Institute of Psychology, Health and Society

Institute of Psychology, Health and Society

Research Postgraduate Handbook

2013-2014

1. The Institute of Psychology, Health and Society (IPHS)

Welcome to the Institute of Psychology, Health and Society (IPHS) at the

University of Liverpool

This Handbook aims to be a user-friendly and helpful guide to life as a Postgraduate Research Student in IPHS. It provides a profile of the Institute you have joined, lists sources of advice and support, and details some of the rules and regulations that you need to know.

The information in this Handbook is intended for guidance only, and should be regarded as additional to and not in place of the decrees issued by the University and the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences.

It should be read in conjunction with the documentation available via the University of Liverpool Postgraduate Research Team website at:

1.1Introduction to the Institute

The Institute of Psychology, Health and Society was formed in 2010 by merging staff from the School of Population, Community and Behavioural Sciences, the School of Psychology, Health and Community Care Research Unit and the School of Dental Science.

The Institute consists of four Departments, which reflect the dominant themes of its Research Activity: Department of Health Services Research,Department of Psychological Sciences, Department of Public Health and Policy and Department of Medical Education.

1.2Locations

The Institute is located in three buildings on different parts of the Campus. The Waterhouse Building (Building 352), the Whelan Building (Building 302) are home to the Departments of Health Services Research, Psychological Sciences (clinical), and Public Health and Policy. The Eleanor Rathbone Building (Building 106) is home to the Department of Psychological Sciences (non-clinical). In addition the oral health research group which is part of Health Services Research is based in the Research Wing, School of Dentistry. Building numbers refer to the University Campus Map, which is online at:

1.3The IPHS Research Postgraduate Administrator

The Institute’s Research Postgraduate Administrator: Miss Lindsay Edmonds is based in Room LG40, Ground Floor, Sherrington Building, Ashton Street.

1.4The Research Postgraduate Committee

Research Postgraduate businesswithin the Institute is administered by the Research Postgraduate Committee. The Research Postgraduate Committee consists of the Institute Director of Research Postgraduate Studies: Professor Sue Higham and two Deputy Directors of PGR are Dr. Eric Robinson and Dr. Sabeel Valappil. The Research Committee haveResearch Postgraduate Leads for each of the four departments in the Institute: Dr. Sabeel Valappil (Health Services Research), Professor Richard Bentall (Psychological Sciences (clinical)), Dr. Martin O’Flaherty (Public Health and Policy), Dr. Jo Harrold (Psychological Sciences (non-clinical), and Dr. Helen O’Sullivan, (Medical Education).Student representation for each of the departments of IPHS also sit on the committee. The Committee is responsible for developing the Institute’s Research Postgraduate Policy, and the Departmental Leads are responsible for implementing this Policy in a way that suits the local needs of Students and Supervisors in the different Departments. Students and Supervisors are encouraged to direct any questions or concerns they might have about Research Postgraduate matters to their Departmental Lead,in the first instance. The Departmental Lead will bring any issues that cannot be resolved at local level to the Institute Committee for broader consideration.

1.5 Key Contacts for IPHS Postgraduates

IPHS Head of Institute

Professor Peter Kinderman

Block B, Second Floor, Waterhouse Building

E-mail: ; telephone: +44 (0)151 794 8041.

IPHS Director of Research Postgraduate Studies

Professor Sue Higham

Research Wing, School of Dentistry

E-mail: ; telephone: +44 (0)151 706 5251

IPHS Deputy Director of Research Postgraduate Studies

Dr. Eric Robinson, Department of Psychological Sciences, Second Floor, Eleanor Rathbone Building

Email: ; telephone: +44 (0)151 794 1187

IPHS Deputy Director of Research Postgraduate Studies

Dr. Sabeel Valappil, Deputy Director of PGR Studies, Research Wing, School of Dentistry

Telephone number: 0151 706 5299; email:

IPHS Research Postgraduate Administrator

Miss Lindsay Edmonds

Room LG40, Ground Floor, Sherrington Building

E-mail: ; telephone: +44 (0)151 794 1112

PGR Lead for Health Services Research

Dr. Sabeel Valappil,

Research Wing, School of Dentistry

email: ; Telephone number: 0151 706 5299;

