Annual review FAQs

If you have received an email via your Deakin email address about having to do the annual review, then you are expected to complete the review within the time specified.

This includes:

• graduate researchers who have taken some period/s of intermission since the last annual review
• graduate researchers who have submitted their notification of intention to submit.

All graduate researchers who are entering their second calendar year of candidature (full or part time) have to do the review. The reviews are due for completion close to the anniversary date of commencement in the second and subsequent years of candidature (considering any intermission taken).

The only graduate researcher candidates who are not required to complete the annual review are:

• graduate researchers whose thesis has been lodged with the examinations officer for examination or
• graduate researchers who are revising their thesis for resubmission.

If you think you meet one of the above criteria and do not need to complete the annual review please contact the Current Candidature team via email to clarify whether or not you are required to complete the review.

Yes. Unless your thesis is submitted to the examinations officer before the close of the online system for this review period, you are still required to complete the review.

1. Go to usernames and passwords.
2. Select one of the following options:
   1. If you have previously set up your Deakin student email account but have forgotten your username and/or password select ‘forgotten your username or password?’.
   2. If you have not previously set up your Deakin student email account select the option ‘activating your Deakin IT account’.
3. Once you have agreed to the conditions of use you will be directed to a page which asks for a series of details to confirm your identity. Complete and click on the ‘submit’ button.
4. Ensure that you make a note of your username and that you print out the randomly generated password that you are allocated. Passwords are case specific so unless you type it perfectly it will not be recognised.
5. You will need to wait at least an hour after obtaining your password before accessing any areas of the Deakin website that require this information as it takes a short while for the Deakin computer system to process your new password.

There are several possible answers to this question so you will need to consider which one applies to you:

• You need to wait for at least one hour after changing your password before you try to access the system as it takes a short while for the Deakin computer system to process your new password.
• You have mistyped your username or password (ensure that the caps lock is not on, that you haven't typed a letter when it should be a numeral – such as the number zero and the letter 'O' or the number one and the letter 'l').
• Although most browser versions support our candidature review system, we can’t guarantee that it will work on all browsers. You may need to install the Firefox browser which is the preferred Deakin web browser. It can be downloaded from the Deakin software website.
• You are a Deakin staff member as well as a graduate research candidate and you are using your staff internet access details when you need to use your student username and password. Refer to Q4 to find out how to obtain your student username and password. Try using a different browser and/or clearing your browser history. Sometimes it will keep reverting to your default staff account and won't let you log in as a student.

You must use your Deakin student login details to access the candidature review system. Your staff details are not recognised by the candidature review system because it is in your capacity as a student that you are required to complete the review. Please refer to Q3 for information on obtaining your student username and password if you have not already done this.

You could also try using a different browser and/or clearing your browser history. Sometimes it will keep reverting to your default staff account and won't let you log in as a student.

You will need to answer the following questions in the review:

Research candidate details

• Confirmation of your candidature details.

Research codes

• Confirmation of field of Research (FOR) and socio-economic objectives (SEO) codes for the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Thesis details

• Confirmation of thesis title.
• Provide evidence of thesis/exegesis written to date.
• When do you expect to submit your thesis?

Project progress

• Outline of work completed to date.
• Outline of work still to be completed.
• Provide an outline of the specific achievements since the last review.

Ethics

• Does your project require human or animal ethics approval?

Research candidate comments

Please discuss the following questions with your supervision team and answer the following:

• Are there currently any impediments to your progress? If you have any concerns that you want to raise confidentially, we encourage you to discuss these with your GR Coordinator.
• Any specific occupational health and safety matters you wish to raise?
• Average hours of paid employment per week (if any).
• Have you reviewed your individual learning plan? This may or may not be applicable to you.

You can save your answers prior to submitting the form by clicking on the 'save' button.

You can log in as many times as you want during the review period but once you have submitted your review to your supervisor, you will not be able to make any amendments or add any additional comments.

If you click on the ‘submit review’ tab, you can see all of the sections that you have saved successfully and those that still need to be completed. Only when you have completed and saved all sections, will you be able to submit your review to your supervisor.

It’s best to wait for the supervisor details to be updated in your annual review before entering content. Email deakin-hdr-cc@deakin.edu.au to let us know of the change of supervisor details in progress so we can generate an updated review for you when the change is complete.

The information shown in the candidature review system is the most up-to-date information regarding your candidature that the Researcher Development Academy have at the time the review is generated. If your supervision panel is incorrect, it means that either:

• a submitted 'change of supervisor' form has not been approved yet so the change is not reflected in the candidature review system, or
• the Researcher Development Academy has not received a 'change of supervisor' form for changes to your panel. To make changes to your supervision panel you will need to arrange completion of the form with your supervisor. The 'change of supervisor' form can be found on our online forms page. You can also contact the Current Candidature team via email; deakin-hdr-cc@deakin.edu.au to enquire.

