The Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York have, through the White Rose University Consortium (WRUC), extensive experience of delivering collaborative post-graduate research training.
The DTP Management Board has overall responsibility for the effective governance of the Training Partnership and its funding from BBSRC. The current Management Board is comprised of:
- Prof Alan Berry (Chair, Leeds Lead Academic)
- Prof Brendan Davies (Leeds Senior Academic)
- Prof Sheena Radford (Leeds Senior Academic)
- Prof Andrew Fleming (Sheffield Senior Academic)
- Prof Stuart Wilson (Sheffield Senior Academic)
- Dr Betsy Powell (York Senior Academic)
- Dr Gavin Thomas (York Senior Academic)
- Dr Craig Walker (Director, WRUC)
- Molly Patterson, Emily Byrd and Roz Latham (Student Reps – Leeds)
- Alex Scott and Evie Farnham (Student Reps – York)
- Amber Shun-Shion and Sarah Gratton (Student Reps – Sheffield)
The Management Board reports on progress to the White Rose University Consortium Executive Board, ensuring that the Partnership has clear visibility to Vice Chancellors and Pro Vice Chancellors.
Our External Advisory Board (EAB) acts as a ‘critical friend’ to the Management Board to provide both national and international perspectives to guide the strategic direction and future plans of the Partnership.
A representative from BBSRC and the members of the EAB attend the winter Management Board meeting and Annual DTP Research Symposium.
Each partner has an effective monitoring system for student progression and reports to the Management Board via the relevant administrative offices, so that financial and strategic consequences can be monitored. All student projects have an academic supervisory team, comprising a principal supervisor and co-supervisors, and also receive input from others (technicians, post-doctoral fellows etc.).
The consortium operates formal progression monitoring, where the student and project are assessed by a committee comprising the supervisory team and independent assessors. Partner mechanisms for monitoring student progression check that the student is well engaged with the project within the first few weeks of arrival, which is followed by an assessment occurring between 9 and 15 months of study associated with transfer to full PhD status. There are regular checks on progress thereafter.