You will have been allocated a supervisor at the time of your enrolment. If your interests turn out to be divergent from those of your supervisor, it is quite possible to change supervisors. To do this, consult the Director of Postgraduate Studies.

You should arrange regular consultation times with your supervisor, at which you can discuss progress, future directions for research, problems etc.

You and your supervisor should together formulate an appropriate research project. The supervisor will offer guidance in this, and may, in some cases, propose a research project for you.

Remember, however, that learning to develop autonomous research plans which are neither trivial nor impossibly difficult is an important part of becoming a capable researcher, so don't be upset if your supervisor gives you only a framework within which to develop your own research project. Remember also that projects tend to become more focussed as time progresses.

All graduate students are strongly encouraged to participate in the full range of courses, seminars, and colloquia offered by the School (and other Schools, where appropriate). Indeed, participation in seminars is part of the procedure for reviewing student's progress (see below). Most research groups within the School run informal seminars on a regular basis; students are strongly encouraged to attend these. The seminar titles and speakers are announced on the [School Events webpage - link?].

The Postgraduate Research Student Seminar is intended to provide postgraduate students with an opportunity to present talks to their peers in a "non-threatening" environment. The subject of these talks may be their research areas or any other mathematical (or even non-mathematical) topic of interest.

While the seminar series is aimed primarily at postgraduate students, all members of the school are warmly invited to attend. Post-docs and honours students will be especially welcome.

The seminar series will run fortnightly.

All graduate research students in Mathematics at UNSW must have their progress evaluated at regular intervals; in order to continue in the program, the students progress must be deemed satisfactory by the Head of School in agreement with the Higher Degree Committee of the Faculty of Science. The following format is followed:

First, all candidates for research degrees will be interviewed, usually within six months of enrolment, by the Director of Graduate Studies in Mathematics. The purpose of the interview is to discuss concurrent prescriptions, supervision, facilities provided by the school, preliminary research plans, and any other relevant matters.

Secondly, student progress will be monitored at half yearly intervals via a combination of

The material presented in a seminar might consist of preliminary work, a cogent description of the nature and objectives of the research project, results obtained, or future directions for study. Most research groups within the School hold regular informal seminars at which such presentations may be made.

At the end of each academic year there is a re-enrolment period for research students. Research students continuing on to the next year complete a re-enrolment form, available from the Co-ordinator of Postgraduate Studies, after a satisfactory progress report form has been completed by the student and appropriate supervisor. This process occurs in late November and early December each year. If your research takes you away from campus at this time you must see the Co-ordinator of Postgraduate Studies to make alternative arrangements for re-enrolment.

Students whose progress is good may upgrade from M.Sc to Ph.D. on the recommendation of the School and in agreement with the Higher Degree Committee of the Faculty of Science and Technology.