HDR Studies at the School of Social Science: Frequently Asked Questions

There are many different pathways to completing a PhD or MPhil and, as such, many different personal timelines. Overall, timelines will depend on things such as whether you are enrolled full-time or part-time and any periods of interruption. UQ’s expectation is for students to take approximately 3.5 years to complete a PhD full-time and 7 years part-time, excluding periods of interruption. The equivalent timelines to complete an MPhil are 2 years full-time and 4 years part-time.

It is important to recognise that the academic timeline, marked by HDR milestones, may or may not align with the timeline of your scholarship—including the length of time that your scholarship will cover your tuition fees and provide you with a living stipend. Our HDR students are supported by a variety of scholarships, each with their own duration and funding conditions. It is the responsibility of HDR students to understand what those conditions are and to adhere to them at all times.

For students with a Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship, there are options to extend its initial length—for example, the Career Development Scholarship Extension (CDSE) and the COVID Impact HDR Scholarship extension. For scholarship advice and further details, please see the UQ Policies and Procedures Library and/or talk to the Higher Degree Liaison Officer (HLO).

Consistent with the UQ position, the School of Social Science does not currently support a model of ‘thesis by publication’. However, it does allow for a model of ‘thesis with publication’.

There are important distinctions between these two models. Thesis by publication involves collating multiple academic outputs into a single thesis, with limited effort to standardize or integrate their contents into the overall narrative of the thesis. Thesis with publication, on the other hand, allows students to incorporate materials published out of their HDR candidature into the thesis, provided that these materials are fully integrated into the narrative and flow of the thesis and are appropriately acknowledged.

Students wishing to incorporate published materials in their thesis, and hence opt for a thesis with publication model, are strongly encouraged to familiarise themselves with the UQ guidelines on this thesis format. These guidelines can be found in the Policies and Procedures Library.

Progress Review guidelines are available from our website.

All HDR research involving humans must be reviewed by one of UQ’s central or faculty-level ethics committees. For further information, please visit:

• Our website
• Human Ethical Clearances
• UQ Low and Negligible Risk Reviews

All ethics applications are now initiated through MyResearch. The MyResearch Training Hub contains resources about how to use this system.

Following UQ policy, all PhD and MPhil students who commenced their studies after 1 January 2018 will be required to sit an oral examination at the conclusion of their candidature. This applies also to students who (a) enrolled after 1 January 2017 and followed a thesis with publication model, or (b) received a Career Development Scholarship Extension (CDSE). Students who are not required to undertake an oral examination can nevertheless volunteer to do one.

While oral examinations can be daunting, they offer students a great opportunity to discuss their project with leading researchers. They are also a good mechanism for students to defend aspects of their research decisions which examiners found problematic or unclear.

More information and training on oral examinations is available from the UQ Graduate School through the Career Development Framework (CDF).

Students at the School of Social Science have access to a suite of training opportunities offered by the UQ Graduate School, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS), and the UQ Library. In addition, the School of Social Science typically organises several targeted skill-development workshops for our HDR candidates each year.

The UQ Graduate School offers a range of training courses through its Career Development Framework (CDF) scheme. Information on the courses available is updated regularly and can be accessed from a dedicated website. The HASS Faculty also offers multiple opportunities for HDR candidates to upskill, with a focus on areas of relevance to the humanities and social sciences. These opportunities are advertised in the faculty’s website—for example, here and here. The UQ Library organises workshops in areas including research software, research skills, and publication. You can keep up to date with these opportunities by checking their website.

The School of Social Science training offerings cover areas of interest to our students which are not appropriately targeted by either the CDF courses or the HASS Faculty development opportunities. The School training offerings to HDR candidates often take the form of workshops and masterclasses developed and delivered by one or more staff members. In the past, these have involved topics such as developing good writing habits, conducting social research online, and publishing in peer-reviewed journals. School-based training is often responsive to the changing needs of our HDR students, with interest on training areas being canvassed by the HDR student representatives through multiple formal and informal channels. Upcoming training opportunities are advertised through the HDR student mailing list and the School of Social Science Newsletter.

HDR candidates at the School of Social Science can ‘audit’ courses administered by our School provided that (i) the completion of the course is beneficial to their candidature and career development, (ii) the student is formally enrolled in the course, and (iii) the student completes the assessment requirements for the course. There are no costs to the student associated with auditing courses administered by the School of Social Science.

For courses delivered by other organisational units within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) or elsewhere at the University, special permission from the Director of Higher Degree Research (DHDR) will be required. The auditing of such courses would be subject to the School of Social Science being able to agree on a set of terms with the organisational unit administering the course.

To submit a request to enrol in a taught course, please complete the ‘Enrol in or cancel additional courses’ request. You can access this form online from the Graduate School’s Changing Your Candidature page. For more information about UQ policies about the auditing of courses by HDR students please check UQ’s Policies and Procedures Library: Higher Degree by Research Candidature Policy and Higher Degree by Research Candidature Procedure. 

Yes, the School of Social Science offers financial support to enhance the research activities of our HDR students. PhD students are eligible to apply for up to $3,500 over the life of their candidature; MPhil students are eligible to apply for up to $1,750.

These funds can be spent towards meeting the costs of, for example:

• acquiring and collecting data (including travel and accommodation expenses);
• participating in training courses;
• paying for survey-related services or interview transcription costs;
• having the thesis professional edited and/or proofread;
• purchasing specialist software unavailable at UQ; and
• in some circumstances, attending scientific forums and conferences.

Equipment, computers, books, journal subscriptions, membership fees for professional or academic bodies, and open-access publication fees will not be funded.

Students wishing to apply for this funding need to complete the relevant form and email it to our Higher Degree by Research Liaison Officer (HLO). More details are available within our website.

The School is currently reviewing its internal scholarship and grant opportunities. Information on the scholarships and grants administered by the School over the past years is available from our website.

To stay on top of broader opportunities offered at the University, you should consider subscribing to the weekly UQ Research Bulletin (for details, see here) and to the weekly Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) Research Office bulletin (‘HASS FRO on Friday’, for details see here).

In the School disciplines, there is also a culture of funding being made available to HDR candidates through external professional organisations. In Archaeology, there are a range of national and international funding opportunities, including national and international grants, prizes, awards and fellowships. For example:

• The AAA Student Research Grant Scholarship
• AINSE grants
• The AACAI student support fund
• Wenner-Gren grants
• Society for American Archaeology grants
• The Dienje Kenyon Memorial Fellowship (Zooarchaeology)
• The AIA Conference Graduate Student Award
• The AIA Conference Graduate Student Travel Award
• A variety of classical studies scholarships, mostly for study in Greece
• Leakey Foundation grants, geared toward hominin origin research

In Anthropology, there is also a range of national and international funding opportunities for HDR students. These include:

• Wenner-Gren grants
• The RAI Emslie Horniman Anthropological Scholarship Fund
• The RAI Radcliffe-Brown and Firth Trust funds, for social anthropological research
• The RAI Ruggles-Gates Fund, for biological anthropology
• AAS thesis prizes
• The Rappaport Student Paper Prize, Anthropology & Environment Society
• The Robert Netting Award, Culture and Agriculture
• The PES Eric Wolf Prize
• The AES Elsie Clews Parsons
• AAS Post-Doctoral Fellowships
• Wenner Gren Post-PhD Research Grants
• The Wenner Gren Fejos Postdoctoral Fellowship, for ethnographic films

In Criminology and Sociology, there also some opportunities for HDR funding. These encompass:

• The TASA Postgraduate Impact & Engagement Award
• The TASA Postgraduate Conference Bursary
• The ISA junior sociologist competition
• AIC Criminology Research Grants
• Some ANZSOC awards
• SASP awards
• Ian Potter Foundation travel grants
• Winston Churchill Trust fellowships
• ANROWS grants, focusing on violence against women and children
• The Carolyn Allport Scholarship for Postgraduate Feminist Studies
• Ad hoc opportunities for funding issued by the Life Course Centre

In 2021, the School of Social Science formally established five Research Clusters to guide its research activities, each with one or two academic leads:

• Culture and Heritage (lead: Prof Andy Fairbairn)
• Digital Societies (lead: Prof Paul Henman & Dr Mair Underwood)
• Inequality and Social Action (leads: Dr Zoe Staines)
• Justice and Society (leads: Dr Suzanna Fay & Dr John Gilmour)
• People and Places (lead: A/Prof Gerhard Hoffstaedter)

The Research Clusters are premised on the recognition that the capacity to address complex social problems requires a breadth of involvement and knowledge that cannot be found in any single discipline. As such, they aim to create internal and external opportunities for research, engagement, and mentoring. More specifically, the aims of our Research Clusters include:

• Creating an environment for cross-disciplinary research collaboration within the School.
• Fostering a culture of mentoring and support for HDR students and early career researchers through opportunities to collaborate with more senior and experienced researchers.
• Providing a forum of scholarly engagement and support for HDR students to enhance opportunities for research training and career development.
• Providing mechanisms to connect with other clusters of research activity across the University and external to it.
• Acting as a portal to engage with external stakeholders, partners and communities and to represent our research value and contribution to prospective research partners. 
• Providing a mechanism to actively identify and pursue external funding.

