Unit 6: Examination & Graduation

Unit 1: Supervision at UWA GRS Dean HDR Cohort GRS Office & Structure UWA Register of Supervisors UWA Supervisor Types Relationships & COI Absence from Supervision Graduate Research Coordinators

Unit 2: Rules, Regulations, Policies and Procedures

Graduate Research Training Policy Course Rules Research Conduct & Integrity Training IP & legal Services staffConnect & studentConnect GRS Forms

Unit 3: Eligibility, Admission, Scholarships & Enrolment

HDR Preliminary MRes Eligibility & Admission English Language Requirements UWA Scholarships Tuition Fees & Living Allowances Research Funding, SSAF & OSHC

Supervisor Induction Structure Unit 4: HDR Candidacy

GRS Associate Director HDR Enrolment & Re-enrolment ACE & Coursework Enrolments DELNA Induction SPORS Milestone Paperwork Candidature Variations Leave & Suspensions Student Travel & Travel Awards Partnerships & Internships Extensions, Withdrawal & Termination

Unit 5: HDR Student Support GEOs Researcher Training Framework Resources & Training Ethics Application Support Library Engagement Wellbeing

Unit 6: Examination & Graduation Thesis Examination Viva Voce Examiners & COI Submission & Copyright Thesis Declarations Thesis as a Series of Papers Editorial Assistance & Turnitin Examination Milestones Graduation

List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ABLE Arts, Business, Law and Education

ACE Academic Conduct Essentials

AEC Animal Ethics Committee

APA Australian Postgraduate Award

APR.Intern Australian Postgraduate Research Intern

COI Conflict of Interest

DBA Doctor of Business Administration

DELNA Diagnostic English Language Needs Assessment

DFAT Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade

EMS Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

FAQ Frequently Asked Questions

FTE Full Time Equivalent

GEO Graduate Education Officer

GRC Graduate Research Coordinator

GRS Graduate Research School

HDR Higher Degree Research

HDR Prelim HDR Preliminary

HMS Health and Medical Sciences

HREC Human Research Ethics Committee

IPEd Institute of Professional Editors

IPRS International Postgraduate Research Scholarships

LMS Learning Management System (BlackBoard)

MPhil Masters of Philosophy

MRes Masters of Research

ORE Office of Research Enterprise

OSHC Overseas Health Cover

PhD Doctor of Philosophy

PPD Paid Professional Development

REU Research End User

RIA Research Integrity Advisor

RTF Researcher Training Framework

RTP Research Training Program

RTS Researcher Training Scheme

SCI Science

SIRF Scholarships for International Research Fees

SJD Doctor of Juridical Science

SSAF Student Services and Amenities Fees

TEQSA Tertiary Education Quality and Standards

UPA UWA Postgraduate Award

UWA University of Western Australia

Thesis Examination

Thesis Advice

The GRS webpages providing advice to HDR students about thesis submission and examination, details of style and format, advice about examiners expectations of thesis as a series of papers, thesis front page proformas, and a step-by-step guide to the submission process.

Students’ PHEME accounts stay active during the examination period and for a year after graduation. This gives them access to the library, their student email account and IT services.

All stages of the submission through to completion process can be managed remotely if students have left Australia prior to completing the requirements of their degree

Viva Voce Examination

Viva Voce Advice

• All PhD students enrolling from 1 JAN 2018 are now required toundertake a Viva Voce as part of their thesis examination.

• PhD students enrolled prior to 1 JAN 2018 are not required to undertakethe Viva Voce.

• PhD students who have withdrawn from candidature and later beenapproved to re-enrol to submit their thesis for examination are notrequired to undertake the Viva Voce IF they were enrolled prior toJanuary 1 2018 AND submit their theses within 6 months of re-enrolling.

Viva Voce guidelines are available for students, supervisors, chairs and examiners.

Workshops are offered by the GEOs to support students prepare for their Viva Voce. These workshops are listed in the GRS Events Calendar.

HDR Examination Policy

Conflicts of Interest in Examination

During examination and classification of theses, UWA requires that examiners undertake the task independently, without bias.

Professional and personal relationships may have the potential to introduce actual bias or resulting in reduced independence of examination or a perception of bias potentially leading to questions about the independence of the examination

Conflict of interest can arise between the examiner and the student, supervisor, UWA, subject matter and/or other examiners.

Potential for actual or perceived conflict of interest must be declared during submission of the Nomination of Examiners Form.

Independence of Examiners Policy COI Examples Nomination of Examiners

Thesis Submission & Copyright

Students submit an e-copy of their thesis for examination. The thesis needs to be saved as a single PDF file (smaller than 2Gb) on a labelled flash drive.

It is important that students are aware of their copyright rights and responsibilities, particularly at the time of thesis submission. Students own the copyright of their thesis and students must seek permission from copyright owner/s for all third-party copyright material they include in their thesis (including images, photographs, diagrams and figures).

