SGUL/LSHTM MRC London Intercollegiate Doctoral Training Partnership – 2018/19 project submission form
Potential Supervisors’ Project Bid Form: 2018-19 start
The LSHTM/SGUL MRC London Intercollegiate Doctoral Training Partnership (MRC LID) has funding to supportnew 10 studentships per year, for 3 years. We will be advertising thefinal tranche of these studentships in November 2017, for students to start in September 2018.
The majority of awards will be for 3.5 years with the expectation that students will gain new skills to allow them to undertake multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary research and they will be required to undertake a 3 month professional internship outside the partnership. Rarely, 1+3 year awards may be made to exceptional candidates to allow them to undertake a full MSc course prior to starting their PhD research. Each studentship will provide a stipend, payment of fees at UK/EU rates, a research allowance and annual travel/conference allowance (amount as per MRC standard studentship rates). Some flexible funding may also be available for additional training needs – allowance by budget approval. Please note that although clinically qualified candidates are eligible to apply for these awards, they are designed for non-clinical research and the stipend payable will be fixed at the current non-clinical MRC rate. Projects that require the applicant to be clinically qualified are not suitable. Only UK/EU fee status candidates who meet the MRC residency requirements will be entitled to a full award. EU candidates may apply for a fees-only award. Students will join a rolling cohort of MRC-funded research degree students and will be expected to engage fully in various cohort-related training activities.
Prospective students will apply to carry out their PhD research on a particular project which they will select from a list of projects put forward by potential supervisors. Projects should address at least one of the three overarching themes of the DTP (Global Infectious Diseases; Quantitative Skills for Large Data sets; Evaluating Complex Interventions) and provide training in at least one of the three core skills areas (quantitative skills; interdisciplinary skills; whole organism physiology). Projects that facilitate research collaboration between LSHTM and SGUL will be viewed particularly favourably. As the number of potential projects will exceed the number of studentships available, the final decision will be based on selecting the most able students.
The MRC are keen for more Industrial CASE awards to be awarded through the DTP, by converting standard awards to CASE awards (either from the start or within 6 months of a student’s start). iCASE Awards require the non-academic partner to agree to host a student for 3 months FTE of their project (over the course of the PhD), and to support them financially by contributing research costs of £1,400.00 pa and £2,500.00 pa supplementary stipend (no financial contributions required for SME partners). The experience gained, and additional stipend, is likely to make these projects very attractive to potential students.
Staff who would like to be considered as a supervisor for an MRC DTP student to start in September 2018 are invited to complete this project submission formand to submit it 22October 2017. Staff may submit one project as primary supervisor, and be named on one additional project as co-supervisor, for potential inclusion in the final project list.Staff with little or no supervisory experience are strongly encouraged to submit projects, but they should identify an experienced member of staff who would be willing to be their mentor in their role as PhD supervisor. (Mentoring will not count towards the project supervisor limit for the purpose of this studentship.) It is a requirement of this scholarship scheme that each student has both a Supervisor and a Co-Supervisor.Please provide details of both on this form. Each project submitted must meet the necessary institution policy for the composition of research degree supervisory teams – for any queries regarding this please speak to your RDM (for LSHTM) or the Graduate office (for SGUL).
Those who are primary supervisor for an MRC LIDstudent starting in 2017-18 may not put forward a project for the 2018-19 academic year.
The details you provide on thisform will be used to check the suitability of your proposed project and your capacity to effectively supervise a student over the next 4 years.
After your bid has been submitted it will be passed to the Head of the Graduate School (where the Primary Supervisor is based at SGUL), or the Research Degree Manager and a Faculty Research Degree Director from your Faculty (where the Primary Supervisor is based at LSHTM) for institutional support and approval before the MRC LID team will view it. (LSHTM staff on visiting and honorary academic contracts should discuss a potential bid with their Faculty RDM before applying.)
TIMETABLE
ACTION / PROVISIONAL DATESupervisor project form sent out / Week commencing 11 September 2017
Supervisor project bids submitted () / Midnight on 22 October 2017
Discussion of projects & final project selection / 3 November 2017
Studentship advert goes live / By 13 November 2017 at the latest
Closing date for studentship applications from prospective students / Midnight on 14 January 2018
MRC LID admin to pass prospective students’ applications on to supervisors / By 23 January 2018 at the latest
Supervisors to return decisions for their project/s / 4 February 2018
Shortlisting review (applications allocated across shortlisting panel for initial review) / Week commencing 12 February 2018
Shortlisting meeting (Management team) / Week commencing 19 February 2018
Students invited to interview / By 28 February 2018
Interviews / Week commencing 13 March 2018
Offer letters sent out / Beginning of April 2018
In late January applications from prospective students will be sent out electronically to supervisors for consideration. If project supervisors are not going to be available, or do not have internet access to review and assess applications,they should nominate a colleague to cover this, and should advise the LSHTM/SGUL Scholarships team – via - of this.
Questions the DTP Management Board will consider when assessing this project bid:
- Do the supervisor and associate/co-supervisor meet the eligibility requirements to supervise PhD students? (LSHTM Policy)
- Do both supervisors currently supervise fewer students than the expected maximum?
- Is sufficient funding in place to support the student?
- Does the project fall within the scientific remit of the DTP (GID/QS/ECI)?
- Does the project offer training in the relevant key skills (QS, Interdisciplinary, Whole Organism)?
- Does the project offer the potential for high quality PhD training?
