Annual progress review – post transfer

After your transfer, you will have an Annual progress review (‘APR’), which will take place each year on or before the anniversary of the start of your studies, until submission of your thesis. 

The review is intended to be supportive, and to help planning for the completion of your research and submission of your thesis. It is also an opportunity for you and your supervisors to raise any problems with your progression and to identify solutions. 

There are two models for Annual progress reviews:
Model A – an annual review meeting with the PGR, supervisors, and an individual independent of the supervisory team.  This model is used by the Faculties of Biological Sciences, Engineering and Physical Sciences, and Medicine and Health.
Model B – an annual review meeting with the PGR and supervisors. A report of the meeting will be produced and reviewed by a committee within the faculty or school.  This model is used by the Faculties of Arts, Humanities and Cultures, Business, Environment, Social Sciences.

What will you need to prepare?

You should use the GRAD workflow to complete your Annual progress review form and submit the required work. Whichever model is adopted by your faculty you will need to submit the following in advance of the review meeting:
•    A reflection on your progress to date,  with the opportunity to highlight any issues which may have adversely affected your progress
•    Timetable for completion of your thesis eg a Gantt chart
•    Any written work required by your faculty or supervisors
•    Data Management Plan (required if you started study after 01/09/2019) 
A report of the meeting will be produced and will be available to you in GRAD at the end of the process.

For PGRs who started from Sept 2023 onwards, you are expected to review your PGR-Supervisor agreement with your supervisors as part of the APR process.  If you make any changes, please upload an updated copy of the agreement to GRAD. 
Further information on the process, timescales, deadlines and outcomes is available in the Annual progress review policy on the SES website.

You can access training on the APR process via the ‘Post-transfer to completion; viva; thesis format’ course on the Postgraduate research and training page of the For Students website.
 This module provides further information about the APR process and guides you through the next stages as you move towards preparing for thesis submission and final examination. You can also revisit the Induction to Transfer course at any time, and particularly before assessment points, for guidance around academic integrity and avoiding plagiarism, ethical review and data management. Your engagement with the ethics review and data management processes will be reviewed as part of the APR.
The APR is a reflection and planning exercise rather than a formal assessment, however, if there are significant concerns about your progress the Progress support procedure (PSP) may be started. You can find more information on the Progress support procedure page of the For Students website.