PY7003 - Skills and techniques in sleep and circadian research

Much of the learning on this module will be experiential, including student-led workshops where you will work collaboratively in small groups. You will also participate in a combination of lectures, workshops, demonstrations and tutor guided learning, led by experienced senior researchers and designed to provide breadth and depth of knowledge of research skills relevant to Sleep and Chronobiology. The module will be delivered by a core set of academics, but you will also benefit from certain topics being presented by experts in their own fields. You will also develop employability skills by gaining access to a range of experiences, resources and developing an awareness of potential career pathways.

Resources will be available via the e-learning portal, including lecture slides, related supplementary materials, workshop materials, recommended readings and free-to-download relevant software packages. Announcements and discussion boards via Blackboard will be set up to encourage staff-student communication. Staff will be available to contact via e-mail or arranged face-to-face meetings outside of teaching sessions.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding:
K&U1: Understand the ways in which research projects are designed, conducted, and assessed, with an understanding of their impact on wider society.

K&U2: Summarise and critically evaluate current knowledge, theory and evidence relevant to a range of specialist techniques within sleep and chronobiology.

K&U3: Learn to use open-source research tools in accordance with sustainable, open-science practices.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
IPSA1: Apply a variety of techniques, advanced research methods and technological skills to promote independent research

IPSA2: Identify and reflect on your research skill development and competency.

IPSA3: Understand how to communicate with a wide range of audiences, disseminating research effectively in a range of outputs.

Personal Values Attributes:
PVA1: Synthesise research, theory and skills through reflective practice to enhance self-awareness, employability and professional identity.

Formative assessment:
The development of a participant recruitment advert, a PhD research proposal summary and responding to a referee’s comments will provide students with formative assessment (K&U1, IPSA2, PVA1).
Feedback will be given to the group in class at the end of each class or in the following class and will be summarised in written form on Blackboard.

Summative assessment:
The module assessment will comprise three components:

Part 1 – 25%: Objective Structured Practical Examination (OSPE), which will provide the opportunity for students to demonstrate their achievement of learning outcomes K&U1, K&U2, IPSA 1, IPSA2. 25 minutes.

Part 2 – 50%: a reflective blog which highlights the student’s skill set and learning progress during the course of the module and accompanying commentary. This will provide the opportunity for students to demonstrate their achievement of learning outcomes K&U1, K&U3, IPSA2, IPSA3, PVA1. 2500 words.

Part 3 – 25%: a written assignment in the form of a critical literature review citing at least one technique presented in the module, which will provide the opportunity for students to demonstrate their achievement of learning outcome KU2. 1500 words.
Individual feedback will be provided in written form for every assessment, along with cohort level feedback

N/A

N/A

This module is the heart of the MRes in Sleep and Chronobiology. You will learn how to develop proper research design, implementation, and report processes. You will be presented with Innovative techniques for programming sleep and chronobiology experiments, as well as state-of-the-art methods and techniques, such as the gold-standard sleep diagnosis test - polysomnography (PSG). You will develop your practical research skills through intensive hands-on sessions to build an impressive portfolio of competencies to become a successful researcher. This mix of weekly lectures, workshops and practical activities includes project planning, research ethics, funding, employability skills, publication and review, conference presentation skills and media awareness. This module is research-led and research-oriented, meaning that you will spend time learning about research methods, but also develop skills learning how to conduct your own research. In student-led sessions, small groups will be encouraged to work collaboratively. Assessments will comprise an Objective Structured Practical Examination, a reflective blog and a literature review to enable you to build up a repository of personal skills that can aid in building on future education or employability skills.