Milestones

During your enrolment, your progress will be formally monitored at three points. These points are known as milestones. The defined milestones are Milestone 1, Milestone 2, and Milestone 3.

You need to formally apply to your faculty to have your progress reviewed for each milestone. For each milestone there is an application form which you will need to complete and submit to your supervisor along with the required supporting documentation to commence the milestone review process within your faculty. You will also need to provide an oral presentation on your progress for each milestone review.

Milestone 1

Milestone 1 lets you present your proposed research project and receive feedback from your discipline group, school or faculty. This feedback helps you refine your research plan and build your research support network at Curtin.

Data collection (e.g. lab experiments, surveys, questionnaires or interviews, etc.) must not be conducted by provisional candidates.

What are the conditions for Milestone 1?

On receipt of your official notification of enrolment, you will be considered a provisional candidate until your application for Milestone 1 is approved by your faculty’s Associate Dean of R&D and Curtin Malaysia Graduate School (CMGS). CMGS will notify you once your Milestone 1 application has been approved.

The following conditions are considered by the CMGS in reviewing your Milestone 1 application:

Definition of an acceptable research program, including its objectives, methodology, facilities, resources and a time schedule for completion
Attainment of the necessary level of knowledge and skills to proceed with the proposed research program
Acceptance of the nominated Thesis Committee
Certification by the faculty’s Associate Dean of R&D that adequate facilities and resources are available for the proposed research program
Appropriate identification of ethical issues for research involving animals; humans; ionising radiation; microwaves, lasers or ultraviolet light; or recombining of DNA
Completion of a Data Management Plan
Completion of any required coursework (if applicable)
Successful completion of the Research Integrity Training
Successful completion of the Research Initiation Guide (RIG).

When is Milestone 1 due?

An application for Milestone 1 is required to be approved by the Curtin Malaysia Graduate Studies Committee within the following time frames:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Full-time candidates: 6 months from enrolment in the thesis component
Part-time candidates: 12 months from enrolment in the thesis component.

Masters of Philosophy (MPhil)

Full-time candidates: 3 months from enrolment in the thesis component
Part-time candidates: 6 months from enrolment in the thesis component.

Your Milestone 1 application must be assessed and approved by your faculty prior to being sent to CMGS for assessment. We advise you to submit your application and all required documents to your faculty for assessment well in advance of the due date.

Where coursework is required, candidates are normally expected to complete the coursework component before submitting an application for candidacy.

If you fail to have your Milestone 1 application approved within the specified timeframes, it will result in your academic status being amended to Conditional. If enrolment conditions are still not met within the designated timeframe, your enrolment will be cancelled.

What is required for my Milestone 1 presentation?

For Milestone 1, you will need to submit to your supervisor:

Milestone 1 application form with the relevant sections completed.
Research proposal, prepared as per the requirements set out in the Research Proposal Information Sheet.
Turnitin originality report (≤ 30%) for your research proposal.
Any relevant evidence that you have completed your Research Initiation Guide, Research Integrity Training and Data Management Plan.
Any relevant evidence that you have completed any required coursework.

Oral presentation

For Milestone 1 you will also need to prepare and present an oral presentation on your research proposal to your Faculty. Your faculty will arrange a time and venue for your presentation. The thesis committee needs to discuss the date and time, and the venue of the candidacy oral presentation with the internal assessors and AD, R&D. Once the agreed date and time are decided, AD, R&D will then announce the presentation schedule to all students and faculty members.

The approval will be based on:

The assurance from the thesis committee that the research proposal is in an academically satisfactory state of iteration and is therefore ready for oral presentation, and
A confirmation that the thesis committee, internal assessors, and AD, R&D are confirmed to attend the presentation, and
A confirmation that at least 50% of the members of academic staff of the host faculty/department will be present, and
A suitable period of advertisement for the presentation, which is at least one week.

What is the review process for Milestone 1?

Your milestone application, research proposal and oral presentation are reviewed by your Faculty’s Associate Dean of R&D, two assessors, and your thesis committee.

You will receive feedback on your written proposal and oral presentation. Depending on the conventions in your discipline/faculty, the feedback on your written proposal and oral presentation might be combined. When you have received your feedback, you should work with your supervisory team to address the comments and finalise your application. Faculty’s Associate Dean of R&D will usually require students to submit a document setting out how they have responded to reviewer comments at the time that they submit their finalised application.

Once the review process has been completed, your application will be forwarded to the CMGS. Based on the material submitted, Graduate School will determine if you application for Milestone 1 is accepted or rejected.

