Hello all,

Thank you for your helpful comments and advice. I resubmitted my thesis at the beginning of the week which equates to my fourth submission now. I did include a separate document detailing where each of my revisions were in the thesis and how each one answered the examiner's report etc.

I'm hoping this is a positive move - I didn't view the situation with the greatest of clarity when I heard what the next step was. I think after waiting for so long and enduring so many negative situations, I have a severe lack of trust in my university and the PhD system in general. I just hope the university are choosing to support me now and won't be governed by the unprofessional and inconsistent recommendations of my external. There is a general consensus amongst my academic colleagues and supervisory team that my external undoubtedly 'has it in for me'...but it just makes no sense. I've only met her once, on the day of my viva, and, since then, have done everything that she has asked of me up until this point where I refuse to do any more. I guess that's something I'll never know.

The university still haven't confirmed who the internal expert will be. They've been sitting on that decision for almost a month which, again, I deem far too long under the circumstances.

Two job opportunities came up yesterday which I will apply for but, again, without my PhD I am relegated to the back of the application queue. The longer they take to draw this process out, the more it affects my career and job opportunities as my temporary lecturing contract comes to an end this summer.

I hope that the university will recognise that time really is of the essence now but, from my experience of dealing with them, they generally think we're all going to live forever and have no conception of time or deadlines.

So my patience is wearing thin but, as per usual, I have to keep waiting...

Hi all,

I received an email today regarding the reconsideration of my proposed third round of revisions. After a 3 week wait, the university have decided that an independent internal panel need to re-assess whether they feel I have addressed the revisions already done so far. Two academics will be on this panel - one is the Deputy Vice Chancellor who is a Professor of Immunology (bearing in mind my PhD is in Sociology and his expertise therefore lies outside my discipline), the second person still hasn't been chosen. I fail to understand how the university can keep me waiting for 3 weeks and still don't even know who the supposed internal 'expert' will be.

They said I could work on the latest revisions asked of me (that is 'up to me'...which seems shady) or I can resubmit my thesis as it is. It all seems very strange and tedious.

Maybe this 'expert' who is yet to be appointed will think I've done what was asked of me...but then what? Will I get my PhD or will this just go into another dispute with my external? And say if this 'expert' thinks I haven't done what was asked of me, even though my internal examiner thinks I have, where does that leave me? My university seem to be going round in never ending circles and, in the mean time, my career prospects continue to deteriorate.

I'm going to take 1-2 days to think about it but would really appreciate any advice or insights. At the moment, I'm planning on resubmitting my thesis as it is as I believe I followed the examiner's report closely and did what was asked of me. I can't believe it's now been 26 months since my viva.

And the sleepless nights continue... :(

Hello all,

Thank you again for your supportive comments and helpful feedback - it really does make a difference.

The chair has informed me that she has discussed my case with a senior officer at the university (I don't know who this person is - no details were given to me). She told me that they are 'keen to get this issue resolved' and that I'll receive correspondence soon. Apparently this may take a week or longer because 'several steps have to take place'. She apologised for not being more specific but assured me that my case was being taken 'very seriously'.

So I have no idea what this means. Will I get an email in the coming weeks that will end all this and tell me that I'm being awarded a PhD? Will I get an email that says I am still expected to do a third round of revisions? Will I get told that the thesis must fail because my external examiner refuses to pass it?

These questions will be consuming my mind over the days and weeks ahead. I'm frustrated that the chair didn't give me more precise information as I feel I have been given hope and I don't want to build it up for it to be quashed once again. My university have mastered the art over the years of 'fobbing me off' in a variety of spectacular ways so I remain a cynic at heart...

I'll let you all know when I hear anything. Any positive vibes - please send my way!!

Thank you all for your replies - they have been incredibly helpful. I may well get in touch with some of you who have kindly offered to send me your reports in the coming weeks.

I'm currently waiting to hear back from the chair of my examination panel who is in talks with the university over the unprecedented situation I am in with my PhD. If things don't go the way I want them to, I will be launching one hell of an appeal against the university.

I will keep you all updated as I expect to hear news over the next couple of days!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE COULD YOU HELP ME? (I am desperate!!)

If you have had a viva and received an examiner's report for corrections of any variety, could you please tell me how long your report (or list of corrections) was?

This can be for any type of corrections/revisions: minor / major / R&R - anything. I received 5 sentences (after a 5 month wait)...that's 1 sentence a month...wow...hard work being an experienced Professor ain't it?

Anyway, all joking aside, I'm going through an important appeal and your feedback would greatly help me. Thank you!!

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your helpful replies. I may well request a third examiner but this hasn't been put forward as an option for me as yet. After submitting my thesis 3 times, I really don't want to go back to a 'first submission' stage and have to endure a viva and possibly more corrections depending on the sanity of my new examiner (if you'll pardon my scepticism).

I met with the chair of my examination panel yesterday and very clearly outlined my concerns over the current situation. Although, at first, she seemed defensive of the university (as I expected), she gradually had little to say to me as even she wasn't aware of the full extent of fuck ups that have occurred throughout my PhD journey. The university aren't even aware that some of the requests of my external are completely new...yet they are supporting this. How do I know that, after submitting for a fourth time, my external won't have some more 'new' ideas to throw at me? It's ridiculous.