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SGUL/LSHTM MRC London Intercollegiate Doctoral Training Partnership – 2018/19 project submission form
SUPERVISOR DETAILS
PRIMARY SUPERVISOR
First name(s)
Last or Family Name
Email address
Institution (select one) / ☐ LSHTM / ☐ SGUL
Department/Institute
Your current position / role
Your primary research area
Your skills and expertise
What specific skills training can you bring to this MRC DTP?
Publications (list up to 4 relevant publications published in the last 5 years)
Supervisor training undertaken / New Supervisor Training/ Refresher Supervisor Training/ Relevant PGCILT or PGCERT Training
Date of most recent supervisor training / MM/YYYY
Number of research degree students supervised (completed and current) / As Primary Supervisor
Research degree students currently registered / FT = / PT =
Research degree students completed(please also indicate institution if not your current one) / FT = / PT =
As Secondary/Associate/Co-Supervisor
Research degree students currently registered / FT = / PT =
Research degree students completed(please also indicate institution if not your current one) / FT = / PT =
Students’ completion & submission rates
(please indicate institution if not your current one) / Of completed, number of research degreestudents who submitted within the institution’s maximum submission regulations eg 4 years FT=
Will additional financial resources be required to support this project and, if so, where will these resources come from?
If you have funding in place, please state the funder, amount, dates and grant code / Funder
Grant Code
Start date
End date
Amount
MENTOR
If the primary supervisor is a first-time supervisor, use this section to identify their mentor.
Mentors should be from the same institute as the supervisor.
The Mentor and Co-Supervisor may be the same person.
TitleFirst name(s)
Last or Family Name
Email address
Institution (select one) / ☐ LSHTM / ☐ SGUL
Department/Institute
Your current position / role
Your primary research area
Your skills and expertise
Publications (list up to 4 relevant publications published in the last 5 years)
Supervisor training undertaken / Refresher Supervisor Training/ Relevant PGCILT or PGCERT Training
Date of most recent supervisor training / MM/YYYY
Number of research degree students supervised as main/primary supervisor (completed and current) / As Primary Supervisor
Research degree students currently registered / FT = / PT =
Research degree students completed(please also indicate institution if not your current one) / FT = / PT =
As Secondary/Associate/Co-Supervisor
Research degree students currently registered / FT = / PT =
Research degree students completed(please also indicate institution if not your current one) / FT = / PT =
Students’ completion & submission rates
(please indicate institution if not your current one) / Of completed, number of research degree students who submitted within the institution’s maximum submission regulations eg 4 years FT =
CO-SUPERVISOR
TitleFirst name(s)
Last or Family Name
Email address
Institution (select one) / ☐ LSHTM / ☐ SGUL
Department/Institute
Your position / role
Your primary research area
Your skills and expertise
What specific skills training can you bring to this MRC DTP?
Publications (list up to 4 relevant publications published in the last 5 years)
Supervisor training undertaken / New Supervisor Training/ Refresher Supervisor Training/ Relevant PGCILT or PGCERT Training
Date of most recent supervisor training / MM/YYYY
Number of research degree students supervised as main/primary supervisor (completed and current) / As Primary Supervisor
Research degree students currently registered / FT = / PT =
Research degree students completed(please also indicate institution if not your current one) / FT = / PT =
As Secondary/Associate/Co-Supervisor
Research degree students currently registered / FT = / PT =
Research degree students completed(please also indicate institution if not your current one) / FT = / PT =
Students’ completion & submission rates
(please indicate institution if not your current one) / Of completed, number of research degree students who submitted within the institution’s maximum submission regulations eg 4 years FT =
If you will contribute to costs of the proposed project, please identify funding details / Funder
Start date
End date
Amount
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SGUL/LSHTM MRC London Intercollegiate Doctoral Training Partnership – 2018/19 project submission form
POTENTIAL MRC DTP PROJECT DETAILS
Title of PhD projectTheme
LSHTM/SGUL MRC DTP Bidfocused on these 3 themes. Every successful project must be linked to at least 1 of these themes. / ☐ Global Infectious Diseases
☐ Quantitative Skills for Large Data sets
☐ Evaluating Complex Interventions
Please tick the relevant box(es). If more than 1 box has been ticked please number the skills 1, 2, 3 to highlight the primary, secondary, and tertiary areas as applicable.
Core Skills
MRC Core Skills / ☐ Quantitative skills
☐ Interdisciplinary skills
☐ Whole organism physiology
Please tick the relevant box(es). If more than 1 box has been ticked please number the skills 1, 2, 3 to highlight the primary, secondary, and tertiary areas – as applicable.
Brief description of project (approx 100 words)
Please makes sure the wording you use and your project title ‘sells’ your project to the board (when assessing your project’s suitability for inclusion) and to potential students (we will copy this for the project list on the studentship advert).
Particular prioreducational requirements for a student undertaking this project? e.g. specific MSc training etc?
Skills we expect a student to develop/acquire whilst pursuing this project
Potential non-academic partners for this project? Please name these and provide a short paragraph about each.
MRC Industrial CASE :MRC has indicated a preference for studentships to become iCASE awards within the first 6 months of the studentship where possible. Please indicate any potential CASE partners below. (For further information about iCASE options please contact Alexis Bailey (at SGUL) or Ian Douglas (at LSHTM).)
Potential of conversion to Industrial CASE? / ☐ Yes / ☐ No
If ‘Yes’ would the iCASE partner be an SME? / ☐ Yes / ☐ No
Please provide further information about supervisor suitability and research environment for iCASE.
(Note: Ideally, the non-academic partner should provide two supervisors in addition to the two academic supervisors noted in the project bid).
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