with the Manchester based social enterprise Envirolution on a research project in support of citizen-led environmental activism, andto the Researcher-Led project with LGBT Foundation, which explored sexual health service delivery during the Covid-19 lockdown.

All the 10 projects of the 2020 round were excellent and proved the vitality and importanceof Humanities and Social Science research in supporting the wider community, especially in a critical period like the one we are living. Explore the Case Studies pages to know more about these projects and read testimonials from researchers and partners.

2021 Round - The 2021 edition is about to launch its activities at the end of January, with the Knowledge Exchange Training series, which includes workshops on project design, Emotional Intelligence and research engagement strategies, and an online event (the Innovation Lab) where researchers and project partners will be supported in co-designing the best solution for the challenges at hand. The workshop is led by Future Everything, a Manchester-based social enterprise specialised in cultural production and participatory design.

11 Partners were selected to present their challenges to researchers, who will have now the last word on which among the project briefs presented will be brought to the project development stage.

Collaborative doctoral programmes

We are collecting Case Studies and testimonials for the newly built website on CASE and CDA projects in the Faculty. Academics and doctoral researchers interested in profiling their projects, completed or in progress, who hold relevant documentation and/or testimonials that could be shared more widely, are invited to contact the PGR Placements and Partnerships Officer (rosalinda.quintieri@manchester.ac.uk).

PGR Placement Schemes

The Faculty Placement Scheme is open regularly in 2021, after a freeze in 2020. Funding is available for PGRs in the Faculty to design collaborative projects with external partners, up to £3000 for maintenance, travel expenses, accommodation and other education-related costs for projects up to three months full time (or 6 months part-time).

Next funding deadline: 7 February 2021 (for projects starting from March 2021)

Call for contributions - All placement holders based in the Faculty (including NWSSDTP funded PGRs) can receive personalised support in developing a communication plan and disseminating their placement project results via our Case Studies website and Faculty-related news outlets. We invite PGRs to fill in a Case Study Report at the start of their placement (and complete it at the end of the placement) with relevant information to be disseminated. Please send this via email to the Placement Officer (rosalinda.quintieri@manchester.ac.uk) who will also be able to advise on the best engagement strategies.

AHRC funded PGRs in the Faculty can also access support for Knowledge Exchange activities via the NWCDTP placement scheme. No deadlines to apply.

eProg 

Milestone completion status as of 13 January 2021:

• MDC core milestones - students with incomplete MDC core milestones (milestone due date on or after 1 Sep 2018, active students only): 19.5%
• Attendance - students with two or more incomplete and overdue attendance milestones (all cohorts, milestone deadline on or after 1 September 2018, active students only): 31.5%

Health and Safety training completion (2020/21): 73.4%*

*Completion status was last updated w/c 14 Dec 2020 due to staff change

Research Integrity milestone incomplete and overdue (due on or after 30 Sep 2019): 83.73%

Updates from RDRD and MDCSG

RDRD updates can be found on Sharepoint (December 2020), Sharepoint (January 2021).

DAA and MDC Excellence awards – MDC Excellence Awards nominations 15 April 2021. DAA nomination has been submitted to MDCSG to be ratified and put forward to the President’s Office. The outcomes, both successful and unsuccessful, are under embargo until the formal announcement by the President’s office in May 2021.

Student Experience Programme

• Technology and process
  • Laura Black in SEED will be the academic lead on this working group for Humanities
  • Role-based Access Control (RBAC) - Laura Black from SEED will be leadng on this for consulting with PGR Directors and their Schools
  • Dashboards have been developed. PGRs will be consulted through focus groups (managed by SEP team)
  • Data migration for eProg and eThesis is being assessed by the Business Analyst
  • Data reporting - SEP team is reviewing reporting requirements
• People and Structure - no current updates on this at the moment

