School of Natural Sciences Structured Phd Programme

13.10.2015

School of Natural Sciences Structured PhD Programme

General guidelines

PhD students in the School of Natural Sciences Students will take 30 ECTS through courses in addition to their research project. The assessment of all modules is on a pass/fail basis. Pass level is 40% unless otherwise specified. Credit can be granted only one time per module.

Modules to be taken have to be agreed between the student and his/her supervisor. Moreover, for all modules that are not assessed directly by the supervisor, students must first be accepted by the module owner. Before registering for a module, students should therefore always contact module owners to check 1) whether the module is taught at all in a certain time period and 2) whether space is available for them (since many modules have quotas).

The School of Natural Sciences will abide by the College of Science Structured PhD guidelines: http://www.nuigalway.ie/science/postgraduatestructuredprogrammes/structurephdguidelines/

General guidelines for research degree programs can be found on the Graduate Studies website: http://www.nuigalway.ie/media/graduatestudies/files/university_guidelines_for_research_deg ree_programmes.pdf

Modules offered

Different types of modules are available for the structured PhD program. General Graduate Studies (GS) modules fall into two broad categories: Those modules that are assessed by the supervisor (Table 1) and those modules that are delivered and/or coordinated by dedicated "module owners” (Table 2). Module descriptions for all of these modules can be found on the Graduate Studies website (http://www.nuigalway.ie/graduatestudies/currentstudents/gsmodules/) by clicking on the respective module codes. In addition to GS modules, special modules are offered by various disciplines for structured PhD students (Table 3).

Modules from the taught postgraduate programs in the College of Science (CoS) have also been made available for PhD students although quotas may be in place and spaces may be quite limited. It is therefore essential that prior acceptance by module owners is sought for these modules. An overview of all taught postgraduate programs and the modules offered can be found here: http://www.nuigalway.ie/courses/taught-postgraduate-courses/. Contact the program coordinators listed there for details on module codes, module owners and module contents.

5.3 GSB 16-11-2015 Moreover, students may also take modules offered by other Schools within the CoS (e.g. Physics, Chemistry) or even from other Colleges (e.g. Medicine) with approval of the respective module owners. If students wish to take modules from other Colleges than CoS, they should first submit a request to the CoS. If granted, the respective module code will be added to the CoS syllabus file.

Finally, modules from other Irish universities are also available and may be recognized by CoS upon request: http://www.nuigalway.ie/media/graduatestudies/files/externalmodules/iua_interinstitutional_c ollaborative_mou_graduate_programmes_2013.pdf

Table 1: GS modules assessed by supervisor

Module Code Title ECTS

GS501 Seminar Programme or Conference 5 Participation

GS502 Participation in Journal Club Programme 5

GS505 Graduate Research Skills 5

GS508 Formulating a Research Project Proposal 5

GS509 Participation in Workshops/Courses 5

GS511 Research Placement 1 5

GS512 Engaging with the community: research, 10 practice and reflection

GS515 Research Paper Publication 5

GS516 Work-based Placement 1 5

GS526 Oral/Poster communication 5

GS527 Clinical Skill Development 1 5

GS532 Introduction to Psychopharmacology (BAP) 5

GS536 Communication & Outreach 5

GS5103 Conference Organisation 5

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5.3 GSB 16-11-2015 Table 2: GS modules with module owner

Module Contact Person Title ECTS Code [email protected] GS506 Teaching & Learning 5 [email protected] GS507 Statistical Methods for Research 5 [email protected] GS530 Graduate Research Information 5 Skills [email protected] GS520 BioInnovate I Core: Needs 10 finding to concept generation [email protected] GS521 BioInnovate I core and project: 15 Needs finding to concept generation [email protected] GS522 BioInnovate II Core: Concept 10 Development and Implementation [email protected] GS523 BioInnovate II Core and project: 5 Concept Development and Implementation [email protected] GS5101 BioInnovate I: Needs finding to 5 concept generation [email protected] GS5102 BioInnovate II: Concept 5 Development and Implementation [email protected] GS525 Laboratory Animal Science 5 Training (LAST) Ireland course [email protected] GS535 Induction & Professional 5 Development

5.3 GSB 16-11-2015 5.3 GSB 16-11-2015 Table 3: Other modules

Module Contact Person Title ECTS Code

[email protected] BI504 Advanced Cell Biology 5

[email protected] ZO509 Biometry – Statistics for Biologists 5

[email protected] MI504 Advanced Topics in microbiology 5

[email protected] EOS6100 Balancing the hydrological equation 5

Advanced topics in earth and ocean [email protected] EOS5101 5 sciences

Data analysis for genomics [email protected] MA570 5 technologies

[email protected] MD536 Advanced and applied immunology 5

5.3 GSB 16-11-2015