Annual review for PGR students

Annual Review assessment for MPhil, PhD and MD Postgraduate Research Students

The purpose of the Annual Review is to provide an opportunity for independent formal monitoring and to review your progress.

Jump to the forms

All postgraduate research students must have a review in every year that they are registered. The only students who are exempt from completing a review are those that have already submitted their thesis for examination or are on an approved period of interruption. If you are on an approved period of interruption, you will be expected to complete an Annual Review on your return to study. The date of this will be confirmed by the Research Section.

You and your supervisory team will be sent a formal notification from the generic email annualreview@port.ac.uk around 3 months before the documentation/evidence submission deadline.

• Postgraduate research students registered in October must submit documentation by 30 September
• Postgraduate research students registered in February must submit documentation by 31 January
• Postgraduate research students registered in April must submit documentation by 31 March

If, exceptionally, a non-standard start date has been approved by the Academic Registrar, an alternative deadline for submission may be applicable and will be confirmed by the Research Section.

Please see the Flowchart for Annual Review for an overview of the process.

Annual Review Meeting

Annual Reviews will be undertaken by a panel of at least two members of academic staff, one of whom will be independent of the supervisory team. Once the documentation/evidence has been submitted to annualreview@port.ac.uk it will be sent to the approved panel before the Annual Review Meeting takes place.

At the review meeting, the panel can decide that:

• you can progress;
• you can progress with recommendations;
• or the panel may decide that at this time there is insufficient evidence and a Final Review Meeting is required.

Annual Review Documentation/Evidence

The minimum evidence expected to be submitted to annualreview@port.ac.uk by each postgraduate research student is the completed UPR8A form, a copy of your Development Summary printout from Skills Forge (or details provided within the presentation slides) and either your presentation slides or an electronic copy of your poster (depending on your Faculty/department).

Alongside this the First Supervisor will liaise with the supervisory team to complete and submit to annualreview@port.ac.uk a completed UPR8B form.

Both these are completed independently by you (UPR8A) and your First Supervisor/Supervisory team (UPR8B).

Depending on your Faculty/Department, other evidence may be required for consideration such as:

• a presentation;
• draft sections of the thesis;
• a thesis outline or publications.

Arrangements for the Annual Review are agreed by the relevant Faculty Research Degrees Committee (FRDC). Please see the Faculty/Department Annual Review Arrangements below for further details regarding the evidence required.

If you are unsure about the arrangements required please speak to your First Supervisor, a member of your supervisory team or your Departmental Research Degree Coordinator. Alternatively, please email annualreview@port.ac.uk.

The UPR11 Decision Form

The UPR11 - Annual Review Decision Form will be sent to the reviewers from annualreview@port.ac.uk along with a complete set of documents once the student and supervisory team have submitted. The UPR11 should be signed by all reviewers and returned to annualreview@port.ac.uk shortly after the review.