The session began with a brief presentation from head of IRO Ian Bishop:
· Issues relating to taught postgraduate degrees are dealt with at the Learning and Teaching Board.
· Issues relating to research degrees are dealt with at the University’s Research Knowledge Transfer Board (URKTB) on which your president sits as your representative.
· School Boards are where issues relating to the general running of the departments are dealt with.
· IRO exists to support the research staff and students. It is the onbly department within the university that deals with its students from application all the way through to graduation. It organises training events, progression etc.
· IRO reports to the Vice Principal of Research – Ian Bishops line manager – this is currently Roddy Williamson. He then reports to the URKTB.
· There are 3 key ways to resolve any problems you have;
- If a problem relates to university policy – this is dealt with at the URKTB
- The faculties and schools should be approached with issues relating to the local implementation/application of policies
- Your Director of Studies should be approached if problems are of a more personal nature.
· Each faculty has a Research Lead who can also act as a representative of the research students at the URKTB.
Questions were then presented to the IRO representatives
(I – answer from Ian, C – answer from Craig, H – answer from Heather). Comments in italics are made by your president during the type up of her notes!)
Q. How often does the URKTB sit?
A. - H. 4 times a year
At this point Martin complemented the excellent work Heather does on behalf of all research students.
Q. If the poster event is compulsory – why do we have to pay to print our posters?
A. - H. Anyone who does not wish to participate can opt out by getting consent from your Director of Studies, although the event is beneficial to all who attend.
A.- I. I think money will be a repeat issue here today. The contract of a studentship is between the student, the school and the university. IRO does not get enough money but will examine the pressures money issues place on students.
Q. £6000 is not acceptable as a stipend – teaching is needed to subsidise those on this amount. Students on £12000 have different issues to those on the lower stipend. Do fewer students on the lower stipend graduate within the given time? Why are we told not to bring up the issue of the stipend?
A. – I. IRO does monitor student progression. The obligation of the cost of producing posters should not necessarily be passed on to the student. We are not asking you to forget issues with the stipend; however the issue of the stipend should be parked (i.e. we should move on to another topic).
Q. How can the university expect to increase the number of research students on a limited amount of money?
A. – I. It is not easy to look at. The funding package is complicated. The stipend does not relate to quality and the £6000 stipend is not advertised as a full wage. The university needs to increase the number of international students and grant funded students. This will introduce inequality throughout for example international students are not given a stipend at all.
Q. How will the recent budget cuts affect us?
A. – I. This has not yet been discussed within the university. It will possibly be dealt with at the next URKTB meeting. The Research Postgraduate grant has been froze (i.e. we will see not further increase in the near future)
Q. Has IRO looked into finding extra sponsorship, grants etc for research students?
A. – H + I. IRO don’t specifically look for them but we do publicise what we do find. We have distributed the Alternative Guide to Grant Funding to all students and are quite happy to work with you to develop such opportunities. Some members of staff have created employment for research students as a result of grants they have applied for. The Interface grant is a good example. If anyone wishes to apply for a grant they can come and see us for help with the grant application process.
Q. Supervisors do not disseminate data on funding sources to us. What can you do to encourage more partnership/dissemination?
A. - I. It is all about finding appropriate mechanisms that do not take up much time. You must be sure to invest your time in something that is likely to generate a result.
Q. Can we make the Director of Studies more accountable (in regards to money/ grants etc)?
A. – I. This is not my area of experience. Some staff get many grants and publicise a lot. One member of staff has published over 100 articles in the last 18 months (that’s 5 a month or just over 1 a week if he was the first author!!!!). Some areas are harder to fund than others.
A. – H. Grant applications can be de-motivating – the chances of success are slim.
A. – I. You need to get used to the process for an academic career.
A. – H. We could repeat the grant application seminar. IRO can also help with any grant applications you make.
Q. Can we get a list of the grant sources that have awarded staff at this university in the past? (it was mentioned that by applying for a grant that has never been awarded to anyone in the university previously, it is less likely that the application will be a success)
A. I. I am keen to move on to other topics but i will be happy to review the situation. The larger grant sources are not available to students. I would like to take this topic offline (his words not mine !). If you bring your application along to us we can help you develop it. We can provide a Feed for grant application funding to your desktop which can then be tailored to your needs. This is done via your e-mail account (if you would like this service – e-mail heather).
Q. What is IRO doing in regards to improving teaching opportunities for research students?
A. – I. At present there is no policy in place to allow for research students to be given priority for teaching positions (actually there is – according to Hassan he himself passed such a policy through the senate !!!!). We are moving toward a policy which will encourage the use of research students in teaching. It will be a big improvement – research students will not be the sole suppliers of teachers, but part – suppliers. Short term teaching needs will always be available (i.e. when a lecturer is off sick). Recently there has been a change in research personnel (Hassan being replaced as VP of Research by Roddy and Malcolm Foley being the new VP of learning and teaching) and this has led to an increasing enthusiasm on the value that research students bring. To improve the situation it needs a university led initiative and a new policy. This would be good as it may result in an increased need for training to preserve the quality of teaching.
In the past the business school have piloted actions that have later been adopted throughout the university. Ron Livingstone is enthusiastic about involving research students in teaching, as is the dean of the school – Malcolm Foley.
Possible staffing cuts would affect the part-timers first (this is a comment related to the recently announced budget cuts)
It would be good to open up opportunities to students. It would also be good experience as long as it fits in with your work schedule.
Q. – I. What do you think of the three day teaching module?
A. We would like to see more like this. It lacks training in assessment of work as this is in the second part of the module.
I. You do need to be classed as associate lecturers before being exposed to students. IRO has not been responsible for research students for that long. We need to improve the training schedule and make it less flat. Training need vary between faculties, but we are keen to get research students to support the university.
Q. Can we turn the poster event into a research colloquium?
A. – C. The reason we brought in lectures was to make it more like a conference event and to provide students with more experience the opportunity to present. We like new ideas and have discussed making it into a two day event.
Q. We don’t get given any feedback about our posters?
A. – C. We do give out the marking criteria but we did discuss this last year.
A. – I. I like the idea of a bigger event. We would be happy if a couple of people would be willing to work with IRO to improve the situation (if anyone fancies doing this e-mail me).
Q. Who is responsible for our intellectual property?
A. – C. The university at present holds 6 patents – this can be seen on the website Euronet. Your Director of Studies identifies if anything is patentable and if it is begins the patent application process. The student can ask for their intellectual property back if the university is not using it.
Q. Could we do a pod cast of the poster session? Can we use them outside the university?
A. – C. Some of the posters have been placed in the Glasgow Science Centre. You can use them elsewhere as long as you don’t include a date stamp.
Q. As research students can we attend undergraduate modules?
A. – C. If the module is related to your studies, you can attend them for free. You can also attend staff training sessions unless they have specific restrictions.
A. – I. Research training comes out of the IRO budget.
Q. Do we get the UCAS points for modules?
A. – I. You can sit the exams and it will appear on a transcript if you are enrolled within the university or Bell College. Modules can take up your time, you need to make sure that it follows your progression.
Q. Some directors of studies have mentioned that PdP’s (personal development plans) are mandatory – is this true?
A. – I. I will take this online and follow it up.
Q. Can IRO help with professional certifications?
A. – I. Not unless they are required for you PhD. Some are provided within the university – if they occur as part of taught modules, then they are free. The commercial courses offered for external payments are not free. There is a tax implementation relating to professional bodies for the university.
Q. I can get two courses from the university – these are for Java and Oracle – do i have to pay for these?
A. – I. The IT academy offers certification through both commercial courses and internal modules. If you undertake a module as a student – you have to go through IRO to register. If it supports your studies and you Director of Studies signs off on it, the course will be free.
Q. How can you get the schools to co-operate more on research student issues?
A. – I. Transparencies are needed between schools. Any pay variations on teaching/demonstrating duties in a HR discrepancy. We would like all students to be treated equitably. We would prefer the schools to pay for student posters and we are happy to work with groups of students.
Towards the end of the session Ian stated that he thought he would have been questioned on the following issues:
· Staff/student liaison – we need to do something with that.
· Allocation of teaching duties – we are working on it.
· Conference attendance scheme – available through IRO.
· Office Space – on our radar. We don’t like the phrase hotdesking or its implementation. Proposals for provision are in the process of development.
· The student assistance fund exists for those on the £6000 stipend and in hardship.
I leave you with one of Ian’s final comments;
I – We are working on your behalf.
