diff --git a/dspace-server-webapp/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/rest/repository/RequestItemRepository.java b/dspace-server-webapp/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/rest/repository/RequestItemRepository.java
index 0698567dcb..35bd214895 100644
--- a/dspace-server-webapp/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/rest/repository/RequestItemRepository.java
+++ b/dspace-server-webapp/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/rest/repository/RequestItemRepository.java
@@ -297,8 +297,9 @@ public class RequestItemRepository
         final String base = configurationService.getProperty("dspace.ui.url");
         URIBuilder uriBuilder = new URIBuilder(base);
         // Add request-a-copy/token to the existing path (without breaking /sub/dir dspace URLs)
-        URI uri = uriBuilder.setPath(StringUtils.stripEnd(uriBuilder.getPath(), "")
-                + "/request-a-copy/" + token).build();
+        URI uri = uriBuilder.setPath(
+                (uriBuilder.getPath() == null ? "" : StringUtils.stripEnd(uriBuilder.getPath(), ""))
+                        + "/request-a-copy/" + token).build();
         return uri.toURL().toExternalForm();
     }
 }
diff --git a/dspace-server-webapp/src/test/java/org/dspace/app/rest/RequestItemRepositoryIT.java b/dspace-server-webapp/src/test/java/org/dspace/app/rest/RequestItemRepositoryIT.java
index a43e458207..56409d18d7 100644
--- a/dspace-server-webapp/src/test/java/org/dspace/app/rest/RequestItemRepositoryIT.java
+++ b/dspace-server-webapp/src/test/java/org/dspace/app/rest/RequestItemRepositoryIT.java
@@ -606,10 +606,10 @@ public class RequestItemRepositoryIT
     }
 
     /**
-     * Test that generated links include the correct base URL, even if it has extra URL segments
+     * Test that generated links include the correct base URL, where the UI URL has a subpath like /subdir
      */
     @Test
-    public void testGetLinkTokenEmail() throws MalformedURLException, URISyntaxException {
+    public void testGetLinkTokenEmailWithSubPath() throws MalformedURLException, URISyntaxException {
         RequestItemRepository instance = applicationContext.getBean(
                 RequestItemRest.CATEGORY + '.' + RequestItemRest.PLURAL_NAME,
                 RequestItemRepository.class);
@@ -623,4 +623,20 @@ public class RequestItemRepositoryIT
         assertEquals(expectedUrl, generatedLink);
         configurationService.reloadConfig();
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Test that generated links include the correct base URL, with NO subpath elements
+     */
+    @Test
+    public void testGetLinkTokenEmailWithoutSubPath() throws MalformedURLException, URISyntaxException {
+        RequestItemRepository instance = applicationContext.getBean(
+                RequestItemRest.CATEGORY + '.' + RequestItemRest.PLURAL_NAME,
+                RequestItemRepository.class);
+        String currentDspaceUrl = configurationService.getProperty("dspace.ui.url");
+        String expectedUrl = currentDspaceUrl + "/request-a-copy/token";
+        String generatedLink = instance.getLinkTokenEmail("token");
+        // The URLs should match
+        assertEquals(expectedUrl, generatedLink);
+        configurationService.reloadConfig();
+    }
 }