Caution
Copyright © Monash University 1996
ISBN 1037-0919
Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Part-time candidature is permitted under the following guidelines, approved by the Graduate Affairs Committee at its meeting no. 2/94.
(a) The supervisor shall be a full-time member of the academic staff of the university. An associate supervisor may be an appropriately qualified member of an external organisation. If the associate supervisor is from an external organisation, frequent communication with the supervisor should be maintained.
(b) The topic of the thesis shall be decided by the candidate in consultation with the supervisor.
(c) (i) In order to undertake part-time candidature, a candidate must be able to devote the equivalent of a minimum of two days per week to the pursuit of the research project.
(c) (ii) Where the postgraduate's research work involves the systematic use of the university facilities, the faculty may require that these two days be week days.
(c) (iii) Where the candidate is engaged in full-time employment, the head of the department will be required to certify that the head is satisfied that the candidate is able to spend the equivalent of two days a week in pursuit of the research project.
(d) The candidate must discuss progress with the supervisor in person at least once each calendar month.
(d) The candidate must attend the university frequently and on a regular basis; one day per week on average is considered the minimum necessary.
(f) The candidate must attend all such courses, seminars, workshops, etc., as are deemed necessary by the head of department (in the case of a regular seminar or lecture series a minimum of 80 per cent attendance may be deemed adequate).
(g) The candidate shall be required to undertake the equivalent of three months of full-time study within the university (including its research stations and teaching hospitals); the apportionment of that attendance period should be determined by the faculty at the time of application but need not be continuous.
(h) Where the candidate is engaged in full-time employment, the head of department will be required to certify at the time of application that the head is satisfied that the candidate will be able to comply with the residency requirements of this regulation.
(i) The supervisor and head shall certify that the requirements for candidature have been met and an annual report of attendance and progress will be presented to the Graduate Affairs Committee.
(j) The thesis is to be available for publication (under conditions no more restrictive than at present).
(k) Off-campus equipment and other facilities may be used with the permission of the head and supervisor. Whenever feasible, on-campus facilities shall be used or developed in preference to those off-campus.
The faculty administrative officer will maintain a master list of all candidates enrolled on a part-time basis, and the certification required should be presented for all such candidates at the December meeting of the Graduate Affairs Committee.
There may well be circumstances in which to ensure equity with regard to duration of candidature, a supervisor may wish to recommend that a part-time candidate be registered as a full-time candidate who is undertaking field work (see regulation 7 of the MEngSc[Research] regulations). All such cases should be brought to the Graduate Affairs Committee who will consider each case on its merits.
Such a candidate will be required to pass a probationary prescription recommended by the head of department. This prescription may take different forms dependent upon the nature of candidature.
The prescription may consist of the requirement to prepare an adequate literature survey and research program proposal in the candidate's chosen field of study. Admission to full candidature will follow on receipt of an appropriate recommendation from the head of department which includes examiners' reports on the documentation submitted.
For all MEngSc(Research) candidates probationary candidature will not normally exceed one calendar year.
Probationary candidature is not applicable to MEngSc(C'wk and MinThes) candidature.
In this faculty the six months attendance requirement for each candidate should be specified at the time of admission. Each case is considered in terms of the candidate's demonstrated experience and aptitude for research.
All requests for admission to part-time candidature and for transfer from full-time to part-time candidature should be brought before the Graduate Affairs Committee which will decide each case on its merits.
The duration of candidature is five years for full-time candidates and eight years for part-time candidates.
A candidate for a PhD will normally undertake the first year of studies on probation. During this probationary year the candidate may be registered either for a MEngSc(Research) or for a probationary PhD. It should be noted that, in general, it is not possible in the Faculty of Engineering to transfer from PhD candidature to MEngSc(Research) candidature. Candidates who do not possess an honours degree in either the first or upper second class must register initially for an MEngSc(Research) degree.
The transfer to full PhD status will be initiated by the PhD and Scholarships Committee in the case of a candidate who is registered or a probationary PhD or by the candidate's department in the case of a candidate who is registered for an MEngSc(Research). In either case, on receipt of an appropriate recommendation from the head of department and the presentation to the Graduate Affairs Committee of an account of the candidate's progress during the first year of research and performance in the appropriate departmental transfer procedures together with assessors' reports of the candidate's performance in such departmental transfer procedures, the candidate will be permitted to transfer to full PhD candidature.
In order to preserve the status of an MEngSc(Research) as a major academic award within the Faculty of Engineering no transfer will be permitted from PhD status to MEngSc(Research) status on academic grounds.
Research activities are aimed at improving techniques and at understanding the phenomena in the fields of fluid dynamics, kinetics, thermodynamics, control and reactor design for organic and inorganic processes. Of interest are processes in which natural resources are utilised, especially those in the metallurgical, pulp and paper, food, energy and biochemical areas.
In addition to the specialised equipment necessary for the work outlined below, the department has a range of service instruments including infrared and ultraviolet spectrophotometers, atomic absorption spectrographs, gas chromatographs, polarographs, a thermal gravimetric and differential thermal analyser, a Weissenberg rheogoniometer and other rheometers, a mass spectrometer and high pressure liquid chromotographs.
An X-ray diffractometer and a scanning electron microscope are available for use in conjunction with the Department of Materials Engineering. Microprobe facilities are available in conjunction with the Department of Earth Sciences.
