Candidature

Faculty of Medicine and Health Graduate Research School LogoStudent Obligations

To ensure your study progresses satisfactorily and that you are keeping up-to-date with any administrative aspects of your research degree, please be aware of your responsibilities as a Higher Degree Research student:

  • Know and understand your responsibilities as a researcher at UNE under the HDR Responsible Research Conduct Policy and the UNE Code of Conduct for Research.
  • Understand and abide by the ‘Specific Responsibilities’ of HDR candidates.
  • Make and maintain regular contact with your supervisor(s)
  • Activate your UNE email address and check your UNE emails regularly
  • Notify Research Services, in writing, of any changes to your contact details
  • Understand the Confirmation of Candidature Process
  • Complete your six-monthly HDR Progress Reports
  • Ensure that all University fees are paid by the deadline
  • Understand and comply with all relevant rules, policies and guidelines.
  • Ensure all of your research data is stored in Cloud.UNE
  • Archive and register all generated research data with the University at the end of a project

Supervision Arrangements

It is essential that you maintain regular contact with your supervisors. The Graduate Research Subcommittee requires all Higher Degree Research students and their Supervisors to complete a Supervisor and Student Agreement (DOCX, 99.12 KB) by the end of the first four weeks of candidature of the research component of any HDR Program. This agreement will help establish a professional working relationship and set realistic expectations of you and of your supervisors.

Introducing the Confirmation of Candidature Milestone

The Confirmation of Candidature (CoC) process is a major milestone in the first year of a candidates Masters or Doctoral Candidature. It provides students their first opportunity to formally present their research proposal to peers, colleagues and superiors, and obtain critical feedback on their work. The purpose of a CoC is to determine whether or not the Doctoral research project indicates a strong likelihood to result in a high quality thesis and/or be completed in the required time. At the time of confirmation, all Confirmation Panel members will be required to sign off when the student has undergone this induction process. The University has a responsibility to support Higher Degree by Research (HDR) candidates throughout their candidature. This includes monitoring progress to identify candidates who are at risk of not making satisfactory academic progress and/or completion of mandatory milestone in their degree.

Variations to the Conditions of Candidature

You are expected to submit your thesis for examination by the deadline stated in your welcome letter (received by email), however, the University recognises that there may be unforeseen and extenuating circumstances which hinder your research progress.

If you experience a change to your circumstances which affects your capacity to meet academic deadlines, your supervisor and the staff in Research Services can advise you of your options. It is easier for us to help if you talk to us before the expiry of such deadlines. Depending on your circumstances, you may need to apply for a variation to the conditions of your candidature, including:

  • Leave of absence (as paid or unpaid leave)
  • Extension to your submission deadline
  • Change between full time and part time enrolment or internal/external status

If you require a variation to your candidature, you must first obtain the permission of your Principal Supervisor before formally lodging the appropriate online application form with supporting documentation. All application forms can be found on HDR Forms and Policies.

Masters to Doctorate

The University may permit a HDR candidate to convert their degree between Masters Research awards and Doctoral award. The maximum duration of a converted scholarship becomes that for the new research degree, minus any period of study already undertaken towards the new degree prior to conversion, and minus any advanced standing already granted.

Full Time / Part Time Studies and Annual Leave

As a full time HDR candidate you are expected to conduct your research on a full-time basis of 37.5 hours per week. Part time HDR candidates, are expected to conduct their research on a part-time basis of approximately 18.5 hours per week. All HDR candidates (full time, part time; with or without a scholarship) are entitled to take four (4) weeks Annual Leave each year. It is expected that Annual Leave will be taken throughout the year, including on public holidays and during the University’s end-of-year shutdown period. Annual Leave must be negotiated with, and approved by, your supervision team. If you are a scholarship holder, your scholarship will continue to be paid whilst you are on Annual Leave. Annual Leave does not affect your enrolment status, your submission deadline, the expiry date of your scholarship(s) or your entitlement to paid leave under the conditions of your scholarship.

Cloud.UNE

As a HDR candidates, you have access to 500 gigabytes of cloud storage on Cloud.UNE( sign in with your UNE credentials). Cloud.UNE is the University’s highly secure, regularly backed-up enterprise storage solution for research data. Please be mindful that it is now a policy requirement that all research data needs to be stored in this space. For further information about how to use this service, contact the Library Research Services team or visit Research Data Management.

Archiving Research Data

All HDR candidates are required to archive and register any data and materials that they create or collect during their research projects. Archiving and registering happens at the end of the project, but must be completed ahead of graduation. The University Library provides services assisting with moving data into the archive and with describing datasets to create registry records.

Acknowledging the Australian Commonwealth Government

Candidates who are in receipt of an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship are required to acknowledge the support of the Australian Commonwealth Government when they, their supervisor, or any other part, publishes or produces material such as books, articles, newsletters or other literary or artistic works which relate to the research project carried out by the recipient of a RTP Scholarship.