This handbook has been designed to provide you with an introduction to the Department and to provide some additional information about undertaking postgraduate research. It gives some useful information about the staff in the Department, details about research training and the specific facilities which the Department has for postgraduate researchers. It should be read in conjunction with Research, Partnerships and Innovation's Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes, which sets out the more general guidelines for postgraduate research.
The PhD programme seeks to meet the following aims:
To produce trained social science researchers with a subject specialism in their chosen area of study.
To provide an intellectual environment that stimulates and supports postgraduate researchers in the pursuit of their own studies.
To provide a structured and supported research degree programme, offering postgraduate researchers the highest standard of supervisory team support and overall ‘Sheffield experience’.
To enable you to publish research in leading peer-reviewed journals, and help you to influence the research agenda by presenting your findings.
To facilitate your participation in academic networks and appropriate collaborations.
To equip you with the transferable skills that employers value.
To enable you to identify the wider social, cultural and economic context of your research and, if possible, relate it to individual and community needs.
Postgraduate researchers are important members of the Department’s research community and are encouraged to participate fully in its various research activities. It is therefore expected that you:
Fully engage with the supervision process.
Fully engage with the DDP.
Attend Departmental seminars since these give you the opportunity to broaden your expertise beyond the confines of your own research area.
Where appropriate, participate in the activities of the Department's Research Groups.
Postgraduate researchers are often concerned at the lack of clear guidance concerning working hours and holiday entitlements, since neither is governed by regulation. The differing requirements of disciplines and types of research will to a large extent determine the length of the working day/week appropriate to the individual concerned, and students must, in the main, be guided by their supervisor and department.
Postgraduate researchers should also be aware that there is an optimum efficiency to be achieved by pacing oneself between work and recreation: some postgraduate researchers become so exclusively work-oriented that they take little or no time off, potentially to the detriment of their wellbeing and their work.
See also the 'Attendance' section of this handbook.
'Our Commitment' is a partnership document between the University of Sheffield and its students, setting out individual rights and responsibilities to help postgraduate researchers and staff work together in a spirit of co-operation. 'Our Commitment' explains what is required of postgraduate researchers, their legal responsibilities and how they might benefit most from their academic studies at Sheffield.
The General University Regulations apply to all students. They include Regulations which refer to registration and fees, academic progress, appeals, student discipline, etc. They can be found in the University of Sheffield Calendar, and in particular the General Regulations for Higher Degrees, Postgraduate Diplomas and Postgraduate Certificates.
In the event that you have a complaint, in the first instance, you can see your Supervisor or alternatively speak with the Course Convenor/Personal Tutor, Director of Postgraduate Affairs (Research), Director of Learning and Teaching or Head of Department. For contact details of these people, see the 'Key Staff' section of this handbook. Also, please see the Students’ Complaint Procedure.
The Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes contains a wide range of information required by both postgraduate researchers and their academic departments from the point of registration onto a higher degree by research, to the point of award.