PRES staff pages
Update: Online department briefing sessions - sign up here
PRES 2026
The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey is a national survey, co-ordinated by Advance HE. It is carried out by the University and will run from 20 April to 8 May 2026.
The survey is confidential, and the results are made anonymous so that no individual can be identified.
The survey questions are structured the following areas:
- Supervision
- On-campus support
- Online Learning support
- Research Culture
- Community
- Progress and Assessment
- Responsibilities
- Resource
- Research Skills
- Professional Development
- Opportunities
Within these categories, researchers are asked to either:
- indicate how strongly they agree or disagree with a series of statements (using a 5‑point scale from Definitely disagree to Definitely agree), or
- indicate how often particular learning styles, practices, or behaviours are encouraged.
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Researchers are encouraged to take an overview of their entire research course, reflecting on their overall experience and considering the balance between aspects that have worked well and those that could be improved.
Eligible Students
The Advance HE guidelines on eligible students:
- The PRES survey is for research postgraduates studying a programme of at least 60 credits, the greater part of which is at D level and is not taught.
It is up to institutions if they wish to include:
- Part-Time students in their first year of study;
- January starting students;
- Professional Doctorate students;
- Students studying at an overseas campus.
For students who are studying at multiple institutions, it is most important that each student is clear about which institution they are being surveyed about, and how to direct their feedback.
University of Warwick Doctoral College guidelines on eligible students:
- We plan to survey all fully enrolled Researchers, part-time and distance learning students.
- We will exclude students that started after January 2026.
Please contact Louise Sutcliffe if you have any researchers you wish to exclude.
Response Rates
We will update the response rates here (once survey is open) and communicate weekly with departments on their individual response rates.
Communications
Emails: We will send out direct emails to Researchers on the following dates, a copy of the emails will be available below:
- 20 April 2026: Launch email
- 27 April 2026- Second email
- 6 May 2026- Third email
- 8 May 2026: Survey closes
PGR Newsletters:
The PRES will also be promoted in fortnightly Doctoral College newsletters.
Promotional materials
You can download your asset pack here. The pack includes the following communications templates and visual assets:
- Web banners
- Email header banner
- Email footer signature
- Instagram post/stories
Useful documents
- PRES questionnaire
- AdvanceHE staff guide
What happens with the results?
(information coming soon)