Stage 1 – Appeal to the Faculty Student Research Appeals Committee (FSRAC)

You may appeal on grounds to the FSRAC by submitting a FSRAC Appeal Form‌ to Academic Affairs, Level 6, Administration Building, Queen’s University, Belfast, BT7 1NN or by email to appeals@qub.ac.uk.  You must complete all sections of the Form.  You must submit the Appeal Form and any supporting evidence to Academic Affairs within 10 working days of the date of the notification of the decision on your progression, assessment and award which you wish to challenge. 

Academic Affairs will acknowledge receipt of your appeal and progress to the next stage, i.e. initial sifting and review if it is not clear that sufficient evidence and/or a sufficiently compelling case has been presented or, will send it to the Head of your School for a response.   

For each ground cited, you must give details of how your appeal meets the grounds and provide evidence of how this has impacted on your studies.  One or more of the following permitted grounds can be considered, as appropriate to the appeal case.

Ground 1:  New evidence has become available which could not have been provided to the School (evidence which was withheld from the School will not normally constitute new evidence).

You should consider the following:

i. Could the “new evidence” have been disclosed to the School and, if so, what prevented you from informing the School of this evidence sooner?

ii. Was the “new evidence” at any point discussed informally with any member of the School staff and, if so, with whom and when was it discussed?

iii. Were you advised to submit formal notification of the new evidence?

iv. What steps were taken by the School to address the issue/s raised by you?  Were you signposted by the School to appropriate support services (Wellbeing Service, Disability Service, Students’ Union, the University’s Occupational Health Service)?

Ground 2: There has been a procedural irregularity which has had a demonstrable impact on the progress/assessment/award outcome.

You should include the following:

i. Details of the procedural irregularity making reference to the appropriate regulation, procedure or process.

ii. Details on how the procedural irregularity affected your performance and, therefore, impacted on your progress/assessment/award outcome.

Ground 3: There is evidence of inadequate assessment on the part of one or more examiners.

You should include the following:

i. The date of submission of the thesis.

ii. The date of the oral examination.

iii. Details of any issues raised by you relating to the assessment process prior to submission of the appeal.

iv. The duration of the oral examination (was a break offered?).

v. Were you given a fair opportunity to defend your thesis?  If not, explain why you consider you were not afforded a fair opportunity.

vi. Did you raise your concerns about the conduct of the oral examination at the time? If so, who did you contact? 

vii. Details of when you received notification of the outcome and when you received copies of the examiners’ reports.

Please note the FSRAC cannot make judgement on the academic content of your thesis.

Ground 4: There is evidence of inadequate supervision.  This refers not to the academic judgement of supervisors regarding the quality of your work, but rather to the adherence to University regulations, procedures and codes of practice for the supervision of postgraduate research students.  You will be expected to show that you took action at the earliest possible stage to deal with any alleged supervisory problems, or to explain why you did not take such action.

You should include the following information:

i. The names of your Principal and Second Supervisors.

ii. Details of any change/s of Supervisors and reasons for any change/s and the stage of research when the change occurred.

iii. Details of any issues raised by you or either Supervisor during the period of supervision relating to supervision.

iv. If there was a delay in differentiation (i.e. year 1 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)), please give reasons for the delay.

v. If there was a delay in the submission of the thesis (i.e. year 4 FTE), please give reasons for the delay.

Once you have established that you have grounds for an appeal, it is strongly recommended that you seek advice and assistance on preparing your appeal. The Students’ Union (Advice SU) will be able to assist you with the appeal form and a representative will also be able to accompany you to the Committee hearing.

Your appeal should be succinct; the use of bullet points, rather than a lengthy narrative, may help you to structure your appeal.  Your appeal should be no longer than four A4 pages and you should, where possible, try to limit the number of pages of appendices to no more than 50.  However, it is understood that this may not always be possible.

As the FSRAC will consider your appeal on written evidence only, it is essential that you provide all the relevant information and supporting evidence to the FSRAC by the appeal deadline. 

The following are examples of supporting documentation the FSRAC may consider as appropriate evidence:

i. The written outcome letter of the decision against which you are appealing.

ii. Notes or records of any supervision meetings or Annual Programme Review (APR) feedback.

iii. Email correspondence between you and your supervisor(s).

iv. Any further email correspondence that may be relevant to the appeal.

v. Any medical evidence that could explain periods of absence or non-engagement with the University.

vi. Notes or records of any meetings with the School.

Once you have submitted your appeal, you will receive a notification email (to your University email address) confirming receipt of your appeal and explaining the next stage of the appeals process. Please note that the Appeals and Complaints team will endeavour to send this to you as quickly as possible.

It is important that you check your University email account regularly and read any emails sent to you carefully.

Once submitted, your appeal may be considered by a Sifting Panel and a Review Panel if it is not clear that sufficient evidence and/or a sufficiently compelling case has been presented.  You are not required to attend these meetings.

