Graduate School News
Published: 31 March 2022
Graduate School initiatives and events to enhance our Postgraduate student learning experience
James McCune Smith Scholarships
The first students have been recruited to the new James McCune Smith Scholarships and we are delighted that such was the quality of applications all Colleges have agreed to fund additional places, taking the total from the original 10 scholarships available to 17.
The James McCune Smith PhD Scholarships fund Black UK students to undertake PhD research. The scholarships provide access to external mentors, six month placements, leadership training and networking opportunities. For 2022 entry, we have two industry-funded scholarships but are hoping to extend the industry support for 2023, so if you have any suggestions about companies that may wish to be involved please get in touch with the Graduate School.
We are really grateful to everyone who has contributed to the development of this scheme so far and for the strength of support for the scheme from academics and industry partners. Thanks in particular to Dr Dwayne Spiteri, former PhD student and current postdoctoral researcher in the School of Physics and Astronomy for his important contribution. You can read more about this here.
Thanks also to our current PhD students who agreed to feature in the excellent promotional campaign!
3MT
Congratulations to the Science and Engineering Three Minute Thesis finalists! All presentations were exceptional and it was great to hear everyone present their work in this format. The finalists from CoSE this year were:
- Jacquelyn Egan (School of Chemistry)
- Alexander Backis (School of Physics & Astronomy)
- Ross Johnston (School of Physics & Astronomy)
- Faye Davies (School of Geographical & Earth Sciences)
If you missed the event, you can watch the recording and read more about their work and involvement at: https://uofgpgrblog.com/pgrblog/2022/3/28/meet-the-3mt-2022-finalists
And if any of our PGR students would like to be involved in presenting their research at Science Slam this year we would be delighted to hear from them!
Placement Schemes
Each year, we support around six students to undertake placements with our industry partners. Last year, placements were provided by Unicef, Alba Orbital, Omanos Analytics and Craft Prospect. This is a hugely valuable opportunity for students as can be seen in the feedback below:
“From a technical point of view the experience gained with neural networks and how they are implemented and used in a real world application is highly valuable. This is not only in terms of potential application within my PhD data analysis, but also in getting to see how machine learning can be leveraged in a business setting. It was also a great experience working within a small but growing start-up type of business, especially within the space sector since this is growing rapidly within the UK (and particularly Scotland). Hopefully the combination of the start-up experience and working within the space sector will prove beneficial to finding work post PhD.”
“It was an excellent opportunity to see my value in a commercial setting, and see the extent of the transferability of the hard and soft skills I have developed during my PhD education.”
“The feedback I received during the placement increased my self esteem and gave me confidence in my ability to apply my research skills outside of academia. Doing the placement remotely limited the opportunities for networking, but I was still able to make connections with team members and gain some insight into what it would be like to work for the company or a similar organisation.”
We are looking for additional companies to provide placements this year and next, so if you have any suggestions please let us know.
EPSRC Vacation Internships
Each year we support around 10 UG students to undertake summer internships. Projects are sought from early career researchers as this provides a valuable opportunity for supervising a research project. You will shortly receive an email about submitting projects from the Graduate School. Last year’s projects led to some great outcomes for students and supervisors in terms of publications and grant funding.
Alternative Format Thesis
New guidance has been developed to help students and supervisors understand the requirements for submitting an alternative format thesis (ie those theses which include one or more papers as submitted to or published in a journal). This guidance will be published shortly.
Question and Answer Event for Final Year Students
We are also planning a panel event for final year students and supervisors. This will allow them to put any questions they might have about the process of preparing and submitting a thesis, the examination process and the support available in the University, to members of the Graduate School Board.
In this edition:
Welcome from Professor Muffy Calder
Research, Impact & Knowledge Exchange
News Roundup across the College
First published: 31 March 2022
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