All PGR students undergo regular progress reviews.  For PhD/MD students these take place at 4 months, 9 months and annually thereafter.  For MSc (Res) students, a progress review takes place at 5 months.  Review scheduled for part-time students are pro-ratad and additional interim meetings are added to ensure they meet with their committee in each year of study.  For an example schedule please see the Research Postgraduate Student Review Schedule.  A student’s personalised timeline can be viewed in the PG database.

Each student is assigned a progress review committee which consists of two members of academic staff. One member fulfils the role of the convenor, and is normally in a similar research area and goes on to become the internal examiner of the thesis. The other member does not need to be in the same research area but will bring relevant academic experience and expertise and also acts as a mentor.  For MSc (Res) students it is typical that both committee members serve as thesis examiners.

The purpose of the progress review is to determine whether a student is progressing satisfactorily in their studies and is to give an opportunity for wider discussion on development and any concerns.

Before each review meeting a student fills in a self-assessment form on MMS and submits a written report (unless this is a part-time interim meeting); the supervisory team also completes an assessment form on MMS. The committee reads all documents (student self-assessment, supervisor assessment and the student report if required) prior to the review.  Following the review meeting the review committee submit a report and an outcome (categorised as either green, yellow, amber or red). DoPGR approves the outcome.  DoPGR will write to the student and supervisors if the outcome is amber or red, upon which a re-review will be required within 2-5 months.

In terms of process, the PGR Office will be in touch with a student, their supervisors and review committee members 6 weeks before the deadline for the review meeting. The student is responsible for liaising with the committee members to set a meeting date strictly before that deadline and must inform the PGR Office of the meeting date. All documents must be submitted 1 week before the meeting to give the committee members time to read (PGR Office will prompt if they’re overdue). In addition, at each annual review students and their principal supervisor will be required to sign the student-supervisor agreement and return this to the PGR Office.

The School of Medicine progress review remits are provided as follows:

• School of Medicine Progress Review Report Requirements for PhD Students
• School of Medicine Progress Review Report Requirements for MD Students
• School of Medicine Progress Review Report Requirements for MSc (Res) Students
• School of Medicine Progress Review 4-month Report Requirements for Wellcome Trust DTP Students

All policy details of the progress review can be found in the Education section of the University website.