Policy Changes and Updates

• Policy on Progress and Review of PGR is under open consultation until 12 February 2021 Feedback is welcomed online or by email to alex.hinchliffe@manchester.ac.uk   
• PGR policies have been amended to remove replace reference to “tier 4 visa” with “student visa” following Brexit change
  

Miscellaneous  

• DSE - Schools should contact SSC to make any urgent requests on a case-by-case basis if there are new students who wish to physically pick up a student card. SSC is operating on a reduced opening time window
• Pure - Revised Pure guide can be found on www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/pure/researchsupportstaff/awards-management. Pure will be used to manage collaborative agreements/contracts in PGR going forward
• CS student groups - further student groups are being discussed in PRMG to record external funding such as international sponsors, charities. More info will be provided following approval
• PGR Project listings and FindaPhD - Lynne Barlow Cheetham represented the Faculty at the meeting to discuss the plan to create a space on the University webpages to pull in funding opportunities from the FindaPhD site. A further meeting will take place and any feedback will be presented at the PGR Forum
• RDRD is seeking clarification from People Directorate about EU External Examiner’s visa check requirements following Brexit which would apply to face-to-face vivas. Online vivas can still proceed without implications. Further information will be provided and guidance updated when confirmed

Faculty of Humanities PGR Bulletin November 2020

Coronavirus

UKRI and UoM Extension due to COVID-19 – UKRI has made an announcement and sent a letter to UKRI-funded PGRs on 11 November 2020, outlining the support available for those with programme and funding end date between 1 April 2021 and 30 September 2021 and those in vulnerable groups. The University has also announced the similar support provision and SPP and tuition fee waiver for self-funded PGRs. Details of the process to apply for the extension and support will be available in due course.

Making connections - Students' Union Buddy Scheme - The Students' Union has launched a buddy scheme which will pair 'peer buddies' for those who may be feeling unconnected and isolated. Information can be found on the Volunteering website.

Other Faculty activities

Researcher development

Student rep training – additional date added - Given the low number of registrations and feedback from the PGR Rep, we have decided to repeat the workshop on 10 December. An e-resource for reps will be launched on 25 November 2020. The link to the additional date is https://app.manchester.ac.uk/HUMNS8437

LEAP - The next LEAP submission date for Humanities TAs is 17 June 2021. We will be holding a LEAP Information session for TAs on 9 December 2020. Information and key dates for the June cohort can be found here. 

eProg 

Milestone completion status as of 17 November 2020:

• MDC core milestones - students with incomplete MDC core milestones (milestone due date on or after 1 Sep 2016, active students only): 13.4%
• Attendance - students with two or more incomplete and overdue attendance milestones (all cohorts, milestone deadline on or after 1 September 2018, active students only): 23.8%

Health and Safety training completion (2020/21): 70%. For a full list please see Sharepoint.

Research Integrity milestone incomplete and overdue (due on or after 30 Sep 2019): 47.6%. For a full list, please see Sharepoint

Updates from RDRD and MDCSG

PGR Admin Network will take place on Zoom on 25 November 2020, 10.30am-12.30pm. Please book a place on Eventbrite.  

DAA and MDC Excellence awards – Deadline for Faculty to submit DAA Faculty nomination is 15 January and MDC Excellence awards 14 May 2021.  

Policy Changes and Updates   

Interruption procedure is being updated in line with UKRI new T&Cs. PGRs taking 14 days paternity leave will have their programme length extended accordingly.

Extension procedure is being updated to include a maximum limit for resubmission extension “normally up to 12 months” in line with extension to programme and extension to SPP

Student Experience Programme

• People and Structure - Working group will carry out activity mapping.  There will be a slide deck to share across the University to aid communication.
• Technology and process
  • Data migration of eThesis, eProg is being analysed. Data from Training Catalogue will not be migrated but there will be a link to the system.
  • Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) - roles that are not in Campus Solutions (ie main supervisor, co-supervisor, external supervisor, advisor) will be created in CRM

Faculty of Humanities PGR Bulletin October 2020 

Coronavirus

Study space managed by the Library can be booked on the Library website. Plans to extend study space provision are being worked on by the Library (subject to COVID restrictions) and will be updated in the PGR FAQs.

