Thesis Submission and Examination

For assistance with the formatting of a thesis, please refer to the Higher Degree by Research Thesis Format Guidelines.

Please note that all candidates should refer to the information on pages 1 to 4 and the Thesis Template (Word Document).

• Traditional theses - refer to the information on pages  5 to 6 and the Appendix A, pages 7 to 8.
• Theses with Creative Works/Creative Practice - refer to Appendix B, page 9.
• Candidates submitting an Innovation Portfolio - refer to Appendix C, page 10.
• Candidates submitting a thesis by publication - refer to Appendix D, pages 11 to 12.

Forms Specific for a Thesis by Publication

You may submit a thesis by publication with the published/publishable work within the body of the thesis or with the published/publishable work in an appendix only (not in the body of the thesis). Whichever method is chosen, you must clearly indicate at the beginning of the thesis, page three (3) of the Thesis Template, the publication(s) that are included in the thesis with the following details: title, authors, journal, status of manuscript, full citation information, submission dates (if applicable) and the thesis page numbers.

If you choose to include any published/publishable work in the body of the thesis you may also include the following two forms at the end of each chapter which contains a publication.

• Statement of Authors' Contribution Form
• Statement of Originality

Important Reminder - Any candidate in receipt of an RTP Scholarship either as a tuition offset or stipend payments (both domestic and international candidates), you must acknowledge the government in your thesis and at any time during or after completion of your degree. For more information about this requirement, please refer to Section 1.6.55 of the Commonwealth Scholarships Guidelines (Research) 2017. An example of how to acknowledge the Australian Government in the thesis can be found in the Thesis Template (Word Document).

You may use the below templates to assist with thesis writing and formatting.

Thesis Template (Word Document)
Thesis Template (LaTex version)

To obtain approval of your thesis and associated forms, your thesis and forms are to be submitted to following email address according to the School you are in.

In most cases the School/Faculty staff will then arrange for the thesis and items to be sent to the Graduate Research School. Please allow at least five working days for review and sign off. In some instances approval can take longer, please email the HDR Coordinator/Head of School for the most current advice on approval duration.

Submitting your thesis for examination includes submitting a digital thesis, approved forms and your research data. It is important to remember that your thesis and all associated forms must be approved prior to submission to the Graduate Research School. For information on how to submit your thesis and forms for approval, please refer to the section below titled "School/Faculty Approval Contact List" above.

The Graduate Research School will process your submission and send you confirmation of your submission. If there are any missing items as part of the submission, you will be advised. If the Graduate Research School has received approved examiners your thesis will be sent to those approved examiners and you will receive confirmation. If the Graduate Research School has not received approved examiners, the thesis will remain with the Graduate Research School until examiners have been approved.

Digital Thesis

All theses must be submitted as an Adobe PDF (.pdf) format as one document. It is recommended that you reduce the file size of your thesis which can be done within Adobe PDF.

Submission methods including creative works and/or innovation portfolios may submit more than one document and in a format other than PDF.

Submission Forms

If you require a form with screen reader capability, please email hdrexam@une.edu.au

In addition to the digital thesis, you must submit the following forms with your thesis for examination:

1. Thesis Submission Form*
2. Right of Access to Thesis Form

*Please note: the Thesis Submission Form must be approved by the Head of School/HDR Coordinator prior to sending to the Graduate Research School. If unsigned/unapproved forms are sent, they will not be processed. For the correct email address to use to send the thesis and items for approval, please refer to the "School/Faculty Approval Contact List" above.

As required by the Research Data Management Policy, all original data or primary research materials relevant to your research must be lodged with the University repository, RUNE or a formal exception is granted.

Should you have any questions in relation to your dataset or the data/information to be included, please contact the RUNE team.

Other Supplementary Material

Physical samples and other supplementary material that cannot be digitised should be included with your RUNE data submission as a metadata file. Consult with your supervisor for information about where the material will be physically stored, this information can then be included in the metadata submission. For more information, please seek assistance from the RUNE team.

