Supervision Agreement Between Students and Supervisors

Supervision Agreements between research supervisors and candidates are a mandatory requirement. To ensure all HDR candidates have supervision agreements, the HDR Milestones Policy requires all HDR candidates to have submitted a supervision agreement before the University will confirm their candidature. The Supervisory Agreement is a record of setting expectations for the candidate-supervisor working relationship, in addition to identifying and planning activities and supports for the HDR journey. Candidates are not expected to have completed all activities (e.g. training, ethical clearance) when the supervisory agreement is completed, but are expected to set dates indicating when they expected to have various activities completed (which will be verified at each milestone).

What is a Supervision Agreement?

Candidates and supervisors should discuss the way they intend to conduct their research partnership and the expectations each party has about the project, resources and each other, and record the decisions they make about these things in the Agreement. Topics included in the supervision agreement include:

  • Induction requirements - facilities available in the School, office space and computer resources, introduction to key School staff, OHS and safety training, library access, relevant contact details for key staff
  • Confirmation of candidature - what is required, the timing of the panel, where to find information and University policies, a timeline for preparation
  • Meetings and Contact - how often the supervision team will meet, what the expectations are, who organises them, who initiates contact and when, who records decisions or circulates meeting notes
  • The role and responsibilities of Supervisors and HDR Candidates - supervision and communication style, expectations, role of Principal Supervisor and Co-Supervisors, how to manage changes and conflicts
  • Project planning and milestones - what is the project plan, what are the key milestones, requirements of milestones and what measures are to be taken if milestones are not met
  • Publications, Intellectual Property and Plagiarism
  • Ethics Approval
  • Presentation opportunities
  • Anything else which is relevant to the conduct of the project

The supervision agreement should be reviewed regularly and amended as things change.