The University is operating under the Department for Education guidance at tier 3 level which means that research is considered an essential activity.  This is in place until 30 October and will be reviewed on 23 October 2020.

PGRs as well as staff should self-report a positive COVID test or self-isolation directly online.  

Research council updates and funding news

ESRC  
CASE proposal stage competition for 2021/22 entry is open until 9 November 2020.  
Open studentship competition for 2021/22 applications to open soon with 1 February 2021 deadline.

AHRC
The CDA competition has now closed (deadline was 16 October 2020) - The Allocation Committee is meeting on 18 November 2020. The Open competition will shortly be advertised (by end of October 2020).

COVID extension for non-final year UKRI-funded PGRs - The University is awaiting guidance from UKRI.

EU and non-EU candidates' eligibility - UKRI has announced that for 2021/22 recruitment, EU and non-EU will be eligible to apply for full UKRI awards.  There will be a 30% quota to be managed by DTPs.

Other Faculty activities 

Researcher development

Training - Semester 1 workshops are now underway being delivered via zoom - details of training and events can be found on Progress.

WriteFest(#AcWriFest20) is part of the University's contribution to Academic Writing Month with activities running throughout November to support you in making writing a priority. The University has workshops and online resources to provide you with the space, time and support to write. 

Student Rep training is taking place 25 November 2020 at 10am and is open for reps to register - An e-resource is currently being developed for reps to refer to, this will be circulated once it is completed.

eProg 

Milestone completion status as of 15 October 2020: 

•  MDC core milestones - students with incomplete MDC core milestones (milestone due date on or after 1 Sep 2016, active students only): 13.2%
•  Attendance - students with two or more incomplete and overdue attendance milestones (all cohorts, milestone deadline on or after 1 September 2018, active students only): 22.4% 

Health and Safety training completion (2019/20): 93.58%. For a full list please see Sharepoint.

Research Integrity milestone incomplete and overdue (due on or after 30 Sep 2019): 27.7%. For a full list, please see Sharepoint.

Updates from RDRD and MDCSG

Manchester-Melbourne dual PhD PGRs have been invited to attend an online welcome event on 21 October 2020 organised by RDRD team in conjunction with Melbourne. Applications for proposals from supervisors will close on 26 October 2020.   

Careers Service online resources for PGR are available on Careers website.  

PGR Admin Network will take place on Zoom on 25 November 2020, 10.30am-12.30pm. Please book a place on Eventbrite.  

eThesis windows during Christmas closure – submission windows for theses due between 21 December 2020 and 3 January 2021 will be automatically amended to 8 January 2021.  

December graduation ceremony will take place online. PDS medals will be sent by post.  

DAA and MDC Excellence awards – Deadline for Faculty to submit DAA Faculty nomination is 15 January and MDC Excellence awards 14 May 2021.  

Student Experience Programme  
Technology and process – Project team are working on BPDs, user stories, impact assessment, activity mapping and dashboards for staff and PGRs.  

People and structures – Information will be circulated when available.  

Policy Changes and Updates   

• Progression and Review of PGR students (2015) – Draft revised policy is being considered by PRMG. After being approved by MDCSG, it will be made available for open consultation later.  
• Maternity pay – Change to the pay entitlement (for eligible PGRs) for weeks 27-39 from c41% to statutory maternity pay has been approved and can be found in the Interruptions Procedure for PGR (7.a).  

Collaborative PhDs
Call for dual Manchester-Melbourne PhD proposals is open until 26 October 2020.  Proposals will be considered by Melbourne.  Once selected, projects can start recruiting PGRs in December for September 2021 start.

Faculty of Humanities PGR Bulletin September 2020 

New Faculty PGR guidance

The Faculty PGR committee has recently approved the following guidance in the December 2017 meeting.

