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Teaching
Taught material
This will comprise a mixture of transferable skills training and course-specific teaching. Transferable skills training (~30 hours) will be based on modules offered by the Postgraduate Researcher Development Programme and the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics initiative from the Cambridge Centre for Data-Driven Discovery. Course-specific teaching includes approximately 60 hours of lectures and tutorials covering fundamental theory, state- of-the-art hot topics, and technical seminars, together with a selection of guest lectures.
Teaching will be delivered primarily by the course team comprising university teaching officers (UTO), research fellows, early career researchers (ECR) and senior technical staff, supported by post-docs and PhD students who have an interest in developing their teaching skills. Lectures and general skills training will be front-loaded into the first 4 weeks of the first term (Michaelmas) before the students start their research projects, with the remaining material delivered as a series of weekly lectures and seminars over the rest of the year.
| One to one supervision | Students will meet termly with the Course Director and/or co-Director(s) to give feedback on their progress and the course. They can also expect to receive termly formal feedback reports via the online Postgraduate Feedback and Reporting System. Ongoing supervision will be provided during the research project by the project Supervisor. For new supervisors, a more senior Supervisor will act as a mentor to the new Supervisor. The University of Cambridge publishes an annual Code of Practice which sets out the University's expectations regarding supervision. |
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| Seminars & classes | Course-specific teaching includes approximately 60 hours of lectures and tutorials covering fundamental theory, state-of-the-art hot topics, and technical seminars, together with a selection of guest lectures. In addition to the above mandatory teaching and training provisions, students will be encouraged to attend relevant seminars within the department, School, and wider University. |
| Lectures | Average of 1-2 hours per week. |
| Practicals | Lab-based project over approximately six months. |
| Journal clubs | This varies according to the research group that the student has chosen. |
| Posters and Presentations | A poster on the research project will be prepared and recorded as a short video (of prescribed duration). The poster presentation aims to give students an opportunity to learn this skill, which is the most common form of student data presentation at scientific meetings. Preparing a video of the poster will ensure that all students have an equal length of time to present the poster to the examiners. Posters will also be presented at an informal event, where students will have the opportunity to discuss their work with their peer group. |
| Taught/Research Balance | Predominantly Taught |
Feedback
With the exception of bioinformatics, feedback will be provided for each assessed element of the course along with the project plan.
Assessment
Thesis / Dissertation
This course will be partly assessed on a dissertation based on the research project, not exceeding 10,000 words in length.
Essays
The taught material will be assessed via a biostatistics written test towards the end of the first term and a written essay question set in the lent term based on lecture material.
Other
An oral presentation based on a topic of the student's choice distinct from the Research Project, e.g., a laboratory/analytical method, a public engagement activity, a separate piece of research work or a mini-grant proposal, will be assessed by the academic leadership team.