Professor Emmanuel Tsekleves · 240K+ followers on LinkedInI've read and reviewed over 100 doctoral theses and decided whether 45 of them passed. I'll help you finish and pass yours.
Mentoring for directors, managers, senior managers and working professionals doing a PhD or DBA alongside a full-time career.
Your supervisor helps you do the research. Your examiner decides whether it passes. Most candidates don't see their thesis from that side of the table until the viva/defense. Everything I do starts there: what your examiner will actually assess, worked backwards into a plan you can run on ten to fifteen hours a week.
Forty-five is why my verdict carries weight. A hundred is why nothing in your draft is going to surprise me.
100+
Doctoral Theses Reviewed
45+
Examined Across 15+ Universities
30+
Supervised to Completion
35+
Working Professionals Mentored to Completion
Sound familiar?
"It just drags on and on."
A chapter comes back. You revise it. It comes back again, and months go by.
"You feel left on your own."
The taught phase ended, and the deadlines and the cohort went with it.
"Some weeks I do ten hours. Some weeks I do none."
Your doctorate lives in the gaps around a senior role, and it's the first thing to go when work spikes.
"Is it going to be good enough for the examiner?"
You've written most of it, and you can't answer that from the inside.
Those are my mentees' words. Almost none of it comes down to effort or ability. It comes from never having seen your work the way it will be judged.
Left alone, that usually ends one of two ways: an extension, or a thesis sent back. Both cost time and money.
How I Work
The 5 Examiner Questions
Most examiners I've sat with ask some version of the same five questions. Everything we do together is about helping your thesis answer them well and with confidence.
1 · What's your contribution?
Can you say it in one sentence, and does it match in your abstract, introduction and conclusion?
2 · Is it new?
Does your literature review leave a gap only your study fills?
3 · Does it tell one story?
One golden thread from research questions to conclusion.
4 · Do your claims match your evidence?
Every claim the size your data can carry.
5 · Can you defend every choice?
Why this method, when someone pushes.
If your thesis answers all five clearly, your examiner has no easy reason to send it back.
Work with me
Submitting in the next six months?
8 WEEKS · ONE FIXED FEE
The 8-Week Doctoral Submission Programme
Timed back from your submission date. I read your thesis the way your examiner will, we fix what they'd question, and you finish with two mock defense (viva) sessions.
- A full cold read and a written examiner-risk report
- Four one-to-one working sessions and a re-read of your revised chapters
- Email answers within 48 hours for the eight weeks
- Two mock defense sessions once your date is set
Earlier in your doctorate?
One-to-one mentoring
Fortnightly or weekly sessions, your drafts read between them, and your questions answered within 48 hours. Three months minimum.
Best for: the stretch before your final draft, with your chapters read as you write them.
From $1,000 a month.
Three months minimum, then month-to-month.
Apply for a placeGroup Mentoring
Small-group doctoral mentoring where I read your pages. Written answers within 72 hours, a monthly masterclass, and a fortnightly clinic.
Best for: the long middle (data, analysis and writing chapters) with a deadline every fortnight.
From $200 a month.
Group MentoringOne-off help
The AI Authorship Check
Send me one chapter. I'll tell you whether it reads as your voice to an examiner, show you the lines that would raise questions, and rewrite two or three of them so you can see the difference.
$195.
Send me your chapterNeed one chapter or your full thesis read the way your examiner will? That's the Examiner's Read, $2,000 for a full thesis, credited in full if you join the programme within 14 days. Ask about it →
FREE · LIVE · ONCE A MONTHPass or Revise. I read a real thesis page live, the way an examiner would.
What it's like to work with me
“When we started, I was a tributary, full of effort but without a clear channel, unsure whether my data, theory, or contribution connected in any meaningful way. You helped me see the shape of my argument, trust my findings, and finally flow as a coherent river with a destination. Working with you is the difference between circling in eddies and moving confidently toward the finishing line.”
Angella Bent Thomas
DBA Candidate and Chief HR & Operations Officer
“I could not have completed my Doctorate, I believe, without his guidance and professional support. I would tell any professional, very busy in their own career but determined to complete their Doctorate, to sign up and not wait.”
Holly Lyncooke
DBA, MBA, CDPSE, CSM, USA
“The support I am receiving from his coaching is what was missing in my PhD journey. Supervisors have no time, and many are involved on a very high level only. At least now I see progress.”
NJ
PhD Candidate and Senior Consultant
About
Professor Emmanuel Tsekleves
I was a lost PhD student once. Confused, overwhelmed, in my office at 2am drowning in papers. I promised myself that if I got through it, I'd help others through the same thing.
Twenty years in academia later, I've read and reviewed over 100 doctoral theses, examined 45+ of them across 15+ universities, supervised 30+ PhDs and DBAs, published 135+ papers and secured £9M in research funding. I was a Professor at Lancaster University, where I'm now Emeritus, and I left my full-time post to do this work.
Long before any of that, I wanted to be an archaeologist. Not the kind who catalogues what's already in the museum. The Indiana Jones kind. I got the professorship, and then found the job was mostly cataloguing. That's most of why I left. It's also why I recognise the candidates I work with: capable, and stuck inside a system that wasn't built for them.
PhDtoProf is where I do it. Most of the people I work with are directors, senior managers and leaders in business, healthcare and education, finishing a doctorate alongside a career. They're capable people. What they were missing was someone who's sat on the other side of the viva table.
Here's what sitting on that side teaches you. Whether someone passes comfortably rarely comes down to the quality of their research. It comes down to whether the thesis shows the examiner what they're looking for. Most capable people were simply never shown that.
Guides and templates I use with my own mentees, free and paid.
Browse resourcesFAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Who do you work with?+
Mostly working professionals: directors, senior managers, consultants and leaders in business, healthcare and education, doing a PhD or DBA (and sometimes an EdD or DrPH) alongside a full-time career. The newsletter and Pass or Revise are open to every doctoral researcher.
Will you replace my supervisor?+
No. Your supervisor guides the research. I read it the way your examiner will, from cold, looking for what the viva will test. I work alongside your supervisor, never instead of them.
Which is right for me?+
If you're submitting in the next six months, or your examiners have sent it back, choose the 8-Week Submission Programme. If you're earlier and want your chapters read as you write them, choose 1:1. If you want steady structure and a deadline every fortnight, choose Group Mentoring. Not sure? Apply and say so. I'll tell you honestly which fits.
Can you help in my field?+
Almost certainly. What examiners assess (a clear contribution, a sound method, one evidenced argument) is the same across disciplines, and I've mentored candidates in a wide range of fields, at every stage from proposal to viva.
Do you offer one-off thesis reviews or mock vivas?+
Yes. I can read one chapter or your full thesis the way your examiner will, with written feedback. Mock defense (viva) sessions are part of the Submission Programme. Ask through the application and I'll tell you what fits.