Group & Individual Project Supervision Guidelines

Guidance for supervisors of group and individual projects conducted in the MScR year of the CDT.

Researchers wishing to take on supervision of CDT students must read and agree to abide by the following conditions and be familiar with the Supervisor Guide section of the CDT website.

Conditions of Supervision

Supervisors will be active researchers who hold either an academic position or a fellowship that extends for the duration of the project. NHS consultants holding honorary status at the University can only act as a primary supervisor if the second supervisor is a university staff member whose position extends for the duration of the project. In such cases, the supervisors must also commit to 50:50 co-supervision to ensure continuity.

University supervisors must have performed Equality & Diversity and Unconscious Bias training and have attended a University Supervisor Briefing session within the past 5 years.

• Book online supervisor briefing session
• Unconscious Bias training online
• Equality & Diversity Essentials training online

Industrial partners who put forward staff in formal supervisory roles for projects are expected to operate to the same standards as academic supervisors. This means exercising their responsibilities to the student and the CDT in line with the level of commitment they have made in the project proposal acknowledging that they share a duty of care to the student.

Supervision procedures

CDT students are registered on the CDT degree programme, managed by the School of Informatics, for the entire duration of their studies. Supervisors of CDT students are expected to follow all relevant procedures for student supervision, support and monitoring set out by University, School of Informatics (see Useful Links). Supervisors need to:

• Notify the CDT team of any issues that may arise relating to the student or their project in a timely manner.
• Regularly attend meetings with the student and actively contribute to supervision
• Submit the research project for ethical review to the School of Informatics. This must be done even if there are no overt ethical concerns (this is called a Level 0 return). See the School of Informatics Ethics & Integrity page for details.
• Ensure the student completes all relevant local health and safety training and building inductions.
• Add the student to relevant lab/institute mailing lists and any other communication channels to ensure their better integration into the local research environment.

Marking

It is an expectation that supervisors of individual projects will contribute to marking the final reports; typically, one project marking allocation per supervisor.

Indicative Timescale

*this is the end of teaching for Semester 2, it is possible that students may have an exam following this which they will need to dedicate time to at the beginning of the project. The formal examination period finishes on 24 May 2024.

CDT Training Programme

Students remain part of the CDT programme throughout their studies and are required to take part in CDT-specific events and training activities. Supervisors are expected to actively support their student’s ongoing training and development including as part of the CDT programme. Details of such activities will be advertised to students and supervisors on a continuing basis throughout their studies.

CDT funding

There is a small CDT budget to support research undertaken in GP and IP projects if needed. If a project has a resource requirement, then this should be detailed in the project proposal forms in the relevant section.

UKRI Terms and Conditions

CDT supervisors and students must read and comply with UKRI Terms and Conditions. This includes ensuring that all relevant publications are open access and acknowledging UKRI funding support in publications and other materials.

Individual Projects involving an Industrial Partner

In addition to the guidelines above there are some important additional considerations for projects that involve industrial partners

Legal Agreements

To ensure both parties interests are protected and to give the project the best possible environment for success it is essential that legal arrangements are in place before work commences on the research project. The timeline below sets out key points in this process. Precise details in the drafting phase will be project dependent. Key issues that will need to be addressed include, but are not limited to:

• supervisory arrangements
• commitments and liabilities of both parties
• arrangement of intellectual property rights
• description of any material, data, and methods to be used
• data provenance, usage rights, ethical consent where appropriate
• confidentiality
• rights surrounding publication of results, software, and other outputs from the project
• detail of resource commitment to the project by either party

Indicative Timescale (Industry)

*detailed timings for this pre-project phase will be agreed between the parties and the CDT business development executive and CDT Director on a per-project basis. **this is the end of teaching for Semester 2, it is possible that students may have an exam following this which they will need to dedicate time to at the beginning of the project. The formal examination period finishes on 24 May 2024.