• Faculty of Humanities Guidance for Examination Sub-Committee
• Faculty of Humanities Guidance for Early Career Researchers as Main Supervisors

Update from People Directorate on payment to students on tier 4 visa

It is essential when engaging any type of worker that appropriate right to work checks are undertaken; please see Staffnet for information on eligibility to work and guidance on how to complete a right to work check.  International students studying on a Tier 4 or other visa are restricted to 20 hours work (which includes both paid and unpaid work) per week. Exceeding this or any other restriction stated on their visa has potentially severe consequences for them (including curtailment of their visa, fine and imprisonment) and for the University (including fines, imprisonment and the removal of our licence to sponsor visas for international staff and students).  Please ensure you check any specific restrictions on their visa prior to them undertaking the work.  Information for managers regarding Tier 4 students is also available on StaffNet. 

In specific relation to paying fees to international students please also note that:

• Tier 4 students are not permitted to be self-employed or engage in business activity.  Therefore, they cannot be set up or paid as suppliers or independent contractors using the PR7 process.
• The PR5 should only be used for paying Tier 4 students for work in very exceptional circumstances, and you should both discuss this with your People Directorate Partner and confirm the work will not take the student in excess of their weekly restriction, in advance of offering the work.  The type of work, hours and dates to be worked should be captured on the PR5 for all international students; if not, People Directorate Services will contact you to ascertain these details and use an online tool to ensure they will not exceed their weekly limit in combination with other timesheet, casual, or salaried work at the University.

Please note, where the work is occasional and may be ongoing for a period e.g. – student ambassadors, student interns, the individual must be engaged as a casual worker.  Please see Policy and Procedure for the Engagement and use of Casual Staff.  Alternatively, where the work is temporary with a requirement to work a regular number of hours for a period that is likely to be more than 13 weeks, a fixed-term contract should be given and this should be progressed and authorised via the Post Contract and Management Form.

It is essential when engaging any type of worker that appropriate right to work checks are undertaken; please see Staffnet for information on eligibility to work and guidance on how to complete a right to work check.

For more information please see the guidance on People Directorate website.

Change to student award payment in or beyond SPP

The University’s Manchester Doctoral College Management Committee on 13 December 2016 agreed that payments to students in submission pending and beyond via Campus Solutions (CS) would cease. For guidance on how to process payments for students in Submission pending please refer to the guidance on payments to students in or beyond submission pending.

Updates on thesis examination

There have been additional guidelines relating to PGR thesis examination in the recent months:

• External Examiner Guidance notes (UKVI - right to work) (March 2016)
• Payment Procedures for Research External Examiners (May 2016)
• Faculty of Humanities Guidance for New Internal Examiners and Independent Chairs (October 2015)

Changes to MDC PGR Data Cube

Rule changes

• Doctoral students who complete a lesser award e.g. Postgraduate Certificate within a year of their start date of programme are now excluded. They are now treated in the same way as doctoral students who transfer to a lesser award within a year of their start date of programme.
• Deceased students (program action reason PADS – Posthumous Award or DECD - Deceased) are excluded.

Fixes

• Age is now calculated as of 1 September of the cohort year.
• The interruptions flag is now set to ‘Y’ if a student has been on a leave of absence for any reason.
• All students who transferred from a doctoral programme to a lesser award after a year of their start date of programme, are now included.
• In determining if a student transferred from a doctoral programme to a lesser award within a year of their start date of programme, the calculation uses the start date of programme.

ProGRess Humanities researcher development hub

The ProGRess platform is now on a different web address. However, the old URL will redirect users to the new page automatically. 

• Visit the ProGRess website 

ATAS clearance for changes in PGR research

For PGR students with ATAS clearance, if one of the following applies to the research, they must apply for a new ATAS:

• Change in JACS code of the research
• Change in exit qualification, including degree title
• Change in duration of research
• Substantive change to the research topic (this will be an academic decision)

Queries regarding ATAS should be sent to visa@manchester.ac.uk.

