Information for HDR supervisors

The number of supervisors on a candidate’s supervisory team should be determined by the needs of the individual candidate and their research project, with these needs dictating the supervisory roles/expertise required. In cases where a supervisory team includes more than three Griffith staff members, the supervisory team may be required to provide the Dean (Research) or HDR Director with a supervision plan detailing the intellectual, pastoral-care, practical and administrative responsibilities of each supervisor.

A co-principal supervisory arrangement is appropriate when supervisors will be sharing the principal supervision responsibilities for a candidate more or less equally. Co-principals may be appointed where the candidate’s research project is multi-disciplinary and expertise in different aspects (and sometime spanning different Schools/Departments) is required.

While it is expected that co-principals take equal responsibility for the intellectual, pastoral care and practical aspects of supervision, one co-principal in the arrangement must be designated as the administrative co-principal with responsibility for the administrative aspects of candidature management and co-ordination of the supervisory team.

See the HDR Supervision Procedure for the specific requirements for co principal supervisory relationships when

• co-principals are from different elements/groups,
• one co-principal is a transitional supervisor,
• one co-principal is a Professor Emeritus, Adjunct appointee or Academic Title Holder.

Yes, a candidate’s supervisory team should include those staff that will be making a substantial contribution to the supervision of the candidate throughout their project – this may include postdocs or research fellows who are playing an active role in supervision.

It is vital that quality supervision can be provided to the candidate for the duration of candidature (and continuity of supervision is something that the HDR Convenor and Dean (Research) must assess when considering the appointment of a supervisory team). So if the contract of one of the nominated supervisory team members is due to end before the expected completion of candidature, this must be articulated when the supervisor is nominated for appointment (either as part of the HDR application assessment process or through a change of supervisor form). Then suitable arrangements to ensure ongoing supervisory support for the candidate must be detailed and will be subject to approval by the Dean (Research) as part of the process of appointment to the supervisory team.

A Professor Emeritus, Adjunct appointee or Academic Title Holder may be appointed as an external supervisor on a supervisory team where this is appropriate in terms of the contribution they will be making to the supervision.

In some cases, it may be appropriate that a Professor Emeritus, Adjunct appointee or Academic Title Holder be appointed as a co-principal (with an academic staff member appointed as the administrative co-principal) or associate supervisor. A circumstance in which this might be appropriate could be when a Professor Emeritus or Adjunct appointee who was previous a staff member continues to provide a significant contribution to the supervision of current candidates to whom they had provided principal or co-principal supervision as a staff member.  The following requirements must be met to appoint a Professor Emeritus, Adjunct appointee or Academic Title Holder to the a co-principal or associate supervisor role:

• the Professor Emeritus, Adjunct appointee or Academic Title Holder holds the level of supervisor registration required and meets the other appointment requirements for this supervisor role; and
• the HDR Convenor and the Dean (Research) are satisfied that continuity of quality supervision for the expected candidature duration, as well as sufficient supervisory capacity and resources, can be ensured by the proposed arrangement.

As per the HDR Supervision Procedure, Professor Emeritus, Adjunct Appointees and Academic Title Holders will be appointed to a team in addition to the two required staff member supervisors unless the Dean (Research) has approved an exception to this requirement based on evidence that proposed arrangement will be of significant benefit to the candidate.

It is important to note that no percentage teaching workload can be attributed in PeopleSoft to Professor Emeritus or Adjunct appointees, which will affect the percentage workload attributed to other members of the supervisory team.

External supervisors don’t need to be registered in order to be included on the supervisory team. External supervisors can be added to a supervisory team:

• at point of initial nomination of the supervisory team for a commencing candidate; or
• at any point in candidature through the change of supervisor process; or
• as part of a milestone review process or approval to study away from the University.

External supervisors should be appointed:

• where a candidate is undertaking their program embedded within or in partnership with another organisation, including industry partnerships and candidate industry internships;
• to provide industry, research or practice-based expertise required for the candidate’s project; and
• where the candidate has been approved to undertake their program remotely.

There is no qualification requirement that must be met for an external supervisor to be appointed (noting that external supervisors may be appointed to provide specific industry or practice-based (rather an academic) expertise).

There are some supervisor types and roles that will not have a percentage supervisory load attributed to them in PeopleSoft upon their appointment to a supervisory team. The table below provides guidance on how load is attributed in PeopleSoft based on type of supervisor.