What is a proposal?
The proposal will tell your panel members about the project you’ll be working on so they can form an opinion on (i) whether the project is worthy of a postgraduate degree, and (ii) whether you have the resources to do it.
(i) At undergraduate and MSc level, you will have been assessed primarily on your understanding of the research process. New data and definitive results are an aspiration, but are not expected. In an MPhil, MD or PhD, then you have to demonstrate the ability to conceive, plan, execute and convey original research that make a meaningful contribution to scientific knowledge. You should take a leading role in all parts of this process.
(ii) Resources means enough time, equipment and money, and also the right supervisory team and infrastructure.
When should I submit the proposal?
In their review, the panel members might point out obvious problems or improvements they would like to see. They need to do that before you make any substantial progress on your project, and so we ask for the proposal to be submitted within 3 months of your start date. Remember that the same panel members will also be assessing you later in your programme, so it is in your interest that they have the opportunity to review the proposal.
How long should a proposal be?
We see a lot of variety in the proposals, from a couple of paragraphs to 20 pages or more. The latter often come when the team has had to prepare a full proposal for a grant application or an ethical committee.Two paragraphs is sounding short. On the other hand, 20 pages sounds intimidating and might not be read very quickly. Somewhere from 2-5 pages would be typical.
How do I submit?
Via ePortfolio. Note that the student has to start off the proposal submission process. Supervisors and panel members can only view it in consecutive order, after the previous owners have signed off. Similarly the ICM and the graduate school can’t approve the proposal until all team members have seen it.
You’ll see that ePortfolio offers some large text boxes that you can type or paste into directly. You can of course use these, but the majority of students upload their proposal as a stand-alone Word or PDF document. You have more options in presentation and formatting, most reviewers find a stand-alone document easier to manage, and in addition it’s easier to print and bring along to a progression review.
Any advice on content?
Give enough information for your panel members to make an informed judgement. Not chapter and verse of the methods, but a rationale, an outline for your scientific approach and maybe a timeline and person-line. You might address the following questions, taken from Newcastle University’s website:
- Does your project have clear aims and objectives?
- Have you (or can you acquire) the knowledge, skills, and aptitudes to complete the project successfully?
- Does the proposed supervisory team have, (or will they be able to acquire), the skills, knowledge and aptitudes necessary to supervise your project to a successful conclusion?
- Is the project suitable for the programme of study and for the award?
- Can it be completed within the time-scale for the programme?
- Are sufficient resources available to complete the project?
- Is ethical approval required?
- Where the project involves extended absence from the University on fieldwork or work in collaborating organisations, have the appropriate arrangements been made to support and monitor your progress?
I’m still struggling … Help!
We’ve prepared some documents to help you. DO PLEASE REMEMBER that your plan is unlikely to be complete at this early stage, and you will probably not answer all the questions. The more you can give, the better advice will come from your panel.
First is a Short Project Proposal form that was adapted from one of our MSc programmes. The intention was that this should be up to 2 pages in total length. This is perhaps the minimum you need provide to get a good review of your proposal from the panel.
Next, an Integrated Project Proposal form that was the next stage in the MSc project development, and was originally based on the content of the UK’s IRAS research approvals process.
This is a reasonably detailed document, so don’t be surprised if you can’t address all the sections. It might be more appropriate for those who have a reasonably well-developed plan. That would include MPhil and many MD students, and those who have embarked on postgraduate work against an established project. In practice, most students probably come somewhere between the two.
In addition, here is a one-page Proposal Cribsheet that might help explain what your panel members will be looking for, and therefore the questions you might try to answer.
For security reasons we can only upload PDFs to this page; if you want an editable Word version of these documents, mail us.