GMS Programme 2021: Supervisor-Student Interactions
GMS students have an initial term of teaching when they start the programme and subsequently select up to 3 rotation projects with different groups from the pool of GMS supervisors; currently over 50 PIs are affiliated with the programme and the broad range of rotation project experiences on offer is one of the programme’s key strengths. We are trialling a mix of sessions in the upcoming Michaelmas term to introduce students to rotation options and GMS supervisors’ research areas. These are summarised below and we would welcome any feedback on how well this works at the next GMS Review meetings (December 2021, July 2022).
Please note: all group sessions can be conducted in-person in Room B @ WHG, or online via Teams as preferred - we will send you a link for this purpose. All sessions will be streamed via Teams but will not be recorded. When attending in person, please follow University guidance with respect to COVID-19. Face coverings are recommended but not mandatory when presenting to a small group.
NEW: Supervisor Meet-and-Greet Sessions
Format: 15 minute sessions with the GMS cohort, in Room B @ WHG or via Teams as preferred
Slots are available to sign up here
Content: PI (or senior member of their team) to give high-level overview / introduction to research area and projects on offer. Ideally half the time will be left open for questions and discussion with the cohort.
The GMS cohort will have access to the supervisor profiles and project descriptions on their arrival and will be encouraged to read through these in advance of Meet-and-Greet sessions. The aim of these sessions is to help them navigate the large set of projects on offer and identify those that match their interests/skills/development to follow up further.
Regular slots will be scheduled during October in blocks of three with 5 minutes break between talks. We therefore need each talk/discussion to end promptly after 15 minutes please. All GMS supervisors will be able to have one of these slots if they would like. Please note we can make individual arrangements should the available times not be convenient – please email well-gms-administrators@well.ox.ac.uk to let us know.
Deeper sessions focused on research techniques and applications
Format: 1-3hr sessions with the GMS cohort, in Room B @ WHG or via Teams as preferred
Content: Flexible in topic, scope and structure
Option to open to wider audience if desired
Please indicate you would like to contribute here
The timetable can accommodate a limited number of longer sessions of 1-3 hours, which will provide perspective and deeper insights on a particular topic and related research. These could, for example, be structured as an overview lecture plus short research talks, an introduction to a specific technique/method/approach and examples of its use, case-studies and discussion sessions, or any other format that suits the topic. Including some background context, current research activity and discussion of future directions of research and/or translation would be very useful.
We welcome suggestions on any topic relevant to the GMS programme though, by way of examples, topics could include: single cell profiling, spatial/high-resolution/high-throughput approaches, big data and large scale resources, molecular pathology, gene regulation, epigenetics and any aspect of clinical genomics (interpretation of disease variants, polygenic risk scores, precision medicine, clinical trials, gene-based therapeutics, drug discovery etc.).
Please let us know as soon as possible (ideally by Friday 1st October) if you would like to organise and host a session and the topic you propose to cover via well-gms-administrators@well.ox.ac.uk. We will review in the context of the teaching content/schedule and accommodate as many as possible.
Individual meetings for potential rotations
Format: Individual meetings
Content: Discuss rotation projects with potential students
By late October/November, the GMS students are starting to consider which groups they are thinking of doing their first rotation with and will typically approach the PIs directly to arrange a meeting. We have scheduled regular non-teaching slots in the timetable (usually Tuesday AM and Thursday PM) to give the students some free time to arrange these discussions - other times of course can be arranged as well according to supervisor availability.
NB we are scheduling the Meet and Greets in October, but you are welcome to meet with the students at any point during the term, and the longer research-focused sessions will also be spread throughout the term.