The Graduate Research School (Perth)/CMGS will inform you of the decision.

If your application for a milestone is rejected, your academic status will be classified as conditional. You will be advised of the conditions of your continued enrolment by the Graduate Research School (Perth)/CMGS.

Supporting information for Milestone 1

Information sheets and forms

Milestone 1 application form [.pdf 413KB]
Research proposal information sheet [.pdf 586KB]
Milestone 1 reviewer report
Milestone 1 reviewer report – additional sheet [.docx 33KB]
Thesis chair report for Milestone 1 [.docx 36KB]
Application for nomination of assessor [.docx 89KB] (Supervisor only)

Quick guides

Research integrity training information [.pdf 303KB]
Milestone 1 review process (before presentation) [.pdf 139KB]
Milestone 1 review process (after presentation) [.pdf 139KB]

Research Integrity Training (RIT)

You must complete the Research Integrity Professional Development program online prior to submitting your Milestone 1 application. The student training is in Blackboard, accessed via Student OASIS. See Research Integrity Training Information for instructions on how to access and enrol in this unit.

Research Initiation Guide (RIG)

The RIG is Curtin’s hazard identification tool which will help train you about how to safely handle any hazardous research materials, train you about how to protect yourself and your research participants from the impacts of your research, and identify and obtain the permissions you need to get before you can start work.

Turnitin

Turnitin is a text matching software that checks for originality in a document by comparing its passages against a database of sources. To access, Login to Student OASIS. Click on the link to Blackboard, go to the ‘My Units’ or ‘My Organisation’ section, and select the ‘Research Integrity – HDR’ training. From the left hand menu, select the heading ‘Originality Checking’. Full instructions are located in the ensuing screens.

Ethics and safety committee approval

It is essential that you examine the ethics and safety guidelines related to your field of study to determine whether it’s necessary to seek approval from any University Ethics and/or Safety Committees. Curtin’s Research Integrity Office provides the following documents to assist you as a researcher:

Researcher responsibility factsheet [.pdf 29kB]
Do you need human ethics approval? [.pdf 50kB]

ORCID

An Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) is a unique, globally recognised identifier which associates you with your research activity and research output. Further information and a help guide can be found on the Library’s website.

Data management plan

You will need to create a plan for the management of the data you collect as part of your research, including data collection and storage. For further information see the Library’s Research Data Management web page. The University provides the Research Data Management Planning Tool to assist you in creating your plan and accessing the University’s data storage facilities.

Data storage

The Western Australian University Sector Disposal Authority (WAUSDA) requires all data you have collected in your research to be retained for a minimum of seven years after the completion of the research or seven years after it is published, whichever is later. This means that you and your School must ensure secure storage of your data for this period.

Milestone 2

Milestone 2 lets you review your research progress and prepare for the timely completion and dissemination of your research.

What are the conditions for Milestone 2?

The following conditions are considered by the Faculty’s Associate Dean of R&D in reviewing your Milestone 2 application:

Satisfactory progress in your research program, including the timely completion of any confirmation tasks set out in your Milestone 1 application.
Attainment of the necessary level of knowledge and skills to proceed with the proposed research program.
The availability of adequate facilities and resources to support the continuation of your research program.

When is Milestone 2 due?

An application for Milestone 2 is required to be approved by the Curtin Malaysia Graduate Studies Committee within the following time frames:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Full-time candidates: 18 months from enrolment in the thesis component
Part-time candidates: 36 months from enrolment in the thesis component.

Masters of Philosophy (MPhil)

Full-time candidates: 12 months from enrolment in the thesis component
Part-time candidates: 24 months from enrolment in the thesis component.

Your Milestone 2 application must be assessed and approved by the thesis committee, two internal assessors and the faculty. We advise you to submit your application and all required documents to your thesis committee for assessment well in advance of the due date.

If you fail to have your Milestone 2 application approved within the specified time frames, it will result in your academic status being amended to Conditional.

What is required for my Milestone 2 application?

For Milestone 2, you will need to submit to your thesis committee:

Milestone 2 application form with the relevant sections completed
A sample of your written work (progress report) completed as part of your HDR studies. This must be a minimum of 3000 words and cannot be your research proposal. It can take the form of a draft of thesis chapters, a draft or published journal articles, a research report or another appropriate format
Turnitin originality report (≤ 30%) for your sample of written work (this is not required if you are submitting a published paper)
A completion and dissemination plan. This should include details of how you will disseminate the results of your HDR study.

As a part of Milestone 2, you must give an oral presentation on your research progress.

