Policy for PhD students

Postgraduate education is an important component of the activities of Rothamsted Research in pursuit of its mission. Postgraduate students provide an important channel for interactions with academic and end-user communities. We also consider that Rothamsted Research is in an ideal, perhaps unique, position in the UK in being able to provide high quality postgraduate education at the interface between agriculture and more basic aspects of plant science, plant pathology, chemistry, biochemistry, ecology and soil science. The institute has approximately 50 PhD students funded from a number of sources and linked to such Universities as London, Nottingham and Reading.

Research Environment

Rothamsted Research is the major UK Research Institute focusing on science underpinning the production, protection and improvement of UK arable crops (cereals, oilseeds, sugar beet, and biomass species) and interactions with the environment, including studies of relevant model systems (eg Arabidopsis , yeast).
RRes funding for research comes from BBSRC, Defra, the EU and industry. In addition, work supported by DFID, Rothamsted International and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation is focused on a range of problems relevant to crops in the developing world, and particularly the sustainable development of farming systems.
The range of scientific disciplines includes biomathematics and modelling; plant and invertebrate ecology; plant physiology, biochemistry and molecular biology; soil, biology, chemistry and physics; field and molecular plant pathology and agronomy. The scientific staff is about 350, including 50 Principal Investigators.
The responsibility for the co-ordination and management of all aspects of postgraduate education resides with the Postgraduate Education Committee (PGEC) and its sub-committees (the Postgraduate Training Committee and the Postgraduate Supervision Committee).
The Institute has an active scientific life at the research group, Department, Centre and Institute levels.
Regular Station Seminars (10 per year) mix eminent speakers from outside the Institute with senior Rothamsted staff. In addition, Departments have regular seminar series.
A number of other groups meet regularly and students are encouraged to participate: these include the Quantitative Biology Forum, the Chemical and Behavioural Ecology Group, the Population Biology Group and the Chemistry Group (all monthly).

Registering for a PhD

Rothamsted Research is not a University and has no charter to award degrees. Each PhD is conducted in partnership with a University, where the student registers for an MPhil in the first instance, transferring to a PhD after successful completion of the first year. University supervisors are selected based on their relevance to and interest in the PhD project, often based on established scientific collaborations. The choice of academic supervisior dictates the choice of the University of registration.

Student Supervision

Each postgraduate has a supervisory team, which includes the University supervisor and a supervisor at Rothamsted.  Their RRes supervisor will provide scientific guidance and general support throughout their PhD programme, with the support of colleagues who are often able to add specific expertise.
Staff and students work in teams which are often multidisciplinary and usually comprise a number of postdoctoral workers in addition to students and visiting scientists.
Many senior staff work in the laboratory and students are therefore supervised directly on a day to day basis. When supervisors cannot be present in the laboratory, practical day to day supervision is provided by designated co-supervisors and senior postdocs.
Because many projects span the formal research Departments many students are able to receive expert tuition and supervision in a wide range of techniques as well as practical advice on statistics and bioinformatics to enable them to optimise experimental design and maximise the information obtained.

Training and monitoring

We provide PhD students with a structured training programme, which, in the long term, will enhance their career prospects when leaving Rothamsted Research, make them more competitive in the workplace and give them a clear understanding of the role of a Research Scientist.
A monitoring scheme ensures that each student is making satisfactory progress, is receiving adequate supervision and is completing all mandatory parts of the training programme. Our aim is that the student:

• becomes knowledgeable in a chosen scientific field to a standard expected of a scientist of potential international standing
• generates novel research findings suitable for publication in internationally refereed journals
• develops expertise in modern technical methods and experimental planning, numeracy
• develops statistical, communication and organisational skills and information technology
• achieves the self-reliance and adaptability needed to succeed in post qualification employment and acquires the inter-personal skills that promote effective interaction with peers, established scientists and support staff.

Student life at Rothamsted

Rothamsted Research endeavours to assist students in finding accommodation for their first year
There is an excellent social life for or students at Rothamsted through the SSC Sports and Social Club that runs the Pavilion and Bar. The Sports and Social Club also oversees a substantial number of affiliated clubs including tennis and other sports.
Regular inter-Departmental sports events are held during summer evenings while many staff and students make use of the sports facilities at lunchtimes, evenings and weekends. Have a look at the ‘Life as a Postgraduate’ page for comments from some of our students.

Student Welfare

All students are allocated a mentor (usually an experienced member of the scientific staff) who will meet regularly with them to ensure that they settle in well and that they do not develop any problems relating to supervision, other aspects of their life and activities in the Institute.

Equal opportunities

Selection as a PhD student plus training and development opportunities will be made on the basis of their academic records, references from their Universities, their performance during any visit and the availability of funding. There will be equal opportunity for every individual, irrespective of gender, marital status, sexual orientation, race, religion, disability, ethnicity, nationality or finally whether in full or part time employment. Availability of funding is subject to the funding body's terms of the grant (some grants are limited to particular groups)