Plant Biology MPhil/PhD

First year

You will have submitted a draft research outline with your application. In your first year, you will be working towards submitting a more complete research proposal. You will be aided in your research by meeting with your supervisory team to discuss your progress. You will also be supported through your first year by engaging with a series of three modules as part of our Researcher Development Programme:

• RSDP4001: Developing as a Researcher
• RSDP4005: Approaches to Research
• RSDP4004: Planning Your Research Project

At the end of each year, beginning with your first year, you will reflect on and formally review your progress with your supervisory team and MPhil/PhD Course Leader. We call this annual meeting an Annual Progress Review (APR).

Second year

In your second year, you will be collecting data and working on your research project under the supervision of your supervisors through regular meetings. You may at this point have research papers ready to publish and you may wish to attend conferences to present your research to other experts in your field. You will be able to apply to our Research Student Support Scheme for some funding for this purpose. Students normally undergo Transfer from MPhil to PhD towards the end of their second year. This will be part of your Annual Progress Review for this year.

Third and fourth year

In your third and fourth year, you will be writing up your thesis and preparing for your viva voce examination. This is an oral exam with two examiners and a chair. You can also request that your supervisor be present at the exam. The exam will take place after you have submitted your final thesis. After the exam, it is not unusual for the examiners to ask that some amendments be made to your thesis before the final award is confirmed and you will have additional time to do this. It is possible to complete the course in three years, but we have found that the majority of students do take four years to complete the course. At the end of each year of your registration, you will go through an Annual Progress Review.

Resources

The School of Science and the Environment has an excellent range of resources available to support your learning and your research project.

Programme specifications

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest MPhil programme specification or PhD programme specification documents.

Supervision areas

Research interests of the group include plant-microbe interactions, cell cycle and cell signalling. In general, the group use molecular biology, plant pathology, proteomics, genetics, microscopy and bioinformatics to investigate the functional role of genes in various conditions. These include biotic stress, flowering, cell cycling, circadian rhythm, receptor-ligand interactions, identification of pathogen secreted molecules and their function, targeted genome editing using CRISPR technology, comparisons of bacterial genomes using next generation sequencing and bioinformatics.

Recent research

Regulation of effectors by circadian rhythm; Identification of PAMPs and apoplastic effectors from downy mildew pathogen; Role of heterozygosity in effector-triggered immunity, investigating immune system of plants using genome editing technology and biopesticides.