Your faculty will:

schedule the date, time and venue for your presentation
notify you of the presentation details
ensure the required assessors and attendees are present.

Your presentation will be advertised to the faculty at least one week in advance.

After the presentation, the Associate Dean of R&D will submit the attendance records to CMGS.

What is the review process for Milestone 2?

When you have completed the Milestone 2 application form, you should submit this along with your sample of written work (progress report) and dissemination plan to your thesis committee to enable the review process to commence.

Your Milestone 2 application, progress report and dissemination plan will be reviewed by two assessors. If the assessors have not already been nominated for Milestone 1, your thesis committee will nominate them before the internal assessment begins. When you have received the feedback on your report, you should work with your thesis committee to address the comments and finalise your application.

Once you have had the opportunity to review the feedback on your application and make amendments, your Faculty’s Associate Dean of R&D will provide the CMGS with a recommendation on your application.

The Graduate Research School/CMGS will inform you of the outcome of your milestone application.

If your application for Milestone 2 is rejected, your academic status will be classified as conditional. You will be advised of the conditions of your continued enrolment by the Graduate Research School/CMGS.

Supporting information for Milestone 2

Information sheets and forms

Milestone 2 application form [.pdf 630KB]
Milestone 2 internal assessment report [.docx 32KB]
Milestone 2 oral presentation review report [.pdf 694KB]
Thesis chair report for Milestone 2 [.docx 36KB]
Authorship agreement form [.docx 74KB]

Quick guides

Milestone 2 review process (before your presentation) [.pdf 140KB]
Milestone 2 review process (after your presentation) [.pdf 139KB]

Milestone 3

In Milestone 3, you will present your research findings, demonstrate your research progress, and highlight your contribution to your field of research as you near the completion of your degree.

What are the conditions for Milestone 3?

The following conditions are considered by the Faculty’s Associate Dean of R&D in reviewing your Milestone 3 application:

Satisfactory progress in your research programme
Attainment of the necessary level of knowledge and skills to proceed with the proposed research program.

When is Milestone 3 due?

An application for Milestone 3 is required to be approved by the Curtin Malaysia Graduate Studies Committee within the following time frames:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) – enrolment before 1 July 2025

Full-time candidates: 3 months before your completion date
Part-time candidates: 6 months before your completion date.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) – enrolment from 1 July 2025 onwards

Full-time candidates: 9 months before your completion date
Part-time candidates: 18 months before your completion date.

Masters of Philosophy (MPhil)

Full-time candidates: 2 months before your completion date
Part-time candidates: 4 months before your completion date.

If you fail to get your Milestone 3 application approved within the specified time frames, it will result in your academic status being amended to Conditional.

What is required for my Milestone 3 application?

For Milestone 3, you will need to submit to your thesis committee:

Milestone 3 application form with the relevant sections completed
A complete thesis
Turnitin originality report (≤ 30%) for your sample of written work (this is not required if you are submitting a published paper).

As a part of Milestone 3, you must give an oral presentation on your research findings.

Your faculty will:

schedule the date, time and venue for your presentation
notify you of the presentation details
ensure the required assessors and attendees are present.

Your presentation will be advertised to the faculty at least one week in advance.

After the presentation, the Associate Dean of R&D will submit the attendance records to CMGS.

What is the review process for Milestone 3?

Submit your Milestone 3 Application Form and thesis to your thesis committee before the internal assessments and oral presentation are conducted.

Your Milestone 3 application and thesis are reviewed by two assessors as nominated by your thesis committee.

Your faculty’s Associate Dean of R&D will provide the CMGS with a recommendation on your application, and CMGS will forward a final recommendation to the Graduate Research School (Perth).

CMGS/Graduate Research School will inform you of the outcome of your milestone application.

If your application for Milestone 3 is rejected, your academic status will be classified as conditional. You will be advised of the conditions of your continued enrolment by the Graduate Research School.

Supporting information for Milestone 3

Information sheets and forms

Milestone 3 application form [.pdf 207KB]
Internal assessment report for Milestone 3
Internal assessment report for Milestone 3 (Additional sheet for extended comments)
Thesis chair report for Milestone 3 [.docx 37KB]

Quick guides

Milestone 3 review process (before your presentation) [.pdf 179KB]
Milestone 3 review process (after your presentation) [.pdf 139KB]

For more information see:

Higher Degree by Research (HDR) Student Progression Policy
Higher Degree by Research (HDR) Student Progression Procedures
Milestones checklist before the presentation [.docx 33KB]
Milestones checklist after the presentation [.docx 320KB]