Please note that DACR has been updated for autumn 2025
Imperial College London is dedicated to the wellbeing of its doctoral students, which includes supporting the development of their ability to communicate their research effectively and to manage the writing-up process independently. As part of this support, incoming doctoral students benefit from academic communication training and feedback through the university’s Doctoral Academic Communication Requirement (DACR).
Imperial College London Doctoral Academic Communication Requirement (DACR)
For students whose programme started from 1 September 2025
The updated Requirement (from 2025/26)
Doctoral students must fulfil Imperial’s Doctoral Academic Communication Requirement (DACR). This is done through completing initial communication training.
There are two clear benefits to this initial training: it will make students more aware of their communication needs in relation to Imperial doctoral expectations; and in addition to the training’s self-diagnostic, students will be offered the opportunity to submit a writing sample for personalised feedback and targeted recommendations.
How to fulfil the updated Requirement
Students are recommended to complete the short online training in the first 3 months of their doctoral programme so that they can benefit from the follow-on resources and recommendations.
At the latest, the training must be completed by the university’s Early Stage Assessment (ESA) milestone: 12 months for full-time students; 24 months for part-time students.
All eligible students should receive the link and access code for the training via an automated email from Registry.
For students whose programme started before 1 September 2025
The previous version of the Requirement (up to and including 2024/25)
Doctoral students must fulfil Imperial’s Doctoral Academic Communication Requirement (DACR). This was done through taking DACR Assessment 1 and, depending on the result of this initial assessment, students may also need to have a progress check (DACR Assessment 2), as part of the Early Stage Assessment carried out by their department.
How to fulfil the previous version of the Requirement
Students needed to take the first available DACR A1 within 3 months of their doctoral programme start date (or 6 months for part-time students).
DACR A1 will no longer be offered: This is because it formed part of the 2024/25 version of the Requirement, which applied to students beginning their doctoral programme before 01 September 2025.
DACR A2: Students who scored level 1 or level 2 on DACR A1 need to take this progress check at the time of their ESA: Register for DACR A2