GUIDELINES
Early Candidature Milestone
School of Education and Professional Studies 2011
Background
Students who enrol in any HDR program (EdD; PhD; MPhil) from the 1 January 2011
are required to complete a range of milestones during their candidature1. The first of
these is the early candidature milestone.
The purpose of the early candidature milestone is to
 Assess whether the student has a viable research project and is appropriate for
the degree in which the student is enrolled
 Identify whether any further education and training is required to ensure timely
completion
 Identify any resources needed by the student to undertake the research.
The early candidature milestone should be completed:
 Within the first 6 months of full-time candidature for EdD and PhD students
 Within the first 3 months of full-time candidature for MPhil students
Requirements
To complete the early candidature milestone students must:
 Answer the attached set of questions
 Attach an updated version of their current research proposal
 Submit their documentation to: eps-milestones@griffith.edu.au within 7 months
of your starting date. Failure to do so may result in your progress being deemed
unsatisfactory.
 It is expected that candidates would normally discuss this report with their
supervisors; however if this is not possible the candidate should indicate this on
the attached coversheet.
NOTE: The early candidature milestone IS IN ADDITION to your annual progress report.
Even if you have completed an annual progress report for 2011 you must ALSO
COMPLETE this Milestone.
Review of progress
 Your milestone documentation may be reviewed by the DHOS (HDR &
Postgraduate Studies EPS), DHOS (Research) and/or the HDR convenors with a
recommendation of satisfactory progress being forwarded to the Dean
(Research) AEL for consideration
 You will be advised in writing if you need to take any further action regarding
your milestone
Questions
If you have any questions please contact Christine Edwards
(Christine.edwards@griffith.edu.au) or GGRS (hdr-ael@griffith.edu.au)
1
See: http://www.griffith.edu.au/higher-degrees-research/current-students/candidature/requirements
COVERSHEET
Early Candidature Milestone
School of Education and Professional Studies 2011
Please complete the following coversheet and return it, along with a copy of your
research proposal, to eps-milestones@griffith.edu.au
Name:
Student Number:
Start Date:
Question:
Have you completed any course work? If
so, give details of courses and results2
Y/N
Details/Explanation
Have you established contact with your
supervisor(s) and begun regular
meetings? Please give details and list
supervisor’s names3
Have you undertaken the HDR orientation
program?4
Have you familiarised yourself with the
services/support available to HDR
students?5
Do you understand that Griffith will use
your Griffith email to communicate with
you and that you must check this
regularly?
Are you receiving emails from the hdr-eps
email list?6
Do you have any concerns about your
progress at this stage?
Has your supervisor previously seen the
documentation submitted for this review?
Are you willing to have the content of this
report shared with your supervisor?
This relates to EdD students
Please give an indication of how you communicate with your supervisor. There is no preferred model of
contact but please give details eg face-to-face; email skype and an indication of how much contact you
have had in the last 6 months.
4 http://www.griffith.edu.au/higher-degrees-research/services-support-resources/rhd-inductionprogram
5 Please visit: http://www.griffith.edu.au/higher-degrees-research/services-support-resources
6 This email list is managed by EPS and is used to advise students of upcoming events and opportunities
2
3
Research Proposal:
Please attach a brief overview of your current research. Students will have made
varying degrees of progress on their research and some will have more detailed
proposals than others. For the purposes of this review you need to provide a minimum
of 4 pages7 that includes:
 Your research aims or objectives
 A justification of the study
 An indication of the literature related to the study
 A statement about your planned methodological framework
 A statement on whether your project will require ethical clearance8
 A timeline for the project (including anticipated submission date)
 Any particular training needs you have
If you have a lengthier, more developed proposal you have prepared for your coursework
(such as from Initial Research Planning in the EdD program) then you do not need to edit it.
Attach the whole document. For EdD students this can be the proposal developed during your
coursework.
8 All research involving human participants will need ethical clearance.
7