5.1 Candidates shall apply to the Research Degree Committee to register for the degree of:
- Master of Philosophy; or
- Master of Philosophy with possibility of transfer to Doctor of Philosophy; or
- Doctor of Philosophy;
- Research Component of the Professional Doctorate
This shall be done on form RDC-R and submitted to the appropriate RDC subject Sub-Committee from three to six months of enrolment for full-time students or within a maximum period of nine months for part-time students.
It should be noted that exceptionally if a student has not registered by the fifth meeting of the appropriate RDC subject Sub-Committee meeting following first enrolment; on the recommendation of a student’s supervisors and the Faculty or Departmental Postgraduate Research Tutor, the Research Degree Committee will terminate the student’s enrolment (except as in paragraph 5.3 below).
All students should have a formal interview as part of the registration process, as detailed in their Faculty Handbook and once completed, the RDC-R form shall be completed by the candidate, with the assistance of the supervisors, and shall be approved by the Faculty or Departmental Postgraduate Research Tutor who will forward it to the Research Degree Committees: Science and Technology or Humanities and Social Sciences Sub-Committee for consideration.
5.2 The date of registration given in the application sets the start of the time period for the programme of research. The date of registration shall normally be the first of the month following the date the candidate initially enrolled on the research degree programme. The date of registration may not be backdated before the candidate’s date of initial enrolment as a student at the University.
5.3 In exceptional cases, for example where extensive research training is being undertaken in the first year, the application for registration may be submitted after the 3 or 9 month deadline. In such cases the application for registration must be submitted to the first RDC Sub-Committee meeting at the end of the candidate’s first year of enrolment.
Candidates submitting an application later than the fifth RDC Sub-Committee meeting after their date of initial enrolment are required to provide reasons for the late submission to enable the Research Degree Committee to decide whether their date of registration should be the date of enrolment or a later date to acknowledge the delay in registering. This should be put in writing and attached to the application for Registration, RDC-R.
5.4 Where a candidate has previously been registered as a candidate for a research degree at another institution and is seeking to transfer their registration to the University the Research Degree Committee may approve a shorter than usual registration period which takes account of all or part of the time already spent by the candidate on the research.
When formally registering with the Research Degree Committee, candidates must complete RDC-R and submit a copy of the registration document that was approved at the other institution, the formal letter confirming the date of registration and the title of programme.
5.5 Where a student transfers from another institution to complete their degree at Brookes, there will be no fee reduction given at Brookes for the time spent working on a research degree at the other University.
5.6 In approving an application for registration, the Research Degree Committee shall satisfy itself that:
- the candidate is suitably qualified;
- the candidate is embarking on a viable research programme;
- supervision is adequate and likely to be sustained;
- the University or formally approved collaborating establishment is able to provide appropriate facilities for the conduct of scholarly research in the area of the research programme;
- the candidate is enrolled as a student of the University and the research programme has been approved by the candidate’s Faculty;
- Ethics approval has been obtained or an application submitted as appropriate;
- Intellectual Property Rights have been signed off;
- In the case of a Professional Doctorate, all the taught modules have been completed successfully, and
- the candidate has provided a detailed account of their Data Management Plan covering the duration of the programme, and up to ten years following completion of the degree.
Since this approval requires appropriate academic judgement to be brought to bear on the viability of each research proposal, the Research Degree Committee shall be composed of persons who are or have recently been engaged in research and who have appropriate experience of successful research degree supervision (see Annex 2 section 4).
5.7 Where a research degree project is part of a piece of funded research, the Research Degree Committee shall establish to its satisfaction that the terms on which the research is funded do not detract from the fulfilment of the objectives and requirements of the candidate’s research degree.
5.8 Except where permission has been given for the thesis and the oral examination to be in another language, the Research Degree Committee shall satisfy itself that the candidate has sufficient command of the English language to satisfactorily complete the programme of work and to prepare and defend a thesis in English. Permission to present a thesis in another language shall be sought at the time of application for registration. Permission to present a thesis in a language other than English shall only be given if the subject matter of the thesis involves language and related studies.
5.9 Where a candidate or the University wishes the thesis to remain confidential for a period of time after completion of the work, this shall be identified and approval sought from the Research Degree Committee at the time of registration. In such cases where the need for confidentiality emerges at a subsequent stage, the request for the thesis to remain confidential after submission shall be made immediately to the Research Degree Committee when completing the RDC-Decl RADAR form.
The Research Degree Committee shall normally only approve an application for confidentiality in order to enable a patent application to be lodged or to protect commercially or politically sensitive material. A thesis shall not be restricted in this way in order to protect research leads.
The normal maximum period of confidentiality shall be 2 years from the date of oral examination and in such cases all examiners shall be required to complete and sign a Confidentiality Agreement RDC-CA. In exceptional circumstances the Research Degree Committee may approve a longer period up to a maximum of 5 years. Where a shorter period would be adequate the Research Degree Committee shall not automatically grant confidentiality for two years.
5.10 At final submission of the approved thesis, a student may request that the thesis is held on restricted access for a period of 2 years in the first instance, and up to a maximum of 5 years, in order to publish their research. This request should be noted on the RDC-Decl RADAR form and submitted to the Research Degrees Team when the final approved copy of the thesis is being uploaded to RADAR.
5.11 A candidate seeking substantial change to an approved programme of research at any time after registration shall submit a revised registration form to the Research Degree Committee for approval.