Thesis Submission and Examination

When preparing to submit a HDR thesis for examination, please refer to the information below.

Preparing for Submission

Thesis Format

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 templates in Appendix A, pages 7 to 8.

  • Standard/traditional theses - refer to the information on pages 5 to 6 and the Appendix B, pages 9 to 11.
  • Theses with Creative Works/Creative Practice - refer to Appendix C, page 12.
  • Candidates submitting an Innovation Portfolio -  refer to Appendix D for Doctoral Candidates on pages 13 to 15 and Appendix E for Master Candidates on page 16.
  • Candidates submitting a thesis by publication - refer to Appendix F, page 17.

Important Reminder - Any candidate in receipt of an RTP Scholarship either as a tuition offset or stipend payments, 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. For an example of how to do this in your thesis, please refer to the word template below.

Ethics
If you've been granted ethics clearance for your project, speak with your supervisor as to what would be required to include in your thesis.

Templates

Please see below the thesis templates that you may choose to use to assist with formatting.

Thesis Template (Word Document)
Thesis Template (LaTex version via HDR RAP myLearn)


For formatting specific to your discipline, please consult your Principal Supervisor and/or the HDR Coordinator.

Thesis Editors

UNE recommends that HDR candidates who are seeking the services of an editor obtain services through the Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) or The NSW Society of Editors.  This way candidates can be sure of getting expert assistance from trained professionals. UNE also recommends that HDR candidates refer to the Theses Editing Guidelines from the Institute of Professional Editors so that they are aware of what editing entails.

Institute of Professor Editors
Institute of Professional Editors Limited (IPEd) Theses Editing Guidelines

The Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) also has an Editors Directory which is a national list of freelance editors, who are professional members of IPEd. The Editors Directory can be found in the IPEd website, on the Find an Editor listing.

Thesis Submission Workshops

Thesis Submission Workshops are for any candidate who is nearing their thesis submission and would like to learn more about how to submit as well as information on submitting research data and copyright implications. Workshops are held periodically throughout the year as indicated in the table below.

Sessions are co-presented with the Research UNE team and the Copyright Coordinator, Loretta S. Khanna.

All workshops are recorded with the recording and slides uploaded to the HDR RAP myLearn Page for all to access following the workshops. Access to previous workshop recordings and slides continue to be available.

Registration is required for attending the live workshop sessions.

Dates for 2024 Thesis Submission Workshops are yet to be confirmed.

Additional Resources

SOL:AR

You may access the thesis preparation and writing resources found within the Student Online Learning: Advanced Research SOL:AR website  at any time.

Academic Skills Office (ASO)

The University of New England’s Academic Skills Office (ASO), provides assistance to all enrolled students to help them succeed in their studies and to become independent and confident learners.

Academic Writing

The Academic Writing site has been written as a self-managed training program that can also be used as a resource for a specific learning need.

References

There are a number of referencing styles in use at UNE, each Faculty/School and Discipline has one or more preferred styles. Please consult your supervisor and/or the HDR Coordinator on the method to use in your thesis. For more information about referencing styles at UNE, please refer to the Referencing webpage.

Thesis Submission

Submission Items

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 "Thesis and Form Approval".

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 of a dissertation in two (2) volumes labelled I and II (Roman capital numerals) may be appropriate in exceptional circumstances. For more information refer to 1.3.3 in the Resource for General Thesis Formatting.

Submission Forms

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

  1. Thesis Submission Form* - includes the 115 Maximum Word Abstract (for your Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement (AHEGS)
  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 via email to hdrexam@une.edu.au. 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 see the "Thesis and Form Approval" subsection below.If you require a form with screen reader capability, please email hdrexam@une.edu.au

Forms Specific for a Thesis by Publication

All Thesis by Publication candidates must include the following two forms at the end of each chapter which contains a publication.

Printed Thesis

If an examiner requires a printed copy of the thesis, the staff in the Graduate Research School will contact the candidate 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).

Thesis and Form Approval

To obtain approval of your thesis and associated forms, your thesis and forms are to be submitted to the School/Faculty HDR Support Officer who will then organise final approval. In cases where there is no HDR Support Officer in the School/Faculty; submission can be made direct to the School HDR Coordinator/Head of School using the 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.