PGR Lead for Psychological Sciences (clinical)

Professor Richard Bentall

Second Floor, Block B, Waterhouse Building, 1-5 Dover Street

E-mail: ; telephone: +44 (0)151 794 5367

PGR Lead for Public Health and Policy

Dr. Martin O’Flaherty

Third Floor, Whelan Building

E-mail: ; telephone: +44 (0)151 794 5597

PGR Lead for Psychological Sciences (non-clinical)

Dr. Jo Harrold

Second Floor, Eleanor Rathbone Building

E-mail: ; telephone: +44 (0)151 794 1129

PGR Lead for Medical Education

Dr. Helen O’Sullivan

Cedar House

Email: ; 0151 794 8752

Student Representatives:

Amy Bidgood, Psychological Sciences, (non-clinical)

Email: ; telephone number: +44 (0)151 794 1109

Emma Miles, Health Service Research

Email:

Sophie Wickham, Psychological Sciences, (clinical)

Email:

Fayez Al Zarban, Public Health and Policy

Email:

TBC, Medical Education

Email: tbc; telephone number:

1.5Diversity and Equality

The University is committed to providing an environment which recognises and values people's differences, capitalises on the strengths that those differences bring to the institution and support all staff and students in maximising their potential to succeed.

This commitment is made with specific reference to a person's Age, Disability, Gender Reassignment, Marriage & Civil Partnership, Pregnancy & Maternity, Race, Religious Belief & Non Belief, Sex and Sexual Orientation. The University is committed to fulfilling its obligations under the Equality Act 2010. These pages provide information in the work being undertaken in diversity and equality andlet staff, students and other stakeholders know how toget involved in this work,

1.6The University Approach to Supporting Disabled Students

The University encourages a supportive and accessible environment for disabled students. Disabled students, including those with dyslexia or other specific learning difficulties, and those with mental health needs, are advised to discuss their individual needs with their academic School/Department and the Disability Support Team in the Student Services Centre in order that appropriate support arrangements can be made. On request, information in this Handbook can be made available in an alternative format.

2. Studying for a Research Degree

2.1 The Research Postgraduate Team

The University of Liverpool Research Postgraduate Team supports, administers and coordinates training for the MPhil, PhD, and MD programmes at Liverpool. All postgraduate researchers and their supervisors are members of the Postgraduate ResearchTeam, Foundation Building. For further information, see the Research Postgraduate website at:

2.2 The Research PostgraduateTeam Handbook

The Handbook For Postgraduate Research Students And Supervisors is a key source of information for those engaged in Postgraduate Research. The Handbook includes:

• An introduction to the University of Liverpool Research Postgraduate Team;
• Information for Postgraduate Research Students, including sections on the Graduate PGR Development Programme and Annual Progress Requirements;
• Policies and Procedures;
• University Codes of Practice that apply to Postgraduate Research;
• Ordinances and Regulations for the Degree of Master in Philosophy, the Degree of Doctor in Philosophy and the Degree of Doctor of Medicine

This Handbook is available online at or through the link on the Postgraduate Research Team Home Page

Some important policies and procedures are also available as separate documents at:

2.4 The Research Degree: Required Components

In each year of the research degree, there are required components as follows:

• Twelve months research (full-time or part-time as appropriate to the programme)
• The PGR Portfolio of Activity
• The compulsory PGR Development components required for the particular year of study
• The PGR Skills Training required by the Institute for the particular year of study
• The Annual Review of Progress (carried out within the Institute)
• Completion of the Annual Progress Report (APR) Form

2.5 The University of Liverpool PGR Development Programme

As the Postgraduate Research website explains, all research students at the University of Liverpool are required to complete a PGR Development Programme. This programme includes a elements run through the Postgraduate Research (such as the First Year Development Workshop and the Second Year Poster Day), and a PGR Skills Training programme organised through the Institute.