HDR students are strongly encouraged to participate in the Research Clusters as full members and, in doing so, play a strong role in shaping their aims and activities. There is no limit to the number of Research Clusters HDR candidates can participate in. If you are interested in participating in (or knowing more about) a given cluster, please feel free to contact the respective cluster leader/s.

Yes, HDR candidates at the School of Social Science are allowed and encouraged to take on academic work while completing their postgraduate studies. However, students must remain mindful of the conditions specified in their Scholarship (if they have one, for instance the RTP), the advice issued by their advisors, and their thesis progress.

The School of Social Science hires many of its HDR students for tutoring, lecturing, and marking work in School-administered courses. Course coordinators are encouraged to circulate these opportunities through the HDR mailing list several weeks prior to the beginning of an academic semester.

For broader opportunities for academic work in other organisational units at UQ, please visit the UQ Careers website.

HDR students at the School of Social Science often experience the need for a quiet and private space in which they can undertake certain components of their HDR research and casual employment. For example, the open-plan desk spaces offered to HDR students on levels 3 and 4 of the Michie Building may not be suitable for conducting online interviews or delivering online tutorials.

Given this, the School makes a conference room available to its HDR students to undertake these and other activities. The room is located on level 4 of the Michie Building (room 434) and can be booked through the UQ Book it system.  Guidelines on how to book the room and on its appropriate use by HDR students are available from our HDR website.

Yes, UQ offers a range of opportunities for tutors to upgrade their skills and acquire new ones.

All new tutors are required to complete mandatory, paid training on expectations and processes pertaining to teaching at UQ. This training is run by the Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) Faculty prior to the start of the teaching semester. Details are circulated close to the date. If you have any questions about this training, you can contact the School Manager.

In addition, all tutors at UQ have access to staff development courses run by the Institute for Teaching and Leaning Innovation (ITaLI). To browse and enrol into these courses, please visit the relevant ItaLI website on professional development. Please note that your time completing these courses is not paid. A program that is particularly relevant to tutors is the Tutors@UQ program. This is a University-wide program introducing tutors and casual academic staff to the teaching and learning environment at UQ for new.

If you are interested in continuing your professional development in this space, UQ offers its staff a series of scaffolded programs, including the Graduate Teaching Associates (GTA) program. This program is designed to provide participants with knowledge and practical skills to build a successful teaching career in higher education. Finally, tutors may also be eligible to become an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

If you have other questions about teaching and tutoring at UQ, you can get in touch with the School’s Director of Teaching and Learning. For specific queries about the course that you will be contributing to, please contact the Course Coordinator.

The School of Social Science is committed to establishing fair and ethical work practices concerning student participation in volunteering and paid work at the School. Overall, there is an expectation that students will be paid for work related to teaching, tutoring, marking and research assistance. However, there are occasions in which the student participation in certain School activities is of a vocational nature and directed primarily at enhancing the student’s skills.

To navigate these complexities, there School of Social Science is currently developing written guidelines for both staff and students that outline when an activity should be considered ‘unpaid volunteering’ and when it should be considered ‘paid work’. The guidelines will emphasise transparency, fairness, processes to record and monitor unpaid work, and clear distinctions between paid and unpaid opportunities that contribute to graduate skills.

It is expected that a written copy of these guidelines will be available over the course of 2022. For specific questions about the School of Social Science’s recommendations in this domain, please contact the School’s Director of Higher Degree Research (DHDR).

UQ offers information on available academic jobs within the University through its UQ Jobs portal. When post-doctoral work opportunities become available within the School, academics are encouraged to publicise these through the HDR mailing list and the School of Social Science Newsletter.

Students are also encouraged to visit other broader websites advertising academic jobs in Australia and internationally, for example:

• https://www.timeshighereducation.com/unijobs/en-au/
• https://www.seek.com.au/academic-jobs
• https://professorpositions.com/
• https://academicpositions.com/
• https://academicjobs.wikia.org/wiki/Archaeology_2020-2021

As an HDR candidate, you are also able to access training relating to employability and career pathways through the Graduate School’s Career Development Framework (CDF). This includes training on transferable skills and training on professional skills.

The School recognises that the experiences of HDR candidates are enhanced by being able to engage socially with peers and academics in the School. The School’s HDR representatives are responsible for creating formal and informal opportunities for HDR candidates to come together over the course of the academic year. These activities may include quarterly social gatherings, as well as a series of other ad hoc activities. These activities are typically advertised through the HDR mailing list and the School of Social Science Newsletter.

The School of Social Science strives to be a collegial environment that offers students and staff multiple opportunities to interact in meaningful ways.

