FAQs

While having experience with the topic of your project might mean that it will be easier for your group to move on to most interesting stuff quicker, we do not require any of that to join DRP. If you need it, your team leader will guide you through the basics before moving on to more advanced concepts. 

Group sizes vary from 2 to 8 people, and we are also allowing one-to-one mentorship. Team leaders decide what size would be ideal for the project. If you have a strong preference regarding this, you may specify it in your application — but this will make it harder to match projects to your interests.

This depends on what goal your group is trying to achieve, and what time frame you have in mind. On average, expect weekly hour-long meetings, and a couple of hours of independent work between these. However, this is entirely subject to what you agree with your team leader to.

There's no 'typical' session — your team leader decides what format works best for your group and your project. It could be anything from a casual discussion to something closer to a lesson. In some sessions, your team leader might ask you to lead the discussion (for example, present your findings to the group)

We will be hosting a symposium in January, where each group will have an opportunity to present their projects in a form of a poster. However, this is optional, and isn't necessarily the most important part of DRP. DRP is there to help you acquire independent and group research skills, while also learning about an exciting area of maths. The process itself is meant to be enjoyable. :)

Most groups run for one term, finishing around January. However, your group may decide to continue on your work even after that. Additionally, some new groups might like to start in January too.

As a rule of thumb, be as specific as possible regarding your expectations, as this will help us find you a group that you'll enjoy working with most. However, the more conditions you add, the harder it might be to satisfy all of them — so remember to rank your preferences clearly. It is also ok to not have any specific preferences, but if you submit an empty form, be ready to work with any group that we assign you to.

Feel free to submit a draft early, and update your preferences later if you think of something new.

After submitting the form, you can save your response. Then, you can come back to it at any time before the deadline (23/10) to edit it. Feel free to submit a draft early, and update your preferences later if you think of something new.

If you haven't saved your response and want to edit it, please get in touch.

If, for whatever reason, your matched group doesn't suit you, we are open to discuss switching groups. If our committee, your current team leader, and your new team leader all agree — you are welcome to move! This is generally done in the first week of the programme, and gets harder the further you go into your project.

If you are thinking about switching groups, let us know!

You can suggest ideas that you expect members to be familiar with, but a sufficiently motivated participant should always be able to catch up even without full initial understanding. Think how you can support students who might be struggling. This might include a list of reference materials for all topics your project is relying on. Read more about this in our handbook.

When submitting your application form, you can choose how many members you want to have in your group. A one-to-one mentoring might allow for more independent learning and personalised feedback, while a session in a group of 6-7 might look more similar to a seminar (hence, might require more of your time).

We trust that you know what's best for your group. However, we strongly recommend that you meet your group at least weekly to catch up on individual work, discuss it, give feedback, go trough new topics, and plan ahead. You will probably need to prepare for these sessions, but the amount of work greatly depends on your goal as a group and how you structure your meetings. Read more about this in our handbook.

There's no 'typical' session — you can choose how to structure your meetings freely to make them as productive and enjoyable for your group and its goal as possible. The first question to ask yourself is whether you you want to teach your group something you already know, or learn something new alongside. Then, consider what mix of the following options (non-exhaustive) works best:

• seminar-style presentation of new material

• moderated discussion (you may encourage members to take turns leading some discussions)

• presentation of individual research by yourself or other members

• group problem solving

• designing a poster / presentation

• going through a paper or a textbook

• etc.

We will be hosting a symposium around January, where each group will have an opportunity to present their projects in a form of a poster. However, this is optional, and isn't necessarily the most important part of DRP. DRP is there to help group members acquire independent and group research skills, and for group leaders to gain experience of leading a research group. But, perhaps most importantly, DRP is to enjoy the process of researching an exciting area of mathematics!

Most groups run for one term, finishing around January. However, your group may decide to continue on your work even after that.

Be as specific as possible! This will let us find group members matching your (and their) expectations best. For inspiration, take a look at the example proposal. Note, you do not need to submit a formal proposal this year, but you may add some of information from the example proposal to your application form (possibly in half as much detail).

We encourage you to submit a draft well before the deadline (23/10), and go back to it to add more ideas and details later as you come up with them.

After submitting the form, you can save your response. Then, you can come back to it at any time before the deadline (23/10) to edit it. Feel free to submit a draft early, and update your application later if you think of something new.

If you haven't saved your response and want to edit it, please get in touch.

Yes! If you prefer this, please specify it in your application form