Final Submission and Award

How will you know when to submit?

Once your Internal Examiner (and External if required) has confirmed your corrections, the College Postgraduate Research Student Office will send you an email requesting submission of your final Thesis. Detailed instructions of what you need to submit and where will be included with this email. We typically expect to receive final thesis submissions within one month of this email. If you think you will not be able to get your thesis submitted within that time, please contact the College Postgraduate Research Student Office on cahss.pgrexams@ed.ac.uk as soon as possible.

PLEASE NOTE: Students must have all corrections approved by 3 June and the final version uploaded to PURE by 10 June to ensure you will be eligible to graduate in Summer 2024. Later submissions may not be included and have to wait until Winter 2024.

You are ready to submit the final version of your thesis: what do you need to submit?

You will need to submit one electronic copy of your thesis, and this should be submitted in PURE. Full details of this process can be obtained on the Information Services webpages:

 How to submit the final version of your PhD thesis | The University of Edinburgh

Please note there should be no final hard-bound Thesis submitted.

Your Thesis must contain an Abstract and Lay Summary on final submission.  If these additional documents are not within your main thesis please also upload them at the same time.   An Access to Thesis form should be submitted along with your thesis . 

If you wish to restrict access to your thesis, please ensure that your Restriction to Thesis form has been fully completed on PURE when you submit.

You can restrict access to the electronic version of your thesis for one year without any special permissions. If an embargo is required, this must be indicated on the Access to Thesis form, otherwise, the thesis may be made publicly available. This form should be deposited in Pure alongside the full text of the thesis.

At the end of the embargo period, the University is under no obligation to contact you about extending the period of restriction. If towards the end of your embargo period you have any concerns that the forthcoming public availability of your thesis would be problematic please contact the Library (scholcomms@ed.ac.uk) and the Scholarly Communications Team will be able to help.

Requests for embargoes that exceed 12 months starting from the date the work is added to the Library's collection require Head of School approval and must be accompanied by a clear rationale as to why a longer period is required.

Please email the PGR Student Office to confirm that you have uploaded your final thesis to PURE - this confirmation should be sent to cahss.pgrexams@ed.ac.uk    

Format

Detailed guidance on how to format your thesis can be found in the:

Thesis Format Guidance

What year should appear on your thesis title page?

The year on your thesis title page (which is the year used in citations of your thesis) should be the year you first submitted your thesis for examination. If your thesis was re‐submitted for re‐examination, the date on your title page should be the year of resubmission.

Where will your thesis be made available?

Provided you have not restricted access, your electronic thesis will be made available via the Edinburgh Research Archive (ERA).

Find more information on the ERA and thesis collections on the University's Information Services website.

When can you register for graduation?

PGR Students are required to wait for their Award Letter to be issued following submission of their final thesis before registering.  Once your award has been keyed Student Administration will send an automated email with a link to the registration form.

Find out more about graduations and proceed when registrations are open.

Funding and scholarships

Please make sure you are aware of the terms and conditions of any scholarships or funding arrangements you have. Please refer to the information sent from your funding provider with regards to your final submission and graduation.

When will you get your award letter?

Once we can verify that your electronic version is uploaded to PURE, we will issue you with your final award letter. Award letters confirm all work is complete, but the award must be conferred by the Senatus Academicus, which will take place on Graduation day but should be assumed. 

You will be sent this final award letter as an electronic copy by email.

Will you be able to access University buildings and your emails once you become eligible to graduate?

Student Systems advise that access to buildings will be shut off almost immediately once you are made eligible to graduate.  There is no way to reverse this once your award has been keyed by the Student Records team.  Your email access will however be retained for a good while after graduation (see link below for a detailed timeline).

Graduates are normally entitled to keep using the University Libraries, but must register as an external borrower.

Graduates of University of Edinburgh | The University of Edinburgh

Graduates can still access a host of eResources in the interim eResources | The University of Edinburgh

Information about computer and email access can be found at the following link: 

Account Expiry Policy | The University of Edinburgh

Will the title of my thesis be on the degree certificate?

Please note the School, Subject Area and the Thesis Title are not included on the degree certificate.  If your PhD is carried out by Distance this will not be detailed on your certificate. 

When can you use the title ‘Doctor’?

Any title from your degree will only be officially conferred upon graduation. Degrees must be approved by the Senatus Academicus so all awards are conferred following a meeting of the Senate as part of the Summer and Winter Graduation ceremonies. Only when the award is conferred can you use the title of Dr.  

After you have graduated (whether in person or in absentia), you will be able to use your title from your degree.