Steps to Submit Data Into RUNE

1. Go to the RUNE home page
2. Sign in with your UNE credentials
3. Click “Start a new submission”
4. Select “Datasets” from the “Manual Submission” dropdown
5. Fill in each stage of the form as completely as possible.  If you are unsure of what you enter for a particular field, please refer to the guidance provided above each field in the form.  If you are still unsure of what to enter you can leave the field blank and RUNE team will be in contact for additional metadata as required.
6. Follow the prompts on the ‘Upload’ tab of submission form to upload your dataset files to RUNE.
7. Upload all research data/supporting materials required to reproduce your findings. Physical research materials that cannot be digitised should be stored with your school. If you have trouble uploading your dataset files via the RUNE submission form (i.e. because the files are too big) or if you would simply like to share your data with us via Cloud.UNE, complete your submission without the files.
8. Then, log into Cloud.UNE using your UNE credentials and create a single folder to share with RUNE clearly marked with your name (e.g. LASTNAME, Firstname).  Move your data to this folder if it is not already there and then share it with “cloud-dataarchiving” (image with instructions attached), or create a direct link to the folder on and email the link to RUNE.
9. Progress through the entire form and then click the ‘Complete’ button to finalise your submission.
10. Shortly after your submission is made, the RUNE team will complete an initial review and will contact you if any additional information is required.
11. Please allow three working days for your dataset submission to be finalised.

All candidates at the time of submission must supply a short abstract which will appear on your Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement (AHEGS). This short abstract does not need to match the abstract in your thesis.

The maximum would count for your short abstract for graduation purposes is 115 words maximum.

In addition to the short abstract, all candidates will have their thesis title included in the AHEGS and transcript.

Both the short abstract and title for graduation documents must not include the following due to the digital production of your AHEGS and transcripts into My eQuals:

• Italics
• Bold
• Subscript and superscript
• Symbols

Please note: you are able to include a variety of text characters/symbols/formatting alternatives within your thesis.

In order for the Graduate Research School to send your thesis to the examiners for examination, examiners must be approved. As you work to complete your thesis you should have a discussion with your supervision team on a potential list of examiners. Your Principal Supervisor will then select the final examiners and complete a Recommendation of Examiners form. The final selection of examiners is a confidential process between the supervisors, HDR Coordinator/Head of School, the Graduate Research School and the Graduate Research Examinations Board (GREB). A school approved Recommendation of Examiners Form (ROE) must be submitted to the Graduate Research School who will prepare for final approval of the examiners by the Graduate Research Examinations Board and advise the supervision team of the outcome

If you are unsure where the selection of examiners is up to, please check with your supervision team in the first instance.

Theses that have been submitted to the Graduate Research School that are awaiting final approval of examiners will remain with the Graduate Research School until examiners are approved.

After your thesis has been submitted to the Graduate Research School and the examiners have been approved, the thesis examination can take place. The Graduate Research School will send your thesis to the approved examiners and each examiner is given six (6) weeks to examine the thesis. It is not uncommon for examiners to request more time. Requests of an additional four weeks or more by an examiner will need to be approved by your supervisor who can then advise you of the delay in examination.

Once all the examiner reports have been received, they will be reviewed by the Graduate Research Examinations Board (GREB) and an outcome will be determined. The Graduate Research School will advise you and your supervision team of the examination outcome and include all examiner reports and if applicable any annotated theses sent in by your examiner(s).

The Graduate Research School is not able to provide examiner reports before an outcome is determined and the examiner reports are cleared for release.

A school approved Recommendation of Examiners Form (ROE) must be submitted to the Graduate Research School who will prepare for final approval of the examiners by the Graduate Research Examinations Board and advise the supervision team of the outcome. Once the examiners are approved, the thesis will be sent to the examiners and the candidate and supervision team will be notified.

Invite Template

To assist supervisors in their search for potential examiners, the Examiner Invite Template has been prepared. There is no requirement to use the template when approaching examiners.

Payment

Examiners are each paid an honorarium with the amount dependent on the type of degree being examined:

• Doctoral degree - $390
• Masters by Research degree -  $221

Important Notes

It is important to note that all examiners must be:

• have international standing in the field of research;
• be independent of the conduct of the research;
• be competent to undertake the assessment; and
• not have a conflict of interest which cannot be, or is not, appropriately managed; and
• a qualification equivalent to the level being examined and in accordance with the AQF plus 1 and Professional Experience Equivalence Policy

A person must not be an examiner if they:

• have been directly involved in the HDR Candidate's research;
• are a co-author on any part of the work;
• have a past or current close personal relationship with the student or any member of the supervisory team;
• have had extensive professional contact with the HDR Candidate or any member of the supervisory team in any other circumstances which might jeopardise the independence, or the perceived independence, of the examination;
• have been a research student or supervisor of any member of the supervisory team within the last five years; or
• have supervised the student at any time.

