Doctoral Academy Guidance

COVID-19 (information valid as of 26 March 2020)

Research students should contact their supervisors for guidance on how to continue their studies
through this difficult time. Keep in regular contact with your supervisor and stay as productive as
you can towards your doctoral research with their ongoing support. If you need to self-isolate, in
accordance with University or Government advice, please do so and let your supervisor know.

Please keep checking the University of Dundee coronavirus web pages and monitor your University
email account regularly. If you have a question that isn’t answered in the FAQs, please email
coronavirus@dundee.ac.uk.

Health and Wellbeing: These are exceptional circumstances, so it is very important to take care of
your general health and wellbeing. Adapting to new work conditions can be challenging, particularly
when also being asked to keep social distancing. Try and think of ways you can still be productive by
taking this opportunity to keep up to date with the literature, draft or edit chapters, or learn a new
skill. Remember that everyone is in a similar situation, with concerns around basic needs and a lack
of control. It’s important to take time for yourself, support others, do things you enjoy, keep safe
and connect with colleagues using Teams or Zoom.

Key Points

You and your supervisor should keep a diary to record any impacts of the COVID-19 situation on
your research and study. These diaries may become useful so that examiners can take account of
time lost, or when future decisions have to be made about timings for academic assessment and
thesis submissions. This should include:

(a) periods of remote working, specifying whether this is doing research, writing up, or taking
research-relevant online training
(b) sickness
(c) supervisory contacts

Ensure that you have access to library resources and data storage remotely for work off campus.

Scheduled vivas will be organised through video-conferencing, with updated rules allowing for each
participant to access from a different site. Please liaise with your supervisors so that suitable
arrangements can be made. Note that it might be necessary to choose a later date to accommodate
the needs of the examiners.

If you are funded externally, refer to your funding body’s webpages for specific guidance on grants,
their expectations and support available. Any terms & conditions of the studentship need to be
considered in consultation with your supervisors. If you are a self-funded research student you may
wish to request a temporary withdrawal in discussion with your supervisor – this should then be
considered by Schools on a case by case basis. It is important to note that temporary withdrawal will
not reduce the overall tuition fee payable although it might delay when students pay. There is a
standard refund policy for students who withdraw part way through the year.
Thesis Submission: Thesis submission continues as an online service and information on depositing
your thesis can be found in the Discovery Research Portal, where there is also a link to the Thesis
Deposit Agreement form used to manage embargoes and deal with copyright issues.
Contact discovery@dundee.ac.uk if you require any further information or assistance.

Inform your School admin team and Registry@dundee.ac.uk if you are unable to make a timely
submission.

Research Ethics: All face-to-face interactions with participants should stop until further notice.
Where possible, researchers should change participant interactions from face-to-face to remote (e.g.
from face-to-face interviews to telephone/audio or video interviews) in discussion with your
supervisor. You should complete a request for amendment form following the instructions outlined
on the UREC COVID-19 webpage.

Tier 4 students - Returning to another country of citizenship and Home Office Rules: If you wish to
return to your country of citizenship, please fill out the Absence Request Form for Tier 4 Students.
Please be advised that the Home Office have updated some of their immigration guidance. Students
on Tier 4 (General) visas must comply with the University’s Attendance monitoring requirements,
and updates as advised by the University’s International Advice Service.

Tier 4 Compliance remains your best first point of contact for all issues around Tier 4 Visas -
tier4compliance@dundee.ac.uk.

Travel: Please be reminded of the University’s guidelines on overseas travel, that all overseas travel
should have been suspended and that travel within the UK is for only when absolutely necessary,
with strict enforcements in place. We would not consider a PhD to constitute essential travel. As of
the 23rd of March, the announcements from the UK and Scottish Governments state that the only
reasons you should now leave your home are as follows:
• Shopping for basic necessities, as infrequently as possible
• One form of exercise a day - for example a run, walk, or cycle - alone or with members of
your household
• Any medical need, to provide care, or to help a vulnerable person
• Travelling to and from work, but only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done
from home

We urge you to follow these direct instructions as the UK tries to prevent the further spread of
coronavirus. If you are based overseas please follow the advice of authorities given nationally,
regionally and locally. If you are affiliated with a local University, please follow their advice. If you
have any concerns or questions, please contact your supervisor in the first instance, or your School
PGR admin support or the Doctoral Academy.

