Reasonable adjustments for research students - practice and guidance

Introduction

The following document sets out practice and guidance regarding teaching, learning, and assessment specific to postgraduate research students, to ensure that inclusive practice and reasonable adjustments can be identified and provided while upholding the required academic standards for the degree.

A social model of disability would look at the barriers that disabled students might face within an organisation compared with other students and aim to remove those barriers by more inclusive practice. This is not achievable in all circumstances and where it is not, the University will look to put reasonable adjustments in place to ensure that disabled students are not substantially disadvantaged because of their disability.

Support for research students with a disability must be considered across the full doctoral journey - from induction and supervision to research activities and examination. The University is required to meet obligations set by the Equality Act 2010 and additional compliance requirements imposed by some external funders.

All those who supervise doctoral students or support them in any professional capacity must familiarise themselves with this document.

For context in this document please note:

• Inclusive practice refers to proactive use of flexible, supportive and relevant approaches which can be included within supervision or as part of the individual journey of the doctoral researchers as they carry out their research. Examples might include ways to manage time, building skills with particular software, or flexibility that is available for accessing resources. These are broader needs that can be met without an individual needing to disclose a disability or make a formal request. While inclusive practice is used to describe support for students that may be of benefit to all students, it may be of particular value to students with disabilities. Inclusive practice is one of the ways in which the University meets the anticipatory duty of the Equality Act by considering a range of interventions which will reduce disadvantage for a large proportion of the disabled student population.
• Reasonable adjustments describe student-specific arrangements that cannot be met through inclusive practice, and which are set up specifically to address a disadvantage experienced by a student due to a disability. These are agreed and set up in consultation with the student and the relevant staff who support them, with advice available from the Student Support and Wellbeing team.

Supporting the research student journey

Understanding the support a student with a disability may need throughout their doctoral studies involves examining how their disability interacts with different stages of the research journey, and identifying the specific types of support that may be required at each stage including:

Support prior to enrolment

Information about how to identify potential support can be shared in advance of the student beginning their doctoral studies in order to make sure that priority arrangements can be made in advance where this is possible. In practice, this may mean the student contacts Student Support and Wellbeing ahead of their enrolment in order to explore potential support that may be required. This can be especially useful if support may require needs assessment, arrangements or orders made in advance of doctoral studies beginning.

Induction

• Doctoral researchers will be made aware of how to declare a disability and how to seek support from Birkbeck during the University's induction process for postgraduate research students, which will include presentations from the University’s Wellbeing Services.
• Information provided during induction will outline University support as well as additional support provided through the Disabled Student's Allowance.

Identifying needs

In order to identify potential areas where reasonable adjustments are needed, students should be supported to consider their research expectations in context at the start of their research journey. These are likely to vary significantly from one discipline to another but the expected features of the anticipated research should be considered at the outset in discussion between the student and their supervisor(s) and discussed during any assessment of need. The reasonable adjustments that individual students need may vary across the lifetime of the PhD programme.

Physical features of the research environment

Depending on the research environment they will be working in, there may be specific ways in which support needs to be considered, e.g.:

• access to supervisor's office
• building accessibility for office space and labs
• access to computational or digital resources
• research that will be based off site including field-based research or off-site resources such as libraries and archives.

Features of doctoral research

The process of conducting research should be considered, including key features of their research journey:

• literature review
• methodology
• data collection (may include travel or lab access)
• analysis
• writing
• training.

An illustrative list of examples of inclusive practice and reasonable adjustments for doctoral researchers is provided in Appendix 1: Example adjustments and inclusive practice during the research student journey.

Ongoing adaptation

Due to the nature of research, it may transpire that a review of reasonable adjustments will be needed as research progresses, to consider any unforeseen requirements or changes that may be required.

Adjustments provided by Birkbeck

All research students should be encouraged to disclose any disabilities at the start of their studies. Research students are also invited to make contact in advance of their studies commencing, in order to consider support that can be prepared in readiness for them beginning their studies.

