Changing Your Supervisor

Changing Your Supervisor (Doctoral, MSc, MLitt only)

This guidance is for doctoral, MSc and MLitt students only. Any changes to supervisory arrangements for Masters students should always be managed by Departments/Degree Committees. 

In certain circumstances, you may wish to change your supervisor.

You should discuss a change of supervisor with your current and potential supervisors, your College Tutor and relevant colleagues in your Department.

How to apply

Please note that if you are changing supervisor within the same Department, it is normally possible to manage this change locally without submitting a formal application via your CamSIS self-service. Please therefore contact your Department in the first instance and do not apply via CamSIS unless advised to do so.

If you are not self-funded, you will need to let your funding body or sponsor know about your change of supervisor. The terms and conditions of your funding may dictate whether a change of supervisor and/or topic is permitted.

If necessary, you can apply to change your supervisor via your CamSIS self-service (but please see above regarding changes within the same Department). Information on how to do this is available on the ‘'Applying for a change in your student status’ page.  If your new supervisor is in a different Department you will instead need to submit an application tochange Department. The change of supervisor will be managed as part of that process.

If you are requesting a 'fresh start', please make this clear in your application. A 'fresh start' is where you completely restart the course which resets the clock for your submission deadline and fees. You will be liable for the full fees for the course at the rate for the academic year in which the fresh start takes effect, in addition to any fees paid prior to the change of course. Fresh starts are rare and if you believe one is appropriate for you, you should discuss this with your supervisor and department before applying for a change of department.

Once submitted, your application will be considered by your current supervisor, department, College and Degree Committee before arriving at the Student Registry for the final decision.

If you are not self-funded, you will need to let your funding body or sponsor know about your change of supervisor.

Contact

If you have any questions about changing your supervisor, please submit a query to student-registry-help.admin.cam.ac.uk

Students studying on a Student visa

A change of supervisor may have visa implications. You should contact the International Student Office to discuss your plans prior to making an application: international.students@admin.cam.ac.uk.