If the person who is now your principal/executive supervisor is already showing on your supervision panel as associate supervisor or co-supervisor, they will automatically be able to access the review system. All Deakin staff listed on your panel are automatically able to access your review.

If your principal supervisor is new to your panel you will need to contact the Current Candidature team via email; deakin-hdr-cc@deakin.edu.au as your new principal supervisor will not be able to access the review. A deferral of your annual review may be arranged to an appropriate later date.  The 'change of supervisor’ application form will still need to be submitted and approved in order to formally make the change to your supervision arrangements. This can be found on our online forms page.

Any current Deakin staff members who are on your supervision panel already have access to the candidature review system and are therefore able to add comments to the supervisor section if required. They do not need to request special access. They should however discuss this with the principal supervisor ideally before they go away.

After selecting the month and year from the dropdown menus in the calendar, you must click on the date in the calendar. This should both close the calendar window and enter the date in the submission date field.

If a candidate of supervisor can’t save and progress their part of the review, it’s usually because

• A required question or section hasn’t been completed
• The format used for response doesn’t match system requirements.

If the review won’t save and progress:

• Check the contents in each tab in the review that all required fields have response
• For supervisors, check the content in the Supervisor Engagement tab follows the following format

Number of meetings  - enter a number only
Average length of meetings (in minutes) - enter a number only 
Mode of meetings - select from available options
Supervisor activities - standard text (i.e. with spaces, commas)
Total number of hours - enter a number only

No. If it is a straight-forward word-processed document you can paste it directly into the question in the review to which it relates. Alternatively, you can attach any type of file to the question concerning your plan for completion. Please try to ensure that attachments are in standard software formats as not all users who will be making comments on your progress (supervisor and head of academic unit) have access to specialised software.

You do not have to respond to your supervisor's comments as you may have already discussed issues with your supervisor, or you may not wish to comment. You will be emailed when the candidate’s response is ready to complete. You will have three days to complete this section and then it will automatically close and the review will progress to the head of academic unit. You will not be able to access this section after this.

After you completed your section and made your comments, your supervisor and the head of academic unit also need to make comments before your review is finalised. Reviews need to be fully completed and signed off.

If you need an extension for any reason, please contact the Current Candidature team via email to request this.

If you can't contact your principal supervisor, contact any other associate or co-supervisors you may have on your panel. Your principal supervisor may have arranged for one of your other supervisors to complete the supervisor section if they knew they were going to be unavailable. It is best to clarify this as early as possible.

The only graduate research candidates who can obtain paper copies of the annual review are those with disabilities. All other candidates are required to complete the review online without exception.

If you have queries about the content of the review or whether you need to complete the review, please contact:

• Email: deakin-hdr-cc@deakin.edu.au

No, but the system prompts candidates to contact other parties if there is a need to discuss something confidentially. The system has been designed to make the review process as transparent as possible. However, if a candidate needs to seek advice or talk to somebody else confidentially, the first contact should be the school/institute or school Graduate Research Coordinator. You may also contact a member of the Researcher Development Academy.

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Yes, they are welcome to arrange meetings for their candidates. The process does not only have to involve the graduate researcher and supervisor reporting independently through the candidature review system. If the Graduate Research Coordinator or even a panel of people in the school want to meet with the candidate and supervisor, either together or separately, they can do that. The only condition is that the candidate’s progress is recorded in the candidature review system (i.e., that the graduate research candidate, supervisor, and head of academic unit sections are completed).

The candidature review system was developed in-house whereas the ILP is an external vendor-developed system. There is a prompt in the annual review which asks the graduate researcher and supervisor if the ILP has been reviewed.

The only people who have access to a candidate’s record are the candidate themselves, supervisors, head of academic unit and the selected Researcher Development Academy administration staff whose functions require access. It’s a very secure environment which requires Deakin usernames and passwords.

There are a few reasons for this.

• It is about relationships, specifically the candidate-supervisor relationship. We know that the areas with the highest completion rates also have the closest supervision styles. The most effective candidate-supervisor relationships are the ones where there is a close supervisory style. Close does not mean overbearing. The expectation is that the candidate and supervisor will jointly decide which documents are the most appropriate to upload for that annual review. The supervisor should not be seeing a document for the first time when they log in to complete their section of the review.
• It is also about providing other people involved in the candidature review with the information they need to determine whether the graduate research candidate has been making progress appropriate to their stage of candidature. The person completing the review at head of academic unit level, most likely the Graduate Research Coordinator, may not be closely connected with the candidate’s project or research group. In exercising their duty of care to assess the candidate’s progress, they need to be able to see exactly how much progress the candidate has made and how close they are to completing their degree within the remaining time.