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If you have submitted your thesis for examination via UQ eSpace please read this document for information on how your examination will progress.

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  1. COVID Impact Statement
  2. After your thesis is submitted

4. COVID Impact Statement

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the research projects of many HDR candidates. The pandemic has limited research opportunities, caused delays and forced some HDRs to re-scope their research project. This may be a cause of concern to HDR candidates as they prepare a thesis for examination with respect to the volume and quality of research presented in the thesis.

The UQ Graduate School has provided an optional COVID-19 Thesis Impact Statement template to enable you to explain to your examiners how your research project changed as a consequence of COVID-19 restrictions. The statement will be provided to external examiners together with your thesis but will not be included in the thesis itself.

The COVID-19 Thesis Impact Statement is designed to convey information about the effect of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on your research project/thesis. It is not aimed at documenting the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on personal circumstances (e.g.  personal health or a challenging domestic situation).

In addition to providing a COVID-19 Thesis Impact Statement it is also a good idea to consider signposting the impacts of COVID-19 on research throughout the thesis, as part of the connecting narrative that illustrates the adjustments that were made.

It is important to note that there is no change to the criteria that an HDR candidate needs to meet to obtain an HDR award, which means that the integrity of the UQ degree is protected. Adapting research projects in light of unforeseen circumstances is a normal part of the research process and you will not be disadvantaged for doing so, as long as you are still able to demonstrate the criteria for the relevant degree.

The COVID-19 Thesis Impact Statement is not designed to replace the COVID Impact HDR Scholarship extension request if you believe that you have grounds for an extension due to the effect of the COVID-19 restrictions on your research project.

Submitting a COVID-19 Thesis Impact Statement

You should complete the impact statement just before you submit your thesis for examination using the provided template (DOCX, 28.7 KB). You should complete this statement with the guidance of your Advisory Team. Please upload the completed impact statement (as a PDF file) with your thesis.

The statement will enable you to explain:

  1. The challenges that COVID-19 restrictions presented for your research project/thesis, for example:
    • difficulty or delay in collecting or analysing data due to the closure of/restrictions on laboratories/other specialist facilities/resources/expertise, curtailed/cancelled fieldwork/human subject studies due to travel restrictions or social distancing measures
    • reduced data in one or more thesis chapters, and/or thesis chapters that are shorter and/or not as closely aligned as originally intended
    • how the planned (i.e. pre-COVID-19) research would have fitted into the thesis narrative
  2. The steps you took to address the challenges arising from the COVID-19 restrictions, in terms of adjusting the scope, design or phasing of the research project/thesis, for example:
    • one or more changes of research topic
    • a change in emphasis from empirical to theoretical work
    • a change of research location (fieldwork, archive etc.)
    • a change in methods (e. g. running experiments remotely rather than in person, using simulation, moving from in-person data collection to online data collection, analysing existing data sets)
    • altering the timing of, or substituting, one or more experiments/studies.
  3. The impact these changes had on your thesis

Remember to focus on project impact, not personal impact (e.g. ill  health, domestic situation etc.).

FAQs

Is a COVID-19 Impact Statement mandatory?

No, the COVID-19 Impact Statement is an optional statement that can be included with your thesis if you wish.

How will the examination process help examiners to understand the impact of COVID-19 on my research?

If you opt to provide a COVID-19 Impact Statement, this statement will be shared with external examiners to enable them to understand how the research project/thesis was affected as a consequence of the COVID-19 restrictions.

It is important to note that there is no change to the criteria that a HDR candidate needs to meet to obtain an HDR award, which means that the integrity of the UQ degree is protected.

Examiners are asked to assess the thesis document against the following quality measures:

  • Does the thesis demonstrate a significant and original contribution to knowledge (PhD) or show originality in the application of knowledge (MPhil)?
  • Does the thesis engage with the literature and the work of others?
  • Does the thesis show an advanced knowledge of research principles and methods relating to the applicable discipline?
  • Is there a clear and discernible coherence in the presented research, its arguments and conclusions?
  • Is the thesis convincingly written?

How can I document the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in my thesis?

In addition to providing an Impact Statement it is also a good idea to consider signposting the impacts of COVID-19 on research throughout the thesis, as part of the connecting narrative that illustrates the adjustments that were made. This could include:

  • explicit statements about why additional or planned data collection was not undertaken but indicating a clear understanding of the next steps in the study;
  • describing the challenges and constraints you faced;
  • justifying a change in data collection or choice of methodologies;
  • acknowledging the methodological or research limitations imposed by decisions made in response to COVID-19; and/or
  • ensuring that the conceptual framework of the thesis is clear.

The implementation of the Oral Examination (viva voce) also provides you with an opportunity ensure that both you and your thesis are assessed fairly. The Oral Examination will allow you to provide a context to any limitations around your thesis/project that arose from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. If you have signposted the impacts of COVID-19 in your thesis, then examiners will already have many of their questions answered and the oral examination will enable you to further clarify those elements of your research.

What if I do not have enough publications in my thesis?

Your thesis can be submitted in a traditional thesis format or one of several non-traditional thesis formats. In some cases, your thesis may include chapters that have also been submitted for publication. Do not be concerned if the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted your publication plans. Regardless of the format of your thesis, there is no requirement for papers to be submitted or accepted for publication as part of an examinable thesis. Instead, it is the thesis itself that is examined.

The Higher Degree by Research Examination policy outlines the requirements of your examination and you can find further supporting information in our online thesis preparation guide.

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