Your Supervisory Team

Your main contact throughout your candidature will be with your supervisors, who will be your key advisors and guides throughout.

Upon your enrolment a Supervisory Team will be chosen to best support and provide advice on your candidature. The University promotes and regulates that each candidate is allocated a Supervisory Team of at least two members. One member of this team is nominated as a Principal Supervisor, who is a staff member of the University and your primary advisor, other members are denoted as Co-Supervisors who compliment the team and the support offered and may in some cases be situated primarily within other Universities or organisations. You will have regular contact with your Supervisory Team throughout your candidature and it is recommended that this contact be made within your initial days with expectations being discussed and agreed.

Typically the supervisors are located in the Schools, Faculties and Research Centres of the University and their specific responsibilities are detailed below and within the HDR Information Guide.

Working with your Supervisors

During your candidature your supervisory team has overall responsibility for overseeing, guiding and monitoring your progress. Numerous models and strategies exist for developing a successful HDR candidate - supervisor relationship. At the extremes the relationship may follow the 'apprenticeship model' (a very close day-to-day relationship) or the 'coming of age model' (a very loose, free to do as you please relationship). Most relationships are probably somewhere in between. Your supervisory team will have the expertise and experience in helping you develop the best relationship for you, given your background, desires and personality.

Responsibilities of the Principal Supervisor

The Principal Supervisor is accountable to the relevant Faculty Associate Dean or Sub-Dean for advising and monitoring the progress of a HDR candidate and leading the Supervisory Team. The Principal Supervisor has final responsibility for the decisions made by the Supervisory Team. Responsibilities of a Principal Supervisor include:

negotiating roles with co-supervisors, in conjunction with the HDR candidate, at the commencement of the candidature;
facilitating the operation of the supervisory team to ensure support for the candidate by encouraging all supervisors to be actively involved in supporting the candidate's research endeavours. Where this does not occur, the Principal Supervisor shall consult with the respective Sub-Dean or Associate Dean;
monitoring carefully the performance of the candidate relative to the standard required for the program, and ensuring that inadequate progress or work below the standard generally expected is brought to the candidate's attention;
ensuring that no research data are collected until the necessary approval is obtained from the relevant University and/or other ethics committees where the research deals with human or animal subjects;
advising the respective Faculty Sub-Dean or Associate Dean when problems are occurring with regard to issues of academic misconduct;
at any time during the candidature, bringing to the attention of the Research Office issues of intellectual property rights and/or commercial or other confidentiality matters which relate to the content of the thesis or portfolio;
advising the respective Faculty Sub-Dean or Associate Dean of the names and credentials of suitable examiners;
ensuring the candidate has accurate information about any long leave (or retirement) the Principal Supervisor is planning during the candidature and, in consultation with the Faculty Sub-Dean or Associate Dean making arrangements to provide for supervision during absences; and
contributing to the development of supervisory skills in co-supervisors who are inexperienced in co-supervision.

Responsibilities of the Supervisory Team Co-Supervisors

The Supervisory Team Co-Supervisors may have responsibilities relating only to certain aspects of the projects. Responsibilities of the Supervisory Team, as a whole, include:

providing guidance, where appropriate, on:
   - the nature of the research,
   - the standard expected for particular degrees,
   - the choice of the research topic,
   - the planning of the research program,
   - ethical issues relating to the research,
   - methodological issues,
   - data analysis issues
   - exploring solutions for unexpected problems which arise in the research;
maintaining close and regular contact with the candidate and establishing at the beginning the basis on which contact will be made;
responding in a timely manner to queries and when providing feedback on drafts;
requiring written or other work from the candidate on a pre-arranged and agreed schedule so that progress can be assessed at regular intervals;
monitoring carefully the performance of the candidate relative to the standard required for the degree, and ensuring that inadequate progress or work below the standard generally expected is brought to the candidate's attention. The team should help with developing solutions to problems as they are identified;
ensuring that the research work and the production of all categories of examinable work are the candidate's own work and ensuring that where the candidate receives substantial assistance that such assistance is acknowledged in the examinable work and does not conflict with the requirement that the intellectual content of the research and examinable work is that of the candidate;
commenting in a timely manner on the content and the drafts of the examinable work prior to submission;
providing general support and encouragement to the candidate;
encouraging the candidate to publish the research;
fulfilling other obligations imposed by the University regarding postgraduate supervision.

Research Office