CIM PhD Upgrades
How it Works and Important Dates
Who is Involved?
MPhil/PhD students
o The June upgrade is a requirement for full-time first year MPhil/PhD students who began their course in October.
o Part-time MPhil/PhD students in their first year should discuss with their supervisors whether they are in a position to go forward for their upgrade or whether to wait until June of the second year.
PhD Supervisors
o All of you who are lead supervising, or 50/50 co-supervising first year MPhil/PhD students will need to assist them in meeting the submission deadlines.
All available staff
o All available members of staff will be involved in the upgrade review/interview process
PGR Admin (CIM@warwick.ac.uk) Gheerdhu
PGR Director (n.calvillo@warwick.ac.uk) Nerea
What is the Upgrade Process?
Submission Participation Form for June 2021 (link here)
o Candidates confirm their PhD topic and suggested reviewers. PGR Director distributes as evenly as possible and in conversation with staff members.
Submission of Upgrade documents
o Candidates for the June 2021 upgrade will submit their documents on 2nd June, 2021 to Gheerdhu.
Review and Interviews
o Each upgrade document will be circulated to two staff members for review.
o Three weeks after the submission deadline (23rd June 2021) is the deadline for interviews between candidates and their reviewers to talk about the project.
o Times for the interviews will be confirmed and communicated to the students by the reviewers.
As all staff are working remotely during the Coronavirus pandemic face to face interviews will be replaced with Microsoft Teams and reviewers will liaise directly with the students about this.
o Generally, interviews are formative, encouraging and supportive discussions of the doctoral project. They are not exams or mock vivas, rather rigorous but friendly occasions to assist the student in ensuring the thesis plan is on track towards its best potential.
o After the interview, a reviewer report form will be completed, with detailed feedback plus a joint recommendation either to ‘upgrade’ or for ‘resubmission’. In all cases (upgrade or resubmission) the form should be approved by the student’s supervisors before submitting to PGR Admin. In cases where supervisors and reviewers are not in agreement, the preliminary reports, joint recommendation and upgrade documents will be sent on to PGR Admin for the Director of Graduate Studies to externally review.
Recommendations Sent to Students
o Upgrade recommendations will be made available by Gheerdhu to students on 7th July 2021, who need to return the report signed to the PGR Director by 14th July 2021.
Resubmission Deadline
o Upgrade documents that require revision must be re-submitted by midnight on 8th Sept 2021.
Recommendation
o The proposal is sent to the reviewers, who can decide if a second interview is needed.
o Reviewers send their recommendation to Gheerdhu by 22 September 2021.
Recommendations Sent to Students
o Upgrade recommendations will be made available by Gheerdhu to students on 29 September 2021, who need to return the report signed to the PGR Director by 6th October 2021.
If the second attempt fails, the student may be allowed to continue their registration, but only for the degree of MPhil (or MinR as a last option). Alternatively, the department may recommend that the student be required to withdraw in accordance with the Regulation on student registration, attendance and progress. The whole process must be finished within 18 months.
Key Dates - All submission deadlines take effect from midnight of the dates given below:
5th May 2021 - Submission Online Participation Form for June 2021 (link to be forwarded soon)
2nd
June 2021 - Deadline for
submission of Upgrade Documents (sent to Gheerdhu)
23rd June 2021 - Deadline
for Upgrade Interviews
7th July 2021 - Submission
by reviewers of Upgrade recommendations and review reports (sent to
Gheerdhu)
14th Jul 2021- Upgrade recommendations
(upgrade/resubmit) communicated to students (by Gheerdhu)
8th September 2021 - Resubmission
deadline (sent to Gheerdhu)
22nd September 2021 - Recommendations (sent to Gheerdhu)
29th
September 2021 - Upgrade recommendations
(upgrade/MPhill) communicated to students (by Gheerdhu)
Resources:
https://moodle.warwick.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=44061
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/cim/current-students/phd/upgradeconfirmation
University regulations:
https://warwick.ac.uk/services/gov/calendar/section2/regulations/reg38pgr/
https://warwick.ac.uk/services/dc/support/pgr-guidance/supervisionpgr/monitor
17/02/2021