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Supervisors

Information for Supervisors

If the Coronavirus pandemic has affected your student's research and thesis then please see further information about including an impact statement here: Coronavirus

 

STAGE 1 - RD1 - examination entry form

Note: paper RD1 forms are no longer accepted

As of 11th April 2022, the way you submit your RD1 form has changed, see below for steps and guidance

  • As part of the thesis submission process, your students need to submit an RD1 Examination Entry Form. This form should be submitted at least four months before their intended submission date.
    Please note the four months commences when the RD1 form has been submitted to the Research Degrees Examinations team either by the supervisor or countersignatory (where applicable)

  • The RD1 submission is now undertaken using Student Records
    Once one of your students has completed their part of the RD1 submission and submitted it to you, you will receive an automated email informing you of the submission (more information on the student task is available on the student section of the webpages)

  • To retrieve the form you will need to log into Student Records there you should be able to see the submitted forms under the 'My Online Tasks' section and and can also be found in the 'Research Degree Milestone Management' section

  • In the supervisors section of the form you are required to nominate a minimum 2 examiners (3 for joint degrees)

  • Supervisors are required to complete all the necessary information before the form can be submitted either to the countersignatory (if it's a faculty requirement) or to the Research Degrees Examinations team

 

For further information on the process and guidance please see our internal webpages which will take you through to the guidance notes:

 

Please click below for further information on:

STAGE 2 - Nominating examiners

Supervisors are required to nominate two examiners (normally external to the University) this is also done through the RD1 on Student Records as stated in Stage 1 above

Before nominating examiners supervisors should:

  • Contact the examiners to ascertain whether they are willing to examine
  • Inform the examiners that they will need to be eligible to work in the UK (see Information for Examiners) and that their right to work documentation will be requested upon invite

Please click below for further information on:

If the nominated examiners do not have sufficient examining experience, the SAB or RDEB Chair may request an Independent Chair to be nominated. Please see below for further information:

For any queries please email researchdegrees@kcl.ac.uk 

STAGE 3 - Consideration of examiners

Once the supervisor has completed the nominations on the RD1 form, it should be submitted either to a countersignatory (where applicable) or submitted to the Research Degrees Examinations team.

If submitted to a countersignatory, they will be resposnible for submitting it to the Research Degrees Examinations team

Once the RD1 form has been submitted to the Research Degrees Examinations team

We will check the RD1 form thoroughly ensuring it has been fully completed and if there are any obvious issues i.e. lack of experience in examining UK based Research Degrees or other regulatory matters, we will send the form back to the supervisor and flag the issues.

Providing all is fine, we will submit the RD1 form to the SAB.

SAB members then get the opportunity to consider the nominated examiners and provide their comments before a decision is made.

If the SAB require further information from the supervisor they can return the form directly to the supervisor, requesting the information before it is resubmitted.

The Research Degrees Examinations team will formally contact the examiners, inviting them to examine your thesis, only once the SAB have endorsed them.

If the examiners are unavailble or refuse to examine, we will return the RD1 form to the supervisor and inform them to seek new nominations, this will need to go back through the countersignatory (where applicable) and to the SAB.

Once examiners have responded and are able to examine the thesis and the SAB have endorsed them, we will seek final approval from the Chair of the Research Degrees Examination Board (RDEB Chair)

STAGE 4 - Approval of examiners

Following the endorsement of examiners by the SAB and the approval by the Chair of the Research Degrees Examination Board, the Research Degrees Examinations team will send the examiners a “Confirmation of Appointment to Examine” email. This email will be copied to the student and supervisor for your records.

STAGE 5 - Thesis submission

The student should submit their thesis by their deadline regardless of whether their examiners have been approved and appointed. 

Information on thesis submission can be found below:

STAGE 6 - Thesis dispatch

Once the examiner nominations have been approved and the examiners have agreed to examine and providing the Research Degrees Examinations team have received a PDF of your students thesis and a completed RD2 form we will normally dispatch your thesis to the examiners within two weeks.

The supervisor and student will be copied into the Dispatch of Thesis email to the examiners. If you have not received this email within 4 weeks of original submission of the RD2 form and the examiners have been approved and appointed please email our team at researchdegrees@kcl.ac.uk 

Note: that your thesis will only be dispatched providing it meets all the regulatory requirements, for e.g is submitted on time, is within the word limit etc. If for some reason it does not meet the requirements the Research Degrees Examination team will get in touch with the student and supervisor to complete an exemption request, which will need to be approved before the thesis can be dispatched. 

The PGR exemption form can be found here

STAGE 7 - Oral examination

Following the dispatch of the thesis the supervisor may go ahead and organise the oral examination.

It must be organised within three months of the thesis being dispatched by the Research Degrees Examinations team,

Please note the oral examination should not be arranged prior to the dispatch of the thesis.

Please note the Research Degrees Examinations team is not involved in the organisation of your Oral Examination and we are unable to answer queries about the location, date or time of the Oral Examination.

Once a date and format for the oral examination has been agreed, the supervisor must complete the Oral examination consent form this form notifies our team of the date of your examination, the format and who the facilitator is (if applicable).

Please see Guidance for oral examinations for further information

If there are any issues with the organisation of the Oral Examination  supervisors should email researchdegrees@kcl.ac.uk so we can assist.

 

STAGE 8 - Examiner reports and outcomes

For information on examiner reports and outcomes, please see Stage 7 on the Information for Students page:

STAGE 9 - Approval of amendments

Amendments to the thesis must be approved by who ever is responsible for checking them (this will be stated in the outcome email sent to the student).

The post amendments confirmation form must be emailed to
researchdegrees@kcl.ac.uk by who ever is responsible for checking them.

 

Please note:  The deadline for the monthly ratification of outcomes is the 24th of each month. All outcomes are ratified at the end of each month and students are emailed their outcomes within the first 2 weeks of the month following ratification

 

Supervisors may review amendments prior to submission to the examiner(s). Final checking and approval must come from the examiner(s)

 

STAGE 10 - Award

All degrees are awarded for the 1st of the month following ratification by the Research Degrees Examination Board.

Please note: the award will only be ratified if the Research Degrees Examinations team recieve the reports and or the approval of amendments by the deadline which is the 24th of each month. If the deadline is missed then the award will be ratified at the end of the following month

Examiner payments and expenses 

Fee payment and Expenses

Following the oral examination, examiners will be paid the following subject to tax:

  • £150 for PhD's 
  • £110 for all non PhD's

Examiners may also claim back  expenses incurred for the oral examination.

Please note: the maximum that the Research Degrees Examinations team are able to reimburse is £350 per examiner, any expenses above this would need to be claimed through the students department.

Supervisors should bear this in mind when nominating examiners.

Please see below for information on expenses reimbursed by the Research Degrees Examinations team

  • Expenses reimbursed by the Research Degrees Examinations team

 

Please note: payments can only be made directly to examiners. We do not pay invoices nor make payment to or via a third party, including other KCL departments or an examiner's home institution.

Note: We are unable to reimburse supervisors or the department if they pay on behalf of the examiners

 

if forms are sent  to supervisors, please forward them to researchdegrees@kcl.ac.uk

 

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