Expected turnaround times for responding to emails / processing forms
Before the start of the PGR programme:
All external PGR funding opportunities should be discussed with the Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor - PGR (Professor Dawn Watling) in the first instance.
To be submitted to the Doctoral School for processing:
- PGR studentship nomination form - please ensure that the source of funding is in place before submitting the form to the Doctoral School team for processing
- UKRI online form - to be completed for all UKRI studentship recipients - except for those with EPSRC funding
If a postgraduate researcher who started their research at another institution wishes to transfer to Royal Holloway to continue with the same research, a Transfer in request online form needs to be complete before the standard application process via Admissions.
A Guest Researcher is normally a postgraduate student from another institution who is invited by a member of Royal Holloway academic staff to complete research projects which will be beneficial to both Royal Holloway and the Guest Researchers. The length of the visit can vary, depending on the needs of the research project.
Find out more about the application process
The PhD by Prior Publication award is designed to recognise current Royal Holloway staff members who have produced a significant body of research which is equivalent in standard to a PhD.
Find out more
During the PGR programme:
Each student is allocated a supervisory team, which will include as a minimum two members: a principal (first) supervisor and either a second supervisor or an advisor.
All new postgraduate researchers are required to complete a Supervisory team arrangement form so that the Doctoral School can record this information - which can then be viewed on the Student Dashboard:
The PGR Student Dashboard provides you with up-to-date information about the PGR students you supervise.
Find out more about the information available on the PGR Student Dashboard and how to access this
If you have concerns about the wellbeing of one of your students, please do let the Doctoral School know. The Doctoral School can:
- liaise with the University Wellbeing team to ensure the student is made aware of the expert support offered by the University
- provide advice on the different options available from a student record perspective e.g. whether a change of mode / interruption / extension request may be worth considering
Wellbeing information for postgraduate researchers
The following online forms are to be completed by the postgraduate researcher and submitted to the Doctoral School for processing. These requests will not be processed until supervisory / departmental approval has been obtained separately by the Doctoral School:
Change to registration information for postgraduate researchers
Change to registration guidance for supervisors
For any deadline extensions:
For any other suspension of regulations, the student's supervisor should submit the request via the:
Find out more about the extension or suspension of regulations process
Overview of Annual Review and Upgrade process
To be submitted to the Doctoral School for processing:
Annual Review and Upgrade information for postgraduate researchers
You can find supervisory guidance on the types of reasonable adjustments that you may wish to consider for any postgraduate researcher who is registered with the Disability and Neurodiversity Services here.
Guidance for students can be found here.
For extensions related to upgrades please see Extensions and suspension of regulation requests section above.
At the end of the PGR programme:
If you are supervising a postgraduate researcher who wishes to include their own published work as part of their monograph thesis, please refer to:
If you are supervising a postgraduate researcher who wishes to present their thesis in a format other than a monograph i.e. they wish to present it as a series of papers (including book chapters, journal articles, or conference proceedings), please refer to:
You can find supervisory guidance on the types of reasonable adjustments that you may wish to consider for any postgraduate researcher who is registered with the Disability and Neurodiversity Services here.
Guidance for students can be found here.
You can find the marking guidelines for any postgraduate researcher who is registered with the Disability and Neurodiversity Services, and been flagged with a 'Green Sticker' for a SpLD here.
These guidelines should be taken into account for ALL written assessments, including the thesis/dissertation.
You can find a guide compiled by Chloe Farahar (University of Kent) on how to support your autistic / neurodivergent PhD student during their viva here.
It is recommended that the form is submitted to the Doctoral School team at least two months prior to submission - to allow time for the examiners and independent chair to be approved and invited before the thesis is submitted:
PhD / MPhil:
Masters by Research:
Vivas online are permitted on the proviso that the candidate is happy with this arrangement:
If an embargo of more than two years is being requested, this form should completed and returned to the Doctoral School team alongside the entry form: