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The degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is the University's principal research degree. A PhD in Plant Sciences takes three or four years of full-time study to complete and consists of research and courses as required under academic supervision.

Students are not registered for a degree in their first year and may either submit for an MPhil or continue to PhD study. Entry to the PhD programme is subject to satisfactory progress and passing a first year viva voce examination based on a written report. All graduate students attend induction and safety training courses in the department. As well as undertaking your research, you will attend courses and lectures on some of the following: instrumentation, sequencing and database use, statistics, experimental design, analysing data, writing reports and a dissertation, introduction to MIMAS (a national data centre run by the University of Manchester), and how to give effective scientific presentations. Termly reports are provided on your work.

The Department has the overriding aim to provide all its Graduate Students with every opportunity for a broad education and a compatible environment in which they may complete a PhD or MPhil successfully. The Department will aim to provide guidance and, where appropriate, the facilities to allow Graduate Students to develop a number of different skills including:

Research methodologies and the process of research including quantitative and qualitative methods and data analysis; project planning and management
The effective use of learning resources including library and information technology
Personal skills including oral and written communication, time management and team work skills, professional development and the preparation of curriculum vitae and employment applications
A broad knowledge of the discipline in which the Student is working
Technical training to enable the Student to undertake their research work effectively and efficiently
Teaching experience by bringing to the notice of the Student the opportunities within the Department for supervising and/or demonstrating to Undergraduates
Professional presentations


One to one supervision	Expect regular uninterrupted discussion sessions, ideally at least once a month for laboratory based Students, and once every three months for field based Students, to consider any immediate matters about the research programme.
Seminars & classes	Graduate Students are asked to attend all the lectures in the Plant Sciences Seminars series. Other sessions can be attended as needed, decided by discussion with supervisors.
Lectures	Lectures can be attended as needed, decided by discussion with supervisors.
Small group teaching	As decided by discussion with supervisors
Journal clubs	As decided by discussion with supervisors
Literature_reviews	Once students have arrived in the Department and begun to settle into their Research Groups one of the first activities they must undertake is the preparation of their Project Proposal. The purpose of this Project Proposal is to accustom students to academic writing, and to provide an important opportunity to clarify their research project and the techniques to be used. This is followed seven months later by a First Year Report. This is the Department’s formal means of assessing student's progress and deciding whether they should carry on for a PhD degree. It is an opportunity for an extended piece of writing and a discussion about, and a defence of, their work to date and their plans for the future.
Posters	All graduate students are asked to give a talk in their first and third year. This First Year Seminar is a good opportunity for students to present an outline of their research project. They should have a firm summary of their research programme with an emphasis on the background to their project and details of the techniques they intend using in their research. The Third Year Seminar is an important opportunity for students to defend their work in a professional context and to demonstrate their presentation skills All Third Years are also asked to give a poster presentation. This is one of the standard ways of communicating scientific information in a public forum. Here students are given the opportunity to inform the whole Department (or delegates at a conference) about their work to date.. The poster session enables students to explain their research in person and to receive useful comments and suggestions. It also allows them to demonstrate their presentation and poster preparation skills.

Placements

The Department has a number of industrial relationships in place, including Bayer and Microsoft. Placements will be dependent on the supervisor and project.

Feedback

After the end of each term, the Graduate Education Committee will ask for a brief report on a students progress from their Supervisor. This information will be made available to them and they will be invited to respond to comments made in a termly self-assessment. This will allow students to review their own progress and to highlight any difficulties they feel they are facing.

Assessment

Thesis

A thesis is the significant part of the means by which students are assessed for their degree. 48 months after the start of a student's PhD programme they will be expected to have completed and submitted a thesis ca. 60,000 words.

Once a student's thesis is submitted two Examiners will read the dissertation and each will write a separate report. They will then arrange to give students a viva voce in which they will closely question them about any and all aspects of their work. They will write a joint report on the viva. The viva is an opportunity for the Examiners to make sure students fully understand their work and for them to explain, if necessary, any of the more abstruse aspects of their experimental findings.

Essays

Once students have arrived in the Department and begun to settle into their Research Groups one of the first activities they must undertake is the preparation of their Project Proposal. The purpose of this Project Proposal is to accustom students to academic writing, and to provide an important opportunity to clarify their research project and the techniques to be used.

Written examination

Nine months into the PhD students are asked to submit a First Year Report. This is the Department’s formal means of assessing student's progress and deciding whether they should carry on for a PhD degree. It is an opportunity for an extended piece of writing and a discussion about, and a defence of, their work to date and their plans for the future.

Magistr (Master's Degree) at Pass level. Diploma Specialista (completed post-1991) with a minimum overall grade of good or 4/5 Bachelor's from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and other prestigious institutions with an overall grade of 4/5 Bologna Bachelor's from other institutions with an overall grade of 5/5, Excellent
Diploma Specialista (completed post-1991) with a minimum overall grade of Excellent or 5/5 Bachelor's from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and other prestigious institutions with an overall grade of 5/5
IELTS (Academic) 7.0
TOEFL Internet Score 100
£50 application fee
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