PhD Project Choice - Department of Biology, University of York

Information for students
Information for staff
Timeline

Background: Our Wellcome Trust CIDCATS PhD programme operates a 1+3 (year) training model, with an initial year of tutorials, a group project and 2 individual rotation projects. At the end of the 1^st year, students transition to a specific PhD project for Years 2-4. This process is student-driven and your task is to develop a PhD project proposal, in collaboration with prospective supervisors, for review/approval. Approved projects will be forwarded to the Wellcome Trust for their final approval, which then releases the studentship award.

As you are now nearing the end of your 2nd rotation project you will be working on their PhD project proposals during the next 2 months.

Please note:

You are expected to draft and work up your own proposal with the guidance of staff (principally prospective supervisors, but with additional review/feedback from wider programme staff). Thus proposals outside of the original staff outlines may emerge.
Each student is funded for their research at £12k p.a. for the 3 years of their PhD; if animal experiments are required, an application for additional costs can be made direct to the Trust. Each student has their own A code and manages their own consumable, travel and training funds. Summaries of the accounts are available to the respective supervisors.
PhD projects require a minimum of 2 supervisors in different disciplines. This needs to be argued so please bear it in mind when devising suitable projects. Prospective supervisors must be on the list of those nominated to and accepted by the Wellcome Trust (see:http://www.york.ac.uk/biology/intranet/current-research/cidcats/supervisorpool/ ). Only one student per supervisor is the norm unless there are exceptional circumstances.
CIDCATS Research Themes: 1/ Drug target development; 2/ Predictive modelling of pathogenesis and treatment response; 3/ Development of novel tools for complex data analysis

PhD Project outlines

link to PhD project booklet

Final PhD Proposal Forms

(please note that we will source feedback for 'Rotation Reports' (page 2) and make this information available to you).

Any questions about supervision or project area should be directed to CIDCATS office (cidcats@york.ac.uk ) asap.

Background: Our Wellcome Trust CIDCATS PhD programme operates a 1+3 (year) training model, with an initial year of tutorials, a group project and 2 individual rotation projects. At the end of the 1^st year, students transition to a specific PhD project for Years 2-4. This process is student-driven and their task is to develop a PhD project proposal, in collaboration with prospective supervisors, for review/approval. Approved projects will be forwarded to the Wellcome Trust for their final approval, which then releases the studentship award.

Our 5th cohort of students (from the 5 year programme award) are nearing the end of their initial training year and will be working on their PhD project proposals (for Years 2-4) during the next 2-3 months.

What you need to do now: Outline a potential research topic/project idea.
The research should lie within the CIDCATS programme remit, be interdisciplinary, and involve one or more colleagues as prospective co-supervisors. Note that you can act as the primary supervisor of only one CIDCATS student (Years 2 - 4) at any given point. Currently, there are no limits on the number of students you can act as a co-supervisor.

Summary Format of Research Outline (submitted via a web form)

Supervisor Info (all supervisors have to be members of the CIDCATS supervisory pool)
Title (<200 characters)
Summary (< 300 words; headings Background, Objectives, Novelty, Timeliness)
Fit to CIDCATS research themes
Interdisciplinarity (<200 words)
Key References/Resources (both URL and free text fields available)

Students are expected to draft and work up their own PhD proposal with the guidance of staff (principally prospective supervisors, but with additional review/feedback from wider programme staff). Thus PhD proposals outside of the submitted staff outlines may emerge.

Deadline: Research outlines should be submitted by 9am Monday 27 June 2016. The full list of approved outlines will be circulated to the students later in that week. Note that the only reasons that will prevent your outline from being circulated to the students are:

if it does not fit into any of the CIDCATS research themes;
if it is not interdisciplinary;
if the primary supervisor is the primary supervisor of another current CIDCATS student (from 1st October 2016).

Information and Submission Form: additional background information, timeline for proposal preparation and a web form for submission of outlines can be found here.

Please contact cidcats@york.ac.uk if you have any questions regarding this process.

22 June 2016	Student briefing session (Leo Caves, Dimitris Lagos)
09:00 27 June	Staff submit research outlines (then filtered for fit to remit)
28/29 June	Project outlines circulated to students
1 August	Checkpoint 1 – Students attend a feedback/advice session to discuss progress
22 August	Checkpoint 2 - Students submit draft PhD proposal for review and receive feedback
20 September	Checkpoint 3 - Submission of final PhD proposal for approval by CIDCATS Programme Directors
1 October	Submission of proposals to The Wellcome Trust via the eGrants system by students
October	PhD commences…

Information for students

Information for staff

Timeline