Content Last Reviewed 7th August 2016

This is a pretty broad topic, but some resources, outside those people who you work with directly, which might help you to resolve any issues include:

  • College advisor: Every member of Teddy Hall has a college advisor who will probably be happy to share their words of wisdom with you.
  • Tutor for Graduates: The T4G, Prof. Richard Willden, is responsible for graduates within Teddy Hall. More information can be found here.
  • Departmental advisors: lots of departments also allocate you an advisor who should be able to give your subject specific guidance.
  • Departmental graduate studies teams: will have experience in resolving issues.
  • Student Advice Service: OUSU run advice, listening and advocacy service. Some advisors have specific responsibility for graduates and academic affairs.
  • Graduate studies office: Can help with administrative problems which may arise when resolving academic issues (eg if you change supervisor). Contact on (2)70045, or graduate.studies [at] admin.ox.ac.uk.

 

Academics is obviously a big part of life in Teddy Hall. Here is some information to help your adjustment to the Teddy Hall and Oxford academic environment:

College Advisors

Principal’s Collections

Tutor for Graduates

Termly Graduate Seminars

College Advisors

In a nutshell – Each postgraduate student is assigned a College Adviser from among the academic staff within College, who will be available for advice – primarily academic – and responsible for overseeing your relationship with the college.  Your College Adviser’s role is to be an independent source of support, and this may include discussing your University Supervisor’s reports, monitoring your progress, picking up any problems, and commenting on your progress and achievements.

When should I see my college advisor?  You are encouraged to take a proactive role in arranging to meet your college advisor.  You should arrange to meet once per term in your first year to discuss any academic and non-academic matters, including any issues you may feel unable to raise with your supervisor.  Such meetings can be used to raise or discuss any problems, and to gain further feedback on your overall acdemic progress.  Your College Adviser is not expected to perform the academic role of your University Supervisor, but you may ask for their advice, depending on their field of expertise and intellectual interests.  You may also be able to seek their advice on academic‐related matters such as applications for research funding, conferences, seminar attendance, publications, career plans etc.

Who will my college advisor be? Your college advisor is from the same division or department as you, or from one very close to it.  An advisor from a different faculty or sub-faculty can provide different feedback to complement that of your supervisor’s, and this interdisciplinarity can be seen as very beneficial.

Principal’s Collections

Once a year, you will be invited to attend Principal’s Collections.  This is a short – but compulsory – meeting, held between you, the Principal, and the Tutor for Graduates.  It is an opportunity for the Principal to have an overall sense of the graduate community at Teddy Hall.  Prior to the meeting, they will have read your GSS reports, and will ask about your overall progress on your course, your satisfaction with the college, your department, etc.  They will often ask if there is any extra support that you require from the college – which can range from welfare provision, to funding to attend a conference.

What should I wear?  Academic or formal dress is not required at collections, but you must wear your gown.

The Tutor for Graduates

The Tutor for Graduates (Professor Richard Willden ) is concerned with matters of academic progress, the welfare of graduate students and applications for graduate study at the College. He is wonderfully helpful and supportive and a great resource for help on all things graduate academics related.

Termly Graduate Seminars

Each term, Dr David Priestland hosts the MCR at 19 Norham Gardens for dinner and dessert, after which two current students present their research in a brief 10- to 15-minute talk. It’s a great opportunity for MCR members to share their research in a friendly and relaxed environment.

Recent Past Seminars

TT 2014

Erwan Atcheson, Developing a combination malaria vaccine
Jessica Davidson, Commerce, Community and Celebration: A Social History of the English Provincial Fair, 1750-1850

MT 2014

Abul Siddiky,  A new use for an old drug: Established chemotherapy agents can reduce cellular oxygen consumption and decrease tumour hypoxia in colorectal cancer independent of toxicity.
Pip Coore, Financial Elder Abuse: a legal challenge in an ageing world

TT 2013

Mark Hay, ‘Land of the First Hijra: The Horn of Africa’s Forgotten Islamic Kingdoms’
David Springer, ‘Rheumatic Heart Disease Screening using a Mobile Phone’
David L.V. Bauer, ‘X and Y: what makes a chromosome look like a chromosome?’

HT 2013

Rachel Paterson, ‘Genetic characterisation of retinitis pigmentosa: progress towards curing an inherited eye disease’
Julian Hunt, ‘Standardising, complex, uncertain, long-term decision making processes’

MT 2012

Judyta Frodyma, ‘Reading landscapes in the works of William Wordsworth’
Mohammad Firdaus bin Abdul Aziz, ‘What should be the future governance framework for human stem cell research in Malaysia?’

TT 2012

Benjamin Williams, ‘Levitate! — an introduction to superconductivity research’
Katherine Har, ‘The Leges Anglorum Londoniis Collectae: Memory, Precedent, and the Invocation of a Legal Past’

HT 2012

Andy Fleming, ‘Thinking About Power in the Middle Ages’
Wilson Chen, ‘Exciton Transfer and Delocalization in Conjugated Supramolecular Porphyrin Systems as the Light Antenna’

MT 2011

Amy McLennan, ‘A medical anthropological approach to obesity in the Republic of Nauru’
Daniel Smith, ‘Perceiving Phonation’