How to be My Student

Here are some guidelines on being supervised by me for either a PhD, MPhil, MSc or UG project. They include some obligations for me and some for you; I will do my bit if you do yours.

• My diary tends to fill up a month in advance. So arrange meetings well in advance; I am not usually able to meet with you at short notice. The best way to contact me is with a short email. If you drop by my office or try to phone me, you are likely to find that either I am not in or I am busy with someone else. The time I take to reply to emails is roughly an exponential function of their length. So several succinct and focussed emails are more successful than a long rambling one.
• I will appoint at least one second supervisor. The role of the second supervisor is to provide you with help with tactical problems, whereas I will maintain a more strategic overview of your progress.
• Sometimes second supervisors are ex-members of the group who are no longer members of the School, for instance, because your project follows on from their own. In this case I will appoint a local second supervisor as well. Non-local second supervisors will not always be able to attend meetings, but should be kept in touch, eg via email. They will help with things such as: getting their old software working/adapted, reading your drafts, recommending papers to read, etc.
• Your supervisors will meet with you for 30 mins at regular intervals. For PhD and MPhil students this is usually every 4 weeks; for MSc and UG students every 2 weeks. Meetings will be more frequent initially and when closer supervision seems desirable. They will also be less frequent if circumstances dictate, eg you are going on holiday. You may also have informal meetings with your second supervisor(s) between the regular meetings, eg if you need urgent advice or help with a technical problem.
• If a meeting has to be postponed then please arrange another meeting as soon as possible, eg via email.
• The student should ensure that all his/her supervisors are aware of the time/date of the next supervision meeting, especially those that were unable to attend the last meeting.
• Sometimes students ask to postpone supervision meetings because they have not done as much work as they anticipated. This is when I most want to meet them! The purpose is to find out why they are behind schedule and to try to put things right before they get too serious.
• You might also be asked to present your work to the research group in either an informal or formal presentation.
• Whenever possible please supply written material for discussion at least one day before the meeting. For instance, this might be a short progress report, a technical note or a draft dissertation chapter. Longer material, eg draft dissertation chapters, should be supplied several days in advance. Material should be supplied to all your supervisors.
• After a supervision meeting, email a summary of the main points, especially any actions, to all your supervisors. I will respond agreeing this is a correct record or noting any omissions or errors.
• Second or subsequent drafts should always have changebars and be accompanied by the annotated copies of the previous draft. This will enable your supervisors to focus their attention on the corrections and additions, thus making the most effective use of their supervisory time.
• Be sure to address all comments made on a draft before submitting the next version for comment. "Addressing" a comment can include explaining why you decided not to implement the change suggested.
• Run all written material through a spelling checker and grammar corrector before submitting it for comments. [Word provides both. The ispell program is available on DICE.] Grammar correction is especially useful for non-native English speakers. This will prevent readers being distracted by minor errors and enable them to focus their attention on the major issues. Write your name and the date on your submissions.
• If they get material in good time your supervisors will attempt to read it before the next supervision meeting.
• Normally your second supervisors will read the first drafts of your dissertation in the order that you write it and I will read the second draft in page order. This avoids unnecessary duplication of effort and ensures that one person reads the whole dissertation fresh in page order. This helps pick up structural problems, eg missing or misordered sections.
• The University provides courses on transferable skills, such as presentations, library use, paper writing, etc. The School provides a course on Informatics research methodologies. The UK funding councils also provide courses on transferable skills. You are strongly encouraged to take these courses. Most students who have taken them report a valuable experience.
• Students doing research degrees should become familiar with the relevent University regulations and the CISA mechanisms for managing the progress of your project. They should also become familiar with the University's Code of Good Practice in Research.
• In principle, students retain any intellectual property rights arising from their projects. In practice, since project proposers, supervisors and students doing previous and subsequent related projects may also have overlapping rights, the IPR situation is a mess. This mess can prevent effective exploitation of the research by any of the parties. You are, therefore, strongly advised to pool your IPR rights with the other parties involved to facilitate joint exploitation and a share of any benefits that is proportional to your contribution. Such pooling is an automatic contractual consequence for University employees. The University's Edinburgh Research & Innovation (ERI) has provided a form to enable students to pool their IPR. You are strongly advised to complete this form and give it to your supervisor in the early stages of your project.
• Don't try to hide problems from your supervisors. They are there to help you. They cannot do this if they are not aware of the problem. They will not be judgemental but will attempt to find solutions to any problems that are preventing good progress.