Covid-19: important information for research students
We are continuing business as usual for PGR's at the moment. This means that as far as possible, please keep in contact with your supervisors about your research. Please see the APR section below for advice about recording meetings.
Below is a brief summary of the current practices. A list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) for PGRs provides detailed information to help you further.
Thesis Submission and Viva
If you are ready to submit your thesis, you can via email it to PGRS and as long as we have had the Intention to Submit Form it will be forwarded on to your examiners. Vivas are taking place as normal and can be done remotely; if you wish to take this route, you will need to complete a Remote Viva Form which you can return to PGRS. Furthermore, the Remote Viva policy (Appendix 9 of the PGR Code of Practice) is available by accessesing the CoP link below.
Theses are being sent out electronically by the PGR Student Team, you may find that an examiner will request a hard copy be posted to them, if this happens, please could you refer them to PGRS@liverpool.ac.uk. The thesis should only be sent by the PGR Student Team.
At the moment, face to face vivas are at the discretion of the department concerned.
Graduation July 2021
Graduation in absentia should take place on schedule so if you have been awarded your degree, we are still sending out the letter of award and you could keep a check on university emails so you dont miss out on graduation. You do have the choice to defer and attend a ceremony at a later point, otherwise, everyone eligible will graduate in absentia. The degree certificate will be available online after the ceremony, should you need it. Details will be sent to you. If this information changes, updates will be posted here.
There was a plan to have two ceremonies in July 2021 in order that anyone who missed their ceremony in 2020 could attend, however, this is now currently in abetance pending further government guidance.
Submission Deadline Extension
As you may have noted, the University has extended almost every PGR registration by adding 6 months to your thesis submission deadline. Exceptions to this are people who have already submitted and are in the process of completing major or minor corrections or resubmitting.
The extension is done at no cost to you. It cannot be done earlier in your registration, we can only extend your deadline for submission. Please note, this will potentially be different to your funding deadline. A funding extension is different to an chronological extension.
Please also note that this extension is designed to mitigate for the effects of the pandemic. It is felt this is enough time to adapt to new practices and any further extra time will be subject to the conditions laid out in the PGR Code of Practice, Appendix 6. Therefore, if you intend to make a request, please read Appendix 6 before doing so.
Submission Pending
If you are or were due to go submission pending, you should still go ahead.
If you were due to spend more time in a lab, when we eventually return to the buildings, we will resolve that issue locally at the time we return. Some people are already able to return, this is also being arranged locally by Faculties or schools, if you have any queries, you should contact them.
International Students with T4 Visa and Suspending Studies
If you have a T4 visa and are still in the UK and find you need to request a suspension of studies, its vitally important that you contact the International Advice and Guidance Team (IAG@liverpool.ac.uk) beforehand to ascertain the potential implications for your visa. We are still required to report the suspension of studies to the UKVI.
Who to Contact
There may be many other questions related to this situation, you can email any of the administrators, link officers or the PGRS email with them and you should get an answer quite quickly. As you know, the pandemic situation does not remain static and so, if we have changes, we will put them here. More immediate changes will be notified by email so do please, keep an eye on that. Contact email addresses are all available in the left hand navigation of this page.
Annual Progress Reports
Finally! Annual Progress Reports have been released ahead as normal, please complete the report as best as you are able. Non completion could still cause delays to ongoing registration. Please note, in a very small number of cases, the reports were released before the 3 month extension was applied. Be assured that your student record will reflect the correct date. The APR data is static once released, we can however, refresh the report if it is still at Check stage, if you send us an email, as above, if you think the submission deadline in the APR is incorrect.
We are aware the meeting record may be slightly short because of the current situation, however, we hope that you are still keeping in contact with your supervisors and you can record email contact or remote meetings as part of your meeting record. As the university hasnt officially closed, there is an expectation that contact will be continued and recorded as normal unless you have suspended your studies.
Below this are the links to the Code of Practice, the degree Ordinances and the forms page as well as to the new 2020/21 PGR Handbook.
Thank you and stay safe.
A-Z of Forms
All the forms related to the research degree
PGR Code of Practice and Ordinances
The PGR Code of Practice and its Appendices
The Ordinances for research degrees
- PhD 57 A-D,
- MPhil 56A-D,
- Doc Med 58A & B
- DDSc 60