Research Office

• My HDR
  • Getting Started
  • Making Progress
  • Completion
  • HDR Essentials
• Professional Development
  • About
  • Program Calendar
• Research Students Home
• Research Office Home

Intellectual Property (IP)

The outline below extracts from the CSU intellectual property policy content relevant to HDR candidates.

Ownership by Students

In the absence of a specific contract to the contrary, students, including HDR candidates, own the intellectual property which they invent. Normally CSU does not encourage the involvement of students in commercial activities. However, it recognises that there may be exceptions when postgraduate and honours students may benefit from and contribute to consulting, contract research, collaborative research and professional practice.

In particular, where intellectual property is concerned:

• students shall have a right to have their thesis or other work examined;
• students shall have the right to submit their thesis and work for publication except where, for reasons of confidentiality, the Vice-Chancellor obtains the agreement of the supervisors and the student to restrict public access to the work for a limited period, usually not exceeding eighteen (18) months; and
• staff who are supervisors of a student shall report on the intellectual property disclosure form to the Research Office and to the student:
• • as soon as it becomes apparent to them that work under supervision contains intellectual property to which the University may have a claim;
  • where a student has an agreement or employment arrangement with a third party who may claim rights; or
  • where a student at enrolment brings intellectual property to be used in candidature.
    

Ownership vests in CSU in the following exceptions to student ownership:

• where a student participates as part of a team with CSU staff in consulting, contract research or collaborative research;
• where a student uses pre-existing intellectual property owned by CSU;
• where a student is a co-author with a member of staff in work which is commercial or confidential;
• where a student is a co-inventor with a member of staff, whether the invention is patented or not; or
• where a student works as part of a research team in a Co-operative Research Centre.

In these circumstances the Vice-Chancellor may require the student to assign their intellectual property rights to the University.

CSU through the Research Office shall advise students of their rights and promptly alert them to any hindrance to ownership of intellectual property or publication. Students shall have access to the Intellectual Property and Outside Professional Activities Committee.

Using materials created by others

While it is acceptable to include copyright material created by others in your thesis for assessment, you will need to seek permission from the copyright owners to include that material in the print and digital copies submitted to the Research Office.

Insubstantial portions of text such as quotes can be published in your thesis without the need to obtain permission, however this does not include tables, graphs, images, etc. They are considered to be separate individual works and you must identify and seek permission from the copyright owner to reproduce or communicate their work in your thesis as well as any publication where you include their work.

Seeking permission can take time so it is recommended that you begin the process as you identify the materials you would like to include. Further information on the use of copyright material created by others can be obtained from the CSU Copyright Website or by contacting the CSU Copyright Coordinator.