From 01 August 2022 (TBC), when you are creating an application for a research student or confirming the outcome of a progression review, you will need to ensure that the synopsis and subject code(s) meet the following guidance.

Synopsis

A research student’s project synopsis should be a concise summary of the proposed research. The synopsis will be the basis of your coding of the project. It may be audited internally and, if the student requires ATAS clearance, the student will need to provide the synopsis as part of their ATAS application.

Project coding information may also be returned to HESA as part of our regular statistics returns.

Good examples

All of these would be acceptable as they are an appropriate length (80-150 words) and show an appropriate level of detail.

1. Composite tubes are used in many engineering applications including pneumatics, robotics, aeronautics, and manufacturing engineering. This research aims to investigate the failure characteristics of glass-epoxy composite tubes subjected to compression loading under changing thermal gradients. Experimental tests will be conducted to better understand how biaxial compressive strength varies with temperature and material characteristics. Testing will include strain measurements, indentation testing and crack analysis. Results from experimental measurements will be used to develop an improved analytical model for the mechanical performance of composite tubes.
2. Sonic booms from supersonic aircraft create numerous difficulties, including environmental disruption and aero-elastic stressing of an aircraft superstructure. This research will explore the use of automatic differentiation using the reverse mode, together with adjoint-based optimal design, to minimise the sonic boom around an aircraft. The project will involve mathematical analysis and computer programming using the NAG library, together with experimental verification using a Mach 3 capable supersonic wind tunnel. Experimental instrumentation will include Laser Doppler Anemometry for flow field measurement and Schlieren photography for shock wave visualisation.
3. This research project will investigate the regulation of expression and function of the inducible L-arginine-nitric oxide pathway in cultured vascular cells. The aim is to define the signalling mechanism(s) that regulate the induction of both nitric oxide synthase and the cationic amino acid transport proteins associated with uptake of L-arginine into cells. The project will involve cells in culture and basic molecular techniques including qPCR analysis, protein biochemistry, western blotting, qPCR analysis, mRNA isolation quantification and analysis. Satellite imagery offers several potential benefits for the analysis of environmental phenomena. This project proposes to use SPOT2 multi-spectral data to analyse sediment concentrations in the Mississippi River delta. Reflectance measurements will be calibrated against in-situ field measurements of sediment load. These sediment data will then be integrated into a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model of the Mississippi River delta with the aim of developing improved sediment transport models for complex stratified estuarine flows.

Bad examples

These are examples of what not to do with an explanation in bold.

1. The student will work in material science on a PhD programme. They will carry out experimental tests, analysis and report writing. Testing will include strain measurements, indentation testing and crack analysis.
   Reason for being poor: insufficient information on the scope and application / use of the research. Little context provided and terms such as material science are too broad. You should give more detail on which experimental tests and what methods / techniques the student might be exposed to. However, it is useful to know the sorts of measurements and testing the student might undertake.
2. This project will involve the mathematical analysis of sonic booms from aircraft. The work will involve automatic differentiation. It is possible that some verification with experimental measurements will be conducted. The project will involve mathematical analysis and computer programming using the NAG library.
   Reason for being poor: insufficient information on the application / use of the research. The summary does provide some useful methods and techniques, such as automatic differentiation, computer programming, the NAG library, and experimental measurements, but it would be helpful to know a little more about the type testing that might be carried out and whether this was being applied to civilian aircraft at relatively low speeds or military aircraft at considerably higher speeds.
3. Satellite imagery offers several potential benefits for the analysis of environmental phenomena. The applications of this are as diverse as disaster management, analysis of agricultural products, flooding and sediment deposition in river basins and remote mapping. This project proposes to use SPOT2 multi-spectral data to analyse sediment concentrations in the Mississippi River delta. Satellite images will be acquired from several international sources and scanned into a computer using a high-resolution scanner. After image processing reflectance information at specific frequencies will be extracted. Field measurements of sediment load will be carried out using eight boats during March and April when the sediment load is at its lightest in the delta. Samples will be taken simultaneously on a 10m grid, across the delta, then stored in sealed tubes and returned to the University for analysis. At the same time as physical sampling, measurements will be made with acoustic and laser devices to determine in-situ suspended sediment load at depths of 0.2m, 0.5m, 1m, 1.5m and 2m from the surface. The satellite reflectance measurements will be calibrated against the in-situ field measurements of sediment load. These sediment data will then be integrated into a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model of the Mississippi River delta with the aim of developing improved sediment transport models for complex stratified estuarine flows.
   Reason for being poor: Too much information. It provides the application / use of the research and some information on the type of satellite and measurements being made. However, too much information is provided on how the research will be carried out and when. It would be useful to detail the type of satellite data, that field sediment measurements are being taken and compared against reflectance, but information on 10m grids, scanning data, depth measurements, etc, is unnecessary.

[Source: FCDO Memorandum]

HECoS Coding

Once a synopsis has been agreed, it will need to be assigned a Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) coding following these rules:

• At least one code
• Up to five codes, however coding should be economical. More than three would be exceptional.
• Coding should represent the academic subject areas covered rather than the pedagogical methods employed. For example (100962) research skills should not be used unless the research being conducted is into research skills.
• No codes for content that will contribute less than 5% of the research

You will also need to include an approximate weighting for each code entered to represent how much that subject area will contribute to the research.

You can find HECoS codes by typing in the search box in the MySIS task. If you are finding it difficult to find appropriate codes, please see the full list of HECoS codes with descriptions (the ‘simple’ sheet within the workbook contains definitions and any notes on scope for each code).

[Source: HECoS implementation guide | HESA]