The PRES survey 2026 opened on Monday 16 March 2026 and remains open until 15 May. If you cannot locate your unique link to the survey, please email doctoralschool@royalholloway.ac.uk and we will resent it to you.

 

We're keen to make sure postgraduate students have the best possible experience while studying at Royal Holloway. To do that, we need to know what you think we are doing well and what we can do better. If you're thinking about taking part this year, these are the answers to some of the questions students often ask:

 

What is PRES?

The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) is a national survey conducted by institutions across the UK and globally. The survey takes around 15 minutes to complete.

 

Why should I take part?

The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey is your chance to tell us your thoughts about your course. The results help us compare how we are doing with other institutions, to make changes that will improve what we do in future, and to keep doing the things that you value. This will help improve the experience of students like you in the future.

Please note that some departments request that you provide proof that you have completed PRES as part of your yearly progression review meeting. To check whether this is a requirement of your department, please click here. If confirmation of completion is required, you can take a screenshot of the completion screen as proof.

As a thank you for your feedback, the academic department with the highest response rate will win £250 to be used towards the organisation of a social event for their PGR students.

 

What does it cover?

PRES concentrates on your course and includes:

• Supervision
• Resources
• Research culture
• Progress and assessment
• Responsibilities
• Support
• Research skills and professional development
• Opportunities
• Overall experience
• Motivations

 

What happens to the results?

Autumn term: A report summarising your comments and suggestions is considered by the Doctoral School Committee and the Directors of Postgraduate Research Education. Your School's Director of Postgraduate Research Education  will respond to you by email / in person regarding the key points raised in this report. 

January: As part of the PGR Annual Enhancement Review in January, the Directors of PGR Education write a detailed response to the PRES survey results and draw up an action plan, which is reviewed quarterly.

Similiarly, the Doctoral School draws up an action plan to address areas of concern raised at a University level.

February: 'You said / we did' campaign launched to share with you what improvements have been made in the past couple of years in response to your feedback.

 

Is the survey anonymous?

Your survey response is confidential to the team processing the results and no reporting outside this team will identify any individual. Any results communicated to teaching staff will be anonymised.

The survey asks that any comments you make should not identify yourself or any specific member of staff.

Read our Privacy Statement for PRES.

 

What do I need to do?

You should have received an email to your Royal Holloway account on Monday 16 March 2026 with your unique link to the survey. You can also access the survey here by logging in using your Student ID as username and your date of birth (in dd/mm/yyyy format) as password. You can also access it by scanning this QR code.

 

The deadline for completion is midnight Friday 15 May 2026.

 

Where can I find out more?

If you are unsure about anything to do with the survey, or have any difficulty, please email doctoralschool@royalholloway.ac.uk.