If your case is referred, the Sifting Panel will consider your appeal (and supporting evidence) and will decide either to accept or reject your appeal. If accepted, your appeal will be sent to your School for a response.

The Sifting Panel will reject your appeal if sufficient evidence and/or a sufficiently compelling case is not presented, e.g.: 

- Your appeal form is incomplete and/or does not contain any supporting evidence.

- Your appeal does not cite a ground of appeal.

- Your appeal clearly does not meet the grounds of appeal.

- Your desired outcome is not within the powers of the FSRAC to grant, i.e. to alter assessment/award decisions.

If the Sifting Panel rejects your appeal, the Review Panel will review this decision. The Review Panel will only consider the original appeal documentation and no additional information will be accepted at this stage.

The Review Panel will decide either to confirm or overturn the Sifting Panel decision. If accepted, your appeal will be sent to your School for a response.

If your appeal has been rejected by the Review Panel, there is no further internal right of appeal and the original decision of the SPRC or the Examiners in relation to your final assessment/award will remain in place.

If, after considering the reasons why your FSRAC appeal was rejected, you remain unhappy about the FSRAC process or outcome, you may submit a complaint to the Office of the  Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO) Complaints to the Ombudsman must be made within 6 months of notification of the decision of the Review Panel. 

If your appeal has been accepted at the Sifting and Review stage, your appeal will be sent to your School for a written response.  It should be noted that a decision to progress to this stage, should not be taken as an indication that your appeal will be upheld.

Your appeal documentation and the School response will be presented to the FSRAC for consideration.

You are not required to attend the FSRAC meeting.

On confirmation of your appeal being accepted for further consideration by the FSRAC, Academic Affairs will refer the matter to the Head of your School (or nominee) for a response. 

The School will provide a response to Academic Affairs, normally within 10 working days. 

The FSRAC will meet to consider your appeal and the School response. 

Your appeal (and any supporting evidence submitted by you) and the School response (and any supporting evidence provided by the School) will be considered by the FSRAC. The decision on your appeal will be taken on the paperwork alone.  Neither you, nor a representative from the School will be invited to attend a meeting.

Stage 2 - Appeal to the Central Student Research Appeals Committee (CSRAC)

If you are dissatisfied with the decision of the FSRAC, you may appeal to the CSRAC by submitting a CSRAC Appeal Form to Academic Affairs within 10 working days of the written notification of the decision of the FSRAC.

The CSRAC will comprise a Pro-Vice-Chancellor (PVC) (or nominee) (Chair) and three Directors of Research or senior academic colleagues from across the University (normally one from each Faculty).  You will have the right to attend the meeting of the CSRAC to present your case.

You will be sent a formal invitation to the CSRAC which will provide at least five working days’ notice of the date, time and venue of the CSRAC meeting.

You must confirm whether or not you intend to attend the meeting.  If you fail to confirm whether or not you wish to attend your CSRAC meeting by the stated deadline, your appeal will be withdrawn and the decision of the FSRAC will stand.

Whilst it is not compulsory for you to attend your CSRAC meeting, it is recommended that you do so to present your appeal to the CSRAC panel. If you do not wish to attend the CSRAC meeting and would like your appeal heard on the paperwork along, you must inform the Appeals and Complaints Team by the deadline stated in your CSRAC invitation.

If you confirm your attendance and then fail to attend your CSRAC meeting without a good reason, the CSRAC may consider your case in your absence based on the paperwork alone.  It is your responsibility to establish good cause for your absence from the CSRAC.  If you establish ‘good cause’ to the satisfaction of the Committee, then the meeting may be re-scheduled, unless you have indicated that you wish the case to be considered by the CSRAC in your absence.

The CSRAC will be provided with all relevant documentation, including:

• Evidence provided to the FSRAC (your appeal to FSRAC and the School response)
• FSRAC Record of Outcome detailing the FSRAC decision
• Your CSRAC appeal and any supporting evidence
• Response from the FSRAC Chair (or nominee) (if requested).
• Response from other departments (e.g. Disability Services) if issues concerning other department raised in FSRAC or CSRAC (if requested)

Your invitation will include copies of all the documentation provided to the CSRAC.  The Chair of the FSRAC (or nominee) and/or the School or University department representative will also receive the same paperwork.

You have the right to be accompanied at any stage in the proceedings by a registered student of the University (which shall include a Students’ Union Sabbatical Officer), a member of staff of the University, or University Chaplaincy.

If you consider that you have a disability or condition, you should advise Academic Affairs (appeals@qub.ac.uk) when submitting your appeal or as soon as possible so that the appropriate reasonable adjustments can be put in place to help you engage as fully as possible with the appeals process.  This may entail a consultation with Disability Services.

If you attend your CSAC meeting accompanied, please note that you will still be expected to answer questions and make your own representations. The individual accompanying you is there to support you, not to represent you.

Please refer to the Student’s Union Advice Centre (SU Advice)for further information.