Conflict of Interest

In preparing the Recommendation of Examiners (ROE) form, the supervisors should be aware of any perceived or actual conflicts of interest of the supervisors and candidate and ensure that these are declared on the Recommendation of Examiners Form (ROE).

The Australian Council of Graduate Research (ACGR) has developed the ACGR Conflict of Interest in Examination Guidelines around conflicts of interest in the appointment of examiner. The following UNE policies relating to Conflicts of Interest are listed below.

• Conflicts of Interest Policy
• Conflicts of Interest Procedures

Each examiner is provided the thesis and all relevant course information as well as the relevant Guidelines for Examiners document.

• Guidelines for Examiners
• Guidelines for Examiners - Master by Research Creative Practice
• Guidelines for Examiners - Doctor of Philosophy Creative Practice
• Guidelines for Examiners - Master of Philosophy Innovation
• Guidelines for Examiners - Doctor of Philosophy Innovation

Once all examiner reports are received they will be reviewed at the next available Graduate Research Examinations Board meeting. Examination outcomes including the examiner reports and any annotated theses will be sent to each candidate within three business days following the meeting.

If an examiner requires a printed copy of the thesis, the staff in the Graduate Research School will contact you directly to request that a printed thesis be prepared. If more than one examiner requested a printed thesis, this information will be included in the request. Please note: it is the responsibility of UNE candidates to prepare the printed thesis.

Printing and binding of a thesis can be organised by UNE’s Fuji Film by email or by phone (02) 6771 2420.

A thesis can be printed double-sided which can be either spiral/comb or soft bound.

Once printed, the thesis must be brought to the staff in the Graduate Research School Office, second floor of the TC Lamble building, who will then send the thesis to the examiner(s).

The possible examination outcomes that you may receive are listed in the course rules or handbook from the year you commenced into your degree. Generally outcomes range from no amendments required, amendments required, revision of your thesis for re-examination and non-award.

A doctoral candidate may also be awarded the Chancellor's Doctoral Research Medal in cases where at least two examiners have recommended awarding the Chancellor's Doctoral Research Medal. More information about the Chancellor's Doctoral Research Medal can be found in the HDR Scholarships, Prizes, and Awards Policy.

Submitting your final thesis is the first step in the process of getting your degree conferred and to be eligible for graduation. The Graduate Research School will confirm the final thesis submission and if there are any outstanding items remaining, the Graduate Research School will let you know. Please note: all outstanding fees must be paid in full to be eligible for degree conferral as per the Graduation Rule.

It is important to remember that if you have any research data that is additional, changed or has been re-analysed as part of your amendments, this must be submitted to RUNE following the steps listed in above in the Research Data Submission section.

When submitting a final thesis, the following items must be received by the Graduate Research School by the date indicated in the outcome email. Submitting past this date may result in degree termination. The thesis and the Completion of Amendment Form need to be approved by the HDR Coordinator/Head of School prior to sending to the Graduate Research School. For information about who to send your thesis and the following items to, consult the "School/Faculty Approval Contact List" above. If unsigned/unapproved items are sent to the Graduate Research School, they will not be processed.

• Final thesis as an Adobe PDF.  All dates should remain the same as the original thesis submission.
• You may choose to send an additional thesis PDF file with your highlights/mark-ups to assist the HDR Coordinator to assess the changes made - be sure to name this file as "Mark-up" and/or "Highlight"
• Completion of Amendments Form
• List of amendments/changes made

If you require a form with screen reader capability, please email hdrexam@une.edu.au

This list is typically in a tabular form using either Microsoft Word or Excel. It is very important that you clearly state what has been changed. This means your list must be easy to understand with connections to the changes in your thesis clear to identify. You may consult with the HDR Coordinator/Head of School for specific questions about the format. The List of Amendments Excel file can be used as a format reference.

For any examiner recommendations that you are not addressing, you must include these items in your list along with an extensive explanation of why you have chosen not to make the requested change/amendment.

