Examination

The University needs to be notified of your intention to submit for your final examination in good time. Normally this should be three months before your intended submission date.

You complete your Intention to Submit form via Learn.

Following your completion of the form, your supervisors will recommend to the Associate Dean (Research and Innovation) the examiners for your thesis.

Students who are ready to submit should contact the DCO at p.g.research@mailbox.lboro.ac.uk - you will be sent instructions and an individual OneDrive link to submit your thesis.

You will need to ensure the following:

• Submitted work for a research degree of the University must be submitted in the form specified by the University Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes and is subject to Ordinance XXXIX. 
• Each student must certify in writing the extent to which the submission is their own work and in each case in which there has been co-operative effort the nature and extent of that effort must be fully specified.
• The student must certify that neither the submission nor the original work contained therein has been submitted for an award of this or any other degree awarding body, except in accordance with an agreement between universities.
• Any submission subsequently published must include a statement that it has been submitted for a research degree of the University.

The Certificate of Originality Thesis Access Conditions and Deposit Agreement must be included to meet the above requirements

You should make sure that you have read and complied with the guidance on third party copyright material in your thesis prior to submitting your work.    

Following the examiners’ consideration of the thesis, the Doctoral Researcher will then be required to undertake the viva face to face (in-person or via video conference) with their examiners.  

The outcome of the examination will be decided based upon both the quality of the written thesis and the candidate’s performance in the viva; the candidate will be informally notified of the examiners’ decision at the conclusion of the viva.  

The examiner can make one of the following recommendations:

• Pass (with or without corrections required)
• Refer
• Fail

The Examiners may also decide that work submitted for the degree of Ph.D. has reached the required standard for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy with or without corrections.

Following your examination the examiners will submit a report form to the Doctoral College (Academic Registry) who will inform you officially of the decision via a letter with details of your next steps.

Once you have had an official letter confirming that your examiners have recommended an award can be made you will be able to start taking the next steps to preparing to graduate.