Postgraduate Research Student Support

A complaint can arise if one or more students have a specific concern about an action or lack of action by the University, the standard of a service provided by or on behalf of the University, or about matters that affect the quality of the learning opportunities.

You can read more about the formal complaints process here.

If you have concerns about your course, your PGR student experience, your research or anything else you encounter during your time at Royal Holloway, book in to speak with an advisor. A formal complaint can take upwards of 3 months for an initial outcome, an Advisor may be able to help you resolve your complaint informally before it needs escalating.

An academic offence is any conduct/act which attempts to deceive or is in contravention of any rules or regulations governing assessment. It applies to any work submitted regardless of its contribution to your final grades and includes but is not limited to written assignments, data collection, exam papers, imagery, music, ideas and thoughts.

If you are focusing your PhD on a topic you also wrote about in your previous studies, it can be tempting to refer to work you have already written. If you are making use of your own previous work, this does still need to be referenced and using it without reference counts as duplication which is an academic offence.

You can read more about support available if you receive an allegation of academic misconduct here.

The College's Academic Regulations state that you are permitted to request to interrupt your studies for up to 24 months (whether consecutively or otherwise) on financial, medical or personal grounds on the recommendation of your supervisor. Requests are considered by the Doctoral School Director (Quality, Enhancement and Inclusion). If your request to interrupt is due to maternity, paternity or adoption leave, please see here for information. If you have any queries, please speak to your department in the first instance, or email The Doctoral School here.