Rooms

The Department has a rooms policy which we adhere to and so it might be useful to explain it a little further. Here, we include an abridged version but you can see the complete Rooms Allocation Policy 1 on the Department wiki.

In General

Everybody will be assigned office space for the duration of their legitimate stay in the Department, subject to the conditions below.

  • All PGRs who are registered with the Department of Computer Science are entitled to office space excluding those on interruptions, research visits, sickness/illness (without interruption) or the like that lasts for greater than 3 months.

  • Users have the responsibility to keep their allocated space fit for use, sanitary, conforming to Health and Safety guidelines, and in a functional state so as to facilitate work, meetings, and related professional activities. In particular, office space can not be used as personal storage space: items in that space should predominantly relate to work although the presence of some personal items is reasonable and should fit the space allocated (eg for PGR items should fit in the pedestal and on the desk - while still facilitating the use of the desk for work purposes).

  • PGRs will normally keep their allocated space until the initial Award letter is issued. However, once the Thesis has been submitted this is at the discretion of the RAP. Upon Withdrawal, Reject (Civ), or Award (A); the HoPGR (or their nominee) informs the RAP, which updates the RDB accordingly and ensures that keys are returned and the desk is vacated. with Revise (B) or Reject (Ci-iii) are not presumed to keep their allocated space and their supervisor must make an application to the HoPGR (or their nominee) who informs the RAP. Allocation is at the discretion of the RAP. PGRs performing ‘wrapping-up’ work and awaiting their award may keep desk space for a maximum of one year (after application to the PGRD - or nominee - by the supervisor) at the discretion of the RAP. PGRs intending to transition: if international to the Doctoral Extension Scheme, or those who are not international students but are carrying out similar functions to those on the Doctoral Extension Scheme, may apply to the Department for RV status and then have space relocated in accordance with RV procedures (after application to the PGRD - or nominee - by the supervisor) at the discretion of the RAP, and once their Award is granted. PGRs who have an absence from their studies (e.g. an industrial placement, interruption, research visit, sickness/illness or the like) for longer than 3 months will normally be required to surrender their desk at the discretion of the RAP, and be allocated to a new desk on their return.

  • If an individual leaves the department, it is their duty to clear their space (in particular remove private possessions) and follow the appropriate ‘Exit Policy’, at a minimum:

    • all University property returned;

    • all personal effects cleared;

    • hazardous materials appropriately disposed of;

    • data, software, source code and associated materials transferred to the supervisor/line manager or safely disposed of; and

    • the keys returned to the CSOps.

  • The Department reserves the right to clear office space it deems to be unassigned, store and ultimately dispose of uncleared items, including computers and personal items.

Tip

Some History (Redux). 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.

Room allocation processes:

A PGR spends the first three months of their Ph.D. in the PGR Home in LF15 (this is included in the induction material). During this time, the supervisor will request desk space from the appropriate theme lead or the HoPGR. The RAP will welcome suggestions of which space to use. Supervisors will request space from the RAP for PGR-RVs once their visit is confirmed. PGRs/PGR-RVs will typically be assigned space via the Theme Lead or if no lead for their area exists then RAP (HoPGR) will make that decision.

New PGRs are not expected to arrive before the start date shown in their formal offer of admission. PGRs that do arrive early may be allocated a desk in PGR Home, or may use the hot-desking space - in both cases if space is available. Split-site PGRs are allocated a hot desk for the period they are on-site via the Student Support Office. A PGR whose Principal Supervisor is not based in the Department of Computer Science, or students not registered with the Department, will not be automatically allocated space, but we will make best efforts to accommodate them if there is an academic imperative.

CSOps issues keys, codes, or requests updates the swipe access, to those who request them (based on RDB) except in the case of PGRs in PGR Home in which case the PGR administrator updates the swipe access.