Support - Postgraduate Taught & Research Students

We know that postgraduate degrees can be very different to your experience as an undergraduate and adjusting to any new way of working can sometimes be stressful.  As such, we want to ensure all of our postgraduate students know where to receive advice and support.

Newcastle University Students’ Union and Newcastle University have collaborated on this page to share resources available to all of our postgraduate students.

Some of the resources listed, such as staff-student networks, are more suitable for postgraduate research students, whilst others are open for all postgraduates to use. Remember all services are FREE.

We hope that both postgraduate taught (e.g. Master’s programmes) and postgraduate research students (e.g. PhD programmes) make use of these FREE resources.

NUSU Postgraduate Officer

You can contact Newcastle University Students’ Union’s Postgraduate Officer if you would like help finding support or have a query or issue. The Postgraduate Officer works as a student representative of all postgraduate students and can help raise issues to different departments within the Students’ Union and University. The Postgraduate Officer cannot take on individual casework but they can direct you to the most appropriate support services or contacts if you ask for support.

The Postgraduate Officer runs events, activities and drop-in sessions for postgraduate students. You can find information about these and more support resources at the NUSU PG Hub webpage.

Student Union Advice Centre

Newcastle University Students’ Union runs the Student Advice Centre. This service is available for all students, including postgraduates, offering specialist advice in academic, financial, housing, personal and employment issues. All appointments are currently being conducted online/by telephone. The Student Advice Centre is independent from the University, and will manage your queries.

Postgraduate Advice Line

The 24/7 Advice Line is free and confidential and is available for all postgraduate students.

Here you can talk to professionals 24/7 and receive advice on common life concerns e.g.:

• family
• mental health
• stress
• finances

CALL 0800 030 5182

or sign in online with the username: Newcastle and password: University to access support resources on the website. 

Student Health and Wellbeing Services

All postgraduate students can use the Student Wellbeing Service to access finance support, faith and spirituality services, disability support and counselling appointments, support after and experience of sexual violence or a hate crime.

Other free resources include:

• Silvercloud which hosts a suite of online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy programmes, which can be tailored to your specific needs. Sessions relating to stress, depression, anxiety and positive body image are available to all students at no cost.
• Talk Campus a confidential 24/7 peer support service.

Wellbeing Workshops & Practical Support

Many postgraduate students will be familiar with the NCL Workshops site, which hosts many researcher development workshops. There are also wellbeing workshops offered by the Student Health Wellbeing Service, including specific workshops tailored for PGRs which focus on resilience and mental health. These are free and offer an opportunity to engage with a practical workshop run by trained staff from the Mental Health and Counselling Team.

Staff-Student Networks

There are several staff-student networks at the University.  Some are more tailored at postgraduate research students (e.g. PhD students), but any postgraduate can contact them with a query.  These networks are especially a good source of support for our students from under-represented groups, who may benefit from the social support of meeting other students and staff with similar experiences or backgrounds.  Many of the networks have a mailing list with regular emails circulated, as well as specific events and opportunities advertised within the networks.