The Postgraduate Research(PGR) DevelopmentProgramme is compulsory for all research students. If students can supply evidence that they have already completed a similar programme elsewhere (e.g. in a Masters programme), they may be eligible for exemption from some of the Development Programme’s constituent parts. Students can apply for exemption using a form available from the Research Postgraduate website which has to be signed by their primary supervisor and and sent to the Faculty Director of Postgraduate Research: Professor Graham Kemp at: . Students can apply for exemption from the PGR Skills Training delivered by their Institute by applying to the Institute Director of Postgraduate Research, Professor Sue Higham at . Exemption from the University Poster Day, IPHS Postgraduate Conferenceand Annual Progress Requirements is not permitted. These requirements are summarized below.

• 1 First Year Development Workshop or First Year Development Online (30 credits)
• 1 presentation at University Poster day(10 credits)
• 1 Careers Skills Workshop (30 credits)
• PGR Skills Programme required by the Institute (10 credits per year)
• Completion of the Annual Progress Requirements(30 credits per year)

Each credit represents approximately one hour of attendance or other activity. Without evidence of these being achieved (either through training or evidence of prior attainment of the skills via the exemption process), students will not be permitted to submit their thesis for examination. It is the research student’s responsibility to ensure they complete the Development Programme before the thesis is submitted, but it is the supervisor’s responsibility to guide and encourage students to take the most appropriate courses. Each year the Centre for Lifelong Learning runs training courses for Graduate Teaching Assistants. The University stipulates that all research students must have attended a training session on small group teaching before he/she can be employed as a GTA.

The PGR Development Programme meets the recommendations of the Roberts Report (SET for Success) and those laid down by all Research Councils and the AHRC by requiring all new research students to complete developmental activities that add up to at least six weeks of training over a three-year period. Students should plan their Development Programme using the PGR Portfolio of Activity, which has been designed to enable students to reflect on their activities, experiences and skills. The PGR Portfolio of Activity itself forms the equivalent of three weeks of developmental activity over three years.

The Research Postgraduate website contains detailed information about the DevelopmentProgramme, including:

• Research Postgraduate Team:

• Summary PGR Development Programme:

• Annual Progression requirements:

• First Year Development Workshops:

• Poster Day:

• Career Skills Requirement:

2.5IPHS PGR Skills Programme

As noted above, in addition to the training provided centrally by the PGR Development Team, research postgraduate students at Liverpool are also required to take part in the IPHS PGR Skills Programme. This consists of a set of compulsory modules to be completed by all students and a set of optional modules covering a range of different research skills and topics from which students can choose courses that suit their research interests and/or research needs.

Compulsory Modules

All students are required to complete the following compulsory modules:

PHSR101: First Year Research Skills. This module includes three components. These are: 1) attendance at the Institute Seminar Series – Students are required to attend those parts of the Institute seminar series that are relevant to their particular discipline; 2) Attendance and participation at the Annual Postgraduate Conference — Students are required to attend either a full morning or afternoon session of the conference and to give a research presentation based on some aspect of their first year work; and 3) Preparation and submission of a thesis plan and a piece of written work (e.g. a literature review or methodological review), the nature of which is to be agreed in consultation with the student’s supervisor — Students are required to submit this work to their annual review panel so that it can serve as the basis for a discussion of their progress and future research plans.

PHSR201: Second Year Research Skills. This module includes three components. These are: 1) Attendance at the Institute Seminar Series – Students are required to attend those parts of the Institute seminar series that are relevant to their particular discipline; 2) Attendance and participation at the Annual Postgraduate Conference — Students are required to attend either a full morning or afternoon session of the conference and to give a research presentation based on some aspect of their second year work; and 3) Preparation and submission of a thesis plan and a piece of written work (e.g. a methodological review or piece of empirical work), the nature of which is to be agreed in consultation with the student’s supervisor — Students are required to submit this work to their annual review panel so that it can serve as the basis for a discussion of their progress and future research plans.

PHSR301: Third Year Research Skills. This module includes three components. These are: 1) Attendance at the Institute Seminar Series – Students are required to attend those parts of the Institute seminar series that are relevant to their particular discipline; 2) Attendance and participation at the Annual Postgraduate Conference — Students are required to attend either a full morning or afternoon session of the conference and to give a research presentation based on some aspect of their third year work; and 3) Preparation and submission of a thesis plan and a piece of written work (usually a piece of empirical work, either quantitative or qualitative), the nature of which is to be agreed in consultation with the student’s supervisor — Students are required to submit this work to their annual review panel so that it can serve as the basis for a discussion of their progress and future research plans.

