How to get your Masters or PhD in IT at Monash - Confirmation Phase

This phase can last up to 1 year for a PhD and up to 6 mths for a Masters.

Set yourself up for research

• The key to a successful research project is good communication with your supervisor. See this page for hints about setting up communication with your supervisor.
• Be aware of the research process. See Where am I now? for short video clips on past student experiences of the stages of a research project.

Prepare yourself for your research

• Attend seminars and workshops, get expert help from those who have been there before you. See this page for a range of useful resources.
• Your School or supervisor may require you to undertake some coursework. See Conditions of candidature for more details.
• You will need a computer account, with a user name and password to access computer services and facilities.
• Refer to the computer use policies for your rights and responsibilities in using your computer account.
• Enhanced computing services are available for postgraduate research students.

Design your research

Depending on the type of research project you intend to undertake, your research project may involve a number of activities such as those listed below.

In conjunction with your supervisor, you will need to design your approach to as many of these activities as are relevant:

• Write code / do experiments.
• Write literature reviews. See Language and Learning’s Writing literature reviews for tips.
• Select a research methodology.
• Write a research proposal.

Review codes of practice

As a new researcher you need to become familiar with:

• The Australian Code of Practice for Research (2007) guides you in responsible research practices.
• The Monash Code of Practice for supervision includes the responsibilities of the candidates in ensuring the finest quality of research and research training is maintained at Monash University.

Data management

• Plan your data management approach before you begin.
• Be aware that data management is part of code of research practice.
• Monash provides resources for data management, including the Large Research Data Storage (LaRDS).
• For more assistance with research data management, see the list of contacts.

IP and commercialisation

Intellectual property is a term that covers a range of legal rights for the protection of creative effort. You should be aware of your rights and responsibilities regarding your thesis and any future commercialisation of the results of your research. See:

• Monash regulations regarding intellectual property and postgraduate research candidates.
• Monash guidelines on ownership, copyright and intellectual property.
• IP Australia

Research involves people?

If your research involves people, then you need to adhere to the ethics requirements for research involving humans. You will need to:

• Review the ethics requirements.
• Apply for ethics approval.

Defend your proposal

Your proposal should demonstrate that you have the ability to generate ideas for original research. You need to show that you can defend the methods and importance of the research to an audience of supervisors and your peers.

• See How to defend a research proposal for tips on how to go about this.

Confirm your candidature

Once you have successfully defended your proposal, you must confirm your candidature.

• For a Masters this is an informal process - see your supervisor.
• For a PhD you must complete a confirmation of candidature form.

If you are unsuccessful in having your proposal accepted, you may wish to investigate the appeals process.

Manage your issues

Throughout your research process you are likely to find a number of personal stresses.

• See Manage your relationships for hints on how to survive the personal pressures.

Get support

A number of Avenues are available for support including:

Monash Postgraduate Association (MPA) provides a range of support for research postgraduates.

Intermission, leave of absence and extension of time

If you think you need intermission, leave of absence or an extension, see Changes to candidature for the rules that apply.

You need to apply using the appropriate form:

• Masters - Submit a variation to candidature form.
• PhD - Submit a variation to candidature form to MRGS via your supervisor.

Next steps

See Do your research for the next steps you need undertake to carry out your research and write your thesis.

Do you have suggestions for improvements to this page? Let us know by email to: Jack Sotiriou