University of Glasgow - Schools - School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine - About Us - Information for staff and students - Information for Students - Information for SBOHVM PGRs (PhD and MSci (R)

Information for SBOHVM PGRs

staff and students social event

Here you can find some local specific information about structures, opportunities, and activities specifically relevant to School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine.

Note that most formal aspects to your programme such as registration, training, and guide to student conduct, thesis expectations, policies and forms, and completion are provided by the MVLS Graduate School.

Any additional questions, please contact the Convenors and/ or the PGR Administrator.

Postgraduate Research Convenors

Postgraduate research convenors are responsible for overseeing your training and progression through your research degree. They deal with problems, advise on regulations, help with applications for research training money and run the annual review process that checks your progress every year. They are always available through a joint email address, sbohvm-pgr-convenor@glasgow.ac.uk, which we generally recommend you use to make sure the message gets to the right person, and in case one of them is away.

Kathryn Elmer is the lead convenor and attends most of the university meetings representing the School.

There are also two deputy conveners, Davina Hill who deals especially with issues related to Garscube and research away from Glasgow, and Paul Johnson who deals with IT elated issues concerning the University and College’s online systems – such as the PGR reporting system. Collette Britton and Michelle Bellingham are the convenors for the MVM (Master of Veterinary Medicine), which is a clinical programme.

Gillian Dyer deals with all the administrative issues for postgraduates. Tier 4 visa holders will check in with Gillian. Two check-ins a year (for tier 4 visa holders) will also be done by Student Services

Key Administration Support Staff

Sarah Chiodetto Head of Administration

Jennifer Crawford Deputy Head of Administration

Claire Malcolm Senior Administrator - Admin Team Leader

Lorna Kennedy Recruitment Administrator (HR, PA to Research Director)

Gillian Dyer PGR Administrator (Garscube local support)

Nathan Miller Administrative Assistant

Pauline Thorburn SCENE Administrator

Kate Griffiths Technical Resource Manager / Health and Safety

Ross Phillips Named Animal Care Welfare Officer (Graham Kerr Building)

Hannele Honkanen Research Support Manager

Postgraduate Student Representatives

The MVLS Graduate School has a Postgraduate Committee with student representation from each School, and the School has its own elected Postgraduate representatives. These change regularly but they have a joint email sbohvm-pgr-rep@gla.ac.uk. The 2023-2024 reps are Rhiannon Heslop (based at Garscube), Mar Pineda and Nic Strowbridge (both based at Graham Kerr) You can contact them informally about anything you’d like support with if you’d prefer to talk to another student rather than one of the convenors.

Postgraduate Training

We aim to provide you with the highest standard of research training. In addition to the help and guidance provided by your supervisor, you will be required to attend a number of training courses, including how to apply for credits for courses not run by the Graduate School, and other things that are eligible for credit, such as giving talks at conferences. The Learning Enhancement & Academic Development Service also offers an expanding repertoire of courses for postgraduate students.

Additionally we have some opportunities to fund to support “student-led” training courses and activities. If you have ideas for ways to develop your skills in leadership, teamwork, communication or anything else likely to enhance your career then discuss these with other students, your reps, and the PGR convenors.

Research Seminars

A valuable way of learning about other research in the School is to attend the research seminars, and you should be attending these regularly. There are two main regular types of seminars within School. On Wednesdays (usually at 1-2pm) there are seminars given by visiting speakers chosen to cover a range of research fields and last an hour. You can see the programme of external seminars here.

On Friday at 4pm the postgraduates give shorter and more informal presentations of their proposed and/or recent research – these are designed to give you practice in giving research talks and feedback on your work. You must give a short talk (approximately 10 mins plus 5 mins questions) in your first year to discuss your proposed research, and longer talks (approximately 20 mins plus 5 mins questions) in your second and third years. Giving a presentation is compulsory and is part of your annual review. This series of seminars is organised by the postgraduates themselves and the programme is available here .

After completing your thesis and in the run- up to your viva, you must also give a full length (hour-long) pre-viva talk.

In addition, members of the School often arrange extra informal seminars given by visiting scientists or members of the School who would like to practice a talk (e.g., before giving it at a conference). Different research groups also hold informal discussion groups on particular topics or types of research methodology. All the other Schools and Schools in the University run their own seminar programmes.

Demonstrating

Many postgraduate students help to demonstrate to undergraduate classes. Apart from the financial benefits, demonstrating provides useful teaching experience. The number of demonstrators needed will vary from year to year, but if you wish to become a demonstrator you must discuss this with your supervisor. Demonstrating restricts the amount of time for research and, for this reason, you may find that your supervisor will want to place limits on the amount of demonstrating that you carry out.

Contact the Life Sciences Support Team and attend a training course – details are here - before becoming a demonstrator. Training and registration must be complete before any demonstrating support can be undertaken. It may also be possible, once you are well into your project, to set an aspect of it as an undergraduate project. If you have an idea of this kind, make sure to discuss it with your supervisor.

At Garscube demonstration help is often required for classes with veterinary students. Some of this work requires you to have veterinary training whilst other classes are more general. Lissann Wolfe is the contact for this. People are also usually required for OSCE (exams) help at certain times of the year and training for these are required.

Monitoring your Progress

The MVLS Graduate School and the School takes care to monitor the progress of all postgraduate students to ensure that your work is progressing well and that you are on schedule to submit a thesis within 3.5-4 years. The requirements for each component are detailed on the Graduate School Website. That is the primary source of relevant information and first port of call for Annual Review process.

Convenors will send an email reminder about annual reviews each year, with key information and details for non-standard start times – please consult it and save it.

An assessment is made at the initial and annual review as to whether you are suited to a PhD. Re-admission to study occurs at the beginning of October each year and is dependent on a satisfactory report of progress (See Graduate School website).

Student Expenses

Avoid out of pocket expenses as much as possible. All purchasing should be done through university procurement and only in very limited cases are out of pocket expenses approved. You much confirm any such expense in advance with your supervisor.

All PGR Expenses claims are currently checked and processed by the PGR Administrator. There is a University Policy on Expenses - please read this so you are familiar with the policy and requirements for payment - Student Expenses policy (gla.ac.uk). Please note that in addition to the guidance from the University:

All Claims must be signed by your Supervisor, in addition to an email from your Supervisor with Approval
Please ensure that Sub Project Code to be charged is on the form
Any transactions in a foreign currency, must be backed up either by a screenshot from your bank with the transaction or a currency conversion from XE.Com
Please ensure that receipts are legible. Label and number these
All journeys claiming mileage using your own car must be accompanied by a route planner
All claims should be submitted to the (Gillian.Dyer@glasgow.ac.uk) in Excel format – she will check and add/amend account codes as required. The spreadsheet will then be converted to PDF for and sent to Finance on your behalf.

Please note that the University is implementing a new procedure for Expenses, whereby students will claim online via MyCampus – date for this to be advised.

Social Activities

The School strives to have an active, inclusive and varied range of social activities.

On Fridays after seminar we regularly have ‘Friday Fox’ drinks (beer, wine, and non-alcoholic) and chat, usually held in the Zoology Museum immediately after Friday seminar from 5-630 pm. This is led and organised by PhD students.

We have fortnightly ‘coffee (and treats!) in the Zoology Museum or Garscube. This is led by staff on a rota alternating between sites. See the schedule here.

We also have other events and activities such as Black Fox (Friday Fox + live music), a community garden, ad hoc outing and events organnised by the PhD students. Please join the social mailing list and School calendar for more!

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