Meet with your supervisor and research group

Your supervisor and research group are probably the most important people throughout your PhD. Most research groups have an induction programme for new PhD students and you may already have received information from someone in your group. If that is not the case, please contact your supervisor and arrange a meeting.

PhD induction and welcome information

If you are starting your PhD at the beginning of the academic year, you will be invited to the PhD induction events, which usually take place in the first week of October. If you are starting at any other time in the year, please come and visit the Postgraduate Office (ACEX 311) as soon as possible after your arrival so that we can provide you with all the information. We will even give you a welcome present!

Postgraduate Office

You should usually find someone in the Postgraduate Office to deal with your query. The Postgraduate Research Student Administrator is Hannah Davy and she will be your first point of contact for any administrative and registration queries. Hannah will also administer your PhD milestones and make sure that you stay on track.

You will also find Susi Underwood, the Postgraduate Office Manager and Postgraduate Tutor, in the Postgraduate Office. Susi is your first point of contact, should you encounter any problems during your PhD.

Safety Induction

It is most important that you stay safe during your PhD studies. The New Starters and Visitors Safety Page will guide you through everything you are expected to do on arrival. If your PhD start date is not in October, you will need to do the Day One Safety Induction in order to receive your ID card.

Student ID Card

If you are starting your PhD at the beginning of the academic year, your ID card will be sent to the Department and can be collected from the Postgraduate Office. At other times of the year, you will need to collect your ID card from the ID Card Office on Level 1 of the Sherfield Building. You will need to be fully registered and complete the Day One Safety Induction before you can collect your card.

New PhD students starting in October

If you are starting your PhD at the beginning of the academic year, your ID card will be sent to the Department, once you have successfully uploaded your picture and are fully registered. If your card is not ready when you come for your departmental registration, we will contact you when it is ready for collection from the Postgraduate Office (ACEX 311).

Former Imperial students registering for a PhD in October

If you previously studied at Imperial College, the process as above, except that you may need to hand in your old card to the ID card office before a new one can be issued. If you are in London before you start your PhD, you may want to drop by the ID card office to hand in your old card, so that the new one can be produced once you are registered for your PhD.

PhD students starting in the course of the academic year

If you are starting your PhD between late October and early September, you will need to pick up your ID card directly from the ID Card Office on Level 1 of the Sherfield Building during their opening hours. If you are a new student, you will need to complete the Day One Safety Induction form and take it to the ID card office. The safety induction should be done by your supervisor or an experienced member of your research group. If you are a continuing student, you will need to return your old ID card before you are issued with a new one.

Pay day

Student bursaries are normally paid on the 7th day of the month. Having said that, the cut-off date for bursary payments is around 2 weeks before the pay day, so if you are not fully registered and all the details are submitted to the bursary office by then, your payment may be delayed. In that case, you may receive your first 2 bursary payments in the second month of your PhD registration.

What do I need to do to be paid?

You will need to be fully registered for your bursary to be processed, so please make sure you register online as soon as possible. You will also need to provide your bank details vial the student portal.

The bursary form will be submitted by the Department. This is usually done by Laia Santamaria, our Research and Finance Administrator.

Research Plan

This is not an official College milestone and is therefore not recorded on My Imperial, but it is a departmental requirement, as it will allow you to focus on what you need to do in order to be ready for a successful Early Stage Assessment. This will also be the time to appoint your ESA and LSR assessor.

Early stage assessment (ESA)

The early stage assessment is your first official milestone. It should be completed around 9 months from your initial registration. You will need to produce a written report of no more than 50 pages and give a 30-minute presentation to your assessor. The aim of the ESA is to measure your progress and your abilities and aptitude for research.

Late stage review (LSR)

The late stage review should happen in the second half of your second year. You will need to submit a summary of your achievements to date and a final year plan. It is an opportunity to ensure that you are still on track for obtaining your PhD within the given deadline and to obtain vital feedback for the final stages of your PhD.

Progress review

This should happen at the end of your third year. The aim of the progress review is to determine whether you are ready to move into writing-up status or whether you will need to extend your active research period. Once you are in writing-up status, you should be mainly engaged in writing your thesis.

Examination entry

This is the point when your official thesis title is recorded and your PhD examiners are appointed. The recommendation is that you submit the examination entry at least 4 months before you intend to submit your thesis. This is not set in stone, but it is mainly to ensure that the examiners are in place at the point of submission so that there are no delays with your PhD viva.

Thesis submission

You have exactly 4 years until you need to submit your PhD thesis for examination. This is possibly the most important deadline of your PhD. Please try to plan your PhD work to ensure that you have enough time to write your thesis.

PhD viva

After you have submitted your thesis, you will need to defend your work in an oral examination with 2 examiners, one internal to the College and one external. This is the point where you need to demonstrate that your work is worthy of a PhD from Imperial College.

Final thesis submission

So you have submitted your thesis and passed your viva. Great! Well done. Before you can be awarded your PhD, you will need to submit the final approved version of your thesis to Spiral.

If you encounter any problems within your research group, the first thing to do would be to try and talk to your supervisor or to the individuals you find challenging. There might just be a misunderstanding or some miscommunication that can be easily resolved.

If you are not comfortable raising the issue within your research group, please come and talk to us. Anything you say will be treated in strict confidence and we will try our best to resolve the situation in an amicable way.

Should it turn out that there is a mis-match between you and your research group, we will do our best to resolve the issue, be it through mediation or, if there are irreparable differences, through a change of research group. The formal steps for changing research groups are laid out in the Change of supervisor procedure.