SchoolEmail Address
School of Humanities Arts & Social Sciences (HASS)hdr-hass@une.edu.au
School of Educationeduchdr@une.edu.au
School of Environmental and Rural Science (ERS)ers-hdr@une.edu.au
School of Science and Technology (S&T)st-hdr@une.edu.au
UNE Business School (UNEB)business-hdr@une.edu.au
School of Lawhdr-law@une.edu.au
Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit (AGBU)agbuhdr@une.edu.au
School of Rural Medicinerlmedhdr@une.edu.au
School of Healthhdr-health@une.edu.au
School of Psychologypsych-hdr@une.edu.au

Research Data Submission

Data Submission Requirement

All Research Data is to be submitted to the University repository, RUNE.

All original data or primary research materials relevant to your research must be lodged with the University repository, RUNE. This is required by the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research and the Management and Storage of Research Data and Materials Policy. In extenuating circumstances, the DVCR may grant approval for data or primary materials to not be registered and archived to RUNE.

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 Your Data to 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.

Thesis Examination

Appointment of Examiners 

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). Three examiners are selected for all Doctorate degrees and two examiners are selected for all Master degrees. A reserve examiner is nominated for all candidates.

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, for Doctoral candidates the amount is $390 and for Masters it is $221.

Important Notes

It is important to note that all examiners must be:

Preparation of the ROE

In preparing the Recommendation of Examiners, 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). GREB have provided additional information for supervisors when completing the ROE form, this information can be viewed on the webpage Helpful Information - Recommendation of Examiner Form.

The Recommendation of Examiners Form (ROE) must be approved by the HDR Coordinator/Head of School prior to sending to the Graduate Research School via email to hdrexam@une.edu.au. For the correct email address to use for your school, please reference the "Thesis and Form Approval" section above. If unsigned forms are sent, they will not be processed. The form will then be reviewed and if accepted, approved by the Graduate Research Examinations Board (GREB).

Submission Without Examiners Approved

If a thesis has been submitted prior to the ROE form being approved, sending the thesis to the examiners will be delayed until approval is granted.

Conflict of Interest

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.

Examination

When the thesis is sent to the examiners, 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.

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


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.

Examination Outcomes

The possible examination outcomes that you may receive are as per the course rules/handbook from degree commencement and are generally as follows:

  • Award/Without Changes
    No amendments required, may still make editorial changes
  • Minor Amendments
    3 months to make amendments
  • Major Amendments
    6 months to make amendments
  • Revise and resubmit for re-examination (more information in the Revised Thesis for Re-examination section below)
    9 months for revisions
    - Required to be formally re-enrolled - fees will be charged.
  • Non-Award

A doctoral candidate may be awarded the Chancellor's Doctoral Research Medal in cases where at least two examiners have recommended the award of the Medal, and the Academic Board Higher Degree Research Examination Subcommittee has approved the award of the Medal. The Medals will be given for doctoral research that is of exceptional merit and at the forefront of the field.

Revised Thesis for Re-examination

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 revised thesis for re-examination. Within the outcome email you will be asked to confirm an enrolment date, please note that fees will be charged from the enrolment date.

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. Revised Thesis Submission 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 "Thesis and Form Approval".

List of Amendments/Changes

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.

Thesis by Publication

A reminder for candidates submitting a Thesis by Publication, you must also include the following two forms at the end of each chapter which contains a publication:

Final Thesis Submission

Overview

Submitting your final thesis is the first step in the process of getting your degree conferred and be eligible for graduation.

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

Submission Items

When submitting a final/amended thesis, the following items must be received by the Graduate Research School by the date indicated in the outcome email. 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 "Thesis and Form Approval" section 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

List of Amendments/Changes

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.

Home and Mailing Addresses

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

Data Submission

You will also need to submit any research data that is additional, changed or has been re-analyzed to RUNE following the steps listed in the above "Research Data Submission" section.

Degree Conferral and Graduation

Degree Conferral

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

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 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.

Graduation

After you have received a formal notification from the Graduate Research School with your conferral details, a survey link to ask you how you would like to receive your documents and if you would like to attend a ceremony will be emailed to your UNE email address from the Graduation Team.

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/

Official Graduation Documents

Following approval by the DVCR, the Graduation Team will prepare the Testamur and Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement (AHEGS). Preparation of these documents can take up to three weeks. These documents can either be collected from UNE's library, posted to you or held for the next ceremony. The Graduation Team will request document delivery/collection method following notification of degree conferral.

Please note that documents are now prepared digitally via My eQuals, more information about these digital formats can be obtained from the My eQuals Information page. To order a Academic Transcript, you will need to complete the Academic Record Purchase form.


Important Note on Abstracts and Titles


With the implementation of digital documentation through My eQuals, My eQuals is unable to produce the following in the thesis title and abstract:

  • Italics
  • Bold
  • Subscript and superscript
  • Symbols