Graduate Studies
PhD | Registration
Registration
Registering for the PhD
Your initial registration status is given in the letter from the Board of Graduate Studies in which your admission is unconditionally confirmed. All students are admitted in the first instance for a probationary period during which you are not registered. The question of your continuation and registration as a candidate for the PhD will be formally considered towards the end of your first year. You will be routinely sent details of the monitoring process, including registration, in the Lent term. The registration procedure must be initiated by the end of the 11th month following your admission as a Graduate Student (i.e. by 31 August following admission on 1 October). Most graduate students will probably find the beginning or end of their third term of research the most appropriate time to ask for registration. Some graduate students, however, may be ready to ask for registartion as early as their second term of research. Please note that students funded by the AHRC must be registered as candidates for the PhD by the end of their fourth term of research.You will be required to produce a fairly substantial piece of work (often a draft chapter) of between 7,000 and 10,000 words in length; a brief account of what has been investigated and achieved since admission; a plan of your proposed dissertation stating its object and scope and giving a list of chapters, a brief account of what each might cover, and the sorts of questions to which you hope to provide an answer. An independent examiner and an Assessor, who will normally be your Advisor, will then interview you on the basis of your work. You will have the opportunity to discuss your plans for future research with them, and they will offer advice. The assessors will make a written recommendation concerning registration to the Degree Committee, who in turn will make a recommendation to the Board of Graduate Studies, through CamGRAD. Your supervisor will also approve your registration through CamGRAD. You will be sent a copy of your registration report once the process is complete. Assuming successful registration, you will probably be registered retrospectively as a candidate for the PhD from the beginning of your first term.
For a statement regarding the formal requirement of registration see the Code of Practice. If any student has a complaint about the conduct of the first-year registration procedure, he or she should see the .
Intermission
If on account of illness or other sufficient cause you need to intermit your course for one or more terms you should contact your supervisor or the .Leave to work away from Cambridge
Many students find that at some stage of their PhD they need to spend some time working in libraries outside Cambridge, often abroad. If the period that you intend being absent from Cambridge is longer than 21 days you will need to apply formally to the Board of Graduate Studies for leave to work away (through your self-service pages on CamSIS). You will also probably need to inform your funding body. If you are likely to incur extra costs through working away your funding body may consider giving you extra financial help.
