Conditions relating to the assessment of theses and research projects are outlined in the Edith Cowan University Rules (Admission, Enrolment and Academic Progress) and Guideline: HDR Thesis Examination.
Doctoral degree candidates who started their programs on or after January 1, 2018, must undergo an oral examination as part of their thesis assessment. Those who began before this date may opt for an oral examination in consultation with their supervisors.
Before submitting your initial thesis for examination, please ensure you take the following steps.
Nomination of examiners
To ensure an efficient process, it's important to complete and submit a Nomination of Examiner form with your supervisor at least three months prior to submitting your thesis for examination. Here's what you need to know:
- The University requires a minimum number of examiners:
- Master's by Research candidates need two external examiners.
- Professional Doctorate and Doctor of Philosophy candidates who began before January 1, 2018, and are not undergoing an oral exam require three external examiners.
- All Professional Doctorate and Doctor of Philosophy candidates who started after January 1, 2018, or opt for an oral examination, need two external examiners.
- Your supervisor cannot serve as an examiner.
- Examiners must be impartial and have no conflicts of interest. Please refer to the Australian Council of Graduate Research (ACGR) Guidelines and ECU’s Conflict of Interest Policy for further details.
- Your supervisor should contact potential examiners in advance to confirm their availability. For doctoral candidates with an oral exam, the supervisor should contact Panel Chairs
- As part of the nomination process, you'll need to provide a succinct 100-word abstract of your research, which will be included in the Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement.
- For further details on examiner selection criteria and the approval process, refer to the Nomination of Examiners form.
Submitting your Nomination of Examiners form
- After your Nomination of Examiners form is approved by your School's Associate Dean (Research), please send the completed form to grs@ecu.edu.au and integrity@ecu.edu.au
- Your form will undergo review by Graduate Research Services, and ECU Integrity will conduct an international compliance review before forwarding it to Research Assessments.
- Once processed by Research Assessments, you'll receive an email to your ECU student email account. This email will include a link to a SharePoint folder required for thesis submission.
Formatting and submitting your thesis
After completing the writing of your thesis, it's crucial to ensure that the formatting adheres to ECU requirements.
For detailed guidelines, please refer to the Guideline: HDR Thesis Preparation and Exam Preparation webpage. When your thesis is prepared for examination, visit the Thesis Submission webpage for further instructions.