Currently research is in progress in the following broad areas: general chemical engineering, in particular chemical reactor engineering, coal conversion processes, transport phenomena, particulate systems; pulp and paper technology; minerals engineering and extractive metallurgy; biochemical engineering and food processing; environmental protection engineering; polymer process engineering.
Full descriptions of these research programs are available from the Department of Chemical Engineering on request.
Depending on qualifications, candidates may be enrolled initially for PhD, probationary PhD or MEngSc(Research). Probationary PhD and MEngSc(Research) candidates are assessed after about twelve months candidature and, if suitable, may convert to PhD. The maximum period of candidature for PhD is eight years. In most cases, candidature for PhD is back-dated to the start of MEngSc(Research) candidature.
The main graduate laboratory facility in the Caulfield division consists of a suite of work stations with a complete software package for electronic design automation, both analog and digital. Facilities for telecommunications, antennas, optical communications, ISDN, control, computer engineering and high voltage cable research are also available.
The current research activities at Caulfield fall into the following categories: digital signal processing, antennas and wave propogation, optic fibre communications, control systems and robotics, computer software engineering, area networks, electronic design, bioengineering (molecular electronics), artificial intelligence (expert systems and neural networks), high voltage equipment condition monitoring, surge arrester design, cogeneration and treeing in HV cables.
The Clayton division maintains a number of well-equipped graduate laboratories such as telecommunications, electronics, optical communications, bioengineering, video coding, protocol engineering, ISDN, ionospheric propagation, control, computer engineering, computer vision and robotics, electrical machines, power systems, power electronics and high voltage. These laboratories are supported by excellent workshop facilities and highly qualified technical staff.
The current research activities in the Clayton division fall into the following broad categories: circuit theory and signal processing; electromagnetic field theory; antennas and wave propagation; microwave and optical communication systems; control systems; telecommunications including video coding, network performance, protocol and software engineering; power systems and power electronics; electronics and photonics; computer systems engineering; computer vision and robotics; bioengineering.
Further information on Caulfield research activities can be obtained from the division at Caulfield. Further information on detailed research activities and supporting facilities at Clayton are contained in a booklet entitled `Postgraduate studies and research opportunities in electrical and computer systems engineering', available on request from the Clayton division.
Candidates for the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy or Master of Engineering Science (Research) undertake full-time supervised research work.
The major current research activities in the department include properties of engineering plastics, composites, rubbers and adhesives; polymer alloys and blends; ageing of polymers; phase transformations and theory of alloy phase equilibria; corrosion and corrosion protection; optical fibres; damage and remanent life in engineering materials; electrical and magnetic properties of alloys; ultra-high strength aluminium alloys; thermo-mechanical processing of steels; yield and fracture in metals and alloys; metal forming; modelling of metal deformation processes; metal-matrix composites; solidification processing; corrosion and corrosion protection; biomaterials; thermally sprayed coatings; properties of surface coatings and films; ceramic powder processing; superconducting ceramic oxides; mechanical properties of ceramics; analytical electron microscopy.
Further details of the department's excellent research facilities and ongoing research projects are available on request from the department.
The department has graduate teaching and research capabilities in engineering dynamics, hydraulic and pneumatic systems for powered control and logic, kinematics and mechanisms, robotics, manufacturing management and technology, experimental and computational structural (solids) mechanics, composite structures, bonded structures, repair technology and ageing structures, vibration analysis and control, acoustics and noise control, environmental fluid mechanics, transition and turbulence, computational fluid mechanics, wind effects on buildings and structures, hydrodynamics and water quality of bays and estuaries, mixing in swirling flows, scalar mixing, energy conversion, heat transfer and gas flow in non-circular ducts, boiling heat transfer, technology policy, automation, control and systems and machine condition monitoring. At Caulfield a wide range of mechanical and industrial engineering subject areas are studied. Caulfield has special facilities for materials testing, composites and adhesives, pumping systems, manufacturing engineering including machining, automation, flexible manufacturing. Caulfield also has active research in the management areas of CAD/CAM/CIM and industrial engineering including manufacturing and resource planning, optimisation of manufacturing systems and quality improvement.
There are well-equipped laboratories and supporting workshops catering for teaching, research and projects in these areas, including several world-class research facilities. The department has very substantial digital computing and data processing facilities and access to faculty analog and hybrid facilities.
The department offers MEngSc(Research) candidature by full-time, major research with minor coursework (proceeding under MEngSc[Research] regulation 6.1.1).
The department offers coursework subjects from which candidates select and complete subjects to the value of at least eighteen credit points. Further details of coursework are to be found in the preceding chapter.
Candidates for the PhD degree in the department may be required to complete several of these coursework subjects.
Documents providing further details on graduate study are available from the department.
At Gippsland, research is currently being conducted in the following areas: metal deformation processing, machine condition monitoring (especially vibration analysis and performance monitoring); strain gauge applications and dynamic response of robots; renewable energy applications (especially wind energy and solar refrigeration systems); energy auditing; utilisation of brown coal (especially gasification); engineering applications of geographic information systems (especially flood predictions); road pavement construction; traffic management and transport planning; engineering applications of digital imaging; artificial intelligence and expert systems; engineering management (especially maintenance management and reliability engineering); interaction between energy utilisation, economics, politics and the environment.