Training

Proteum training Year 1

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 from 9am - 5pm.

  • Wednesdays - you must schedule your travel to arrive at the traing host campus ‘ready to learn’ for 12:30pm. Accommodation is provided for one night. 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 CDT Design Project day - the cohort should arrange any online sessions themselves.

Travel - you must arrange your own return train ticket (standard class, off peak, single ticket each way, using a national railcard) using the KeyTravel process outlined here.

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 recieve 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 - see slide decks here

Travel Itinierary

  • 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 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 : Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday 30thNov/1st/2nd/3rd/4th December - Tritium Fuel Cycles @ the University of Manchester full week on campus

  • Week 11 : Wednesday/Thursday 9th/10th December -Law & Ethics @ the University of Liverpool

  • Week 12 : Wednesday/Thursday 16/17th Decemeber - Experiments @ the University of Sheffield

  • January - visits to fusion industry & UKAEA Culham campus *full week itinerary with a research poster and flash presentation by each student.

  • March/April - visit to Heysham Nuclear Power station, Morecambe Bay

  • September - 2-day Workshop on Media production for online comms [vlog, podcast] @ the University of Sheffield

Cohort Design Project

From October to July the cohort work in teams on a design challenge that is set in week 5 and supervised by the CDT Director, Professor Lee Margetts. This will the cohort self-directing their time and the project delivery.

  • Week 5 - Project Launch.

  • Weeks 6 to 12 - Self-directed sessions. with a full Design Prject week in week 7.

  • January - Presentation (in-person event)

  • April - Draft White Paper submission

  • July - Presentation at the annual CDT Conference

  • September - White paper submission

Deuterium training Year 1

This is a blend of training and doctoral research, from January to June of Year 1. Your tasks in this period are;

  1. 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.

  2. 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 oportunity for PGRs from across the UK to give a presentation about their doctoral project.

  3. 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 univeristy in semester 2.

  4. 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 prgoression 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

  • Univeristy of Sheffield - Guidance here

  • University of Liverpool - Guidance here

  • University of Birmingham - Guidance here

Tritium training Years 2, 3, 4

This is across Years 2, 3 and 4 of the programme, and aims to support the completion of a porfolio 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.

  1. [Year 2 / Unit 1 / Autumn] ‘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]. Learning outcomes: organisational skills, chairing meetings, critical review of publications, awareness of EngD topics across the CDT.

  2. [Year 2 / Unit 2 / Winter] ‘External Engagement’ - A student-led external engagement activity, such as; hosting an A-level placement project [approx 2-wk duration in a project-linked topic], Fusion policy engagement, KS2/3/4 lesson reources/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.

  3. [Year 2 / Unit 3 / Spring] ‘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.

  4. [Year 3 / Unit 4 / Autumn] ‘Impacting Industry’ - Working with a fusion SME as technical consultants, on a part time project (1-3h per week), in teams self-selecting to proposed projects. Learning outcomes:Project management skills, Communication skills, Business reporting & presentation, Understanding industry business priorties,

  5. [Year 3 / Unit 5 / Winter] ‘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.

  6. [Year 3 / Unit 6 / Spring] ‘Data Qualification for Nuclear’ - Short course provided by UKAEA. Learning outcomes: Data collection, error mgmt, Qualification for nuclear, Auditable trail of standards for calibration.

  7. [Year 4 / Unit 7 / Autumn] ‘Fusioneer Careers’ - CEng portfolio review with professionally qualified fusion engineers via Portfolio writing retreat & Quarterly supervisor review. Learning outcomes: CEng competencies portfolio completion, CV preparation, Career options to consider, How to build an online CV.

  8. [Year 4 / Unit 8 / Winter] ‘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.

  9. [Year 4 / Unit 9 / Spring] ‘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.