A current Graduate Teaching Assistant

My name is Anna Liza Kyprianou. I am in my second year of my PhD in the School of Law at the
University of Leicester. My PhD pertains to international commercial arbitration. In particular, my
research area is about the relationship between state and international commercial arbitration. I'm
particularly interested in the relationship between national laws and national courts and arbitration.
And I'm examining the theoretical underpinnings of that relationship.

So my research method is doctrinal. So I use theories to investigate my research question. It is not

comparative. It is not empirical. A lot of other students at the moment are doing a comparative
analysis, which is to compare jurisdictions, compare countries, and so on, or empirical, which
requires one to collect data and analyse them and research question via those routes.

I'm using, therefore, mainly theory to analyse and answer my research question, and to investigate
the theoretical foundations of international commercial arbitration and its relationship with the
state and national laws.

I'm a GTA. GTA stands for a graduate teaching assistant. A graduate teaching assistant is basically a
PhD student who got a scholarship, and is considered a member of the staff. A GTA position comes
with a waiver for the PhD fees, for the EU or home students, and with reduced fees for international
students. In my position as graduate teaching assistant, I am teaching currently contract law
tutorials. I teach six hours per week. I have an excellent, excellent module convenor, who is very
supportive.

In order to apply for a GTA position, you just need to have a masters or equivalent to a masters. And
no prior teaching experience is required, although it is beneficial to have. I didn't have an official
teaching experience before teaching as a GTA here. I'm basically teaching to the undergraduates, the
first-year undergraduate students. I'm teaching tutorials, which is a small group of students,
maximum nine students. Every two weeks the lesson changes. So every two weeks I'm teaching a
new subject.

A graduate teaching assistant can sit in the staff meetings, is aware of what is happening in the
school, and what are any changes that are going to take place. So that there is something very
beneficial also for us when we are teaching. We can inform the students about assessment methods
or anything that can be taught from the staff meetings.

I basically found out about the GTA position from a lecturer at the University of Leicester, while
doing my master's degree. After seeing the announcement, I immediately prepared an application.
The application it's mainly a proposal of the PhD, of our PhD, which is around 1,500 words.

In the proposal, we have to refer our topic, the theoretical. The theoretical background of the
research, the research methodology that we are going to use, the research question that we are
trying to address and answer. And basically anything that pertains to the PhD that we are applied
for.

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