A UWA Copyright LibGuide has been developed to help students understand copyright and their thesis.

Thesis Submission Advice HDR Copyright Advice

Thesis Front Pages Students must ensure that their thesis includes the required front pages, with the completed and signed thesis declaration page, prior to submission for examination. Front page thesis guidelines and proformas are provided on the GRS Thesis Style and Format webpages.

The front page proformas include authorship declarations.

The wording of the authorship declaration for theses that contain co-authored publications is particularly important as it enables examiners to determine the student's contribution to the work and therefore what parts of the thesis are examinable. All co-authors of the publications sign the authorship declaration. These signatures can be electronic.

If co-author signatures cannot be obtained for logistical reasons, coordinating supervisors may sign on behalf of co-authors. However, it is critical that all co-authors are aware that their publication appears in the thesis and they approve of the description of the student's contribution to the publication.

Thesis as a Series of Papers

At UWA the course rules and examination criteria for theses formatted as a series of papers does not differ from the rules and criteria for any other thesis. The rules are the same for all theses whether they are formatted as an unpublished monograph, a series of papers, or a combination of published and unpublished work. Papers included in a thesis do not need to be published, they can be presented as manuscripts prepared for submission or manuscripts submitted for publication but not yet published.

If a thesis is formatted as a series of papers it needs to include general introduction and general discussion chapters.

There are a number of important considerations to be taken into account when formatting a thesis as a series of papers, such as the time constraints of publishing, issues of co-authorship, and the coherence of the thesis. Advice is provided to students and supervisors about thesis formatting on the GRS webpages and in face-to-face workshops.

Course Rules Thesis Formatting Advice

Editorial Assistance

Editorial Assistance Policy Editing Restrictions Editorial Assistance Advice

Advising HDR students about academic writing structure, style and editing is a supervisory responsibility. However, this advice should be limited to ensure the student’s writing reflects their voice and their ability to write and argue with clarity. HDR students can also seek paid editorial assistance although there are similar limits to the advice they can receive from an editor.

The GRS Editorial Assistance webpages provides advice about finding and working with an editor. While the GRS does not recommend any one editor, the details of editors that have contacted UWA are provided. The GRS does not provide funding for professional editing.

Nationally, there is some concern that HDR students may be using online services to commission writing. This practice is commonly called ghost writing or contract cheating. Please discuss the difference between editing and ghost writing with your students.

Turnitin Access

HDR students are able to request access to Turnitin to check drafts of their papers and thesis. Prior to accessing the unit, students are asked to discuss with their supervisors if sharing text with a third party such as Turnitin is problematic. For example, if the text contains sensitive, confidential and/or commercial-in-confidence information.

Students given access to Turnitin are provided with instructions on how to find the Research Text Matching LMS unit and text matching support tools at UWA. Students are also directed to advice on interpreting similarity indexes, filtering and excluding previously submitted versions. STUDYSmarter provide support for students in referencing, paraphrasing and avoiding plagiarism.

Turnitin access instructions are provided on the Library Text Matching webpages.

Text Matching LibGuide STUDYSmarter Advice

Examination Milestones and Graduation

After submission of a thesis for examination, a number of new milestones appear in the milestone list.

• NOM-EX Nomination of Examiners – appears when a NOM form is submitted. The thesis will not be sent from the GRS for examination until this form has been received, checked and approved. Approval can take up to 3 weeks so delays in thesis examination can be avoided by submitting the form prior to thesis submission.

• EX-REP Examiners Report – appears for each examiner when the thesis is sent for examination.

• CORRECTION Thesis in the process of corrections – appears when the thesis is classified and changes to achieved when the final corrected version is submitted.

Students can monitor the progress of examination by checking their EX-REP milestone status

Graduations

askUWA

The graduation ceremonies are in June and December to align with completion of coursework degrees. HDR students can apply to graduate at these ceremonies or be awarded their degree in absentia.

For HDR students to participate in a UWA graduation ceremony, they must have completed all their course requirements, including submission of the final version of the thesis to the GRS, by the graduation cut off dates. If students apply to graduate but have not completed all the course requirements by the cut-off date, the Graduation Team will automatically postpone their graduation ceremony to the next graduation.

Questions about graduation can be directed to the Graduation Team via askUWA.

UWA Graduation Dates

Thank you for taking the time to complete this induction module.

We hope that you find this module useful as you commence supervision, and continue to supervise at UWA.

We look forward to meeting with you during our face-to-face professional development workshops offered throughout the year.

- Professor Imelda Whelehan, GRS Dean

Thank you for taking the time to read the Supervisor Induction Module. To complete this module and meet the training and development requirements of the UWA Supervisor Register please provide us with your details by completing the Induction Completion form. The Induction Completion Form also invites you to provide feedback on the module.

Induction Completion Form