PhD thesis Research Proposal - Departmental requirements

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The first year of your PhD studies is a provisional year.

University regulations

Regulation 5 a (ii) of the University's Statute for the PhD degree requires that during provisional registration, a candidate must:

"complete a fully developed research proposal, including a provisional thesis title, a schedule of research, an outline of thesis structure and a statement of the resources required to complete the research. The research proposal should be submitted for approval to the appropriate postgraduate committee of the Department and/or Faculty in which the candidate is registered. The committee may accept the proposal, or indicate changes needed to the candidate and supervisor(s) and request a resubmission, or it may decline to accept the proposal. It will inform the Head of Department of its decision."

Department of Mathematics requirements

For PhD students in the Mathematics Department, such a proposal should be prepared with the assistance of the student's supervisor.

Timeline: the proposal should be submitted as soon as possible after registration (and before the end of the provisional year), to the Department's PhD Coordinator.

Length: Each proposal should be a significant document (of at least 3 pages).

Contents: A template is given below. All matters listed in the template should be addresed.

Scope: The proposal should be enough to establish that the thesis project is appropriate for a PhD, and that the student is capable of completing in good time.

Procedure: The completed proposal will be considered by the Department's Research and Postgraduate Studies Committee.

In accordance with the University's statute, this committee will either accept the proposal, or indicate to the candidate and supervisor(s) any changes needed and request a resubmission, or decline to accept the proposal.

Also the committee will inform the Head of Department of its decision, within six weeks of receiving the proposal.

Doctoral thesis proposal template

Latex PhD research proposal form and the respective pdf file.

Each proposal must include the following:

• Provisional Thesis Title
• Names of Supervisors/Advisors
• Objectives/Aims (specifying the purpose and field of this research, and expected outcomes)

• Contribution of the proposed research (a brief description of the current state of knowledge in the field, and how the thesis will make a significant and original contribution)
• Methodology (a brief outline of the steps by which the thesis project will proceed, including the methods, processes, techniques or theoretical approaches that are likely to be used)
• Proposed thesis structure (including chapter headings if appropriate)
• Schedule/Timeline of Research (an outline of the proposed schedule or timeline for the research including completion dates for each stage, and details of work already completed or in progress)
• Ethical/Institutional Approvals (Is any ethical or other formal institutional approval required, and if so, then has this been applied for and/or obtained?)
• Resources (a statement of what resources (such as equipment or specialised software) are required, and whether these are available and accessible, or any plans to obtain access to them).