In addition to organising ad hoc events advertised through the School Newsletter, such as morning teas and a Christmas function, the School organises regular activities to bring its members together. These activities include:

• Four open Confirmation milestone seminars by HDR students each year.
• Frequent seminars where staff, visitors, and HDR candidates present their recent work, including those organised as part of the Anthropology Working Papers and the Archaeology Working Papers.
• Meetings and activities organised by the School’s Research Clusters.
• An annual Postgraduate Conference run by HDR candidates, with the aim of showcasing student work and creating opportunities for discussion, debate, and exchange across the entire School.

Yes, the School of Social Science has a dedicated mailing list that can be used to communicate with the entire Higher Degree by Research (HDR) cohort. The relevant email address is socialscience-postgrad@lists.uq.edu.au.

The list includes all HDR students currently enrolled in the MPhil or PhD programs at the School, as well as some staff members with service roles that are relevant to the HDR space. The latter include the Head of School, the HDR Liaison Officer (HLO), the Director of Higher Degree Research (DHDR), the Director of Teaching and Learning, and the Research Cluster Leaders.

The HDR mailing list is maintained by the School’s HLO. New HDR students are added to the list shortly upon enrolment. Note that your sxxxxxxx@student.uq.edu.au account will be the default account used for the mailing list. If you are an HDR student and you believe that you have mistakenly been left off the list, please get in touch with the School’s Executive Support Officer.

List members can communicate with all other list members by sending an email to the School's Executive Support Officer. To reduce email fatigue, list members are reminded to use the list only to disseminate important information pertaining to academic and professional matters relevant to the HDR cohort. Acceptable uses of the list include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Issuing calls for expressions of interest for tutor or research assistant positions, or other academic jobs.
• Communicating about upcoming training or funding opportunities relevant to HDR candidates.
• Communicating about upcoming seminars or presentations relevant to the HDR cohort.
• Disseminating information about HDR-related social activities at the School or elsewhere at UQ.
• Letting HDR students know about changes to School or UQ policies.
• Informing HDR students about activities associated with the School’s Research Clusters.
• Celebrating HDR students’ achievements (e.g., graduation, publication, or receipt of an award).
• Any business related to the role of HDR Student Representative.

If you are unsure about whether a specific email is appropriate for the HDR mailing list, please consult with the School’s DHDR in the first instance. There may be better means to disseminate certain types of information, including the School’s newsletter. This applies, amongst others, to calls to recruit research participants for staff or student projects.

If you are a staff member without access to the list but would like to make an announcement to the entire HDR Cohort, please get in touch with the School’s Executive Support Officer.  Please clearly indicate within your email the text that you want to be sent, as well as the subject line.

Staff members who are not part of the mailing list and attempt to send a message to the list will not be able to do so. Further, they will receive no warning that the message was not successfully delivered. If you are a staff member and want to check whether you are on the HDR mailing list, please contact the School’s Executive Support Officer. If you believe that you should be added to the list, please get in touch with the School’s DHDR.

All HDR students enrolled at the School of Social Science have access to our HDR Document Library. Within the Library, you can find a suite of official documents developed and submitted by fellow HDR students at the School—past and present. This includes Confirmation, Mid-Candidature and Final Thesis Review Milestone documents, as well as MPhil and PhD theses.

The purpose of the HDR Document Library is to help HDR students prepare for their candidature milestones and eventual thesis submission. This is accomplished by providing students with easy and ready access to materials that they can use to model their own submissions.

In using the HDR Document Library, all students must adhere to a strict code of conduct. Any deviations from this code of conduct will be taken very seriously. Full guidelines on accessing and using the Library can be found here.

The School of Social Science maintains a web page listing all calls for expressions of interest for lecturing, tutoring and marking jobs at the School. General calls for expressions of interest for these positions are also publicised close to the beginning of teaching semesters via the School's communication channels (e.g., the School's Newsletter and the HDR mailing list).

You can find information on teaching opportunities at UQ outside of the School of Social Science on Workday.

UQ guidelines state that the word limit for PhD theses is 80,000 words. For MPhil theses, the word limit is 40,000 words. These word counts include footnotes/endnotes, in-text references, and appendices but exclude the reference list.

It is nevertheless important to remember that these figures represent an upper cap, not a goal. The average thesis will be significantly shorter than these word limits.

You can find more information about the length and formatting of UQ theses in this website.

Once you have started you HDR candidature, you should discuss and agree on the supervisory arrangements and expectations with your advisory team. It is a good idea to create a written summary with your advisory team for reference. You can use the Expectations Questionnaire and Supervisory Expectations Questionnaire to assist with this conversation. Approximately 3-6 months after the start of your candidature you can make comment about the expectations and other components of your candidature in the Early Candidature Checkpoint (ECC), which is completed online by candidates and their principal advisor.