Research Plan

Your Research Plan (RP) needs to be completed 9 – 12 Weeks after your start date. It should be no more than 2 pages of A4 and should also include a Gantt chart.

You will need to send your RP to your Supervisor. They will informally discuss it with you and confirm whether or not they believe it is ready for assessment. They may suggest changes at this stage.

They will then ask an independent assessor (another academic, usually from the School) to formally assess your RP. The logistics of arranging this may take a few weeks so you should aim to send a copy of your RP to your Supervisor at least two weeks before its due date. 

The independent assessor will do one of these things:

• Approve the RP without any suggestions.
• Approve the RP but still make suggestions that you should take under consideration.
• Not approve the RP, clearly outlining the reasons that the RP has not been approved.

You can download an example of the Research Plan form on the right. This form is created and signed via Docusign; your supervisor and the Senior Postgraduate Administrator will set up and manage this process.