Once a candidate has submitted their approved final thesis to the Graduate Research School and all required forms/items, they have formally satisfied the requirements of the degree. It should be noted, that the degree is not yet complete and candidates are not deemed graduates until the University has conferred their degree.

To be eligible to graduate all outstanding fees must be paid, your data has been submitted to RUNE and all other items as part of the thesis submission list have been received.

For information on how to check your fee account, visit the fees webpage and follow the steps under "Accessing your Invoice". You will also find on this website steps on how to pay your invoice. If you have any questions regarding fees, please contact the staff in Student Services via the contact details on their webpage.

Degree Conferral Approval Process

The Graduate Research School will process the degree conferral to be endorsed by the Graduate Research Examinations Board and approved by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) (DVCR) to enable candidates to be conferred and be eligible to graduate in absentia.

The date on which the DVCR gives final approval will be the date of degree conferral. An email to confirm degree conferral will be sent to each candidate.

After you have received a formal notification from the Graduate Research School with your conferral details, the Graduation Team will contact you in a few weeks time to check in with you about receiving your documents.

Further information on Graduation can be found at: http://www.une.edu.au/current-candidates/graduation/your-graduation

The Graduation Team can be contacted through AskUNE: http://askune.custhelp.com/

To be eligible for degree conferral, your home and mailing addresses within myUNE must be up to date. Your Mailing Address may be in Australia or overseas, and it can be the same as your Home Address if appropriate. For information on how to update your address, please see the following steps:

• Log into your myUNE page and click on the myInfo tab
• Click on the 'Addresses' link.
• If any details are incorrect, click the 'Update' button and follow the steps

Following approval by the DVCR, your transcript, Testamur and the Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement (AHEGS) will be prepared. Preparation of these documents can take up to three weeks and are prepared digitally via My eQuals, more information about these digital formats can be obtained from the My eQuals Information page.

To order a hard copy Academic Transcript, you will need to complete the Academic Record Purchase form.

If you have received an outcome of “revise your thesis for re-examination” this will involve enrolling into a research unit for a further period of study and submitting a changed thesis for re-examination. Within the outcome email you will be advised of your enrolment date, which is the day after the outcome email is sent to you. Please note; fees will be charged from the enrolment date. You will need to submit your changed thesis to the Graduate Research School, once submitted, will send your thesis to the examiners. The Graduate Research School in consultation with your supervision team will manage any examiner(s) that have declined to re-examine your thesis. If the original reserve examiner is not available, new examiners will be nominated and follow the same examiner approval processes. In some cases this may delay the start of the re-examination, the Graduate Research School and your supervision team will keep you updated on progress.

When the thesis is sent to the examiners for re-examination, the Graduate Research School will send you confirmation. Each examiner is given six (6) weeks to examine the thesis and as per your original examination, additional time may be requested by the examiner.

Once all examiner reports are received the Graduate Research School will prepare them for the Graduate Research Examinations Board for an outcome to be determined. Once an outcome has been determined, the Graduate Research School will notify the you and your supervisors of the outcome and include the examiner reports and any annotated theses.

When submitting your revised thesis you will need to have your revised thesis approved and submit new forms/items as listed below. You will also need to submit any research data that is additional, changed or has been re-anaylsed to RUNE following the steps listed in the above Research Data Submission section.

1. Revised Thesis PDF
2. List of amendments/changes (see below for more information)
3. Submission for Re-Examination Form
4. Right of Access to Thesis Form*

*If this form has not changed from original submission, please advise the HDR Support Officer.

Please note: thesis submissions and the applicable forms need to be approved by the Head of School/HDR Coordinator prior to sending to Graduate Research School. If unsigned forms are sent, they will not be processed. For information on how to submit your thesis and forms for approval, please refer to the section above titled "School/Faculty Approval Contact List".

This list is typically in a tabular form using either Microsoft Word or Excel. It is very important that you clearly state what has been changed. This means your list must be easy to understand with connections to the changes in your thesis clear to identify. You may consult with your supervisor and/or the HDR Coordinator/Head of School for specific questions about the format. The List of Amendments Excel file can be used as a format reference.

For any examiner recommendations that you are not addressing, you must include these items in your list along with an extensive explanation of why you have chosen not to make the requested change/amendment.