Training
Proteum
Proteum training is for the first 12 weeks of Year 1 the CDT programme (October to December inclusive).
Mondays - this is your doctoral project day - please arrange meetings with your supervisors and any project related activities for this day of the week.
Tuesdays - online CDT training sessions through Teams between 9am - 5pm.
Wednesdays - you must schedule your travel using Key Travel to arrive at the traing host campus ‘ready to learn’ for 12:30pm. Accommodation is provided for one night for visiting students. Sessions will also be available online through Teams to those with permission to attend online in the event of illness, or other approved reasons not to travel.
Thursdays - you must arrive on campus ‘ready to learn’ for 9am. Sessions will also be available online through Teams to those with permission to attend online. Travel back to your home campus should be arranged for the afternoon from 1pm onwards.
Fridays - this is a PhD and CDT Design Project day - the cohort should arrange any online sessions themselves.
Travel - you must arrange your own return train ticket through Key Travel (standard class, off peak, single ticket each way, using a national railcard). See the Budgets page for more information on using Key Travel.
Expenses - we will arrange a Protium Bursary payment in the induction week, to cover two lunches and one dinner (£60 per week) for any week in the Protium training when you are away from your usual campus. All students will need to add their bank account details into MyManchester to receive the bursary. With prior approval you may claim for exceptional other costs via itemised receipts - see expense claim information here.
Teams etiquette - your camera should ON and your microphone should be OFF at the start of the meeting - and remain so unless the trainer advises otherwise. You must be ready to learn for the advertised start time of the session.
Training Resources - will be available online.
Draft Travel Itinerary 2026
*Dates below are the dates of in-person sessions:
Week 1 : Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday 28th/29th/30thSep/1st Oct - Induction - University of Manchester
Week 2 : Wednesday/Thursday 7th/8th October - Introduction to Fusion @ the University of Manchester
Week 3 : Wednesday/Thursday 14th/15th October - Plasmas @ the University of Birmingham
Week 4 : Wednesday/Thursday 21st/22nd October - Materials & Manufacturing @ the University of Birmingham
Week 5 : Wednesday/Thursday 28th/29th October - Design Lifecycles @ the University of Manchester
Week 6 : Wednesday/Thursday 4th/5th November - Digital Engineering @ the University of Sheffield
Week 7 : Cohort Design Project Sprint week - no in-person sessions, students arrange the timetable
Week 8 : Wednesday/Thursday 18th/19th November - Power Generation @ the University of Liverpool
Week 9 : Wednesday/Thursday 25th/26th November - Research Skills @ the University of Sheffield
Week 10 : Sunday/Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday 30thNov/1st/2nd/3rd/4th December - Tritium Fuel Cycles @ the University of Manchester [likely to be the full week on campus]
Week 11 : Wednesday/Thursday 9th/10th December - Law & Ethics @ the University of Liverpool
Week 12 : Wednesday/Thursday 16/17th December - Experiments @ the University of Sheffield
19/20/21st January - visits to fusion industry & UKAEA Culham campus *with a PhD research poster and flash presentation by each student, and a group presentation on the Design Project Plan.
Cohort Design Project Timeline
From November to July the cohort will work in teams on a Friday for a design challenge that is launched in week 5.
29.Oct - Project Launch.
Weeks 6 to 11 - Self-directed sessions
15.Dec - Presentation, Feedback & Peer Review 1
20. Jan - Presentation (in-person event)
01.Mar - Draft White Paper, Feedback & Peer Review 2
01.Jun - Final White Paper, Feedback & Peer Review 3
14.Jul - Group Presentation at the annual CDT Conference
Deuterium
This is a blend of training and doctoral research, from January to June of Year 1. Your tasks in this period are;
Design Project -The cohort design project runs from October to July. Students will work in teams to design a fusion energy plant sub-system, with the aim of writing a white paper.
National Student Conference in Fusion Engineering - the CDT hosts an annual PGR event, across two days in early July, at one of the partner universities, to provide an opportunity for PGRs from across the UK to give a presentation about their doctoral project.
Project-specific training - Identify and complete existing courses or training in technical areas that will support your doctoral project. This might be attending lectures for courses that are run at your university in semester 2.
Doctoral progression report - your university will require you to pass a doctoral progression milestone. This milestone is known by different terms (transfer report, confirmation review) and it is very important that you plan for being ready to submit your report in June/July. Your progression review will be arranged and assessed by your home university supervisor - you should follow the standard milestone timelines for your university – usually this is;
report submission at 9 months (by 1st July) - The progress report will typically require a literature review to indicate that you understand current state-of-the-art for your research question, a research plan, a list of relevant training that you have completed, awareness of risks and mitigations, and your preliminary results.
viva examination by 11 months (by 1st September) - please ask your local PGR office and supervisor about making the viva appointment
completion of the progression milestone by 12 months (1st October).
As this process is university-specific, please see below for some links to further guidance at some of the universities in the CDT.
University of Manchester - Guidance here
University of Sheffield - Guidance here
University of Liverpool - Guidance here
University of Birmingham - Guidance here
Tritium
This is across Years 2, 3 and 4 of the programme, and aims to support the completion of a portfolio of CEng competencies and employability skills through quarterly training units (Autumn, Winter, Spring each year). Some units are short duration, others far longer, to ensure relevant learning and impact/employability outcomes.
All students must register to attend Tritium workshops using the Training Workshop Registration Form. IMPORTANT - if do not book onto any Workshop before the advetised registration deadline, you will need to arrange your own travel and accommodation and expense it to your project Conssmables budget at your host university.
All students must record the competencies developed through Year 2, 3 and 4 in the CEng Competencies Register.
Year 2 Workshops
CDT Network
An online seminar and journal club series, arranged by PGRs in self-segmented research themes [such as Advanced Materials & Manufacturing, Digital Twins & Virtual Engineering, Breeder Blankets & Fuel Cycle, Structural Integrity, Diagnostics & Sensing Sustainability, Policy & Infrastructure].
Each student should arrange a seminar, to be delivered online, arranging a speaker and topic that supports the UKAEA Fusion Strategy to widen participation into fusion.
Journal Clubs should be be open for wide participation emain
Learning outcomes: organisational skills, chairing meetings, critical review of publications, awareness of EngD topics across the CDT.
External Engagement
A 3-day workshop to learn how to design, produce and deliver outreach and creative media for student-led external engagement activities, such as;
hosting an A-level placement project [approx 2-wk duration in your PhD project topic]
Fusion policy engagement
School outreach via Y7, 8, 9 lesson resources/delivery activity
Media production for online comms [vlog, podcast]
Learning outcomes: Research project supervision, Project proposal including budget & scope, Non-technical impact creation, Direct engagement outside of usual network, Communication skills.
Data Science Skills
Short course provided by the RSE team at the University of Manchester.
Learning outcomes: Storage of data, Sharing of data, meta-data standards, data management plans.
Year 3 Workshops
Impacting Industry -
Working with a fusion SME as technical consultants, on a part time project (1-3h per week)
Teams of students aim to provide technical R&D to a real issue rasied by a fusion SME.
Project runs from January to June.
Learning outcomes: Project management skills, Communication skills, Business reporting & presentation, Understanding industry business priorities
Coding skills
Short course provided by the RSE team at the University of Manchester.
Learning outcomes: Software use cases - Python, VS, R, Spyder, Jypiter, Anaconda, Version control for thesis, Coding skills.
Data Qualification for Nuclear
Short course provided by UKAEA.
Learning outcomes: Data collection, error mgmt, Qualification for nuclear, Auditable trail of standards for calibration.
Year 4 Workshops
Fusioneer Careers
CEng portfolio review with professionally qualified fusion engineers via Portfolio writing retreat & annual peer review.
Learning outcomes: CEng competencies portfolio completion, CV preparation, Career options to consider, How to build an online CV.
Standards and Codes
Short course building awareness of Codes & Standards, delivered by industry speakers.
Learning outcomes: Building awareness of Codes & Standards in the nuclear/fusion sector, Review for own thesis inclusion.
Safety in practice
Short course linked to West Burton STEP.
Learning outcomes: Building awareness of real site constraints, Understanding the challenges of designing for safety in practise in a highly complex safety-critical environment.
Conferences & Summer Schools
This budget is managed by the CDT.
Proposals (see link below) should set out how your £5,500 budget will be used to maximum impact and benefit for your research and thesis.
Your conference budget supports;
your attendance at the CDT conference in your first year,
project-specific conferences that you are presenting at,
attending a summer school linked to your proejct.
How to access the budget:
Complete the proposal Google Form below.
Await confirmation from the CDT that it is approved.
Once approved, follow the UoM PGR Travel Process or the Non-UoM PGR Travel Process for your travel and accommodation.
If you need to register for an event online using a credit card, please complete the Credit Card Request Form. See example copy. Non-UoM students - send the credit card form to Fran, UoM students - send the form to your local ops team with the CDT project code that Fran has sent to you (it is a person specific code).