Research Programs

Our Commitment to Research Education

Higher research degrees provide a sustained and supported means of research training, leading to the development of highly relevant research and analytical skills. Graduates from higher research degree programs find these skills enhance their effectiveness as educational thinkers and practitioners. They can also lead to a variety of additional career options, including enhanced leadership roles, policy and analysis, research and project management, and academic appointments.

The School of Education and Centre for Educational Research at UWS are committed to providing our higher research degree students with excellent research education. We do this by providing:

• groups of two to three academics on each student’s supervisory Panel,
    each of which has an experienced academic supervisor as Panel Chair;
• consistent and sustained Panel contact with each student;
• some meetings with students in groups, so they can share progress,
    experiences and expertise, and support each other as their research
    progresses;
• a structured and systematic approach leading up to each student’s
    Confirmation of Candidature;
• opportunities for research students to present their work at a variety
    of symposia and the annual College of Arts Research Conference;
• a very good level of resource support, including the purchase of
    research materials and opportunities to travel to conferences to
    present findings;
• in some cases, scholarships to undertake research study;
• opportunities to co-publish with experienced academic staff;
• opportunities to engage in academic teaching, where a research
    student’s expertise matches the teaching needs of the school.

In undertaking a higher research degree, prospective students have a variety of options, depending upon their previous academic and research experience, and the outcomes they wish to achieve by undertaking a research degree. 

Research courses and programs

1. Honours

Bachelors (Honours)
Master of Teaching (Honours)

Students generally take our Bachelors (Hons) or M Teach (Hons) programs at the end of their study in those programs. Students in our teacher education pathways (B Arts/M Teach Primary or Secondary, or B Social Science / M Teach (Birth-12 Years) have two options - they can take a Hons research program in education at the end of their Bachelors program (Bachelors Hons) or their M Teach program (M Teach Hons). Students undertaking just the M Teach at UWS can take the M Teach (Hons) at the end of their program.

The Honours program combines research training units with research experience and the chance to become a member of the School of Education research community. The three research training units are: Understanding Educational Research, Education Research Methods and Design, and Education Research Seminar. These units prepare for the task of writing a thesis on a topic negotiated between the student and a Supervisor or Supervisory Panel. The research training helps students formulate research questions, apply suitable research designs to a selected problem, and review literature relating to the intended research project. Successful completion of this degree can lead to enrolment in a UWS Higher research degree. More information

2. Higher Research degrees

Masters Honours (Masters by Research)

This is a university Higher Research degree primarily undertaken as a supervised program of original research with a particular emphasis on research methodology. It provides students with the opportunity to develop their potential for research, enhance their skills of problem identification and specification, and their ability to develop and present solutions.

Doctor of Education

This is a university Higher Research degree. It provides extended and advanced training in professional studies of education. In this degree projects and investigations are more applied in nature and more obviously oriented to professional practice. Thus degree is designed to equip candidates to be critical consumers of research in a professional setting.

Doctor of Philosophy

This is a university Higher Research degree. It provides training and education for those with the capacity to conduct independent research at the highest level of originality and quality, uncovering new knowledge either by the discovery of new facts, the formulation of theories or the innovative re-interpretation of known data and established ideas.

3. Graduate Certificate in Research Studies

The Graduate Certificate in Research Studies is a preparatory research training course for those who have an undergraduate degree or masters degree by coursework and/or extensive professional experience. Research students may receive admission to a research degree conditional on satisfactory completion of the course.

The School of Education has an active research culture and welcomes inquiries from potential research students.


Please visit the following link to Apply for Research Degrees at UWS