Information for HDR Examiners

Examination Timeline and Extension Request

Examiners have six weeks from receipt of the examination package to submit their reports. While extensions may be requested, the Graduate Research School can only administratively approve up to four additional weeks. Any further extension requests require escalation and formal approval from authorised stakeholders.

If an extension is  required please send through the request to grs-exam@une.edu.au with the proposed new submission date.

Guidelines for Examiners

Each examiner is provided with the thesis, examiners report template and the relevant Guidelines:

Additional policies/frameworks that may be of assistance during examination

Honorarium Payment & Setup

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

To allow payment to be processed, examiners will need to complete the  UNE Student and Staff Finance Registration form prior to returning the examiner’s report.

Instructions:

Examiners must complete the online UNE Student and Staff Registration form as follows:

  • Applicant Type (select) – Community Member
  • Reason for Request (type) – HDR Examiner
  • Bank Account Location (select)
  • Personal Contact Details – complete
  • Bank Details – complete and upload supporting document
  • UNE Contact
    UNE Staff contact name – Graduate Research School
    UNE Staff email address – grs-exam@une.edu.au

Click the “Next Page” button

An email will be issued from our finance department once onboarding into the system has been completed. This email will  provide the supplier number to allow future processing of the payment.

PLEASE NOTE: Examiners will need to provide their supplier number when returning the examiners report to allow payment to be processed.

Additional Conditions for Examination

  • The contents of the HDR thesis, including any intellectual property rights contained in the thesis, remain strictly confidential;
  • the HDR thesis can only be used for the purposes of performing the examination.  The thesis is required to be deleted and destroyed after the completion of the examination process;
  • the examiners’ names may be released to the HDR Candidate after the examination; and
  • their reports will be released to the HDR Candidate after the examination.

Communication Restrictions

Communication between the supervision team and examiners is to cease once the examiners have been approve and/or received the examination package email.  All communication relating to the examination and the candidate is to be directed only to the Graduate Research School via email grs-exam@une.edu.au

If any form of contact from either party is received by the other party, please inform the Graduate Research School via the grs-exam@une.edu.au email and provide the communication or if via verbal means a summary of the conversation.

This is to ensure that any perceived conflict of interest is addressed and to ensure that the examination of the candidate can be assess beyond reapproach and to the highest standards.

Chancellor’s Doctoral Research Medal

Examiners of a doctoral thesis will have an additional section relating to the recommendation of the Chancellor’s Doctoral Research Medal within the report. This section should be completed if the examiner feels that the quality of the theses has demonstrated:

  • international standing of the research work;
  • impact of the research both actual and potential; The Principal Supervisor, Chair of Examiners and HDR Coordinator/Head of School are the signatories for the re-examination thesis submission.  By signing the Re-Examination Thesis Submission form they are certifying that the revised thesis has addressed the requested amendments and is of a suitable quality for re-examination.
  • refereed publications or other research outputs from the doctoral work, for example patents, exhibitions, performances and other creative works; and
  • awards or other recognition of the research quality.

Examiners are able to recommend that the candidate receives the Chancellor’s Doctoral Research Medal and will be required to provide a support statement with justification/reasoning.

For further information, please refer to HDR Scholarships, Prizes and Awards Policy (Part C – Chancellor’s Doctoral Research Medal)