Monthly Supervision Record (MSR) FAQs for PGRs

You can access your MSR forms from the 2026/27 academic year via Self Service. As a PGR student, you can access Self Service on- or off-campus.

You will need to login using your University email and password (similar to logging into the intranet).

Once logged into the Student Gateway, you should see and pick the link 'Monthly Supervision Record’.

If you are having difficulties accessing the MSR form, first check that you have completed online registration for 2026/27 and that your registration status is either Normally Registered (NR) or Thesis Awaited (T).

If you cannot access the form because you have not yet been progressed to your next year of study, please contact your School PGR administrator for advice

If you are unable to access Self Service, try logging in to other University services that use the same Azure login, such as the University intranet or MyUoB app. If you cannot access any of these services, the issue may be with your University account.

If you can access Self Service but cannot open your MSR form, there may be an issue with your PGR supervision account, for example if you are not correctly linked to your supervisor. If you have completed registration and believe you should have access, please contact the IT Service Desk on +44 (0)121 414 7171 or log an online call. Please provide details of the issue and the point at which you are experiencing difficulties.

If you have not been able to make contact with your supervisor you should contact your School PGR administrator

Formal supervisory meetings should normally take place monthly for full-time PGRs and every two months for part-time PGRs. In the Supervisor's Part B section of the online MSR form, supervisors are first asked whether a supervision meeting has taken place. If no supervision meeting has taken place, they will be asked whether another form of formal face-to-face contact has occurred. If no formal face-to-face contact has taken place, the form will then ask whether the PGR is studying part-time. This enables supervisors of part-time PGRs to indicate where a supervision meeting is not expected during that particular month. Supervisors should nevertheless ensure that regular contact is maintained and that formal supervision meetings take place at least every two months.

If the details of your supervisory team have changed, or if any of your supervisors are displayed incorrectly, please contact your School PGR administrator who can update this information.

The date of the supervision meeting is entered by your supervisor when completing Part B of the online MSR form, by selecting a date from the calendar. They can only select a date from the current month.

A leave of absence is a break in studies where you are not working on your research.  Therefore an MSR form is not required. Neither you or your supervisor will receive reminder emails to complete the MSR form.  

The online MSR form will become active once your start date has been reached and your registration status is normally registered (NR). For the online MSR form to be active you must have been reached your start date and you must complete online registration via the online registration pages.

The Code of Practice for Supervision & Monitoring Progress states:

“Progress of PGRs in thesis awaited status must continue to be monitored to the completion of the degree. For PGRs in thesis awaited status supervisors should maintain monthly contact with the PGR to monitor progress of the thesis against the PGR’s deadline for submission, submission of a corrected thesis or resubmission for re-examination via completion of an online MSR monthly supervision record form. The lead and/or co-supervisor(s) and the PGR should confirm that the record contains a summary of the progress of writing the thesis. All MSR records should be completed online and stored electronically and accessible by the supervisors, PGR and relevant staff within the PAU”.

Therefore the MSR form should be completed each month until the completion of your studies. You should complete Part A of the form to advise that you have submitted your corrected thesis stating the date you submitted the corrected thesis.  Your supervisor should add a comment in Part B to confirm this. 

The Code of Practice for Supervision & Monitoring Progress states:

“Progress of PGRs in thesis awaited status must continue to be monitored to the completion of the degree. For PGRs in thesis awaited status supervisors should maintain monthly contact with the PGR to monitor progress of the thesis against the PGR’s deadline for submission, submission of a corrected thesis or resubmission for re-examination via completion of an online MSR monthly supervision record form. The lead and/or co-supervisor(s) and the PGR should confirm that the record contains a summary of the progress of writing the thesis. All MSR records should be completed online and stored electronically and accessible by the supervisors, PGR and relevant staff within the PAU”.

Therefore the MSR form should be completed each month until the completion of your research degree studies. You should complete Part A of the form to advise that you have submitted the thesis for examination stating the date of submission.  Your supervisor will add a comment in Part B to confirm this. 

The online MSR form should be completed each month until the completion of studies. You should complete Part A of the form to advise that you are attending a progress review meeting (stating the date) and your supervisor will update Part B to reflect that a supervision meeting had not taken place as an in-person Annual Progress Review meeting has taken place.

The online MSR form should be completed each month until the completion of studies. You should complete Part A of the form to advise that you are attending aviva (stating the date) and your supervisor will update Part B to reflect that a supervision meeting has not taken place, but that an in person-person Viva has taken place. 

Supervision meetings should take place monthly for full-time PGRs, pro rata for part-time PGRs. Where you are working away from the University supervision contact may be by way of a remote video meeting. The online MSR form should be completed each month for the duration of the period of time that the PGR is working away from the University.

International PGRs should note that, to comply with the University's Home Office Student Sponsor Licence obligations, supervision meetings must normally take place each month and be held on campus and in person. The only exception is where a student has been formally authorised to undertake fieldwork away from the University. In such cases, Student Route visa holders must submit an Authorised Absence request and obtain approval before commencing their fieldwork.

It is possible to enter text up to a maximum of 3,500 characters.

You can log out of the MSR form by navigating to the top-right corner of the page, where your name is displayed. Click the icon to the left of your name, and then select Sign Out from the menu that appears.

Some programmes are exempt from completing the monthly MSR form.  For example where the first year of the programme is totally made up of taught modules and supervision meetings therefore do not take place, or for some Research Council funded study where different arrangements are in place as part of the funding agreement. If you are exempt from completing the MSR form, you may still receive automated email reminders requesting that the form be completed and if received these can be ignored.

If you have any queries as to whether you are exempt form completion of the online MSR form, please contact your School PGR administrator.

From 1 September 2026 The BIRMS PGR Management System, which provided a facility for the upload of completed GRS2 forms, will no longer be available for viewing previously completed forms.

You will be able to access any previously cmplete monthly supervision records (including GRS2s) through Self Service.