PhD Progress and Transfer Vivas at Universities in the United Kingdom

At the start of the PhD journey everything is new for the postgraduate student. There will be a whole array of regulations from the university to become familiar with, at the same time as getting familiar with your supervisors and learning to work with fellow postgraduate students and starting to do the actual PhD work. Finding out how and when the university assesses progress is often far down the list of priorities for a new PhD student. We argue that it is important to know the rules around progress and transfer assessment, since these regulations, and the expectations of what the student should produce, may vary between universities and even between faculties. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations for students, supervisors and universities to consider.