PGR town halls: Your questions answered
6 March 2025
Read a message from your Pro Vice-Chancellors and Dean for Postgraduate Research Students, sent on 6 March.
As this is a copy of an email sent to students, the links within are on the student intranet and require logging in to access.
Dear Postgraduate Researcher,
It was good to see many of you at the PGR town hall events in February and to have the chance to discuss the Our Academic Future proposals together. For anyone who was unable attend, you can watch the recordings here:
- College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
- College of Biomedical and Life Sciences
- College of Physical Sciences and Engineering
We made a note of all the questions you asked and are committed to answering as many as possible. In this email we have included answers to some of the most common questions asked by our postgraduate community.
Your questions answered
Can you guarantee I will be able to complete my PhD in the event of losing supervisors? (and where can I find details of this in the proposal documents?)
We are committed to supporting you to complete your PhD. If there are changes to your supervisor or supervisory team, we will work with you to find a solution based on your individual needs, project and specialism. All options will be considered to minimise disruption. It is not unlike managing changes due to sickness or parental leave, for example.
The range of options explored would include looking for alternative supervision within the university (considering methodology and subject expertise), bringing in external support or supporting a student to move to another institution if they felt this was the best option for them.
Are PGRs factored in when calculating staff student ratios (SSR)?
In any plan to change the shape of the university, supervisory cover for PGRs is a key consideration. There are ways of maintaining supervisory support for postgraduate researchers, even if staff numbers decrease. For example, not all supervisors have the maximum number of students and part of the reason for suggesting these changes are made over the next three to four years is to allow us to teach out degrees and ensure that those staff are available as teachers but also as supervisors.
Is our funding, even if we are externally funded, under threat?
Funding is allocated for you, the Postgraduate Research Student. If there are any changes to your supervisory team, funding should not be impacted as it is allocated for the student.
How are you looking after our wellbeing?
It was noted at town hall events that continuous cuts being made to budgets over the last few years have impacted on student and staff wellbeing. We acknowledge it can be difficult to look after your wellbeing in this context. Although these proposals may have been challenging to consider, hopefully you can see how important it is that we look for options to establish financial sustainability for the university. We also acknowledge the need to ensure staff are supported as they adjust.
Your mental health and wellbeing remain our priority. If you need support, please reach out via Student Connect, either online, by phone or in-person at the Centre for Student Life. The Student Advice Centre at the Students’ Union can also offer independent advice and support.
In collaboration with six other Welsh universities, we have also developed Researcher Wellbeing Cymru (RWC), a new open-access digital platform designed by and dedicated to supporting postgraduate research students. RWC offers a rich toolkit of over 130 tailored online resources, including:
- practical advice on working with supervisors, managing time and staying motivated, inspiring student stories, useful tips, and immersive ‘day in the life’ videos,
- a resident blog that brings the postgraduate research journey to life.
Students can also benefit from access to community groups and regular virtual events, such as "sit down and write" sessions.
The combining of some schools may be a good idea but does raise some worries. How will school management and the roles within schools change?
This depends on how the proposals change in response to the consultation. No final decisions will be made until the end of the consultation.
The Our Academic Future proposals focusses on our academic offering. There are plans being developed to consider what school support structures will look like and you will have the opportunity to input before anything is agreed.
When will more be known about possible redundancies?
This depends on the final outcome of the proposals. No decisions will be made until the end of the consultation and from this point we will then undertake any planning that is required, engaging as necessary with staff and students.
Within the current proposals, PGRs on graduate and tutor demonstrator contracts are not in scope. These roles are not open to be made redundant. We are working with HR and individual postgraduate researchers on other types of contract.
As well as these, we continue to answer other questions being asked the most by students on the student intranet, including:
- ‘Is this a Cardiff University thing?’
- ‘Can’t the university just use its reserves?’
- ‘Why do only some schools have to change’?
If you'd like to feedback on Our Academic Future proposals, use the online form on the student intranet or email newid-change@cardiff.ac.uk.
Kind regards
Professor Nicola Innes
Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor, Education and Student Experience
Professor Roger Whitaker
Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research, Innovation and Enterprise
Dr Liz Wren-Owens
Dean for Postgraduate Research Students
