Appendix E:

Guidelines to apply when research undertaken in relation to employment overlaps with candidature

Research associated with the thesis should normally be completely separate from any work undertaken as part of full-time or part-time employment.

It is acknowledged, however, that separating out paid work undertaken for a group or collaborative project from what may contribute, even indirectly, to the candidate's own work for the doctorate is probably impossible.

The following requirements must therefore be met:

1. Application for doctoral candidature

Note: The standard form for this purpose should be submitted with the formal application for admission.

Where the research undertaken by the prospective candidate as an employee overlaps with the research pursued as a research candidate, the following must apply:

• The candidate's role as a research employee on the one hand, and research candidate on the other, should be negotiated and clarified before the commencement of doctoral candidature. Specifically, the prospective candidate must be allowed sufficient time to pursue research in a manner which allows the exercise of a level of academic initiative appropriate to a doctoral or masters degree
• At the time of application for admission to candidature it must be certified in writing by all relevant parties (prospective candidate, supervisor, head, dean and employer) that:
  • research undertaken as part of the employment prior to the commencement of candidature may not normally be included in the thesis, except in the case of some staff candidates offered candidature under regulation 5, PhD regulations, or in other cases with the express permission of the Graduate Research Committee
  • the prospective candidate's employment work load will be such as to enable him/her to meet the requirements for part-time, or, when the candidate is released to pursue a doctorate on pay, full-time candidature, whichever applies
  • the prospective doctoral candidate will not be required to change research direction in order to meet the requirements of his/her employment or the research grant from which they are funded
• Agreement has been reached on relevant intellectual property matters, for example:
  • the data collected for candidature may be reported by the student without restriction in the dissertation
  • the student retains copyright in the thesis
  • research carried out as part of the concurrent employment may be included in the thesis only where all parties agree to this
  • the examination of the thesis will not be delayed by externally funded research work undertaken by the candidate (ie in accordance with the Code of Practice for the Supervision of Doctoral and Masters by Research Candidates, the candidate's research program may not be unreasonably influenced or redirected by political, commercial or industrial factors). Arrangements may be made, however, to have the thesis examined in confidence, if necessary
  • publications arising from the thesis work will not be delayed beyond the 12 month limit set by the Graduate Research Committee.

Please complete Declaration when Research Undertaken in Relation to Employment Overlaps with Candidature form if required

1.1 Thesis submission

There shall be a statement in the thesis, which explains:

• the relationship between the thesis as a finished and authored work and the research context (team/collaborative project) in which the research may have been undertaken
• the levels of indebtedness to the research background (including if necessary, some description of the work undertaken in parallel to the thesis).

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