Does this seem normal to the Brits?

This Brit didn't understand it either. They didn't have taught research students in my day (or they didn't call them that).
#8, TSL is the benign disease Transposed Letter Syndrome.

#6 -- The US doesn't have an equivalent term because (I believe) we would assume that nearly all graduate programs would include both course work and research.

Thanks all.

Agree with #6. It's not a great sentence but makes sense to me. It's the opening ("Academic publishing now customarily surrounds the canonical authors with...") that I had to re-read.

Even a PhD, Vinny?

Course work is not unusual in a US PhD program, Myanmarbound. I can't say whether it's always there.

There is a distinction in some Masters Degree programs: degree by exam and degree by thesis. That is, in some programs, you get the Masters through coursework and exams; in others you must prepare a thesis, in addition to coursework. The latter is the most common. I don't know of any specific name for such programs, however. I've never heard of a PhD by exam, although MD, DDS, DVM, and PharmD (pharmacists) don't usually involve research and a thesis.

BTW, in my circles, masters candidates always do a "thesis." PHD candidates do a "dissertation," although it is sometimes also called a "thesis." Masters candidates don't do dissertations. Bachelor degrees that require some sort of research usually include a "project" but it might be called a "thesis."

The first PhD program that showed up when I searched for "PhD coursework" was a Stanford Graduate School of Business PhD program. It has required coursework.
>Each field of study requires its students to complete a minimum of courses both in the chosen field and from various other disciplines. Years 1 and 2 of the Program are focused primarily on fulfilling the General Program Requirement and field requirements. A student normally takes four courses (11 to 16 units) per quarter until these coursework requirements are completed...it is not unusual for students to enroll in a significant number of courses in the departments of Economics, Engineering, or Sociology

Looking at other programs, I see a lot of coursework. It's often research methodology. Students entering a PhD program after already getting a Masters may already have covered some of the coursework. If you want a PhS in Computer Science at the U. of Illinois, you need "inimum number of coursework hours: 48 (16 with an approved M.S.)"

It's my understanding as a Brit that most postgraduate degrees are offered on the basis of either a 'taught' or 'research' track, so while the phrases 'taught student' and 'research student' are very normal, 'taught research student' did give pause for thought.

My understanding is that US graduate education is based on (19th-century) German graduate education. That may explain why the US and British systems differ so much.