Professor Pam Denicolo and Drs Dawn Duke and Julie Reeves

This workshop is provided as a forum for experienced, new and aspiring doctoral examiners to  share best practice as well as any reservations/trepidations/caveats and success stories they have in relation to the challenges that arise when examining doctoral theses and candidates.

To give the day structure the workshop will take the form of a guided tour of the process and procedures of assessment at doctoral level, including the confirmation/ upgrading process, examining the thesis and the viva process, using a range of case studies and vignettes drawn from our experience and that of others of some challenging situations to raise issues and aid discussion.

However, presentations by the organisers will be kept to a minimum since the main discussion points will be determined by the participants who are invited, if they wish, to send in advance any particular facets, or anonymised challenges they have faced or heard of, that they would like to have aired. Some of those might include but are not restricted to: different expectations in different institutions; chairing and internal/external roles; working with co-examiners with different viewpoints; interference by supervisors; candidates unable to cope with the tension; making the process humane. Where possible we will, with enough notice, turn these into case studies written to disguise origins!

Please send a note by October 21st  at latest of any topics you would like discussed, with enough detail to identify the main points of the situation, to Pam: p.denicolo@surrey.ac.uk

NB In the morning we have a session for doctoral supervisors, arranged back to back in case it would be helpful for you to attend both.