Review process

The SoPH has a review process in line with Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences policy. This is described by the flow diagram. There are two elements of the process which require some further explanation.

The Reviewer(s)

The external reviewer is nominated by the supervisor and should be someone with expertise relevant to the PhD topic. If a supervisor wishes, more than one reviewer may be included; for example if the doctorate covers multiple fields and broader comment is desired. The reviewer(s) should be from within the University of Auckland but recommended external to the School of Population Health and if not the School then external to their section, and not somebody who they work with or publish/research with.

The reviewer contributes at three points in time. These are:

1. Reviewing the preliminary proposal as part of the candidate’s enrolment process (accessed via the AFA online applications)
2. Reviewing the full proposal that the candidate will submit after approximately 9 months full time study (or part-time equivalent)
3. Participating in the Review Meeting and the oral presentation at approximately 11 months (or part-time equivalent) after enrolment.

The Review Meeting and the ‘oral presentation’ that the student gives (e.g. School or Section seminar)

This is an two hour-long meeting (usually at Tamaki Campus) during which the student reports on progress to a panel consisting of the Supervisor, any other members of the supervisory team who wish to attend, the SoPH PhD Coordinator and the Reviewer. The meeting has four stages:

1. The oral presentation on the work in progress (The presentation will normally be no less than 20 minutes in duration, followed by questions from the audience (where the audience is not solely comprised of the postgraduate provisional year review committee)

2. The student tells the meeting about progress during the provisional year and plans for proposed research.
3. The supervisory team is asked to leave and the student discusses the supervisory and support environment with the Reviewer and the PhD Coordinator.
4. The student leaves and the supervisory team returns for a discussion about the student’s progress.

After the meeting, the Reviewer is asked to prepare a brief report on the meeting which is ratified by those present and includes a direct recommendation either to confirm the registration, to continue with provisional registration for another six months, or to terminate the registration. This is then used to assist the Head of Department’s decision to recommend confirmation of registration by signing the 12-month Doctoral Review Form.

The meeting has a second goal: to provide the PhD student with critical appraisal, suggested improvements, and encouragement about the research proposed. It has been found to have positive effects on the quality of the proposed research and the morale of students who have been through it.

Click here to go to Provisional Year Review Procedures

External review at 9 months of enrolment

Preparing a full thesis proposal

This is completed in the first nine months of study.The student submits the full proposal at nine months of enrolment (or part-time equivalent) for external review by the same reviewer who conducted the preliminary review.

Full thesis proposal should be emailed to the Programme Administrator, Upendra Wickramarachchi (u.wicks@auckland.ac.nz), whose name appears in the Contacts and help section (with c.c. to Dr Rob McNeill, r.mcneill@auckland.ac.nz), then it will be sent to the external reviewer for comments.

Guidelines for PhD provisional year full thesis proposal

Requirements for the provisional year review meeting

Start to organise the provisional year review meeting at approximately 11 months. This will be held at approximately 12 months (pro rata) of your enrolment.

You are required to submit the following documents at least one week prior to this meeting date.

• a summary of progress towards provisional goals (itemising each goal, 1-2 page documents)a copy of the completed doctoral provisional year review form (completed by student and main supervisor)
• a copy of the full thesis proposal
• a copy of a significant piece of written work (e.g. lit review)

After the review meeting, the review panel will be preparing a review outcome document. Once the panel has agreed with the outcome, you could take the doctoral provisional year review form together with the following documents to your head of department (HOD) for his sign-off.

• doctoral provisional review outcome.
• a copy of the full research proposal

Once these have been signed by the HOD, please send the original set of the documents to the Programme Administrator, Upendra Wickramarachchi, whose name appears in the Contacts and help section (with c.c. to Dr Rob McNeill,r.mcneill@auckland.ac.nz).

Next will forward it to FMHS admin to process.

After your registration has been confirmed you will be required to fill out an annual report on every anniversary of your registration.

Provisional year review

As PhD registration is provisional during the first 12 months for full-time students (24 months for part-time students), a meeting is held near the end of this period. The meeting will involve you, your supervisor(s), the external reviewer, and the SoPH PhD Co-ordinator. We will discuss the progress you have made towards the provisional goals you and your supervisor(s) determined at the time of your registration, your satisfaction with your supervisory environment, and your full thesis proposal.  On the basis of the discssion at the meeting, one of the following recommendations will be made:

 • to confirm your registration

 • to extend the period of provisional registration for a further three to six months

 • to terminate your registration.

You will also need to fill out the Doctoral Provisional Year Review form (it is different from the annual report form) as part of the review process. This is sent along with the written report from the review meeting.

School of Graduate studies expect to have Doctoral Provisional Year Review form in by the deadline. In cases where the review meeting has to be postponed or the proposal revised, the report forms should still be completed on time and include a recommendation to extend Provisional Registration by 3 to 6 months to allow time for the requirements to be met.

To go to The Faculty of Medical and Health Sciencs Provisional Year process click HERE