Induction and Orientation

All higher degree research students enrolled in the School of Medical Sciences (SoMS) must be inducted into the School and complete an Orientation Report Form with their supervisors.

Induction

The supervisor should, within the first few days of the student's arrival, introduce the student to the Head of Department, the Postgraduate Coordinator, the Research Administrator, the Grievance Officer, and to as many of the School staff and postgraduate research students as is convenient. The student should also be familiarised with the departmental procedures and regulations for after hours' entry into the building and security, photocopying, telephones, library procedures, stationery, ordering process, etc.

Initial Orientation Meeting and Form

Following detailed discussions about the proposed project, the student and the supervisors (joint supervisor or co-supervisor) should complete and sign the Orientation Report Form and forward the Form to the Research Administrator. The Orientation Report Form covers the following points:

1. Enrolment Details

Student ID and name, etc. Please use the official University email account as your email address (z1234567@student.unsw.edu.au).

2. Candidature Details

Course codes are:

• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD): 1750 (Anatomy), 1780 (Pathology), 1790 (Physiology and Pharmacology)
• Master of Science (MSc): 2800 (Anatomy), 2840 (Pathology), 2850 (Physiology and Pharmacology)
• Doctor of Medicine (MD): 0420 (Anatomy), 0360 (Pathology), 0370 (Physiology and Pharmacology)

Supervisors. It is the policy of the University that every student should have at least 2 supervisors: either 2 joint supervisors OR 1 supervisor and a co-supervisor.

Review Panel. The supervisor chooses the review panel that is most appropriate to review the student's progress. The membership of each review panel can be found on the Review Panels in the Review Process section. Both the supervisor and student should be aware of the review procedure in the School as outlined in that document.

3. Project Details

The title is only provisional. The overview must be brief.

4. Training and Resources

Skills and Training. In some cases, the student may have been chosen because of certain skills or certain knowledge in a particular field. In other cases, the supervisor may want to give additional training to the student for the project to proceed (e.g. animal handling).

Agreed Resources. The resources which will be provided for the student by the supervisor in the laboratory or the School. The minimum is a desk, a computer with internet access and a drawer in a filing cabinet.

5. Guideline Awareness

Both the student and the supervisor should have read and understood the rules and procedures for postgraduate research studies and supervision. Generic rules can be found at Policy and Procedures on the Graduate Research School Website. Both the student and the supervisor should also have read the Review Process rules of the School.
First time supervisors will have to attend a compulsory training workshop organised by the Graduate Research School. Further information is available at Supervisor Training.

6. Comments

Any comments regarding the candidature or the project.

7. Health and Safety Training Checklist

It is essential that all new postgraduate research students complete Health and Safety (H&S) training in areas relevant to their field of research as soon as possible after commencing their studies. To ensure that this training is completed, the student and supervisor should complete the checklist provided.

Please refer to the H&S for Students webpage for further information on H&S training. The courses listed are provided free of charge by the Health and Safety Unit and many are held at regular intervals. The student is responsible for booking into most courses via myUNSW.

Supervisors should also note that the H&S Unit provides training programs in 'H&S for Supervisors'.

8. Signatures

The student, the supervisor, the co-supervisor or joint supervisor will then sign the Orientation Report Form indicating that they have read and understood their responsibilities. The Form should then be forwarded to the Postgraduate Coordinator and a new entry will be made in the School Database.

9. Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statement

The student and the supervisors should disclose any potential conflict of interest at the beginning of the project (e.g. personal or familial relationship between supervisor and student and private or commercial financial support). The student and the supervisors should complete and sign the Part 1 Declaration form even if there is no potential conflict of interest. The Part 2 declaration form should only be completed if a potential conflict of interest has been declared in Part 1.