Student Responsibilities

The bulk of the scientific research project, in fulfilment of the requirements for a Ph.D. with the Open University, consists of experimental laboratory investigation, in addition to any specific training needs, and submission and oral defence of a written thesis.

The student must keep an organized, accurate and up to date record of their experimental procedures and results, conforming to the Stowers Institute’s policy on Recording of Laboratory Data, Policy Number 606.

Full time students must complete their program of study in a minimum of two and maximum of four years.

The student will meet regularly with the research supervisor(s) to discuss research progress and plans.

These meetings will be documented and meeting notes should be kept by the student. Copies of these records should also be given to the supervisor(s).  This information should include meeting date, participants, achievements and goals/plan of action.

The student must actively participate in the training program of the Stowers Institute, which includes an ethics course, verbal and written skills required for scientists, safety training, animal care and use training (if appropriate), human subjects protection training (if appropriate), as well as any courses and workshops that are recommended by the supervisors and/or the Student Advisory Committee.

The student must participate in the continuing skills audit, training and development program. Coursework related to the student’s research project may be recommended by the Student Advisory Committee.

The student must present annually at the Friday Science Club (FSC) or a similar venue(ie. Young Investigator Day or a Super Group presentation, that the student’s advisory committee members are invited to attend).  Invite supervisors to a practice session. Notify committee members when you will be presenting internally or locally. The first presentation should be before the end of the 10th month of registration, before the probationary review is completed.

The student is required to give the RDC in the ARC at least three months notice of her/his intention to submit a thesis.  Notification should include confirmation of the thesis title and a proposed date for submission.

Biannual meetings with their Student Advisory Committee will be arranged by the RDC administration. The student must prepare a summary of the progress and proposed future goals, send that to the committee members for their review and approval, and submit the final approved version to the RDC office within two weeks of each meeting.

Successfully complete the Student portion of the Probationary assessment and report as outlined in the OU guidance documents.  Nearing the end of the 1st year, as a part of the probationary review process, the student must undergo a mini-viva – an independent oral examination on the project report.  It must be conducted by at least two experienced academic researchers who are not the student’s supervisors. The probationary review is due to the Open University before the 1st day of the 11th month of registration. 

Fulfil the annual report requirements as outlined in the Open University Guidance ARC4G. Following the probationary report and assessment, subsequent annual reports which cover the reporting period of 1January to 31 December are required. Personalised versions of the progress monitoring report forms will be provided to students via their student home web page. The RDC Administrator Office will send timely reminders and the internal deadline for the Student and Supervisor completed forms will be Feb 1^st.  The final documents require a section to be completed by the RDC and submission to the Open University by March 1^st each year.

In all OU student co-authored publications, the fact that the student is enrolled in our Open University program must be acknowledged either in the author address, as a footnote or in the acknowledgment section of the paper. An acknowledgement statement could look something like this: "This work was done to fulfill, in part, requirements for XXX's PhD thesis research as a student registered with the Open University."

All students must format the PhD dissertation according to the Open University recommendations.  MS Word Templates and recommended Endnote reference formatting styles are also available from the RDC administrative office.