Example of PhD Student Supervision Agreement (MoU)
Agreed between (Name of student)
WHAT A STUDENT CAN EXPECT FROM FRANK VANCLAY AS A SUPERVISOR:
- I will assist your reading by pointing you to appropriate references.
- I will look out for opportunities (grants, jobs, publication opportunities, partnerships, etc) for you.
- I will try to locate extra resources for you.
- I will assist you to navigate the administrative tasks and institutional issues but you must appreciate that my role is primarily academic support.
- I will assist you in determining the appropriate methodology, in undertaking the appropriate statistical tests if applicable, and I will contribute ideas about the project throughout your PhD. Responsibility for the PhD, however, rests with you – it is your PhD.
- I will assist your professional development by mentoring, and suggesting opportunities for training.
- I will assist you in learning and meeting the formal and informal expectations of academia and the discipline.
- I will try to be as accessible to you (in person and by phone and email) as I can be, and I will respond to your queries as soon as I can, but be aware that I may not always be immediately available due to other commitments. I will read your work (papers, draft chapters etc) and return them to you with comments as soon as is possible. It is useful to let me know when you might be giving me material to comment on so that I can plan my time effectively.
EXTRA ITEMS (Name of student)
(nothing added 14 January 2008)
WHAT FRANK VANCLAY EXPECTS FROM (Name of student)
- That you appreciate that I am a significant stakeholder in your PhD and that I also invest energy, time and intellectual property (IP) in your PhD.
- That the PhD will be an important priority in your life and that you will make real effort to make regular progress on it.
- That you have a strong commitment to finishing the PhD and that you will make every reasonable effort to complete the thesis within a reasonable timeframe.
- That you make regular backups of your data and maintain a responsible approach to data management.
- That you look after any computer issued to you and protect it from theft.
- That you will provide me with an update on your work on a regular basis, and by way of backup protection that you provide me with electronic copies of all materials on a monthly basis.
- That you prepare an agenda for each meeting with me, and that you take notes from each meeting which you email back to me.
- That you will develop a Thesis Outline and Overview (see separate document) and update it regularly so that it is a current statement of what your PhD is about.
- That you will do all research in an ethical way, and that you will not knowingly plagiarise.
- That you will comply with all reasonable administrative requests and processes by their due date.
- That you will confer with me about possible coauthorship of any (and all) papers that may arise as a result of your PhD research in advance of writing them, and that you include me as a coauthor unless we have mutually explicitly agreed that should not be the case. In general terms, we shall agree to abide with the Vancouver Protocol on authorship.
- That you make reasonable attempts to develop publications from your research which I will assist you to do with you as first author (and I as coauthor). However, should you not complete any publications from your research within a reasonable time, that you accept that I will develop publications on which I may be first author (depending on the extent of contribution).
- That any published work that arises from your PhD (even after graduation) must indicate the University of Tasmania as your affiliation.
- That you will abide by any confidentiality agreement and Intellectual Property (IP) policy that you enter into with any industry partners and that you are respectful of industry expectations.
- That we have explicit discussions about IP at various stages during the candidature where our IP agreement can be renegotiated. The starting understanding will be that any IP that is developed during the candidature is shared equally between student and supervisor and that they both bring background IP into the relationship.
- That you consider potential future partnerships and collaborations with me post PhD.
- That this agreement (memorandum of understanding) will be reviewed annually in conjunction with the University’s annual review process, and on submission of the Preliminary Research Proposal.
Signed on the ____________ day of _________ in the year _________
Prof Frank Vanclay (Supervisor)__________________ (student)______________________
Introduction
Why have an agreement
Process to develop an agreement
Some comments on agreements
Example of an agreement