In the case of full-time students, these modules will be completed in years 1, 2 and 3 respectively. In the case of part-time students, each module can be completed over a 2-year period, with students submitting a piece of written work and presenting at the postgraduate conference every other year. All students (i.e. both full-time and part-time students) are required to attend a progress review meeting every year, and to submit a thesis plan to their panel not less than one week in advance of this meeting.

Note that students will not be able to submit their thesis without having registered for all of the compulsory modules on Spider and having been signed off or exempted by the Institute Director of Research Postgraduate Studies. Students MUST therefore ensure that they register for all relevant modules each year, and obtain exemption in cases in which they are unable to fulfill all course requirements (e.g. part-time students whose work commitments prevent them from attending the Institute’s seminar programme).

Optional Modules

In addition to the compulsory modules outlined above, students may also take as many optional modules as they wish from the following list. Note that some of these modules are administered in IPHS and others in different parts of the Faculty.

Code / Title / Registration
PSCR606 / Attend a Conference / SPIDER
PSCR608 / Submit a Paper for Publication / SPIDER
PSCR609 / Critique of Proposed Publication / SPIDER
PSCR610 / Organise a Mini-Conference / SPIDER
FLHR621 / Statistical Issues in the Design and Analysis of Research Projects / SPIDER
FLHR624 / Design and Analysis of Laboratory-Based Studies / SPIDER
FLHR626 / Introduction to Logistic Regression / SPIDER
FLHR627 / Introduction to Longitudinal Data Analysis / SPIDER
FLHR004 / Meta-analysis / SPIDER
FLHR652 / Validity and Reliability of Diagnostic Tests and other Methods of Measurement / SPIDER
FLHR653 / Survival Analysis / SPIDER
FLHR654 / Unbiased design and statistical analysis in research projects / SPIDER
MEDRTBC / Epistemological and Methodological Approaches to Qualitative Research on Medicine, Health and Society / SPIDER
MEDRTBC / Qualitative Research Methods (monthly only) / SPIDER

2.6 The IPHS Seminar Series

The Institute of Psychology, Health and Society runs an Institute-level seminar series each session, which includes seminars on a variety of topics reflecting the range of research interests within the Institute. There are two seminars per month, each with a sixty-minute running time, including thirty minutes for the presentation, and fifteen minutes for discussion. Postgraduate students are expected to attend those parts of the seminar series that are relevant to their discipline as part of their PGR Skills Programme.

2.7 The IPHS Postgraduate Conference

The IPHS Postgraduate Conference, which traditionally takes place in early June, requires that all research students deliver a short oral presentation at their research to their colleagues and members of staff in the Department. The IPHS Postgraduate Conference is run as a series of mini-conferences, one in each of the four departments that make up the Institute.It is compulsory for postgraduate students to attend and present at the Postgraduate mini-conference in their home department.

2.8 Annual Progress Review

All students registered on degrees at doctoral level are subject to annual review. In IPHS each Postgraduate Student is assigned a panel of two independent reviewers (i.e. members of staff who are not members of the student’s supervisory team). The student is required to attend a review meetingwith this panel before the 31st July each year, and to submit a thesis plan and a piece of written work to the panel members not less than one week in advance of the meeting. Part-time students are required to submit a thesis plan every year, and a piece of written work every other year.

2.9IPHS Annual Review Meeting

The purpose of the Annual Review meeting is to review the research student’s progress and provide independent evidence that can serve as the basis for a progress recommendation by the Institute Director of Research Postgraduate Studies. The student is required to submit a thesis plan and a piece of written work agreed in consultation with the supervisor not less than one week before the date of the meeting. Copies of this work should also be sent to Lindsay Edmonds, the Research Postgraduate Administrator at:. The piece of written work should be something that provides evidence of normal progression towards a PhD at that stage in the context of the discipline, while inspiring confidence about a timely and successful completion of the thesis. Students whose progress is deemed unsatisfactory by their review panel will be given a chance to recover by completing a programme of remedial work in line with the University’s Termination of Studies procedure, which can be found online at: