PhD & Doctoral opportunities at King’s
A research-rich university l King’s College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (2010 QS international world rankings), Sunday Times ‘University of the Year 2010-11’ and the fourth oldest university in England. A research-intensive university based in the heart of London, it has produced ten Nobel Prize Winners. King’s has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cuttingedge research. In the last Government assessment of research excellence in British universities, 23 departments were ranked in the top quartile of all UK universities and over half of our academic staff work in departments that are in the top 10 per cent in the UK in their field and can thus be classed as world-leading. The
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College is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income from research of £135 million. Academics at King’s are continually researching new ideas and publishing their findings. Taking only those publications that have appeared in the Web of Science since 2005, King’s academics have published – 14,634 journal articles, 1,831 reviews, and 1,364 conference papers. King’s hosts six Medical Research Council Centres in the UK, a quarter of all such centres in the country. As a research student you would therefore experience connections with world-leading researchers and research projects adding stimulation to your academic development.
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Supporting your research Research facilities Libraries
King’s library service aims to deliver the service to where students like to work, be it in libraries (information service centres) in close proximity to Guy’s, King’s College, St Thomas’ and Maudsley Hospitals or in a quiet dedicated research area in the beautiful listed building, the Maughan Library, which serves the Strand academic schools. With an investment in 2010-11 of over £3.2 million in library materials, there is also a drive to deliver an increasing quantity of journal and database content to the desktop whether it is at home or at King’s. Cumulatively the library service holds some two million hard copy books, 280,000 ebooks and some
24,500 journal titles. Libraries provide a range of working environments including suitably equipped spaces for group work, and 24/7 rooms for online working offering access to regularly updated software tools as well as more traditional library work spaces. Training on software relevant to doctoral work is routinely provided and Information Specialists are available on campus to provide help and information in relation to specific disciplines. Kings’ students also have access to the University of London Library at Senate House which is particularly useful for Humanities and Social Science research. Unique library resources
King’s treasury of five million archival items and nearly 300, 000 special collection books is of demonstrable international significance both as a scholarly resource and as part of our cultural heritage. Readily available in discreet modern reading rooms, use is supported by professional archivists and rare book librarians who will advise on materials available for specific research and provide methodological guidance. Holdings range from the historical library of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, 60,000 volumes covering five centuries of the UK’s interactions with the world – discovery, trade, colonisation, slavery, wars, peace and commonwealth – through to the largest archives in London reflecting the practice of medicine, psychiatry and healthcare, and the individual lives of Londoners over several centuries. Other riches include scientific discoveries and firsts – Maxwell, Wheatstone, Appleton, Franklin and Wilkins’s work are all represented, as are research interests in the history of war and international politics (the
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Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives), modern poetry including an unmatched collection of recordings of concrete poets and the history, culture and politics of modern Greece and Portugal. Scientific facilities
King’s offers a range of core research facilities which provide access to essential technology and equipment to facilitate and enhance the research conducted by King’s scientists. These include the Biological Services Unit, the Centre for Ultrastructural Imaging, the Imaging Scanning Facility and an MRI Scanner. There are also smaller facilities including the Genomics facility, the Mass Spectrometry facility, Proteomics, Genome manipulation facility, NMR facility, Optical Spectroscopy facility, Protein production, X-ray crystallography, Biacore facility, Cell Sorting facility, intravital microscope and the Infectious Diseases Biobank. Graduate School 3
Supervision Supervision is key to completing a successful PhD. The Graduate School each year awards Supervisory Excellence Awards to outstanding supervisors who have been nominated by their students. Student nominations include:
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l X has been an outstanding supervisor at every stage of the process, encouraging, enthusiastic and always willing to help and offer guidance when required. What really sets her apart, however, has been the attention she has paid to the professional development of myself and the other doctorate students. She set up a research group as a discussion forum for us and introduced us to senior specialists in the field. She has also helped us give papers at conferences, get articles published, and has written multiple references for job applications. The care and attention she has shown, much of it in her free time, has been exemplary and deserves recognition.
l Professor X deserves recognition for his extraordinary efforts on behalf of his supervisees. He has gone out of his way time and again to help me with my doctoral research (offering ideas, guidance and criticism), and has also facilitated my professional development by granting me teaching opportunities within the department and helping set up external speaking engagements. He has also gone to great lengths to build a sense of community in the department (by organizing talks, seminars and other events to bring us together as a group), and has made it an increasingly welcoming and encouraging environment for all its members.
l I strongly support the nomination of Professor X for the Supervisory Excellence Awards. He deserves such a distinction for the outstanding support and high level expertise he provides in our research activity. He supervises a group of students and researchers who carry out high quality research and he is able to provide valuable support in any project thanks to his deep knowledge and wide experience. He constantly encourages his students and collaborators to produce top quality work and this always results in top grades for the students’ degrees and a huge number of refereed publications in top journals.
l It is with pleasure that I would like to nominate Professor X for this award. Under her expert supervision, my PhD was completed in just over three years and produced significant research outcomes. She gave me exceptional guidance and direction enabling me to develop my knowledge base, research skills and enabling me to explore my own ideas. She has contributed to my professional development by creating opportunities for me to present our work at conferences in the UK, Finland and Canada, and to give seminars in the USA; encouraging the publication of our work (four papers to date and a further two to follow; introducing me to professional contacts.
l It is no exaggeration to say I owe the successful launch of my scientific career to Professor X. Having attended one of his lectures in 2003, I was moved by both his groundbreaking work and his infectious love of his subject, and indeed a broad range of science, to choose him as a PhD supervisor. The years following, both as his student and subsequently his post-doc, have made me heartily glad I did. As well as a constant source of advice and encouragement, he is always keen to ensure the personal as well as professional well-being of those around him, and it is little wonder his group feels like a close family.
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Research training Developing skills King’s provides the necessary skills to complete your doctorate: l
Academic Schools and newly-formed Doctoral Training Centres offer a range of training in research methods, research protocols and the philosophies that underpin research. We are putting in place mechanisms to allow you to access all the College’s research methods training, not just that available in your own School.
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The Graduate School makes available events and courses to help you research and write a better thesis as well as gain other skills.
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Supervisors guide students in the specific skills required to complete their projects.
The Researcher Development Programme
The Graduate School’s Researcher Development Programme (RDP) is designed to improve research skills, deliver a superior PhD and enhance employment prospects. Courses can also assist entry into an academic career. Full details of the RDP can be found at www.kcl. ac.uk/graduate/school/training The programme offers more than 200 opportunities for personal development including courses, e-learning resources, and one-to-one advice sessions.
Completion rates King’s has exceptional completion rates and the progress of students is monitored closely to provide them with regular feedback. 86 per cent of all students and 92 per cent of international PhD students complete PhDs successfully within six years. This puts King’s in the top ten in England. Only six per cent of our PhD students have their theses ‘referred’. 6 Graduate School
Researcher Development Programme courses:
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This has been wonderful. I now have a clear idea of where my weaknesses are and a plan for what I need to do for the next step in my career
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Information presented in this Workshop is so important for everyone that I will tell my friends about this
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Excellent presentation and so useful as I try to think about the next step in my career
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I have learnt so much and heard about so many things that I had no idea about before – how could I have entered the job market without this
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This is by far the ‘most useful two days I have experienced throughout my whole academic life!
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International opportunities l We aim to ensure all our PhD students are well-prepared to work in the increasingly international labour market. This requires students to be aware of cultural differences, be comfortable working outside their home country and be aware of other educational and research cultures. To help provide opportunities to gain these competencies and attitudes, the Graduate School makes available travel grants for research students to spend periods of time working in our one of our key partner universities. Presently these include UCSF and UNC Chapel Hill in the USA, Renmin in China, Hong Kong University, National University of Singapore, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Jawaharlal Nehru University in India. These grants allow students to work with some of the best academics in their field, and gain invaluable international experience. 8 Graduate School
King’s is also establishing a growing range of joint PhDs with our international partner Universities allowing students to spend a period working at King’s and a period working in places such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Stuttgart. Such degrees and joint supervision arrangements allow students to have supervisors from more than one country and research culture, giving them international referees for when they apply for jobs.
International Conference Fund An important part of all research degrees is networking within a research community of academics working in the same field. Presenting a paper at a conference is a good way of achieving this as well as exposing doctoral material to constructive criticism before it is finally submitted for examination. Conferences also allow postgraduates to hear
the star researchers in each field and understand the questions and issues exciting researchers within their various disciplines. For these reasons the Graduate School has established a conference fund which is able to provide partial funding for those presenting papers at conferences. These awards are made in open competition.
Funding for training initiatives Each year the Graduate School invites applications from postgraduates for training activities they would like to participate in but which are not currently provided. Bids are judged in an open competition and the winners are funded. Recent successes have included the International Graduate Legal Research Conference and Stet, a new online research journal for postgraduates working in the field of English.
International Graduate Legal Research Conference It’s hard to believe that the International ‘Graduate Legal Research Conference is going to be five years old in 2011. Over the past half decade it’s developed into the highlight of the year for PhD students in the School of Law – giving us something to look forward to that combines work and play. Ever since the Graduate School helped us launch the event in 2007 it’s helped PhD students to develop important skills – in organising events, presenting research and making connections to further our careers. It’s part of what makes King’s a unique place to study and it’s just one of the ways in which the Graduate School helps us to develop as researchers Marta Iljadica, PhD Candidate, and 2010 Convenor of IGLRC
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Health Schools Research Showcase
Support services
Improving your employment prospects
l Each year, final year postgraduates in every one of the Divisions give presentations on their research to staff and peers. Each Division then awards a prize for the best paper and the winner of this then gets to present their paper to a Conference that brings together staff and students from all the Health Schools plus invited speakers who are leaders in their fields. There is then a further prize for the single best paper at the conference giving the winner a prestigious entry for their cv. The event also incorporates an evening barbeque and a buffet lunch to allow students from different divisions to mix and to talk with the guest speakers.
Writing your thesis
l While research is exciting, many research students undertake their degrees to improve their skills and their employability. They are offered support in achieving this objective – for example – the Graduate School has funds available to research students who wish to spend short periods working on research at one of our international partner universities.
What you can expect from your department/Division Postgraduates spend most of their time working in an academic department or division. Each of these has a lively research culture enriched by research seminars, visiting speakers or journal clubs. A good example is the Guy’s Researchers Society run by researchers at Guy’s Campus which aims to build a closer, more collaborative and engaged community of researchers. Postgraduates are allocated their own workspace and become part of a close community. Some Schools organise postgraduate research conferences to share findings and help students to get to know peers from other departments or divisions.
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Careers Advice King’s is one of the few universities to have a careers advisor who specialises in, and works solely with, postgraduates. They offer a variety of courses, activities and one-to-one sessions to help students with employability and sharpen their chances in job searches.
Modern Language Centre The Graduate School and the Modern Language Centre also offer the opportunity to learn a foreign language while studying for a PhD. This is either through course attendance or new online learning resources which became available for the first time in 2010. As business and academia become increasingly
King’s Learning Institute This offers two programmes for research students in teaching skills. The Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice is a condensed course that provides essential skills. The Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice offers more time for reflection and study and delivers a recognised qualification. These are invaluable for those who aspire to become academics.
King’s Business The Graduate School and King’s Business collaborate in the provision of training in entrepreneurship. It also organises an annual competition for budding entrepreneurs that offers mentoring by successful business people with a prize for the best business proposition and plan. This is particularly valuable for research students who wish to convert their intellectual property into a business opportunity.
Initial destinations of Recent Kings PhD students
University lecturingg 39%
C Clinical 225%
Ministry 2% p public sector administration 99% GO Charity/NGO 4% Media & creative 5%
industry R R&D 8%
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Student’s research will be submitted in the form of a thesis, either of conventional format or incorporating published work. Either way, it is important that the thesis is well-written, well-structured and that the arguments are clear and coherent. The Graduate School currently has two Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellows who offer one-to-one advice to students on how to structure their theses, how to present their arguments convincingly and how to write effectively. The English Language Centre offers specialist support to postgraduates for whom English is not their first language. This takes the form of either intensive pre-sessional language courses, in-sessional courses or oneto-one advice. They also offer advice on academic writing to all research students
transnational, languages are becoming more important to employers.
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Student support at King’s
Addresses
Opportunities to have your say
How to apply
King’s is keen to ensure that postgraduates have an outstanding experience. It monitors feedback from students in the following ways:
There are several different routes to follow depending upon disciplines and whether there is a particular research project in mind. Supervisors of Science & Health projects usually raise funding for particular projects and advertise these with a closing date. To apply for one of these, the relevant School and departmental web pages can be searched to find out which projects are on offer this year and instructions for applying for them. Arts & Social Sciences students can develop their own projects and then search for a potential supervisor. Academics with compatible interests can be identified by searching the staff profiles at www.kcl.ac.uk/ researchprofiles These profiles also give access to the most recent publications for each academic member of staff and the titles of the PhDs they have recently supervised. This allows students to find an academic with similar research interests. By contacting them directly by email (addresses are included in the profiles) students can submit their research proposal and request their comments. Once both agree a project they can then apply through the online application portal naming the supervisor. If students do not have a specific research proposal in mind they can apply through the admissions portal specifying the broad area that interests them. The admissions team will forward their profile to the relevant department.
Arts & Humanities Email: casa_pgr@kcl.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0) 20 7848 2736 Biomedical Sciences Email: pg-healthadmissions@kcl.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0)20 7848 8390 Dental Institute Email: pg-healthadmissions@kcl.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0)20 7848 8252 Institute of Psychiatry Email: pg-healthadmissions@kcl.ac.uk Tel: +44(0)20 7836 5454 Law Email: casa_pgr@kcl.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0) 20 7848 2555 Medicine Email: pg-healthadmissions@kcl.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0)20 7848 8393 Natural & Mathematical Sciences (previously Physical Sciences & Engineering) Email: casa_pgr@kcl.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0) 20 7848 2555 Nursing and Midwifery Email: postgrad-nm@kcl.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0)20 7848 3024/3705/3233 Social Sciences & Public Policy Email: casa_pgr@kcl.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0) 20 7848 7206 Graduate School Email: graduateschool@kcl.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0) 20 7848 3389
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Postgraduates are represented on many of the College’s main decision making bodies and School Postgraduate Committees.
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The College participates in the national Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) run by the Higher Education Academy. In the previous PRES survey, King’s PhD students recorded an overall satisfaction with their experience that was above the national average and also above the average for the Russell group of research intensive universities. Students particularly praised the standards of their supervision and their access to training opportunities.
Funding The Graduate School maintains an online funding database which, taking into consideration nationality and academic interest, allows students to access a list of all the awards they are eligible for. This is regularly updated and contains details of the funders, the size of the award, eligibility criteria and closing dates. This resource can be found at www.kcl.ac.uk/study/pg/funding/ sources/gradsch.aspx
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Graduate School King’s College London Room 5.8 Waterloo Bridge Wing Franklin-Wilkins Building 150 Stamford Street London SE1 9NH Tel: +44 (0)20 7848 3389 email: graduateschool@kcl.ac.uk www.kcl.ac.uk/study/pg/school/GraduateSchool.aspx
Design: Buchanan Davey