Edinburgh Napier University

Dedicated supervision

As a research student at Edinburgh Napier, you’ll be allocated a dedicated team of supervisors with research expertise in your field, who will meet you regularly and guide you through your research project. To be sure you receive the best possible supervision, all our supervisors undergo mandatory training and ongoing professional development – and are themselves supported through our Research Degrees Team.

In addition to your team of supervisors, you’ll also be allocated an independent panel chair, who will oversee the formal reviews that take place twice a year, to ensure your research is on track. The panel chair can provide further support when needed, acting as an additional source of advice or a listening ear that is independent of your direct supervisors.

We find this combination works well to help guide students successfully through their research and our students agree. In the UK-wide 2021 Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES), 94% of our students said their supervisors had the skills and subject knowledge to support their research and 90% said their supervisors provided the feedback they needed to help direct their research activities.

Your research community

Edinburgh Napier provides a strong community for our research students, through their relationship with supervisors and the wider research networks available within each school and across the University. We’re a small institution, which allows us to get to know all our research students well and help them develop individually as researchers over the course of their degree.

You will have plenty of opportunities to interact with other researchers, both research students and staff, from your department and beyond, through our research seminars, events and conferences, run both within the different schools and by our multi-disciplinary research centres.

The student research community has a voice on relevant University committees through elected Postgraduate Research Degree Representatives, who help to influence our polices and decision making that impact on research students. The PRD reps also run social activities that bring research students together, both within schools and across the University.

Development and training

When you graduate from Edinburgh Napier with a research degree, we want to be sure you have also gained a wide set of skills that will help you to flourish in whatever sector and career path you choose. The research development and training we provide will equip you for a range of different roles, whether in academia or in other fields.

Since 2010, our commitment to career development for our researchers has been recognised by a HR Excellence in Research Award from the European Commission. We make the same commitment to all our researchers, both students and staff.

Where possible, additional funding is also available through each school for students to take advantage of specific research opportunities that might arise during their studies, such as research placements or external conferences. 

Our research development programme helps you build confidence as an independent researcher and develop wider expertise through training in:

• research methods
• research ethics
• academic writing and presentation
• advanced study skills
• career development within and beyond academia
• personal development.

The training is delivered through a mix of face-to-face and virtual workshops alongside online resources that can be accessed at any time.