Research students will be expected to complete the Study Support Plan (SSP) in the same way as taught students and should use this process to agree any support or adjustments required for studies conducted either at home or on campus. Supervisors can view the individual SSP, by following the guidance on SharePoint (staff only page - log-in required). The Student Support and Wellbeing adviser will work with the student and the school to think about and agree any additional support specific to their role as a research student. This will cover specific learning disabilities, other disabilities, and mental or physical health conditions.

The adviser may recommend that a student apply for an independent, external needs assessment, which will be used to identify Disability Student Allowance support that can be provided via Student Funding England or UKRI DSA Framework. Such support might include specialist equipment, software, or support with transport costs, depending on a student's needs.

At the start of a research student's journey (or from the time that the student first notifies the University of their disability) a meeting should take place between the relevant Student Support and Wellbeing adviser, the primary supervisor and where possible, the secondary supervisor, to discuss appropriate support. Where appropriate, input may be needed from other staff including, for example, lab or facility managers. Agreed adjustments can then be communicated to the student, and be documented in the student's SSP.

Support and adjustments may take the form of inclusive practice that is available to all research students, or a number of set adjustments that the University agrees can be put in place to support disabled research students.

Where the situation develops, or the student identifies additional adjustments that they feel would help, they should contact their Student Support and Wellbeing adviser.

If, after meetings between the student, the supervisor and the relevant Student Support and Wellbeing adviser, a consensus cannot be reached about appropriate support, the issue can be referred as a Student Complaint by the student.

Disabled Student Allowance (DSA)

DSA support will be considered and organised in compliance with requirements for either:

• Student Finance England DSA
• The UKRI DSA Framework.

The relevant adviser can advise students about the application process.

Supervision

The supervisory relationship is a fundamental means of support for all doctoral researchers. Depending on the circumstances, it may be necessary to adjust features of interactions between the student and their supervisor.

For supervisors, it is important at an early stage in the student journey for a meeting with the student and their disability adviser to specifically discuss the impact that their disability might have on them and their ability to engage in the supervision process, to agree what the expectations are of the supervisors in making adjustments for this are, and in clarifying what the expectations are of the student to ensure that appropriate support is in place. The Student Support and Wellbeing adviser should work with the supervisors in identifying any appropriate training or support for the supervisor where required.

The ordinary expectation is that much of the supervisor-supervisee relationship will be worked out and agreed between the two as part of the normal process of supervision, as would be expected of all students. The role of the Student Support and Wellbeing adviser would be to clarify how a disability is likely to impact on a research student and make suggestions about how the supervisor might make appropriate accommodations or adjustments. See Appendix 2 for some potential examples.

Where specific arrangements are needed, this should be documented within the SSP, indicating who is responsible for the arrangements.

An example of this might be where a student has requested written feedback in advance of supervision sessions. For this to happen, there would be a requirement on the student to submit their written work in sufficient time for a supervisor to read the submission and write up the feedback. Therefore, enabling the supervisor to commit to this would require the student to commit to submitting work earlier than might otherwise be required. In such circumstances, the Student Support and Wellbeing adviser should record the expectations of both the student and the supervisor on the SSP.

Away-from-home research activities

The varied nature of research will mean that researchers are likely to be involved in a range of different activities, including fieldwork, conferences and work that is carried out off-site. Ahead of any trip or mode of work off-site, an assessment of need can be carried out using our research activity questionnaire. We will work with the student to identify how their disability might impact on their proposed research activities and identify any steps that the student or the University might put in place to help support the student.

Assessment and progression review

Progression and assessment monitoring prior to submission of the thesis is the responsibility of schools and faculties.

Schools should clearly state assessment requirements for all research students. If postgraduate research students (PGRs) are required to give an oral presentation to a group, adjustments may be required for PGRs with particular disabilities, similar to those a taught student would need in such a scenario. Where an adjustment is needed to an interview element of a progress review, faculties should refer to the guidance provided below on types of adjustment for the viva.

