Post-viva procedures

Return of joint report form

At the end of the viva the Joint Report (RD4) form must be completed and signed by both examiners and returned immediately to the Postgraduate Research Education Team as an email attachment to pgresearch@essex.ac.uk.

In the case of a ‘referral’, ‘pass subject to minor corrections’ or ‘pass subject to major corrections’, a typed list of such corrections MUST be returned with the Joint Report (RD4) form. In addition, it’s advisable for notes to also be added to the electronic version of this thesis and sent to the student, to aid them whilst undertaking the correction/referral process.

The RD4 form and the examination outcome recommended by the examiners will have to be approved by the Dean. The Dean may require additional information when considering the recommendations. Examiners should respond to such requests accordingly. The candidate will be formally informed of the result of the examination by the Postgraduate Research Education Team, once it has been approved by the Dean.

When completing your reports, please bear in mind that it is University policy that research degree candidates are entitled to receive copies of the examiners’ pre- and post -viva reports on their thesis, upon request.

During the corrections period

The Internal Examiner (or a nominated External Examiner in the case of staff candidates) may be contacted by a member of the student's supervisory team, in the event that clarification is required for one or more of the corrections identified.

Once the corrections have been completed, the candidate will send the updated version of the thesis, showing tracked changes, along with a letter/statement explaining how they have addressed the corrections, to pgrsubmission@essex.ac.uk. The PGRE Team will send the updated thesis, along with an ‘Approval of Corrections’ form, for consideration by the internal examiner (or a nominated external examiner in the case of staff candidates).

If the corrections are not deemed to have been completed satisfactorily, a further corrections period may be recommended.