The purpose of the Research Graduate School is to facilitate and promote high quality postgraduate research. This means ensuring that postgraduate projects are completed on time, to the required standard, and that the experience adds substantially to each student's knowledge, understanding, and ability. The specific responsibilities of the Research Graduate School include assistance with applications, assignment of supervisors, the administration of progress reviews, and the allocation of financial support for travel and equipment. Students are supported individually to help each one follow his or her own interests and achieve their personal research potential.

All research students within the Faculty are affiliated to the Research Graduate School. The School works closely with the specific Research Centres in the Faculty and has involvement in all aspects of graduate student education from receiving your application through to final examination of the thesis. The School has procedures for monitoring performance, confirmation/transfer of registration, skills training and examination procedures.

A range of research degrees and programmes of differing duration and modes of study are on offer namely the MPhil, PhD and professional doctorates DEng, DTech and DInf which have particular appeal to individuals working within industry or the professions associated with Engineering and Computing & Informatics. Each programme has specific entry criteria, specified appropriate periods of study and required outcomes in accordance with University regulations.

The criterion of 'originality and significance' is what makes a research degree particularly a doctorate so valuable, world-wide. Research can be defined as 'an attempt to gain new or more applicable insights into how the world works'. In some fields this implies searching for new facts and interpreting them, while in others, the raw information may already exist but can be interpreted or applied in new ways. The essence of research therefore, is to push out the boundaries of existing understanding.

Research is a major enterprise throughout the world and because of the complexity and challenge involved, researchers often collaborate with each other. In this University and Faculty academic research staff are organised into groups and centres. This allows them to share expertise and facilities. Each member of academic staff will have on offer a number of doctoral projects appropriate to her/his research interests.