Resources and support

Your support team

You have a team of people to help you succeed in your Higher Degree by Research (HDR) including:

Supervisory team

The University provides academic supervision for all Higher Degree by Research (HDR) candidates to make sure you’re fully supported with your research project. You’ll have at least two supervisors who are experts in your field. Learn more about supervisor relationships.

HDR Delegated Authorities (HDR DA)

Each School has a HDR DA who’s role is to provide support for HDR Candidates. Talk to your HDR DA about any issues that can’t be resolved by your supervisory team. They can also help you get access to resources for conducting your research.

School of Graduate Research (SDR)

The School of Graduate Research supports research training at RMIT. This includes:

Admissions
Scholarships
Research Training Services or RTS (administration and support throughout your candidature)
Submissions and examinations

Contact the School of Graduate Research’s Research Training Services (RTS) team via the RMIT Connect portal.

HDR Student Representatives

Contact your HDR Student Representative if you have suggestions for improvement or would like to raise issues of concern. They may be able to help improve the student experience for you and your peers.

HDR Student Representatives also organise regular catch ups with their respective College to make sure the student experience is kept front of mind.

Your HDR DA can provide you with contact details for your College and/or School representative.

Research resources

Contact your HDR Delegated Authority (HDR DA) if you need access to research resources throughout your candidature. Resources they can help you with include:

labs or studio access
desk or locker allocation
Higher Degree by Research (HDR) funding to cover research related costs

Learn about your Responsibilities as a Researcher and more resources and support for your research process.

Wellbeing and Support

RMIT offer a vast range of student support services including counselling, study support, legal support and financial support.

Visit RMIT Mental Wellbeing and Counselling to learn about the services and online programs available to help you manage your wellbeing.

For urgent crisis support click here. This page lists important contacts for both emergency services and urgent mental health support.

Information Technology (IT) systems and support

The IT team is available to help you with information technology requests, enquiries or issues.

Systems you will may during your candidature include:

Enrolment Online – Use Enrolment Online to manage your enrolment at RMIT at the start of your HDR and throughout your candidature.
Canvas – Use Canvas to access course content and announcements, submit assignments, and receive grades and feedback.
Student email

iThenticate – checks text similarity in research outputs including draft manuscripts, journal articles, book chapters and books, and draft theses prior to publication and/or HDR examination. It protects intellectual property while allowing researchers to identify potential errors in citation and attribution.
RMIT research staff, students and HDR candidates can access the service via this link: http://www.rmit.edu.au/iThenticate
Need help using iThenticate? Check out iThenticate resources, turnitin's iThenticate user guides or turnitin's Support Centre.
Qualtrics – Used to conduct and analyse online surveys. Log in to Qualtrics with your RMIT details.

Workstations and servers:

Standard workstations – Research staff requiring a standard Apple Mac or PC can order one from RMIT's GetIT store and bill it to their business unit.
Non-standard workstations – If you require a specialised workstation for research purposes, complete the special request form.
Physical server hosting or virtual machines – If you require a fully managed environment and database hosting for less than 6 months, contact IT Connect.
NeCTAR – A National Servers Program of virtual servers and platforms that support the Australian research community. For more information, visit the National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources (NeCTAR) Project website.

Storing data:

Storage of research data must comply with all relevant RMIT policies and the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research. For more information about research data and how to manage it, visit RMIT Library's Research Data Management Subject Guide.

What date do you need to store?	Storage solution	Key features	How to access
Store small to medium amounts of data. Cannot provide access to other researchers.	Your RMIT Home or H: drive	Password protected One user access Suitable for data sets up to 20GB Backed-up. Off campus access You can retain the data here after your research project.	Already installed on staff and student computers by default. Offsite access via mydrive.rmit.edu.au
Store small to medium amounts data. Can provide access to other researchers.	Set up an RMIT Shared drive	Password protected You can assign access to your research team. Suitable for data sets up to 20GB Backed-up. Off campus access You can retain the data here after your research project.	Fill in the Shared Drive Access Request Form Access organised within 3 weeks. Off campus access via mydrive.rmit.edu.au
Store data sets via the University’s network provider, AARNet. Can also be used to provide access to research collaborators.	CloudStor+	100GB can be shared free of charge More secure than Dropbox Supported by the Australian government and linked with RMIT	Log on with your RMIT details. Contact eResearch for advice.
Store research data and provide access to research collaborators.	Nectar	Supported by Australian government and linked with RMIT You can retain the data here after your research project. Secure cloud based system.	Contact eResearch to access Nectar.
Temporarily storing data when working offsite.	Laptop, removable disc, hard drive	Vulnerable to loss or damage Should only be used as a temporary storage solution No back up	Remember to back up this data at RMIT. You can set up your laptop so that the data is backed up every time you log in at RMIT
Large, relatively static research data sets.	Large Scale Research Data Store	Accessible from RMIT servers and desktop machines Multiple TB storage You can assign access to your research team. You can retain the data here after your research project. Off campus access option.	To apply, complete the research data storage form. Access organised within 1-3 weeks.

RMIT Library

The RMIT Library offers a range of resources across campuses and online including a specialised research support team for HDR candidates.

PhD Up

The PhD Up program offers all HDR candidates (PhD and masters by research) a range of workshops, seminars and short courses to build research knowledge and skills. They include research writing, publishing, research methods, ethics, project management and careers.

Researcher Portal

The Researcher Portal collates all research project resources and information relevant to RMIT researchers into a single space. It’s designed to make your research projects easier to conduct while providing you with insight into how you can develop your academic career.

Resources and support