Time permitted for thesis corrections and resubmission

Clarification is provided on the length of time permitted for thesis corrections and resubmission.

• Clarification memo

The permitted period of 4 weeks – 12 weeks is allowed for Aii and 6 months – 12 months for Bi and Bii. This includes the time required for the internal examiner to confirm his/her recommendation following the corrections/resubmission.

The Examination of Doctoral Degrees Policy will be revised to include this clarification in due course.

Guidance for handling CD/DVD materials with thesis

Currently, audio-visual content cannot be uploaded to Manchester eScholar. Therefore, certain research areas have been exempt from electronic submission due to their particular complexities of format such as music composition and performance art. The Library is in the process of considering a solution for handling multiple formats. In the meantime, theses with accompanying discs will be accepted and stored separately in the library using the following process:

• Label all discs (CDs or DVDs) with the following details:
  • eScholar ID
  • Author
  • Title
• Send discs in boxes/plastic covers where available
• Include a cover note stating the status of the thesis– open/closed/restricted
• Send discs to the Library: FAO Jill Eaves/Beth Price, D29 Collection Management, Sackville St Building

The Graduate Education Team will ensure this information is included in the Presentation of Theses Policy in due course.

PGR policies update - September 2014

During the summer, a number of PGR policies have been revised and approved by the University Senate. These include:

• Presentation of Theses Policy (June 2014)
• Maternity, Adoption and Paternity Leave Policy for Funded Postgraduate Research Students (June 2014)
• Sick Leave Policy for Funded Postgraduate Research Students (June 2014)
• Maternity Leave - Guidance on Procedures for Postgraduate Research Students (June 2014)
• Posthumous and Aegrotat Award of Postgraduate Research Degrees Policy (2014)

Additionally, the new Faculty of Humanities Teaching Assistant Policy has come into effect from June 2014. Further information can be found in the Graduate Teaching Assistants website.

• Faculty of Humanities Teaching Assistant Policy
• Graduate Teaching Assistants website

Faculty of Humanities PGR Bulletin December 2021

Thesis submission during Christmas closure – PGRs with thesis submission deadline between 23 December 2021 and 6 January 2022 have had their eThesis submission window deadline automatically extended to 7 January 2022. The change is now effective in eThesis.  Schools do not need to amend the Student Expected End Date in Campus Solutions.

IT access for December graduands – Following the postponement of December graduation ceremonies, we are checking with IT to find out when the December 2021 graduands’ UoM IT access will be extended until.

Award confirmation letters – The wording in the final award letter template in eProg remains the same which is to signpost graduands to the graduation website - Graduation | The University of Manchester for latest information.  

PGR handbook welcome page – We have updated the Welcome page of the PGR handbook to include the Faculty induction live event on Tuesday 18 January 2022. If there are local School events, please add them on T4 as normal.

January session registrants – Registration link will be visible from 20 December. If internally-funded PGRs complete the registration before the first payment run after the Christmas break, the January stipend payment should reach the PGRs’ accounts on 6 January. This would be applicable to both January continuers and new starters.

Here's a reminder of how to manage January continuers:

1. Schools to term activate January PGRs who’ve met academic requirements
2. Schools to then post the award on Campus Solutions (if the award is posted before the term activation, the award will get disbursed before PGRs complete the registration because the system would see that the registration from the previous session had been completed)   
3. PGRs to complete the registration and award will go through payment run during the first week of January unless manual release had been requested (see above)

PRMG updates

• SEP Tech & Process – SL7 implementation team is working on finalising extension and SPP application processes and thesis submission process and its interface with Pure which will act as a repository for final submitted theses. The team are reviewing screen content and training materials.
• Examination policies are at open consultation stage with January deadline. RDRD will look into whether a carers toolkit can be developed, in line with PGR parents toolkit.
• Various streams of Research England funding are made available to the University of Manchester including QR funding for Research Culture and post-COVID recovery support. Schools have been asked to send ideas to Sue Heath, Associate Dean PGR. MDC will consider proposals.
• Central Researcher Development team is developing a central website for researcher and PGR development to replace faculty websites following the re-structure
• UKVI concession remains valid until 6 April 2022 unless otherwise notified
• Researchfish exercise is on its way. Faculty will check records and liaise with Schools between now and January. Submission window (for PGRs) will be 7 Feb – 17 Mar 2022.

