Quick Guide

PGR follows a Flexible Working model with

Core Hours between 10:00 - 16:00

(you are expect to be available between these times unless personal circumstances dictate otherwise)


Useful Information and Contacts

Student Support Office (SSO)
School Health and Safety Advisor
Head of PGR (HoPGR)
Deputy Head of PGR (DHoPGR)
CS Operations
PGR Student Mentors and CDT Representatives

Emergencies

In the event of any emergency, contact the emergency services by calling 9999 internal or 999 external line. The University Security Office must also be informed once the emergency services have been alerted by calling 69966 internal or 0161 306 9966 external line. This number can be found on the reverse side of your University Staff/Student card. The School Health and Safety Advisor must be notified of any emergency (contact above).

Fire Evacuation Procedure

On hearing the fire alarm, evacuate the building immediately by the nearest available exit.

  • Do not use lifts

  • Do not return to offices to collect belongings

  • Go to Building Assembly Point

Fire Detection

If you discover a fire and the building alarm is not sounding, activate the nearest break glass point on your escape route and evacuate the building immediately. Make your way to the building assembly point and await further instruction. If possible you should inform security of the event and supply them with as much information as possible in order for them to evaluate the risk and to take appropriate action.

Fire Alarm

The audible alarm for Kilburn building is a two stage system:

Stage 1 An intermittent alarm - be prepared to evacuate the building.

Stage 2 A continuous alarm – evacuate the building immediately.

The audible alarm for IT building is a single system. Upon hearing the fire alarm it is necessary to evacuate the building.

First Aid

Details of first aiders are available on first aid notices which can be found next to each fire notice, on notice boards and near to every exit point of the building. If local first aiders are not available, Security can be contacted to provide first aid by calling 69966 internal or 0161 306 9966 external line.

Important Notes to Students

  • You are responsible for driving your own Research, not your supervisor.

  • General CS PGR information 8 can be found on studentnet.

  • Your PGR Handbook can be found at: http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/pgr/handbook/

  • eProg is the central system which monitors your progress. You must keep it up to date and you must prompt your supervisor to complete the forms. eProg can be found at: https://app.manchester.ac.uk/eprog/. You are responsible for familiarising yourself with the progression criteria for you programme and for ensuring that deadlines are met.

  • University PGR Regulations and Policies, including PGR Degree Regulations, Examination of Doctoral Degrees, Circumstances leading to Change and Presentation of Thesis, can be found at: http://www.regulations.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate-research-students/

  • The Faculty of Science and Engineering provide lots of study support for Research Students, information can be found at: http://www.researchsupport.eps.manchester.ac.uk/

  • Your core hours are 10:00-16:00. We expect you to be at the University between the times unless you have other commitments.

  • If you need help, advice or guidance on anything - ask!

  • The quickest way to resolve Building Issues is via the Estates Helpdesk. The helpdesk can be used by all staff to report estates issues such as flickering lights, dripping taps, heating and ventilation issues and faulty electrical sockets etc. Click on link and ‘New Request’ from right hand menu of the Helpdesk. Most of the form is self-explanatory. Once reported you will receive 2 emails: 1. A copy of the estates helpdesk request you have submitted; and an, 2. Acknowledgement of Work Request: e.g. 6171847 – this number is the work request number and should be retained for future reference. If an issue remains unresolved, the email containing the work request number can be forwarded to your I&F Technical Operations Manager for escalation to the Faculty Estates Team. If there is an urgent issue that needs immediate attention, the helpdesk can be called directly on 52424 or 0161 275 2424 between the hours of 8am and 4pm. Outside of these hours security should be contacted on 69966 – this number can also be found on the back on your staff card.

PGR Home

Tip

Some History. In the past, PGRs did not spend the first 4 months of their time in PGR Home and were not required to attend the core hours. This meant that many PGRs were not able to build a cross supervisory peer support group to help them get perspective in the hard times that they will inevitably have. To address this problem we created a common area for all PGRs for their first 4 months and a requirement that they attend every day for the core hours. This is so PGRs can benefit from both giving and receiving peer support and building a Peer Support Network. Please realise your ‘luck’ in being provided with these opportunities and use them well.

The PGR Home is in LF15/17 Kilburn Building. The majority of students will spend their first semester on the programme here before moving to an office in their second semester.

PGR Consultative Committee (CC)

The School holds quarterly PGR CC meetings at which PGR Representatives raise issues for concern to the Committee. If you would like to raise something to be reported or are interested in becoming a PGR Mentor, you should email CS-Mentors@listserv.manchester.ac.uk. This PGR-CC is now combined with the Departmental Graduate Committee so PGRs can attend and have direct access to the Committee.

Extended Hours Access to the Kilburn Building

Entry to the Kilburn Building outside of normal hours (before 08.00 and after 18.00 Monday to Friday, plus all day at weekends and bank holidays) requires an extended hours pass. The Student Support Office can provide information on how to obtain a pass.

Further Useful Contacts and Links

Information about the University’s Students’ Union and the services and activities they provide can be found here: https://manchesterstudentsunion.com/

General University Student Support including information on accessing academic, financial and personal wellbeing support and advice can be found here: http://www.studentsupport.manchester.ac.uk

The University’s Student Support and Advice team, based in the Atrium of University Place, can offer advice on issues affecting your PGR life, and can signpost to more specialist services. Email studentsupport@manchester.ac.uk

The My Manchester Crucial Guide is the essential stop for information and advice on everything to do with being a student at Manchester and can be found at: http://www.studentnet.manchester.ac.uk/crucial-guide/

Bullying & Harassment: All PGRs can report something anonymously or get support from an advisor, further information can be found at: https://www.reportandsupport.manchester.ac.uk/

The University of Manchester Counselling Service offers confidential help with any personal issues affecting work, self-esteem, relationships, sexuality, mental health and general well-being. Further information can be found at: http://www.studentnet.manchester.ac.uk/counselling/

Nightline is a confidential listening and information service run by students for students. It is open 8pm till 8am every night during term time. The phone number can be found on the reverse of your ID card. Nightline can also be contacted at nightmail@nightline.manchester.ac.uk (Expect a reply within 48 hours) and further information can be found at http://manchester.nightline.ac.uk/

The Samaritans are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to talk confidentially about any problem, however big or small: www.samaritans.org

The University’s Disability Advisory and Support Service (DASS) provide confidential help and support for people with conditions, whether emotional or physical, that may have a significant, adverse and long-term effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Further information can be found at: http://www.dso.manchester.ac.uk/

The University’s International Student Support team can provide advice and help to answer queries relating to visas and immigration: http://www.studentsupport.manchester.ac.uk/immigration-and-visas/

If you’re not sure about where to find the help you feel you need, just email Student Support 1 to speak to someone.

Instructions for using the Desktop PCs in the PGR Home

  1. The desktop PCs are installed with Centos 7 only and will accept your University username and password for logging in. They have pre-installed, what is considered a base set of applications as well as a home file store provided by servers from within the School.

  2. When you have settled at a desk and taken “ownership” of one of these desktops you will need to email the hostname of your PC to Chris Page (Department IT Manager) 6. He will then add you to the sudoers file on your PC. To find the hostname if it is not printed on a sticker, type in the command ‘hostname’ in a terminal window. Access to sudoers will allow you to install software of your choice for your work by using the sudo command.

  3. When you have finished your time in the PGR lab the machines will be wiped clean and re-installed for the next student. So, please make sure that you do not save anything important on the local hard drive but save your work either in your home directory (which is backed up) or to some kind of external media. When you move to a research group and are given a new PC to work with, you will find that your home files store travels with you.

  4. The lab printer is called pgrprt.cs.man.ac.uk (IP address 10.99.192.163). You should be able to print documents directly to it using lpr and the printing is free!

1(1,2)

mailto:compsci-sso-pgr@manchester.ac.uk

2

mailto:CSOps@manchester.ac.uk

3

mailto:cs-mentors@listserv.manchester.ac.uk

4

mailto:simon.harper@manchester.ac.uk

5

mailto:bijan.parsia@manchester.ac.uk

6

mailto:christopher.page@manchester.ac.uk

7

mailto:James.Fields@manchester.ac.uk

8

http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/pgr/