PhD Program - Introduction and Objectives

The Doctor of Philosophy

The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is the premier supervised research degree offered by the University of Melbourne. Candidates will be admitted to the community of scholars in their discipline upon presentation of an original and innovative work of research that exhibits high academic merit. The candidature is conducted under academic supervision and is reported and examined under internationally benchmarked standards of excellence.

Program Objectives

Doctoral degrees at the University of Melbourne seek to develop graduates who demonstrate academic leadership, increasing independence, creativity and innovation in their research work. In particular, the objective of the Doctor of Philosophy with the Melbourne Institute is intended:

• to enable doctoral students in the applied economic and social research to gain a common understanding of the research process
• to enable doctoral students in applied economic and social research to develop research skills at the start of their candidature
• to prepare doctoral students for an academic career in applied economic and social research.

In addition, the University expects all doctoral graduates to have the following qualities and skills:

• an advanced ability to initiate research and to formulate viable research questions
• a demonstrated capacity to design, conduct and report sustained and original research
• the capacity to contextualise research within an international corpus of specialist knowledge
• an advanced ability to evaluate and synthesize research-based and scholarly literature
• an advanced understanding of key disciplinary and multi-disciplinary norms and perspectives relevant to the field
• highly developed problem-solving abilities and flexibility of approach
• the ability to analyse critically within and across a changing disciplinary environment
• the capacity to disseminate the results of research and scholarship by oral and written communication to a variety of audiences
• a capacity to cooperate with and respect the contributions of fellow researchers and scholars
• a profound respect for truth and intellectual integrity, and for the ethics of research and scholarship
• an advanced facility in the management of information, including the application of computer systems and software where appropriate to the student's field of study
• an understanding of the relevance and value of their research to national and international communities of scholars and collaborators
• an awareness where appropriate of issues related to intellectual property management and the commercialisation of innovation
• an ability to formulate applications to relevant agencies, such as funding bodies and ethics committees.