Throughout the programme, your circumstances may change, requiring you to interrupt your study. It is important that if you wish to interrupt, you inform the Doctoral School as soon as possible.
Interruption of study process
If you are funded by the University, UKRI or another external agency, there are particular factors you will need to consider before applying for the interruption of study. Please see below for details.
- Please check first that the interruption is permitted within the terms and conditions of your funding. If you are not sure, please contact the Doctoral School.
- Please note that you will not be paid your stipend during the period of time that you are on the interruption (the exception to this is if you are on the first six months of maternity, paternity or adoption leave). This means that if you have already been paid for the quarter that you are interrupting, you may be required to re-pay this to the University. If this happens, do not worry; you won’t lose out on funding, as you will receive the same total stipend amount but just with a later funding end date.
- Your interruption request will need to go through an approval process. If it is approved, your funding end date wil be amended to take into account your period of interruption.
- It is essential that you check prior to requesting the interruption that the interruption is permitted within the terms and conditions of your funding. Some research councils for example only allow you to interrupt for a total of 12 months throughout your programme. If you are not sure, please contact the Doctoral School for guidance.
- UKRI always takes precedence. If the Research Council states one set of rules that are different from the University (e.g. the maximum length of interruption you can request), the terms and conditions of your Research Council will take precedence.
- Similarly, although the thesis submission deadline set by the University may be extended due to the interruption, it may not be extended by your Research Council. In such cases, the earlier Research Council deadline takes precedence. If you have queries regarding this, please contact the Doctoral School.
- Please note that you will not be paid your stipend during the period of time that you are on the interruption (the exception to this is if you are on the first six months of maternity, paternity or adoption leave or if you are eligible for up to 13 weeks' sick leave). This means that if you have already been paid for the quarter that you are interrupting, you may be required to re-pay this to the University. If this happens, do not worry; you won’t lose out on funding, as you will receive the same total stipend amount but just with a later funding end date.
- Your interruption request will need to go through an approval process. If it is approved, your funding end date wil be amended to take into account your period of interruption. The Doctoral School will inform your research council of the interruption and the change of funding end date.
- If you are funded by an external agency, but the funding is administered through Royal Holloway (i.e. the University receives money from an agency and the University pays out your stipend), your supervisor will need to check directly with the funder whether the terms and conditions set allow interruptions at any point. This excludes any UKRI funded DTP/CDT
- Please note that you will not be paid your stipend during the period of time that you are on the interruption. This means that if you have already been paid for the quarter that you are interrupting, you may be required to re-pay this to the University. If this happens, do not worry; you won’t lose out on funding, as you will receive the same total stipend amount but just with a later funding end date.
- Your interruption request will need to go through an approval process. If it is approved, your funding end date wil be amended to take into account your period of interruption.
Find out more about interruptions for studentship recipients due to:
If you are funded and are returning from an interruption of at least 12 months due to ill health (either physical or mental), you may be eligible for a phased return from interruption: