Sources of advice and support
Postgraduate work should be – and usually is! - immensely rewarding and exciting, but if you feel in need of help or advice, please remember that the following people (among others) are here to help you:
• Your College Tutor
• Your Advisor (MPhil students), your Supervisor and Advisor (PhD students)
• The Director of Postgraduate Studies (for PhD and MPhil students)
• The MPhil Course Director (for MPhil students)
• The Postgraduate Administrator
• The postgraduate representative/s on the Faculty Board and Staff-Student Committee
Their various roles and responsibilities are explained elsewhere on the website. If you have difficulties or matters you would like to discuss, from the serious to the trivial, do not hesitate to take your concerns to whomever among them is most appropriate. If you can't find the information you need online, please consult the Faculty's Postgraduate Administrator by email (philpostgrad@phil.cam.ac.uk), on MS Teams, or in Room 324, Raised Faculty Building, telephone 35078 (University network) or 01223 335078 (external).
Please see further information on the following Faculty support pages:
Working environment
The University is dedicated to creating and maintaining a safe, welcoming, inclusive and diverse community which nurtures a healthy environment and culture of mutual respect and consideration, allowing all members to thrive without fear of harassment, bullying, discrimination, sexual violence, abuse, coercive behaviours or related misconduct.
All students and staff are expected to be aware of the University’s codes of practice regarding Dignity@Work, and bullying and harassment, which can be found on the following web pages:
https://www.hr.admin.cam.ac.uk/policies-procedures/dignity-work-policy
https://www.studentcomplaints.admin.cam.ac.uk/harassment-and-sexual-misconduct
The Office for Student Conduct, Complaints and Appeals has the following policy on student harassment & sexual misconduct:
Racial and sexual harassment
The University is committed to creating and maintaining a working environment free of all forms of unlawful discrimination, including racial and sexual harassment. The Faculty strongly endorses this position, and takes these matters very seriously. The Faculty's adviser on racial and sexual harassment is Professor Alexander Bird, and anyone with any concerns about harassment issues should consult him (ajb368@cam.ac.uk), another member of the faculty, if they feel more comfortable approaching them, or any other of the sources of help mentioned in the Dignity @ Work Policy:
http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/hr/policy/dignity/sources.html
Gender Champion
The Faculty's Gender Champion is Dr Sarah Fine. Anyone with any concerns about gender issues within the Faculty should contact Dr Fine
Code of Practice
The code of practice for MPhil students can be found here:
https://www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/grad-code-of-practice/code-practice-masters-students
The code of practice for PhD students can be found here:
https://www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/grad-code-of-practice/code-practice-research-students
Please note that both Codes of Practice now contain a page for the student and their supervisor (or for taught students their Course Director) to sign to confirm they have read it. Students are encouraged to upload a signed copy of their code with their self-evaluation report onto the University’s Feedback and Reporting System. More information on the Feedback and progress reporting systems for postgraduate students is here:
https://www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/self-evaluation
If you have complaints in relation to your research or course of study they should be addressed in the first instance to your Advisor or Supervisor, or to the Director of Postgraduate Studies or MPhil Course Director. If this doesn't resolve matters to your satisfaction, you may make representations to the Degree Committee and also to the Student Registry. Your college Tutor will also be able to offer advice and, if need be, make representations on your behalf. You can find more information about making a formal complaint here: https://www.studentcomplaints.admin.cam.ac.uk/
