Welcome to the Postgraduate Research External Examiners webpages, below you will find all the information required for your role as an examiner at King's.

Right to work checks are required by law to be carried out for all examiners before they start work at King’s College London, regardless of their immigration status or nationality. This is irrespective of the length or nature of the employment or the fact that the individual is already employed in another higher education institution.

Examiners are responsible for ensuring that they comply with UK immigration law.

Before examiners are appointed, the Research Degrees Examinations Team will email examiners an invitation to examine the student’s thesis, once they have been nominated by the supervisor.

This is to determine whether they are willing and available to examine the student and to check that they meet the criteria specified within the academic regulations, as well as verify their right to work in the UK and obtain identification documentation.

Further information on right to work checks can be found on the King’s HR webpages here and on the government website here

You will find information about the documentation required by the Research Degrees Examinations Team and further details about sending the documentation and retention at here

For guidance on oral examinations and general guidance for examining a King's College London research degree, please see below:

At King’s Doctoral students can submit a thesis incorporating publications, the guidelines we provide are not prescriptive as it may vary between disciplines. The guidance document below may help examiners understand what it includes.

If you wish to check King's Academic Regulations these can be found below:

• Academic Regulations

The Research Degrees Examinations Team are happy to support you with the interpretation of the regulations or if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at researchdegrees@kcl.ac.uk.

In line with the academic regulations when the examiners appointed are unable to reach an agreement when approving amendments or following a re-examination, they shall report this to the Research Degrees Examinations Board, via the Research Degrees Examinations Team (researchdegrees@kcl.ac.uk) whom shall appoint an additional examiner who is external to the university.

See below for further guidance:

The oral examination may require an Independent Chair. For guidance on Independent Chairs and their role, please see below:

Examiners will be sent the examination documentation within the thesis dispatch email, the zip file will contain the below:

• Decision form
• Joint examiners report template
• List of amendments template
• Preliminary reports template
• Doctoral Studies Prize form

Preliminary Reports

• Prior to the oral examination, both examiners must complete an independent preliminary report outlining their initial response to the thesis, examiners are required to email them to each other and to researchdegrees@kcl.ac.uk
• The student will be provided with a copy of both preliminary reports following ratification of the examination outcome

Final Joint Examiners Report

• The final joint examiners report will outline the grounds on which the decision is based, and must include the student’s name, thesis title, the names of the examiners and the date
• The student will be provided with a copy of this report following ratification of the examination outcome

Doctoral Studies Prize form

• Please also refer to the supplementary Doctoral Studies Prize form should you wish to nominate the student for a prize

• Supervisors may review amendments prior to submission to the examiner(s). Final checking and approval must come from the examiner(s)
• The period of amendments officially begins when the Research Degrees Examinations Team confirms the outcome following ratification
• To confirm the decision following the amendments, examiners are required to complete and return the PGR Post amendments confirmation form below

Outcomes can only be ratified by the Research Degrees Examination Board once the Research Degrees Examinations Team are in receipt of the full set of reports, these include:

• Decision form
• Joint examiners report
• List of amendments (if applicable)
• Preliminary reports (one from each examiner)

Outcomes are ratified at the end of each month, the deadline to ensure these are considered is the 24^th of each month.

Any reports or outcomes received after the 24^th of the month will be ratified at the end of the following month.

Following the oral examination, examiners can claim the fee payment subject to providing all the examination documentation and the necessary right to work and identification (as above).

The fee payment is as follows (this is taxed before payment is made)

• £175 for PhD's
• £135 for all non PhD's

Please note: the Research Degrees Examinations Team are unable to answer any tax queries. We advise that you contact the King's Payroll team who have the expertise to explain your tax situation.

Please email all fee forms to researchdegrees@kcl.ac.uk

You can find the fee forms below:

Examiners may 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 should be claimed through the students department. Please check with the student’s supervisor before making arrangements.

Note: payment 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.

Please note that the Research Degrees Examinations team are unable to cover any visa related expenses.

Please email all forms and receipts to researchdegrees@kcl.ac.uk

Below you will find a breakdown of which expenses are covered by the Research Degrees Examinations Team and the expense claim form

Please note that the Research Degrees Examinations Team work remotely and can be contacted via researchdegrees@kcl.ac.uk

If the Coronavirus pandemic affected the student you will be examining, they have the option to include an impact statement with their thesis.