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• PGR admissions offer workflow - for non-funded applicants
• PGR admissions and studentship offer workflow - for funded applicants
• Admissions’ policy regarding current Masters students hoping to start PhD in September 

All external PGR funding opportunities should be discussed with the Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor - PGR (Professor Dawn Watling) in the first instance. 

• Studentship Overview and Guidance
• College co-funding request workflow
• College co-funded studentship scheme
• Studentship nomination process
• Information for studentship recipients

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
  • Guide to completing the nomination form
  • Studentship funding tool - to assist with costings for studentships with multiple funders. Please contact Finance-Research-Studentships@royalholloway.ac.uk for further help
• UKRI online form - to be completed for all UKRI studentship recipients - except for those with EPSRC funding

The UKRI Disabled Student' Allowance Framework revisions come into effect from April 2025 with additional provisions for applicants whereby a new student can request a Needs Assessment before commencing their programme.

This is to enable students to have all their needs met ahead of their start date, so as not impede their studies. 

Should there be any delay to their studies due to lack of adjustments being in place at the start of their programme, any extension required as a result will have to be met financially by the University.

We have made amendments to our various webpages to enable incoming students to register with D&N and therefore request a Needs Assessment.  We have also included a new paragraph into our studentship offer letters to highlight this to new students, copied below:

UKRI runs a Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) scheme for Postgraduate Research students funded through their grants to enable students to undertake and complete their studentship.  Any reasonable adjustments that are required will be provided for by Royal Holloway following an independent assessment of need.  The aim of this assessment is to identify what reasonable adjustments can be made to provide the additional support required to undertake postgraduate study.  This can take place before the studentship has started to ensure support is in place ready for you to commence your programme in September.

To register with the Disability and Neurodiversity team and arrange for a Needs Assessment, please follow this link here.

We have worked with D&N to ensure that their webpages are updated to be clearer that there is a separate DSA scheme for PGR students and they are aware that they may register with them and have a Needs Assessment carried out before they commence their studies.

• External webpage: Disability and neurodiversity support – under the ‘reasonable adjustments’ drop-down.
• Doctoral School microsite: Supporting PGR students with their disability - Royal Holloway Doctoral School

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.

• Find out more
• Transfer in request online form

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

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.

• Supervisory team overview
• Guidance on recording percentage weighting within a supervisory team
• Roles and responsibilities within a supervisory team
• Amendments to the supervisory team
• Appointing an external supervisor or 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:

• PGR student Start of Session form 
• Change of supervisor form

You can find further guidance around the new remote studies policy below, and further information and the application request form here.

Remote studies - guidance for academics

You can find guidance around annual leave entitlements for PGRs below, and a template annual leave tracker for their use here and for Mac users here.

Leave guidance for PGRs and supervisors

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

Find out what to do if you require historic PGR data / PGR data that is not available on the PGR Student Dashboard

• Information for supervisors of postgraduate researcher on a Student Route visa
• Student Route visa engagement monitoring process
• Student Route visa - studying outside of the UK form
• Student Route visa - writing-up outside of the UK form
• Student Route visa - confirmation of withdrawal of sponsorship form

Find out more about Royal Holloway guidance on the use of Generative AI in student work

• Masters by Research - guide for departments
• MSc Biological Sciences by Research - guide for departments
• Masters by Research examination process

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

UKRI revised the Disabled Students' Allowance Framework in April 2025.

• UKRI Disabled Students’ Allowance Framework – revisions April 2025

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:

• Online change of start date form
  • Tier 4 / Student Route visa considerations
• Online change of mode of attendance form (i.e FT to PT)
  
  • Please note that Tier 4 / Student Route visa sponsored students cannot study part-time
  • If the student is funded, check that the funder permits a change of mode
• Online withdrawal form
• Online interruption form
• Online Maternity / paternity / adoption leave form
  • Tier 4 / Student route visa considerations re interruptions
• Funded Sick Leave form

 Change to registration information for postgraduate researchers

Change to registration guidance for supervisors

For any deadline extensions:

• Extension to submission deadline request form should be submitted by the student's supervisor via the Online PGR request form.

For any other suspension of regulations, the student's supervisor should submit the request via the:

• Online PGR request form 

Find out more about the extension or suspension of regulations process

Forms:

• Review form - for Masters by Research students
• Annual Review form - for MPhil/PhD students
• Pre-Submission interview form
• Return to studies meeting form

Guidance and checklists:

• Annual review process - the student annual review checklists by department can be found at the bottom of the page
• Annual review guidance - for students
• Annual review guidance - for supervisors
• Annual review checklist - for annual review panel
• Return to studies meeting guidance - for supervisors 
  • Full guidance
  • Summary guidance

Reasonable adjustments for students registered with D&N:

• General support for PhD-PGR - Staff version
• General support for PhD-PGR - Student version

Form:

• Upgrade form

Guidance and checklists:

• Upgrade process - the student upgrade checklists by department can be found at the bottom of the page
• Upgrade guidance - for students
• Upgrade guidance - for supervisors
• Upgrade checklist - for upgrade panel

Reasonable adjustments for students registered with D&N:

• General support for PhD-PGR - Staff version
• General support for PhD-PGR - Student version

For extensions related to upgrades please see Extensions and suspension of regulation requests section above.

Should you have any concerns regarding your student's attendance/engagement, academic performance, or productivity, then please contact your departmental PGR lead to discuss this in the first instance.  You can then contact the Doctoral School to discuss the best options going forward.

The Doctoral School can issue an Engagement Reminder letter, alongside requesting a wellbeing reach out, if there are any immediate concerns over a student. For more serious matters, or if problems persist, then the Formal Warning process, as set out in the University's Research Degree Regulations section 11(1), can be followed.

Please contact doctoralschool@rhul.ac.uk for further information and guidance.

Terms of Reference for School PGR Staff-Student Action Meetings

PGR reps

View the PGR training and employability experiences brochures here

The employability experiences include:

• Placement opportunities
• Alumni mentoring scheme
• Alumni speaker series

If you are supervising a postgraduate researcher who wishes to include their own published work as part of their monograph thesis, please refer to:

• Guidelines for including your own published work in a monograph thesis

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: 

• Alternative format requirements

• Overview of MPhil/PhD exam process
• Exam information for MPhil/PhD candidates
• Exam information for Masters by Research candidates

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:

• PhD/MPhil exam entry form
• Guidance on the appointment of MPhil/PhD examiners
• Guidance on completing the exam entry form
• Guidance on the appointment and role of the independent chair
• Overview of examiner approval process
• PhD/MPhil resubmission entry form

Masters by Research:

• Masters by Research exam entry form
• Masters by Research Independent Chair nomination form (if viva needed)

Vivas online are permitted on the proviso that the candidate is happy with this arrangement:

• Arranging and Conducting vivas - Guide for supervisors and independent chairs
  
• Conducting vivas online - guide for candidates

Guides and forms for PGR examiners

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:

• Extended embargo request form