For the official Intellectual Property Policy, click here.

Protecting past IP

Some things to consider around codifiable IP:

• What background IP are you brining into the ePhD? It may be necessary to document that in an agreement to set clear boundaries of what work pre-dates the PhD and therefore cannot be claimed as jointly developed IP
• Who has the commercial rights to new IP? This question is more common with externally funded applied projects, but could easily apply here, too. If your work is likely to generate new commercial IP, discuss this upfront about whose it is and if UTS has any rights to it. This can vary, depending on the role of the supervisor, e.g. whether they are co-producing the knowledge, or more of a mentor for the process of the PhD but not contributing directly to it intellectually.

Sharing new knowledge is encouraged …

As a publicly-funded research organisation, we have a moral obligation to share our work for the benefit of society, industry and the environment. As part of UTS Research Strategy, there is a strong emphasis to deliver ‘excellent research with impact’ and to fulfil the university’s ‘third mission’.

Research excellence is conventionally measured by publications, citations and journal quality. Of increasing importance, is that the publications are publicly available as Open Access publications, so that anyone can benefit from them.

Below is the abstract for the new Knowledge Exchange whitepaper that sits within the research strategy.

The ‘third mission’ of universities is to contribute to society beyond legislated requirements. Knowledge exchange activities involve the collaborative creation and sharing of knowledge with external stakeholders including industry, government and not-for-profit organisations. Our opportunity lies in understanding how we do this, engage with stakeholders and find ways to be more strategic, collaborative and allow our various parts to benefit from each other.

Altogether, whether it’s to promote your own work to get citations, policy mentions, follow-on projects or funding, there is a strong incentive to get your work into the hands of others. Additionally, the university has a strong social justice agenda to give people equal access to research findings.

BUT, that doesn’t mean you are required to share everything!

.. but you have the right to protect or embargo it

The Thesis submisison and preparation procedures specify that while you must provide the dissertation archives a copy of your thesis, that you can still prevent (parts of) it from being publicly available.

Section 15.2: Digital copy of the thesis

Students must submit a digital copy of their final thesis to the Faculty and Library. The thesis must include a signed, Certificate of Original Authorship. Graduate research students must lodge their digital copy before the conferral of their degree, regardless of existing confidential agreement and/or embargo conditions. The Library will suppress confidential material if there is any approved restriction as explained in this document. The digital copy will be uploaded to the Library website.

Additionally ..

Section 17: Confidentiality and restricted access