Sunderland is a new member of the New Route PhD Consortium - a group of 33 top UK Universities offering high quality PhD programmes. All of our New Route PhD Programmes have a common professional skills component which is made up of a specific postgraduate module on research, ethical, legal and professional issues as well as both the University's Graduate Research school generic programme and the School’s training programme which provides more subject specific training.

	Intelligent Systems	Electronic Commerce	Software Engineering
Professional Skills	Professional Skills Module University & School Training Programme	Professional Skills Module University & School Training Programme	Professional Skills Module University & School Training Programme
Taught Component	Cognitive Neural Science Knowledge Based Systems & Data Mining Natural Language Processing Neural Networks Evolutionary Computation Intelligent Systems Architectures & Programming Learning Agents Vision & Intelligent Robots	Database Systems Engineering Dynamic Web Engineering E-Technologies for Information Management Information System Security Engineering Web Interaction Design	Advanced OO Development Software Measurement & Applications DB Systems Engineering Concurrent & Distributed Software Systems Engineering Dynamic Web Based Systems Software Engineering Evolution & Management Network Systems Security
Research Component	Supervision, Annual Review, CPD Dissertation/Thesis	Supervision, Annual Review, CPD Dissertation/Thesis	Supervision, Annual Review, CPD Dissertation/Thesis

 

Apart from induction there are courses in the definition of a research programme, qualitative and quantitative techniques, writing, publishing, teaching, presenting and the viva examination.

The taught component is made up of taught postgraduate modules which differ according to the New Route PhD on which the student enrolls. A list which indicates module contents are given above. Other than a core module in the first year of each programme, students may freely choose up to 2 modules each year, depending on their background and proposed research

The research component is that of a traditional UK Phd and is based on an area of work which is defined at application. Within 4 months of arrival students are encouraged to work up a detailed plan for their research in collaboration with their supervisory team. This programme of work is approved by the University's research committee and progress is reviewed each year at annual progress reviews. At annual review the student is required to provide a word progress report (including a review of their professional development), give a 20 minute oral presentation on their work and defend it in 20 minutes of subsequent questioning.

There is an established system of support outside the supervisory team consisting of postgraduate tutors and a research student manager who field problems as they arise. Each student is linked to a research group which provides not only a sense of community but also a focus for seminars, conferences and personal, professional development work. Students are provided with a desk in a room, PC (connected to the internet) and access to a phone. The University has an extensive campus network and there is good access to the university's library as well as to other libraries in the area and via inter-library loans.

The registration period for a New Route PhD is from 4 years and it is expected that students be on site for a normal working day equivalent to 35 hours per week. Students are expected to meet weekly with their supervisors for one hour. Fees are £3085 for UK/EU nationals and £8900 for nationals of non EU countries. Students may choose to exit the New Route PhD at various stages to gain either a postgraduate certificate, postgraduate diploma, MRes or PhD.

[Home] [Before Research] [During Research] [After Research] [Help!] [Research Links] [Staff Resouces] [New Route PhD] [Rooming]