Enrolment in a Doctor of Philosophy involves the independent investigation of a research problem that has been formulated by the student. It is expected that the research the student undertakes will need to make a significant contribution to the discipline in which the student is enrolled. Doctoral students are supported by a minimum of two supervisors throughout their enrolment.
Students are also required to complete training activities as part of the Monash doctoral programMonash doctoral program (http://www.monash.edu/migr/future-students/phd). These activities are designed to impart skills and knowledge that will help students to conduct their research.
These course outcomes are aligned with the Australian Qualifications Framework level 10, the Bologna Cycle 3 and Monash Graduate AttributesAustralian Qualifications Framework level 10, the Bologna Cycle 3 and Monash Graduate Attributes (http://monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/alignmentofoutcomes.html).
Successful completion of the program will signify that the holder has completed a course of postgraduate training in research under proper academic supervision and has submitted a thesis that the examiners have declared to be a significant contribution to knowledge and which demonstrates the student's capacity to carry out independent original research.
Students must satisfy the following requirements in consultation with and under the direct supervision of a member/s of the academic staff:
1. carry out a program of research for a specified period on a topic approved by the program of enrolment. The program of research may include attendance and/or presentation at seminars and other related activities as indicated by the program of enrolment.
2. submit for assessment a thesis component which meets the requirements of the examiners. The thesis component consists of all of the following:
a. a creative work of more than 35,000 words which may include one or more of the following: a novel; a group of short stories; a work of creative non-fiction; a play or group of plays; a sequence of poems (book length, approximately 100 pages); or a portfolio of works of various genres.
b. an accompanying critical component of more than 35,000 words that can take the form of an exegesis, a work of scholarly research or a combination of both:
- a scholarly exegesis which comments directly on the creative work in terms of its stylistic, theoretical and literary influences
- an independent but complementary work of scholarly research on a topic relevant to the research objectives of the creative work.
The total thesis component must not exceed 80,000 words.
Submission of the thesis based on or partially based on conjointly published or unpublished workconjointly published or unpublished work (http://www.monash.edu.au/migr/examiners/publication/) may be permitted.
3. satisfactorily complete the follwoing professional development training program:
Students are required to undertake regular progress milestones to support them in conducting research of an appropriate quality, originality and depth as required by their course of study, in accordance with the Graduate Research Progress Management policyGraduate Research Progress Management policy (http://policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/research/mrgs/grad-research-progress-mgmt-policy.html) and supporting procedures.
