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  • POSTGRADUATE PROJECT REGISTRATION (HDC AND UZREC)

    Postgraduate projects  (MSc and PhD) must be approved by the  Faculty Board (FB) and Higher Degrees Committee (HDC), followed by ethics approval by the UZ Research Ethics Committee (UZREC) and issue of an ethics certificate by the Ethics Office. Once approved, postgraduate students may commence with their research and may apply for funding from the Research Office.

    Pathway for project registration: The procedure for FB, HDC and UZREC approval of postgraduate research projects involves the following steps (see Step by step procedure attachment):

    1. Proposal Writing: Student completes a research proposal, under guidance of supervisor(s), following the Postgraduate Proposal Guideline.

    2. Faculty Scientific Review: Once completed to the satisfaction of the supervisor(s), the proposal is reviewed by two faculty (external review is optional) reviewers. The supervisor emails the proposal and the names of two proposed reviewers to the faculty representative, Prof H Jerling: jerlingh@unizulu.ac.za

    3. Departmental presentation: Student presents the proposal to the department, through a 15min oral presentation.

    4. Faculty presentation: Student presents the proposal to a faculty panel, consisting of academics from various departments (15min max). Supervisor to sent the proposal and Turnitin report to the dean's secretary (Bongi Kunene: KuneneB@unizulu.ac.za) at least a week before the presentation date. 

    5. Faculty Ethics review: Supervisor submits the proposal and a completed ethics application form to the faculty research ethics committee (FREC) representative: Prof H De Wet: deweth@unizulu.ac.za

    a. Proposal (See guideline for format); MS Word or pdf format

    b. Ethics Application form (download here): Completed and in MS Word format

    c. Projects involving research on sentinel animals, should also complete the Animal Ethics Application form (download here)

    6. Faculty Board approval: The supervisor submits to the faculty manager, for inclusion in the faculty board agenda, all the documents required for Higher Degrees Committee and UZ Research Ethics approval, in the following sequence:

    a. A cover letter from the HoD, detailing the student and project, addressed to the dean

    b. Register of the review panel during the faculty presentation

    c. Project Registration form (HDC02) (download here)

    d. Appointment of Supervisor and Co-supervisor form (HDC03) (download here)

    e. Faculty checklist with all relevant signatures. (download here)

    f. Two review forms by faculty peer reviewers.

    g. Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) (must be signed) (download here)

    h. Ethics Committee’s provisional ethical clearance.

    i. Research proposal (signed)

    j. All research Instruments, if applicable, e.g. permission letter, Informed Consent form, questionnaire, permit, translations.

    7. Higher Degrees Committee approval: Once approved by FB, the application will serve before HDC for approval.

    8. UZ Research Ethics Committee approval: Once approved by HDC, the application will serve before UZREC for ethics approval. 

    9. Issue of Ethics certificate: Once approved by UZREC, the project will be registered with the Research Office and an Ethics Certificate will be issued by the Ethics Office and emailed to the supervisor. Only after the ethics certificate is issued may the student initiate the research for his/her project, i.e. no research may be done until the the project has received ethics approval.

     

      

    View Proposal Guideline and Project Registration Roadmap below:

  • DEPARTMENTAL/STAFF RESEARCH PROJECT REGISTRATION AND ETHICS APPLICATION

    Academic and Support Staff members and Postdoctoral Fellows that wish to register a research project with the Research Office, in order to apply for funding, follow a very simple process (see pathway outlined here), only involving faculty ethics approval and UZREC ethics approval. The process to follow involves the following:

    1. Proposal Writing: Complete a research proposal, following the departmental proposal guideline (download here).

    2. Faculty Ethics review: Submit the proposal together with a completed ethics application form (download here) to the Faculty Research Ethics committee (FREC) representative: Prof H De Wet: deweth@unizulu.ac.za

    a. Proposal (See guideline for format): MS Word or pdf format

    b. Ethics Application form (download here): Completed and in MS Word format

     3. UZ Research Ethics Committee (UZREC): The deputy dean will submit the proposal and provisional ethics approval to the UZREC, which meets quarterly.