Research degree examination

The Research Degree examination process is administered centrally via the Birkbeck Graduate Research School team. There are a number of ways in which practice around research degree examination can be made inclusive while ensuring that the assessment is robust and fair. The following sections highlight features of the research degree examination process in the context of inclusive practice and reasonable adjustments. Please note, inclusive practice and reasonable adjustments need to be considered and confirmed in advance. Failure to submit a request for an adjustment within a reasonable timescale may result in the viva being re-scheduled.

Production of the thesis

There are specific formatting requirements for a thesis which are requirements for the eventual production of a thesis that is publicly available, and which demonstrates that it is of publishable standard (a criteria for a PhD award). If there is a basis for arranging different formats for the candidate and the examiners, this can be considered provided there is a way to ensure that examiners are able to share a clear idea about the location in the work that any feedback is related to.

The viva

Support can be broken down into four separate categories. Below is a non-exhaustive list of examples:

1. Inclusive practice

These are arrangements that we would expect to be accommodated in any viva, regardless of whether or not a student has disclosed a disability.

• Use of in-person/online or hybrid format vivas.
• Arranging a mock viva.
• Wherever possible, assessors/examiners using succinct and focused questions and avoiding the use of multi-part questions.
• Thinking time before answering questions.
• Asking for a question to be repeated/re-phrased or requesting clarification.
• Being able to consult your own copy of the thesis/submission.
• Breaks during the viva.
• Candidate afforded (reasonable) time to write down questions posed by the panel/examiners.
• Scheduling of the viva at a specific time of the day.
• Room requirements, e.g. accessible room, lighting, seating and furniture arrangements and option to visit and familiarise self with room beforehand.
• Clear indication from the examiners about amendments which are substantive requirements for the thesis to meet the criteria for a PhD or whether the recommendations are about optional refinements or are related to future work beyond the thesis.

2. A list of standard adjustments input into the SSP

These are standard adjustments that can be requested ahead of the viva and will be accepted for all students where this is listed on their Study Support Plan.

• Providing a specialist ergonomic chair required.
• Optional rest breaks pre-scheduled, e.g. at x-minute intervals and/or the opportunity to request breaks.
• Advance briefing for the Panel/Examiners on the particular nature of the disability (for example to explain communication and thinking style).
• Candidate providing a presentation to the panel/examiners at the start or end of the viva.
• Providing materials in alternative formats.
• The use of a British Sign Language interpreter.
• Taking time off-camera during the viva to focus on their thinking/processing (time off camera during a break does not need to be recorded in the SSP).
• Discussing whether there are any concerns from the student about the period of time for amendments as specified in the regulations.
• Use of assistive technology during the viva.

3. Adjustments which need Research Strategy Group approval

These adjustments are proposed as reasonable adjustments by the student or relevant Wellbeing adviser but either need approval from the Research Strategy Group or require access to resources or equipment that isn’t routinely available.

• The student types responses rather than participating orally.
• Recording a viva for the purpose of note taking and reviewing issues raised.
• Presence of a supporter/support worker/note-taker.
• Presence of a Specialist Mentor to assist communication.

4. Adjustments which need approval from the University of London

There may occasionally be cases where a proposed adjustment requires formal approval by the University of London. If this is required, Birkbeck will seek this on the student's behalf.

Support after the viva

The outcome of a research degree often requires students to continue to refine their work through minor or major amendments, or possibly to revise and resubmit their thesis. Once the outcome of a viva is known, the student should meet with their supervisor in order to discuss the extent to which support will be required until the deadline for any revised work, and their entitlement to support. Where appropriate, the SSP or other support may need to be further adjusted in consultation with the Student Support and Wellbeing team.

Policy review

• Created: March 2026
• Latest update: N/A
• Date of next review: 2026-27 academic year
• Owner: Birkbeck Graduate Research School (BGRS)
• SLT owner: DVC Research, Innovation and Knowledge Exchange
• Committee oversight: Research Committee for Academic Board