I have politely told the chair that I don't intend to do the revisions as they are either new or have already been addressed. I informed her that, at this stage, I am wanting a reconsideration of the current situation given the concerns I have (I prepared lengthy documents outlining my concerns, alongside the procedural irregularities that have happened over the past 3 years!)

The chair is now in talks with 'senior officers' (whatever that means) and I should hear back within a week so will keep you all updated. If you haven't been following my story: don't assume any positive or coherent outcome to be on the horizon. My university are beyond useless and likely to be sued if this carries on for much longer.

I'm having major problems with my PhD (see previous posts) and am desperately seeking advice.

Has anyone experienced a dispute between their external and internal examiner? I have gone through two revision periods over a two year capacity and my external is now requesting an unprecedented third revision period as she is still not satisfied with the extensive work I've done. My viva was in 2014 and I can't bear the thought of any more revisions - my thesis is 163,000 words and its narrative has been completely lost due to the requests of my external.

As it stands, my internal thinks I've done everything asked of me and wants it passed. My external, however, disagrees. There doesn't seem to be any official rules at my university as to what procedure should be followed in this instance.

Some of the new revisions being asked of me by my external don't even relate to previous reports which means the goal posts are being moved. This seems tremendously unfair and unprofessional to me.

My university are completely useless and keep running away from resolving the situation. I keep getting passed along to different people and nobody has answers. My last submission was in July 2016 and all I've received since then is an email telling me that a third round of revisions is being requested by my external (via special permission from the Deputy Vice Chancellor), which are only 9 sentences long and lack clarity. It is clear she will never want to pass my thesis.

Has anyone encountered a similar situation? Or does anyone know how their institution would deal with a disagreement between examiners?

Thought I would give you all an update, although there isn't much to say in terms of what has been confirmed. My supervisor keeps getting my hopes up by putting forward possible scenarios which will see my PhD awarded but these scenarios haven't amounted to anything as yet.

We're currently trying to establish whether my external wants to see this third round of revisions. If she does, things aren't looking too good. If she doesn't and only my internal is required to look at them, my supervisor is confident that I won't even have to do the revisions and the thesis will be immediately passed by her as she has already written a report recommending that I be awarded the doctorate.

So...you would think getting a simple yes/no answer from my external wouldn't be a complicated matter. However, it's been nearly two weeks and I still haven't been provided with an answer. The SU have said I can't appeal against anything as I don't have an 'official' result as yet.

The university will close down for a month at the end of this week for the Xmas vacation so everyone will be signed off until mid-January. I think that not being able to provide me with an answer from my external at this stage is unacceptable. I submitted 6 months ago and haven't even been given a clear report from my examiners. My viva was 2 years ago now.

So incredibly fed up with being thrown breadcrumbs all the time. Career is on hold and the stress is unbearable.

pm133:

I would like to clarify that I am not seeking legal advice at this stage but am seeking advice through the Student's Union. I might (emphasise on the 'might') end up seeking legal advice should this result in a fail for the following reasons:

- My initial viva report which put forward the necessary revisions of my R&R was lost by the chair of my examination panel and my examiner's also failed to hold back up copies of this. This resulted in a 3 month wait for my report which, I suspect, had to be re-written and wasn't an accurate depiction of the revisions suggested on the day.

- Upon completion of my 12 months R&R I endured a 3 month wait for my result. After chasing it, the office issued me an incorrect result telling me I had failed when, it turns out, I had 6 months minor revisions because my external still wasn't happy with how I'd addressed the first round.

- The reports from my external examiner during both correction periods have been very short (around half a page) and incredibly vague making it difficult to cater to her love of precision.

- They have now given me a third revision period (which, according to the rules, doesn't exist) and a few sentences of compulsory revisions from my external which even my supervisor can't understand. She continues to be incredibly vague and it's clear that she wants the process dragged out so that I either a) give up or b) continue to work on my thesis for the rest of my life.

- As a result of all the above I have missed out on job opportunities which, in turn, has contributed to a loss of earnings.

- And, finally, I didn't appreciate the personal attack of an administrator incorrectly putting 'Dr' next to my name which resulted in an immediate investigation into my role in my new workplace. The university could have simply requested the error be rectified immediately without the need for an investigation.

Latest update: I had a meeting with my supervisor yesterday who is being surprisingly supportive. He's just as furious as me and agrees that we could be working on revisions for another 20 years and my external would still fail it. Even he said that this was becoming more of a personal attack due to our ideological differences on what is, in essence, quite a sensitive research topic.

So, for now, I'm heading down the appeal road which will be long and tedious but I'm sure at this stage that it is the right thing to do.

The revisions my external has recommended are very short (about 10 lines) and incredibly vague. Even my supervisor said he doesn't understand what she's asking and can't think of anything to say to me anymore. We really have exhausted all options with these revisions.

I know my external has been signed off ill and I'm starting to wonder whether this could be due to a mental health problem as her behaviour is veering down the maverick path.

The one thing that has lifted my spirits is that my supervisor has said that my internal thought I had fully addressed all the revisions asked of me and has been fighting for me to be awarded this PhD. Why my external is so hellbent on me working on infinite revisions (considering the thesis is 163,000 words) beggars belief. Everyone at my institution is in agreement that I have addressed the revisions asked of me.

So, let's see where the road takes me. I am exhausted by the whole process but I'm 100% ready for this fight. I've been waiting an awfully long time for it...