18.1 The delegated power to confer the degree rests with the Research Degree Committee and the Committee, or the Chair on behalf of the Research Degree Committee, shall decide on the reports and recommendation(s) of the examiners in respect of the candidate as laid down in Section 16.
18.2 Where the degree has been awarded without amendments, the conferment date shall be the date of the Viva. Where Minor or Major amendments are required, the date of the award shall be the date the examiners’ emailed the Research Degrees Team, signing off all revisions as being satisfactory and confirm that the degree may be conferred. In the case of resubmission and re-examination where a second viva is not held, the date of the award shall be the date of the email, submitted by all the examiners, confirming that the thesis is satisfactory and that the degree may be conferred.
18.3 Once a decision has been made on the examiners’ recommendation(s) as laid down in Section 16, 1 electronic PDF copy of the approved thesis should be uploaded to RADAR as set out in the RDC-Decl RADAR form.
All the other necessary documentation should be sent by email to the Research Degrees Team with the link to the online RADAR thesis submission, and the Chair of the Research Degree Committee will then sign the appropriate conferment form which will be sent to the candidate.
The final electronic copy of the approved thesis submitted to RADAR must be identical to that examined, except for where corrections have been requested and approved by the examiners following either the first oral examination or in the case of a resubmission, the second oral examination.
18.4 When all the requirements of the University have been met, the award will be recorded on the Student Records System and recorded on the Certificate Team’s spreadsheet as authorisation that the research degree certificate should be printed.
18.5 At final submission of the approved thesis, students will be required to upload an electronic copy of their thesis to the University’s Online Repository, RADAR, and if the thesis is not to be held on restricted access, it will be released online by the University’s Library, it will then be added to the British Library Ethos repository.
18.6 An electronic copy of the final approved thesis should also be lodged in the library of any Collaborating Establishment(s).
18.7 Where the Research Degree Committee has agreed that the confidential nature of the candidate’s work is such as to preclude the thesis being made freely available in the library of the University (and any Collaborating Establishment), the final approved thesis shall be retained by the University’s Library on restricted access and, for a time not exceeding the approved period, shall only be made available to those who were directly involved in the project with the candidate’s permission.
18.8 Candidates wishing to attend one of the University’s Graduation Ceremonies, must have been awarded their research degree at least 8 weeks before the date of the next Graduation Ceremony. All amendments required by the examiners should be approved, and the final electronic copy of the thesis uploaded to RADAR, and all the necessary paperwork must be submitted to the Research Degrees Team before the award can be recorded on the Student Records System and the candidate may attend that ceremony.
18.9 The candidate shall confirm through completion of form RDC-Decl RADAR, that the final electronic copy of the thesis has been submitted to the University’s online repository (RADAR, and once the date for online release has been reached, in the case of a Doctoral thesis, the thesis will also be available via the British Library’s ETHOS Project.
The candidate should also confirm that:
- the thesis can be made publicly available online;
- the thesis can be made publicly available online only after an agreed period as approved by the Research Degree Committee;
- the thesis may not be made publicly available online;
- that an additional, abridged version can be made publicly available online during the limited period when the whole version of the thesis remains on restricted access;
- permission has or has not been obtained for the use of all third-party material included in the thesis and where that was not granted, those sections, images, graphics etc. have been removed from the electronic (PDF) submission.
18.10 The candidate shall also confirm through completion of form RDC-Decl RADAR, that the final electronic copy of the thesis includes all the work approved by the examiners at, or following viva if revisions are required.
18.11 Where the candidate wishes to publish material from the thesis following final submission, they may complete the appropriate section on the RDC-Decl RADAR form, withholding the electronic copy of the thesis for up to 2 years in the first instance, and where required up to a maximum of 5 years.
18.12 Very exceptionally at the final submission, student may request that the electronic copy of the thesis is withheld indefinitely at Registration, and by completing the appropriate section of the RDC-Decl RADAR form.