Greenwich's research degree rules live in the Academic Regulations for Postgraduate Research Awards, published by Academic Registry. Two things before anything else.
Check you have the current version. The regulations are reissued and carry the academic year in the filename. The policies page is where the live one sits.
The thesis word limit is not in the regulations. It sits in the Postgraduate Research Student's and Supervisor's Handbook, Section L, which is behind the student portal. Log in, open the Research tab and look under Handbooks and Guidelines. Do not take a word count from another university and assume it transfers.
The rule that should change your planning
Most universities treat the viva as the examination. At Greenwich, a significant part of the judgement happens before you get there.
Each examiner provides an independent preliminary written report on the thesis. Where the examiners are of the view that the submission does not meet the required standard to proceed to the oral examination, the examination process will not continue.
And then the consequence:
Where the examination process does not proceed to the oral examination, the submission will be considered a resubmission. The student will have only one further opportunity to resubmit.
Read those together. A thesis submitted before it is ready does not simply earn you a difficult viva and a long corrections list. It can consume your one resubmission without you ever being examined orally.
This makes the decision about when to submit materially more consequential than at universities where the viva always happens. If your supervisors are hesitant, that hesitation is worth taking seriously here specifically.
The examination panel
| Role | Normal composition |
|---|---|
| Chair | One |
| Internal examiner | One |
| External examiner | One |
The rules around that:
- No fewer than two examiners, at least one external
- If an additional examiner is justified, it must not be another internal
- Where no suitable internal is available, two externals may be appointed
- Where you are a member of University staff, a second external is appointed in place of the internal
- At least one examiner must have examined a minimum of two research degree students at doctoral level
That last requirement is a quiet quality control: it means your panel cannot consist entirely of people examining for the first time.
Where examiners disagree in their initial findings, the external examiner's view takes precedence. Worth knowing, because it tells you whose reading of the thesis carries most weight at the point the reports come in.
The viva itself
Approval to hold the oral examination is valid for three months from the date the Faculty Research Degrees Committee approves it, and the oral should take place inside that window.
Your supervisors may attend with your consent and the assessors', but the regulations are precise about their role:
The supervisor does not have the right to participate in the examination and is required to withdraw prior to the deliberations of the assessors on the outcome.
So they can be in the room for support, not for argument.
Outcomes
The examiners recommend one of these to the Faculty Research Degrees Committee, which may endorse it or reject it and approve an alternative:
| Outcome | What it means |
|---|---|
| Award | The degree sought is awarded |
| Minor amendments | Conditional award, to the satisfaction of the internal and/or external examiner |
| Major amendments | Conditional award, to the satisfaction of the examiners |
| Resubmit and be re-examined | In one of three forms, below |
| MPhil instead | On a PhD examination, MPhil awarded subject to amendments |
| MEdRes instead | On an EdD examination, a Masters degree awarded |
The resubmission route splits three ways:
- The thesis is satisfactory, but you must undergo a further oral
- The thesis must be revised, and if the examiners are satisfied you are exempt from further examination
- The thesis must be revised and you must undergo a further oral
Correction deadlines
| Type | Deadline from formal notification |
|---|---|
| Minor amendments | 3 months |
| Major amendments | 12 months |
Normally only one further opportunity to submit the amended thesis is permitted within those timescales. If the thesis is not amended to the examiners' satisfaction by the deadline, the panel may recommend an MPhil with amendments, or that the degree is not awarded.
The three month minor-amendments window is shorter than it sounds once you account for a supervisor reading the revisions and an examiner finding time to check them. Start the day the notification arrives.
Registration periods
For students who registered from February 2017:
| Award | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| MPhil, full time | 18 months | 36 months |
| MPhil, part time | 30 months | 48 months |
| PhD via transfer from MPhil, full time (including the MPhil period) | 36 months | 48 months |
| PhD via transfer from MPhil, part time | 48 months | — |
Note that the PhD periods include the MPhil registration period, since the standard Greenwich route is to register for MPhil and transfer. The clock does not restart at transfer.
Different figures apply to anyone who registered before February 2017, so check the regulations directly if that is you.
Two smaller rules worth knowing
Your title is fixed. After amendments, corrections or revisions are approved, the thesis title must be the same as the original definitive title, unless the examiners themselves recommend a change. If you were planning to sharpen the title during corrections, you cannot.
Where the final copy goes. Once an award is recommended, you provide a final electronic version of the approved thesis to the Research and Enterprise Training Institute.
The Doctorate by Published Work
A different route with its own rules. The application must be accompanied by a statement of not more than 5,000 words setting out your view of the trajectory of the evidence submitted and its significance in terms of impact, nationally or internationally, as relevant to the discipline.
What to confirm rather than assume
- Thesis word limits are in the Handbook, Section L, behind the portal
- Formatting, margins and line spacing are not in the public regulations
- No single citation style is imposed centrally
- No published similarity or plagiarism-check threshold
- No published policy on generative AI use in these regulations
- Embargo durations are not set out in the regulations
Pre-submission checklist
- Read Section L of the Handbook for word limits and presentation, via the student portal
- Supervisors genuinely supportive of submitting, given the pre-viva report rule
- All mandatory training completed before submission
- Submitting before my programme end date
- Examination arrangements approved, and the oral booked inside the three month validity window
- Panel meets the composition rules, including the doctoral examining experience requirement
- Definitive title settled, since it cannot change during corrections
- Corrections plan ready for a 3 month turnaround if minor
- Final electronic version prepared for the Research and Enterprise Training Institute
Where to get help
The Faculty Research Degrees Committee approves examination arrangements and outcomes. Academic Registry owns the regulations. Your supervisors own the judgement about readiness, which at Greenwich carries more weight than usual.
If the writing itself is the bottleneck, our thesis writing support works through it chapter by chapter, and our PhD thesis help covers doctoral work specifically.
