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To help students monitor their progress during the PhD, the UCL Doctoral School provides a Research Student Log which is a mandatory component of all UCL Research Degree programmes. Students should aim to attend the Doctoral School's course, 'Introduction to Skills Development and the Research Students Log' to familiarise themselves with the software.
- Role of the Research Student Log
The Research Student Log has been prepared to assist you throughout your degree programme at UCL. It provides a framework for recording details related to your graduate research programme, scheduled supervisory meetings and activities concerning the development of academic and key transferable skills. The Research Log is monitored by supervisors and periodically reviewed by the Programme Director during the student's period of study. Completion of the various stages of the Research Student Log is a criteria of the upgrade from MPhil to PhD and the final award of the PhD.
- Supervision
One of your first tasks as a student is to activate your Research Student Log and link your supervisors to your profile. As you complete the various report stages, your supervisors will be sent automatic notifications to sign off your submissions.
You are asked to document formal supervisory meetings in this Log. It is important that the use of the Log should not replace face-to-face meetings. The framework of supervisory meetings included in the Log is in line with the Code of Practice for Graduate Research Degrees. It is a mandatory requirement of students with a Tier 4 visa to have at least 10 formal face-to-face meetings with their supervisor throughout each calendar year. These should be held approximately once per month, documented in the Research Student Log, and electronically signed by the supervisor. Failure to do so could result in the student losing their student visa and being expelled from the UK.
If during a supervisory session you feel some issues cannot be described in the Research Student Log, please feel free to supplement your report submissions with any additional materials letting the tutor know whether you would like these additional materials to be treated confidentially or not.
- Logging Transferable Skills - "Robert's Points"
The Doctoral School's skills-based courses are linked up with the Research Log and as you register for these courses Robert's points will automatically be added to your log. 20 points are required for upgrading from MPhil to PhD status.
- Logging PhD courses and Skills-Based Activities
The Discussion Group and Workshop, Special Research Courses, and Research Methodology Courses are not linked directly to the Research Student Log. Students will need to note their attendance in the periodic report submissions and if they complete a presentation in a seminar this should be logged manually under the Skills Training section. If students engage in other skills-based activities such as presenting a paper or poster at a conference, publishing a paper, taking specialised training for their research project, studying a language, learning archival skills, teaching undergraduate/postgraduate students, etc, these should also be manually added.
Useful Information
Research Log FAQ
Research Log Support