Do I have a PhD?

[User89044]

Hi, I had my viva, got minor corrections, completed them, received award letter. However graduation has been cancelled in July and no idea when it will be. When can I say I have a PhD on legal documents? Do I need to wait until after I graduate and get my certificate? Or can I say now?

I think once you've had the award letter, you have your PhD. Congratulations!

Massive congratulations. You’ve had the award letter so I think you can and indeed should tell everyone. I’d shout it from the rooftops if I were you 🎉

I'm curious, what kind of legal documents need you to state your degree?

H's certificate states that he "satisfied the requirements for the award" on the date of his viva. Didn't get the certificate until the next summer's round of graduation ceremonies, but he was definitely a PhD from December.

Congratulations!
I’d say the award letter is enough. If you need to wait until you’ve attended graduation for it to count then I’ve been fraudulently claiming qualifications for decades (I do have the relevant certificates, so it’s slightly different).
The viva/minor corrections stage is such a weird situation to get through emotionally as there’s no real moment of closure. The viva feels like it should be celebrated as the end, but you still have work to do (and sometimes a long wait for the examiners to approve it) so it can start to feel a bit meh.

Thanks everyone! I support a pharma company with their publications and have to state my name and highest degree in disclosures so not "legal document" as such but I don't want to be misleading

I got my PhD 20 years ago but never attended my graduation. I count the date of viva as the date I got the PhD.

I work at a post graduate university and we've been told that students are not official graduates until they have been awarded their degree at graduation so technically, no. Buuut your degree is conferred which means you've completed everything for your degree and it's guaranteed you will be awarded it. I've seen numerous students update their LinkedIn profiles to Dr as soon as they've had their final results letter and that change always gets a positive comment from their supervisor. The university has never told students not to use the title before graduation, though for researchers staying at the uni, they have to wait until graduation before our website is updated.

I should mention that for people who don't attend, the degree certificate is sent by post after the ceremony. It's still "awarded" at graduation even if you're not there.

It seems to vary slightly by institution - at my PhD-awarding institution there would be a meeting of senate which officially awarded postgraduate research degrees (usually at the first date after your requirements had been met, i.e. corrections etc. returned and signed off) so we received a letter explicitly confirming what date that meeting would be, and therefore from what point you could say you had a PhD. The graduation was then just a ceremony celebrating the award. It's worth looking at your award letter to check the terms it's expressed in as it may specify something like this - but to be honest once you've got the award letter I don't think anyone would expect you to wait for graduation even if they use a system more like that of pp. where graduation is the official award.

Re: legal documents. I had my doctorate noted on the 'observations' page of my passport so as to match other documents from my university which I needed for my research activities in other countries.

We used to find this important especially for female academics in certain countries, as if you had 'Dr' on university documents and 'Miss/Ms/Mrs' on official ones like passport and driving license it could lead to some obtuse officials accusing you of using your (non-existent) husband's university papers and permits iyswim.

Anyway, congratulations