Introduction to postgraduate study

1
Introduction topostgraduate study

• Jon Oberlander
• Informatics Graduate School

2
A bigger picture
Informatics Teaching Office
AI
CS
CS NL
Inf
You!
Your Supervisor
CISA
IPAB
IANC
ICCS
LFCS
ICSA
Informatics Graduate School
3
The goal of a PhD

• Knowledge
• Depth, breadth
• Communication
• Written, oral
• Management
• Self, other

4
What the IGS plans for PhDs

• Monitoring and tracking
• Mentoring
• Travel and research funding
• Transferable skills training
• Specialist subject training

5
Monitoring and tracking

• Our aimto support the PhD and their supervisor
• To help provide a bigger picture
• To spot potential problems early
• To help resolve difficulties if they arise
• To ensure timely completion!
• Our methods
• Annual reports to faculty
• Thesis presentations to institutes

6
Presentations

• Practice, practice, practice
• Posters
• Talks
• Papers
• Institutes, internal workshops,Divisions
  jamboree
• Workshops, conferences, journals

7
Mentoring

• We are introducing a scheme of academic
  parents a later year PhD
• to guide each new PhD in their new environment
• to act as an anchor-point if issues arise
• But dont forget
• Your supervisor
• Your institute head
• Your GradSchool director

8
Travel and research funding

• PhDs have access to funds to support travel and
  some other research costs
• One international trip per year
• It helps if youre presenting a paper, and if the
  conference is prestigious!
• Its always worth looking at financing a trip by
  combining resources, from
• Your funding body, us, your Institute, your
  supervisors grants, the conference itself

9
Transferable skills training

• Via the Faculty programme, one-day workshops in
• Effective presentations
• Writing skills
• Scientific paper production
• Tutoring and demonstrating
• Intellectual property rights
• Team development

10
Specialist subject training

• Specialist courses
• For LFCS students
• Choice of modules from masters programme
• For all Informatics students

11
Career development

• Becoming an academic
• Research
• Self- and other-management
• Teaching
• Tutoring
• Demonstrating
• Marking
• Developing courses

12
Striking a geometric balance
13
MSc goals

• Deeper knowledge
• Taste of project work
• Useful skills for commercial and academic careers

14
What the IGS does for MScs

• Admissions
• Formal tracking/evaluation of degree
• via Informatics Teaching Office (ITO)
• via Course Secretary (North, South)
• via Project Supervisor
• Professional issues seminars
• Industrial seminars
• Problems
• Lecturer
• Specialism Advisor
• Director of Studies
• Course Organiser
• Grad School

15
MSc Students Deal With

• Course Organiser Nigel Goddard -gt Doug Armstrong
• Project Organiser David Rees
• Course Secretaries Tracy Bell (KB), Neil
  McGillivray (SB)
• Teaching Office and Graduate School
  Administrator Anna Hobbs
• Grant/Registration info Judith Gordon (till end
  October)
• Specialism Advisors
• Bioinformatics
  Douglas Armstrong
• Computer Systems and Software Engineering
  Roland Ibbett
• Intelligent Robotics
  Gillian Hayes
• Knowledge Management Engineering
  Qiang Shen
• Learning from Data
  Chris Williams
• Natural Language and Language Engineering
  Jon Oberlander
• Neural Computation
  Nigel Goddard
• Neuroinformatics Nigel Goddard
• Representation and Reasoning
  Dave Robertson
• Theoretical Computer Science
  Colin Stirling
• Module Lecturers
• Too many to list!

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And (nearly) finally

• Staff-student liaison is important
• Masters students
• One representative per course (Inf, AI, CS,
  CSNL)
• To be elected by your cohort by 18.10.02
• Results communicated to Judith Gordon
• PhD students
• One representative per institute (for all years)
• To be elected by your Institutes PhDs by
  18.10.02
• Results communicated to your Institute secretary

17
Contacts for PhDs

• Your institute service managers and ...
• Graduate School
• Betty Hughes betty_at_inf
• Anna Hobbs acm_at_inf
• Jon Oberlander jon_at_inf
• http//www.informatics.ed.ac.uk/admin/IGS/
• dogs_at_inf

18
Party

• Friday 4th October, 4pmTalbot Rice Gallery, Old
  CollegePARTY