As well as benefiting from very extensive library holdings, research students in the School of Law enjoy a number of excellent facilities and opportunities:
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All research students in the School of Law have 24-hour access to a study carrel, each with its own computer (wired for Internet access); lockable storage; and access to unlimited free printing.
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The School of Law has a generous fund to assist research students with expenses incurred in connection with their research, such as field trips and attendance at conferences.
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Generous funding is also available in respect of photocopying and inter-library loan expenses.
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Students are able to apply for the School’s Postgraduate Fund for Law Courses in Europe. This fund provides scholarships allowing successful candidates to attend prestigious summer schools in Europe.
There is a generous hardship fund that, in exceptional cases, helps students who find themselves in financial difficulties.
Training Courses and Opportunities
The School delivers an induction course at the start of each year to introduce its research students to the Research Programme and to the School's facilities and resources. This induction and its accompanying social programme gives new research students the chance to get to know their peers and also provides an excellent opportunity to meet the staff of the School.
There is also a short induction programme organised by the University's Graduate School. This provides information about broader university facilities, and will give you your first opportunity to meet postgraduate candidates from other Schools within the University.
During the Autumn term staff in the School run a module in Legal Research Methods. Full-time students are required to take this module and part-time students are encouraged to do so if possible. The module considers the diverse spectrum of legal scholarship and methodologies. It enable students to refresh or enhance their legal research skills and receive training in a range of research methods and techniques.
The School of Law also offers a wide range of courses on specific areas of law, including more than 50 specialist LLM modules. Research students are encouraged to moderate modules of relevance to their research project.
Each year, research students take part in the School’s Research Presentation Day. This event provides participants with the chance to develop presentation skills that will be useful in the viva and in their future careers, and gives them an opportunity to obtain feedback on their research work. It is also a useful forum for finding out more about the work that colleagues are doing and provides an enjoyable social occasion at which participants get a chance to meet and discuss their research with academic staff and colleagues.
During the course of each year a number of very useful training courses are provided by the Graduate School. These cover general matters such as use of information technology for research and writing, time management, planning a thesis and preparing for the viva voce examination (the oral defence of a thesis), as well as specialist topics such as use of statistics and qualitative research methods.
Teaching Opportunities for Research Students
There are often opportunities for the School’s research students to undertake some undergraduate tutorial teaching. The Graduate School provides training courses on teaching methods for research students involved in teaching. It should be noted, however, that the availability of teaching opportunities does depend on the subjects for which teaching is needed in any particular year. Because of this teaching opportunities cannot be guaranteed.