March 21, 2020, by Lisa Chin

C0VID-19: Information for PGR students and supervisors (21 March 2020)

Ref. UNM/GS/C0VID-19/02/21/03/20

Our commitment to your continuous training and research development

We want you to know that we remain as dedicated as ever to delivering the highest quality training and development support for our postgraduate students in these most difficult of times. We appreciate that this is a worrying time and recognise many of our postgraduate students are understandably anxious, given the unprecedented circumstances that we face with the current pandemic.

In the current situation with C0VID-19, we aim to still maintaining a supportive culture in which our postgraduate research (PGR) students can advance and thrive in their research journey. We strive to still facilitating training and providing support for PGR students and supervisors, using a selection of digital technologies in line with the University’s prompt measure to move all teaching to digitally supported guided learning. Therefore, we would like to address our PGR students and supervisors on the following key points:

Talk with your supervisor

• Please talk with your supervisor about your plans for working from home.

• Please discuss research work that can be completed remotely e.g. literature reading, data analysis, thesis writing, online courses, etc.

Preparation for distant working and research planning

• Do you have a computer and internet connection at home?

• What data needs to be available and shared securely? Do you have access to Office365 and OneDrive?

• Do you have access to all the University IT resources (e.g. Mendeley or EndNote) for data analysis?

• Do you have a means to continue lab group discussion and contact so activity can be monitored and supported (MS Teams, etc.)?

• Do you consider arranging time to check in with colleagues every week?

Additional suggested activities

• Write as much of a paper as possible. If a figure or two of data is missing, no problem. Leave a space for now and write about what you expect you would see.

• You might have experiments that did not “work”. Consider putting any negative data in an emergency thesis chapter.

• Lab books been a bit thin and not well used up until this point? Make sure to write down all the methods you have been doing up until this point.

• Have a go at writing your introduction or literature review.

Digitally supported guided learning

We are confidently on track to deliver a revised programme of digitally supported guided learning by Monday 23 March 2020 where we will beta-test our digital systems and training convenors to ensure smooth transition of teaching and learning delivery.

If you are unable to engage with the digitally supported guided learning for any reason, please contact us via email to graduateschool@nottingham.edu.my so that we can work on how best to support you.

In addition, we encourage you to undertake the existing online courses offered by our UK counterpart.

See Graduate School Training Resources

Institutional updates and emergency contact

The University has C0VID-19 task force in place that meets regularly to assess risks, mitigation and most importantly, act on the official advice by the Ministries of Education and Health in Malaysia.

See the latest University statement for the latest updates

See the Health and Safety information on emergency contact

The UK campus has a FAQs section which includes information for postgraduate researchers, research staff and supervisors, although some details may not be applicable to our local context.

Additional University support

Wellbeing and Learning Support Officers https://www.nottingham.edu.my/Wellbeing/Contact/Contact.aspx

Appointments can be made to talk to a counsellor/mental health advisor/disability officer via email WellbeingandLearning@nottingham.edu.my or call the emergency number for this support +60 19 2660691 (Vasu).

If you need any assistance, please email Student_ServicesCentre@nottingham.edu.my (local students) or international.support@nottingham.edu.my (international students).

Stay safe 

In the meantime, please observe and follow the safety advice and precautionary measures by our local authorities and University.

Above all, we wish you well and fine, wherever you are.

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Google+
• Share on LinkedIn