    4. Issue of Ethics certificate: Once approved by UZREC, the project will be registered with the Research Office and an Ethics Certificate will be issued by the Ethics Office. Only after the ethics certificate is issued may the research project be initiated, i.e. no research may be done until the the project has received ethics approval. 

    5. Funding application: Once the project has received ethics approval, the researcher may apply for research funding to the Research Committee (download form here), which meets quarterly.  

     

    View the proposal guideline and project registration pathway below:

  • APPOINTMENT OF EXAMINERS

    Examiners for postgraduate students must be appointed a few months before the student intends to submit, through Faculty Board and HDC. Three (3) examiners for MSc students and four (4) for PhD students.

    See Guidelines for Appointment of Examiners (download here), or the Criteria for Examiners (download here).

    Examiner appointment first serve before Faculty Board and then Higher Degrees Committee (HDC).

     

    The following documents must be included in the application, to be submitted to the Faculty manager, for inclusion in the FB agenda:

    1. Cover letter by the HOD, with details of the student and the names and contact details of examiners.

    2. HDC04 form (download here)

    3. CV's of the examiners

  • DISSERTATION AND THESIS SUBMISSION FOR EXAMINATION

    When submitting a thesis for examination, the following should be included with the two (for MSc) or three (for PhD) ringbound copies of the dissertation/thesis:

    1. Checklist for submission of a Dissertation (MSc) or Thesis (PhD) (download here).

    2. Annexure A: Originality declaration, completed by student (download here)

    3. Annexure B: Supervisor's consent, completed by supervisor and signed by HOD and dean (download here)

    4. Assessment sheet, completed by supervisor, for MSc (Annexure I, download here) or PhD (Annexure J, download here).

    5. Electronic copy of the thesis/dissertation, submitted electronically.

    6. Plagiarism report, using Turnitin (Unizul library page for Turnitin: access here; url for direct access to Turninin: access here). You will need to register with Turnintin  through the library for access.

    7. Report/certificate from Language Editor.

    8. Copy of student's ethics certificate.

  • FINAL SUBMISSION OF DISSERTATION OR THESIS BEFORE GRADUATION

    When a dissertation/thesis has been finalised, once all corrections have been made, the following should be submitted to the Faculty Officer (Lindo Shandu: shandul@unizulu.ac.za), for approval by SENEX:

    1. Cover letter from supervisor or HOD.

    2. The required number of hard bound copies of the dissertation/thesis, usually three.

    2. Electronic copy of the dissertation/thesis on CD, for inclusion in the library depository.

    3. Consolidation of Examiners Reports: Annexure K for MSc (download here), Annexure L for PhD (download here).

    4. Detailed Report from student on how examiners' comments were addressed.

    5. Examiner's reports.

    6. Minutes of the Faculty Examination Committee meeting(s).

    7. Proof of registration.

     

  • APPLICATION FOR RESEARCH FUNDS FROM RESEARCH COMMITTEE

    Postgraduate students and staff with registered research projects and ethical clearance can apply for funding from the Research Committee. Download forms from the Research Office website (access here: Research Office website)

    Submission deadline: NOTE THE SUBMISSION DEADLINES, LATE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCOMMODATED.

    Research Project funding:

    1. Application for funding: Staff/departmental project: RC2

    2. Application for funding: Postgraduate Student project: RC2S

     

    Conference funding:

    1. Application for International Conference: RC6

    2. Application for Local Conference: RC7

    3. Application for Conference Travel as a Group: RC8

     

    Generated Funds:

    1. Individual  Generated Funds: RC5A

    2. Individual Generated Funds to attend Conference/Symposium: RC5B

    3. Individual Funds To purchase Computer or Accessories or Equipment: RC5C

     

    Other funding:

    1. Sabbatical Funding: RC15R

    2. Funding for Short research visit abroad: RC16

    3. Funding for Visiting lecturer/scholar: RC17

     

    For application for any other funds, e.g. DVC Discretionary Funds, Travel Funds, Research Grant, kindly consult the Research Office desk

     

  • RESEARCH PROJECT REGISTRATION FORMS

    Below are the Research Project Registration forms, for download:

  • EXAMINER APPOINTMENT AND THESIS/DISSERTATION SUBMISSION FORMS

    Below are all the forms for appointment of examiners as well as examination and finalization of a dissertation/thesis, for download: