1. Professor Nigel Vincent
Manchester Doctoral College
Professor Nigel Vincent
Associate Vice President for Graduate Education and Director of the Manchester Doctoral College

2. Establishment of the MDC
Originated in the summer of 2008
EPSRC call for Doctoral Training Centres
Seeking to fund innovative training environments that draw on research excellence and will produce highly skilled and talented researchers who are able to address challenging research problems to the benefit of the UK economy in the 21st century
£250million investment creating 44 training centres across the UK and generating more than 2000 PhD students over 8 years
Provision of internal structures to ensure consistency and interaction between centres that cross school, faculty and institutional boundaries

3. Rationale for CDT Model1
CDTs are a bold new approach to training PhD students, creating communities of researchers working on current and future challenges 2
The multidisciplinary centres bring together diverse areas of expertise to training engineers and scientists with the skills knowledge and confidence to tackle today’s evolving issues 3
Create new working cultures, build relationships between teams in universities and forge lasting links with industry

4. Principles of a DTC
Cohort of students on a 4-year PhD course or equivalent where the first year allows time for exploration of the domain before deciding on a specific project
Challenging and original research project to PhD level
25% taught component (broadly equivalent to a PG Masters)
Involve activities within the wider research area of the centre and training in transferable skills, including public engagement
Internationalisation

5. Principles of an IDC 4 year PG award
Incorporate a taught component relevant to the needs of, and undertaken in partnership with, industry
Suited to the needs of industry and providing a more vocationally oriented doctorate degree
Students spend 75% of their time working directly within their specific collaborating company
Packages of training courses tailored to Research Engineers’ needs, including management skills as well as specialist technical subjects
Projects are designed jointly by the academics and the co-operating company, who jointly supervise the student
Research projects undertaken must be the equivalent of a PhD level project and must demonstrate innovation

6. Advantages of CDTs for Students
No need to choose research topic from the outset
Empowers student to choose research area and supervisor
Allows an informed decision on research project selection based on experience
Provides practical research skills and core conceptual knowledge
Offers an interdisciplinary perspective
Opportunities to build links with advanced researchers elsewhere in the University and with partner institutions
Chance to share research development as part of a cohort of fellow doctoral students

7. MDC Structure