Arrangements in Schools: Further detailed and discipline-specific advice is available from your
School. Arrangements may vary slightly from the guidance given above to address specific
circumstances. If you have any questions or concerns please raise them with your PGR Lead or the
Doctoral Academy.
Information and who to contact:

Please contact your supervisor for matters relating to your research project. For issues regarding
your wider postgraduate programme, please get in touch with your School administration contact as
listed below.

School PGR Lead PGR Admin Support

Art & Design Anna Notaro / Mary Modeen
a.z.notaro@dundee.ac.uk
m.modeen@dundee.ac.uk
Business Theresa Dunne
T.M.Dunne@dundee.ac.uk
Fiona Fyffe Lawson
f.j.fyffelawson@dundee.ac.uk
Karen Wadey k.wadey@dundee.ac.uk
Linn McFarlane / Donna Milne
phd-business@dundee.ac.uk

Dentistry Sarah Jones Jill Sutherland

s.j.jones@dundee.ac.uk j.sutherland@dundee.ac.uk

Education & Mark Smith
Social Work m.z.v.smith@dundee.ac.uk
Liz Lakin – Convenor for the Research
Postgraduate Programme
e.lakin@dundee.ac.uk
Kelly Urquhart
k.m.urquhart@dundee.ac.uk
Darienne Tosh - School Executive
Assistant
esw-research@dundee.ac.uk
Eilidh Reilly - International Admin Lead
e.z.reilly@dundee.ac.uk

Humanities Brian Hoyle Jenny Gorrod

B.P.Hoyle@dundee.ac.uk J.M.Gorrod@dundee.ac.uk

Life Sciences Carol MacKintosh Nikki Wilson / Gail Guild / Lesley Coats
c.mackintosh@dundee.ac.uk SLS-PhDAdmin@dundee.ac.uk

Medicine Graham Rena Morag Forbes / Lynne Ross / Roz Taylor

g.rena@dundee.ac.uk medicine-pgr@dundee.ac.uk

Frances Fuller-Pace – PGR Interim

Deputy
f.v.fullerpace@dundee.ac.uk
Nursing & Anna Gavine Lisa Price
Health Sciences a.gavine@dundee.ac.uk Nursing-Health-
Higherdegrees@dundee.ac.uk
Science & Keith Wilcox Keyleigh Donaldson
Engineering k.g.wilcox@dundee.ac.uk k.v.donaldson@dundee.ac.uk

Social Sciences Sophie Rigney Vikki Watson

s.rigney@dundee.ac.uk phd-socialsciences@dundee.ac.uk

Professional Linda McSwiggan Darienne Tosh

Doctorates professionaldoctorate@dundee.ac.uk professionaldoctorate@dundee.ac.uk
If you have any difficulty contacting your supervisor or the key contacts listed in the table above
then please contact staff in the Doctoral Academy at doctoralacademy@dundee.ac.uk and we will
aim to respond to your email within 2 business days.

For the latest health advice regarding coronavirus https://www.nhsinform.scot/coronavirus

(COVID-19):
Latest information and guidance from the university: https://www.dundee.ac.uk/coronavirus

For any questions that aren’t answered in the FAQs Coronavirus@dundee.ac.uk

please email:

Online support:

There are a wide range of online resources that you may also find useful at this time:

Working or https://spark.adobe.com/page/1ZCf7dSs0seFZ/
Studying Online:

Teaching Online: https://spark.adobe.com/page/QnV6gbrUGP7jx/

eLearning Support https://www.dundee.ac.uk/guides/support-online-teaching-delivery

and guidance on https://my.dundee.ac.uk/ultra/organizations/_65941_1/outline
MyDundee: https://learningspaces.dundee.ac.uk/ctil/guides/

General Library Library Chat (on www.dundee.ac.uk/library ) or

Queries: llc-digitalskills@dundee.ac.uk for academic library support including online
literature searches

Online Scholarly https://libguides.dundee.ac.uk/covid/needtoknow

Resources:

Feedback on writing or to book an online appointment, email: writing@dundee.ac.uk

Researcher Development Online Opportunities

Resilience in Research

The Wellbeing Thesis: https://thewellbeingthesis.org.uk

North East PostGraduate Slack channel - for all doctoral researchers: https://bit.ly/2Ufh9rA

LinkedIn Learning: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/login-ent?u=43337284

Global support for the professional development of researchers - Vitae: https://www.vitae.ac.uk/