How do I contact the Graduate and Researcher College?
If you have any questions then please contact us at kentgrc@kent.ac.uk, or if you have a specific skills and development question please email us at skills@kent.ac.uk. The Graduate and Researcher College will be in touch regularly by Kent email and will be updating its social media pages.
Are PhD/MRes students entitled to an extension?
All PGR students who were registered and began their programme before September 2021 are entitled to apply for a 3 month fee-free extension, irrespective of where they are in their studies. This will be applied as you approach the end of your research or studies. It can also be applied for within the continuation year.
In response to feedback and your views, you can also apply for a further maximum fee-free 3 month extension if you have been particularly badly affected by the pandemic. This includes those researchers who have been unable to access resources/ research base/ labs/ clients, those who have caring duties, who are home schooling or have faced serious illness etc.
The above will be discussed at your submission review and applied if necessary.
What level of supervision will I receive if I take an extension?
During the extension, there will be no change to the level of support you receive from your current supervisory team or access to facilities and resources where these are available or accessible in the current circumstances.
How do I submit my thesis?
You should submit your thesis to Moodle and Turnitin in the normal way. Copies of the thesis will be circulated by your school to the Examiners in PDF format.
All research students submitting their theses can also submit an optional Covid Impact Statement along with their theses.
This can alert your examiners to any objective/material impact Covid might have had on your research such as limiting data collection, smaller interview groups.
Details about this process are on Policies, Procedures and Examination Guidance page under Covid Impact Information.
If you think this might be useful for you, then please do discuss this with your supervisors in the first instance as they will need to sign off and approve the statement.
What is a Covid Impact Statement?
From the start of the pandemic, research students have been advised to adapt (where possible) their research activities to address and manage disruptions caused by Covid-19 restrictions. Staff have also been advised to show leniency and understanding in their roles as internal examiners without lowering the quality of the theses being examined. Kent is now extending mitigation in relation to such disruption to allow students to include a statement in their dissertation on the impact of Covid-19 disruptions on their PhDs.
For more information visit our Academic Regulations page and click on Instructions to Examiners/Candidates for the Examination of Research Degrees. You can also find the information document here.