Research Student’s Progress Report

The process of progress reviews for Tyndall based students is intended to be a constructive and positive experience for the students and thesis committee and should recognise and acknowledge good progress made.

All research students are required to complete 3 to 6 month, 12 month, 24month and not later than 36month reviews. Thereafter, progress updates are required at 6monthly intervals until the thesis is submitted.It is the responsibility of the supervisor to arrange and inform the Thesis Committee of the progress review meetings. For further details on the supervision procedure, please see the post-grad supervision procedureTYN-GS-PR-62 Graduate Management Process located under Associated Documents within QT9 Software.

This progress report should accompany the reports required at each of the reporting periods as described in the procedure.

Please attach, for

3 to 6 Month Report:Project and personal development plans

12 Month Report:Progress report

24 Month Report:Progress report and completion plan

36 Month Report, and subsequent reports:Progress report

Progress reports should include details of training undertaken, conferences and presentations, publications, software written, and patents filed or granted during the reporting period.

To be completed by the student prior to thesis committee meeting

Satisfactory / Reservations / Unsatisfactory
Project planning
Frequency of supervision meetings
Access to facilities
Comments from Candidate
(attach additional sheets as necessary)

To be completed by thesis committee at review meeting

Satisfactory / Reservations / Unsatisfactory
Project planning
Research outputs
Communication skills
Work performance
Frequency of supervision meetings
Access to facilities
Comments from Committee and Candidate
(attach additional sheets as necessary)

Agreed Outcomes of the Progress Review

Please provide a summary of revisions to project planand any training recommended by the Thesis Committee. Summary of actions required

Modules

UCC PhD students, registered from October 2013, are required to take a minimum of 15ECTS as part of the structured PhD requirements

Recommendations

Please tick as appropriate

  1. Progress is good and the student should continue with the current plan

  1. There are concerns about progress and some actions are required to get the research back on track. Progress should be re-reviewed in 3-6month

If this current review is a re-review, the recommendations of the re-review are:
Progress is back on track and the student should continue with the current plan.
Progress is insufficient to continue on the current programme and it is recommended that the student should change their registration to another programme
Progress is insufficient to continue on the current programme and it is recommended that the student should deregister.

Health and Safety Training

List any Health and Safety training undertaken since your last review and H&S training required in the next 6 months.

Additional Activities

List other relevant activities you have participated in since your last review and activities planned for the next 6 months; e.g. outreach activities

Lab Safety

  • Are you lab based?______
  • If yes, have you and your supervisor signed TYN-LAB-REC-56: Responsibilities of supervisors and their staff/students in Tyndall labs and returned to Health and Safety manager?

Signature Student:______

Signature Supervisor:______

Lab Documentation - The student is required to bring their lab notebook to the review. It is the responsibility of the supervisor to ensure that these are maintained according to TYN-SW-PR-10.

To be signed by supervisor: I have reviewed the lab notebook of ______(insert student name) and am satisfied that all records are being maintained in accordance with TYN-SW-PR-10 Research Project Management

Signature Supervisor______

Leave Entitlement

Have you and your supervisor discussed your annual leave (20dayentitlement)______

Signature Student:______

Signature Supervisor:______

Signatures

Supervisor / Co-supervisor(s) ______Date: ______

______Date: ______

______Date: ______

Advisor(s): ______Date: ______

______Date: ______

Monitor: ______Date: ______

At the periodic progress-review meetings, the thesis committee (supervisor/co-supervisor(s), advisor(s) and monitor sign the progress report. The student will subsequently review the report and sign prior to submission. Any issues arising should be discussed with a member of the thesis committee and/or mentor.

I confirm that I have read the above actions and recommendations from the Thesis Committee, and will forward a pdf version of this Progress Report (with signatures),along with pdf version of the Research Summary Report (including any changes or updates to the project plan) to:

In addition, electronic copieswill be sent to all committee members and to the appropriate departmental contact:

EEEMary O’

MicroelecronicsNiamh O’

PhysicsMargaret

ChemistryAnn

For other UCC academic departments or institutes of technology, please arrange with your supervisor that your reports are sent to the appropriate academic contact person.

Research student: ______Date: ______

Appendix

Guidelines for the production of Month 12 Progress Report for Postgraduate Students Registered for PhD Programmes

Overview

This appendix is intended to provide guidelines, where required, for the 12month Progress Report. It is not intended to be a completely prescriptive template. It is acknowledged that the supervisor, as the person with overall responsibility for the research conducted by, and academic progress of, the student provides clear recommendations as to what is required in each instance.

Guidelines for the production of Month 12 Progress Report for Postgraduate Students Registered for PhD Programmes

1. Preamble

This document has been prepared to try to standardize the format of these reports and to provide clear guidelines to graduate students as to what it is expected of them in terms of report preparation. It is recommended that each student discusses these guidelines with their project supervisor before commencing report writing.

2. Suggested Format

It is recommended that the report be prepared as a working document that can be updated over time to evolve into the final thesis. It should contain the following sections, each of which is described in more detail below:

Title page

Abstract

Contents Section

Glossary of terms used, acronyms employed etc., if appropriate

Chapter 1, Introduction

Chapter 2, Methods of Research

Chapter 3, Results and Discussion

Chapter 4, Conclusions and Further Work

References

Appendices, if appropriate

3. Section Requirements

3.1Title Page

As near as possible, this title should be the title listed on the application form which was used to enroll the student. It is expected that the title will be very similar, if not necessarily identical to the title of the final thesis produced by the student at the end of the study.

3.2Abstract

What the report contains and just this.

3.3Contents

A clear, professional-looking contents section is required, where each separate section may be located via its title and page number within the report.

3.4Glossary

Not always required, but if the report contains lots of acronyms or other jargon which is appropriate to the field concerned, then it can be a very useful addition to the report.

3.5Chapter 1, Introduction

  • Must contain the background to the project- why exactly are we doing this? What are the main aims and objectives? Why have we selected the methods to be used? What could be the benefits of achieving the aims and objectives?
  • Must also contain a concise summary of all relevant previous research in the field that is relevant- key papers, important findings etc. (obviously whether something is relevant or not is subjective, but you must be able to defend your decision to include or not include particular pieces of work).

Overall, a good chapter 1 can often be incorporated into a final PhD thesis with only minimal alterations being required. Don’t skimp on this section. At month 12, progress is mostly dependent upon gauging the level of understanding that the student has managed to achieve, rather than on achieving loads of results.

3.6Chapter 2, Methods of Research

This chapter could also be termed ‘Experimental Methods’ for some student, but as not all projects are experimental in nature it is perhaps best to use the more generic term ‘Methods of Research’. This chapter should contain the following

  • Must contain a brief description of the methods being used or to be used, together with some background as to how these methods work, but it is not necessary to explain the background theory to all techniques in enormous detail. Remember that the point of describing these methods in the report is to demonstrate that you understand how they work and how to interpret the data they produce.
  • Must contain details of the specific methods and, where appropriate, specific apparatus or equipment that have been used thus far on the project. Here what is needed is something like the Experimental Section of a paper in a high-quality journal

3.7Chapter 3, Results and Discussion

It is often a good idea to start the report writing with this Chapter, because once this is written it indicates precisely what is needed in Chapters 1 and 2 to put the results in proper context.

  • The format of this chapter will vary greatly from project to project, but as a guide, try to be as concise as possible and don’t worry if results are presented which do not provide unequivocal answers to the questions being posed in the research. It takes at least 3 years of diligent research to achieve a PhD (and a statement to this effect may usually found somewhere in regulation for all Universities) and so at month 12 it is expected that you will not have all the answers.
  • Highlight the main results that have been obtained thus far and provide some discussion as to their significance. Be critical here. Point out the limitations that have to be applied when trying to interpret data. Examiners often pick up on examples of over-interpretation of results- where conclusions are drawn that are not justified.
  • Try to be dispassionate in terms of presenting your findings. Cast a cold eye over what you have in terms of results and assess them for what they are.
  • In particular point out where further work is needed to build on results obtained thus far, because this will then connect in with Chapter 4.

3.8Chapter 4, Conclusions and Further Work

  • Briefly summarize what you have done in the first 12 months, what results you have achieved and why you think they are significant. This summary will necessarily involve some repetition of what was described in Chapter 3, so keep it brief and to the point
  • In the context of the summary, you need to present a detailed plan of what you intend to do in the next 12 months, and also an idea of the revised overall aims and objectives that will lead you to your PhD. This is arguably one of the most important sections of your report. Think carefully and discuss this Chapter with your supervisor before writing

3.9References

All references must be correctly numbered and listed, using an appropriate style.

3.10Appendices

If these help in terms of what you are trying to say in the report then include them. If not, don’t. Examples of appendices include papers published. Mathematical proofs of certain important relations, computer program code etc.

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