Faculty of Humanities PGR Bulletin February 2022

Resubmission fees - MDCSG has approved/formally recommended £400 flat rate resubmission fee for all PGR degrees and regardless of recommendation. It is proposed that resubmission fee payment be paid into School/Faculty rather than central account. 

SEP Technology and Process 

• My Placement launch date is subject to confirmation. This will cover processes for all types of PGR mobility including fieldwork, placement, OIV
• Change of circumstances launch date is subject to confirmation
• Graduation CAF field due to be launched in August 2022
• Progression, assessment and attendance monitoring are due to launch in April 2023
• PEAM due to launch in summer 2023
• Appeals, complaints, conduct/discipline, fitness to study are to be confirmed

SEP People and Structures - Structures for grades 5 and below are due to be announced in April

Policies and procedures

• Supervision Policy for PGR has been amended. Summary of changes can be found on Summary of Changes - Supervision Policy PGR (January 2022) (The University of Manchester). 
• Examination Policy open consultation has now closed. Feedback will be collated for further consideration by PRMG and MDCSG
• PGR carer/flexible working policy is being proposed 
• TLSO is consulting colleagues on the revision of Regulation XIX: Academic Appeals Procedure
• PGR Travel Toolkit has been updated and can be found on PGR code of practice | Research and Business Engagement | StaffNet | The University of Manchester

Funding

Additional Research England funding has been announced. Funding will be for:

• Enhancing Research Culture Fund (Schools/departments to submit bids via online form: Microsoft Forms (office.com)
• PGR COVID Recovery Fund
  • Schools are allocated funds to manage locally (departments/individuals to submit bids via online form: PGR Covid Recovery Fund - £10,000 per School (Copy) (office.com)
  • Faculty-coordinated activities:
    • Post-submission Career Development Awards
    • PGR COVID Hardship Fund
    • Networking events
    • Careers events

Researcher Development updates

• Mental health first aid training will be made available in May for PGRs 
• PGR handbooks have been updated to reflect the new Researcher Development structure

General update

• Resubmission fee - PRMG has recommended that all resubmission fees be abolished. Confirmation of the effective date will be announced in due course. 
• PGR Admin Network date has been moved to 8 December 2022, morning. On the agenda will be: PRES replacement, PGR funding, Doctoral Academies, PGR wellbeing, SEP Tech and Process updates. 
• PRES replacement - The University will not participate in the nationally organised PRES next year and will replace it with locally arranged surveys in conjunction with the University of Sheffield. Focus group meetings have been arranged to gather feedback from PGRs and PS and academic staff. The project is lead by James Lalic in RDRD team. The plan is to release the survey in 2023. 
• Research England Enhancing Research Culture fund will be made available over the next 3 years. MDCSG will coordinate the PGR part of the allocation.

eProg and eThesis

eThesis windows with deadlines between 23 December 2022 and 5 January 2023 will be automatically extended to 6 January 2023. 

Policies and procedures

• Collaborative PGR provision policy and procedures are under review. Following MDCSG's approval, the documents will be out for open consultation. 

SEP Technology and Process 

• Change of Circumstance - SL7 team are working on the process with the aim of launching in April 2023
• Progress and assessment - timeline for  process launch is to be confirmed
• My Placement - optimal time to launch for PGR is being considered (potentially April 2023)
• PEAM - There will be readiness planning and training from Feburary 2023 and the functionality will formally launch in October 2023. 

SEP People and Structures -  An announcement was made which included timeline for the structures at grades 4 and below and vacancies recruitment.