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Thesis Submission

The normal deadline for thesis submission is the last day of August for September registrants, and the last day of February for March registrants.

Guidelines for the submission of theses and dissertations are available in the Regulations and Forms section of this page.

Please contact gsothese@tcd.ie with any queries relating to Thesis Submission.

The PhD Thesis Submission Process

The Intention to Submit form must be completed and returned at least one month prior to submission by every postgraduate research student to the Director of Teaching and Learning Postgraduate in their School, copying ethesis@tcd.ie. Submitting this form initiates the formal nomination of examiners for the thesis.

The steps involved in the thesis examination process are illustrated on the flowchart below:

1. Corrections required by examiners must be made before results are submitted to Council. An email is required from the internal examiner certifying that corrections have been carried out satisfactorily. Minor corrections should be completed within two months of the candidate being informed of corrections required (three months for students on the part-time register). If the examiners recommend that the thesis be referred for revision, this means that re-examination is required (though a second viva voce is not permitted) and the candidate must register and pay a revision fee.

2. Examiners may propose that the thesis be referred for major revisions and subsequent re-examination, for which six months are normally allowed from the time of notification (nine months for students on the part-time register). In this case, an electronic resubmission of the thesis must take place through the Academic Registry website, examiners will submit separate forms through gsothese@tcd.ie and the examination process will not include a viva voce.

3. One bound copy of every thesis approved for a higher degree is lodged in the custody of the Librarian in the University Library. An electronic copy is deposited in the University's open access institutional repository.

Dean's Grace

Dean's Grace of one month free of fees to submit a thesis is granted by the Dean of Graduate Studies and is automatically applied to all research students registrations in their expected final year (this is end of year 2 for full-time Masters by research candidates; end of year 4 for full-time PhD candidates; end of year 3 for part-time Masters by research candidates and end of year 6 for part-time PhD candidates).

Thesis Stay of Deposition Requests

Although TARA serves as an open access institutional repository for digital scientific and scholarly publications, you may request that access to your thesis deposited in TARA be restricted or delayed if necessary. In order to apply such restrictions, you must request and receive a "stay of deposition" on your thesis. The application for a stay process is described in Calendar and states the following:

“Should an author of a thesis wish to withhold permission for the use of her/his work, a written application must be made to the Dean of Graduate Studies at the time of submission of the thesis for examination. Such applications must have the written support of the graduate student’s Supervisor or Director of Teaching and Learning (Postgraduate), must state the reasons for the request for a stay on access and must provide a contact address. The maximum length of a stay is five years. During this period of withheld permission the thesis may be consulted, lent or copied only by written permission of the author who is under an obligation to reply to all enquiries within a reasonable time.”

Applications for stay of deposition on a thesis must be made online by the student by filling in the Stay of Deposition Request Form below.

Please ensure you have a written confirmation of support of your Supervisor or Director of Teaching and Learning (Postgraduate) as it must be submitted with the form. The Graduate Studies Office at genadgso@tcd.ie will then revert with a decision.