Guide

Creating a PhD project - guidance for website editors

Updated on 17 January 2024

Guidance for CMS editors on how to write and publish a PhD opportunity on the University website.

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PhD project content type 

You should use the PhD project content type if you need to advertise a PhD project opportunity on the University website.

Don’t use the PhD project content type if you need to provide an overview of a completed PhD project for marketing purposes (use the Story content type).

Writing a PhD project title

PhD project titles should:

  • be informative and give the reader a sense of what the opportunity is.
  • make sense out of context. This helps the reader understand the content when it’s presented in search engine results.

Do:

  • use colons as a separator. For example, 'Putting the ‘social’ back into social cognition: perspective taking in the lab and the real world'. 

Don’t:

  • prefix a PhD project title with the name of an associated PhD programme. This makes a list of projects harder to scan if these are all prefixed with the same programme.
Title example

✅ Hunting for Veghog – elucidation of a novel crossroads between development and immunity in plants 

❌ EASTBIO: Hunting for Veghog – elucidation of a novel crossroads between development and immunity in plants

Writing PhD project content

Use the 'full description' field to enter the description of the opportunity.

Do:

  • use paragraph breaks
  • break the content up with headings to make it easier to scan

Don’t:

  • add walls of text which make the content difficult to read and scan

Taxonomies for PhD project content

We use taxonomies in content types to organise content, publish it to different locations, and give it meaning so people can find it easily. Taxonomies take the form of assignable categories or tags.  

Below are the PhD project taxonomies that an editor should use.

Type of PhD opportunity

Options for:

  • Named project
  • Topic

The majority of listings will use 'Named project', which is a defined project with a set title. However there might be occasions when you need to publish opportunities that are not necessarily detailed projects but are nevertheless more granular than a research area. In this situation you can use 'Topic'.

Research area

Projects should be tagged with one or more research areas. These populate a list under the research area filter in search and helps users narrow their selection. The list is extensive but if you think an area is missing then contact Web Services via help4u.

PhD funding type

Options for:

Funded as a standalone project

Discrete funding for the project is available 

Funded through a PhD programme

Funding available for the project through a PhD programme. When this is selected, a list of PhD programmes will display and you should select the relevant programme.

Self-funded

Funding unavailable, applicants are expected to pay fees and any other associated costs

Supervisors

Options for:

Supervisor supporting text

This field should only be completed if you need to add supporting text relating to supervisors, for most projects it can be left blank

Principal supervisor

Autocomplete field, enter the name of the member of staff. This also publishes the project on the staff member's profile

Second supervisor

Autocomplete field, enter the name of the member of staff. This also publishes the project on the staff member's profile

Other supervisors

Autocomplete field, can be used if there are supervisors other than the principal and second

Potential supervisors

Use if supervisors aren't yet confirmed for the project

How to apply

Provide a link to the relevant 'applying for a research degree page' for entry requirements and a link to the Direct Application System. For example, accounting and finance research degrees

You should not duplicate entry requirements or English language requirements already found on the pages under apply for a research degree.

Application deadline

Enter the application deadline date for the project. The project is automatically archived in the CMS once the date is passed. 

Application guidance

Use this field to provide additional guidance for prospective applicants. For example, you can provide contact details of the person that should be contacted for enquiries about the project.

School

You can associate the project with one or more Schools. 

Enquiries