Annual Review of Progress (Annual Review)

The annual review is intended to be an open and frank appraisal of your rate of progress by both you and your supervisory panel. The Review is due every year on 31 October and serves several purposes. It:

• ensures that you highlight your achievements during the preceding year so that you can clearly see the progress you have made both in your research and your professional development (it is common for students to underestimate their progress and the review process can provide some useful reassurance);
• provides you with an opportunity to formally set goals with your whole supervisory panel for the next stage of your project and in the next stage of your professional development;
•  is an important tool for identifying any problems that may be occurring in your candidature so that they can be documented and resolved. Documentation is very important, as any problems you report on your annual review form (which were beyond your control and have negatively affected your progress) will be taken into consideration if you submit an application for a candidature or scholarship extension in the future.  If you are unable to raise a problem(s) at the School level, you can submit a confidential statement for the attention of the Dean of Graduate Studies;
• provides an opportunity to review and renegotiate your access to resources and facilities;
• provides an opportunity to review ethics requirements and a prompt to provide any necessary clearances to the Adelaide Graduate Research School;
• provides an opportunity to review your supervisory arrangements, including the frequency and usefulness of meetings; and
• serves to ensure that your postgraduate coordinator, the head of school and the Dean of Graduate Studies are kept fully informed of your progress.

Satisfactory completion of the annual review and other candidature milestones where applicable, is a pre-requisite for re-enrolment and scholarship continuation into the following year.

Do I need to do an annual review?
As a research student who is actively enrolled or on approved leave of absence, you are required to participate in an annual review of progress every year, unless one of the following applies:

• Your enrolled in the current calendar year;
• You submitted your thesis for examination prior to 31 October;
• Your candidature lapsed prior to 31 October;
• You have been advised to complete a pre-submission review in place of an annual review of progress;

Login to MyAdelaide and check the following:

• Are your personal details (e.g. address and contact details) correct? Update them if necessary.
• Are your supervisors and their roles and percentages of responsibility accurately recorded?  ONLY your official principal supervisor will be able to approve your annual review (your co-supervisor(s) will have view only access), therefore, it is essential that you advise the Adelaide Graduate Research School of any changes by completing the change of supervisor details form before you access the annual review form and commence the review process;
• Are your candidature details (e.g. research topic, attendance status) accurately recorded? If any changes are required, you will need to complete and submit the relevant form to the Adelaide Graduate Research School.
• If there are extenuating circumstances that will affect your ability to complete and lodge the annual review by 31 October, ensure that you discuss the situation with your principal supervisor and request that he or she apply for an extension on your behalf by emailing the Adelaide Graduate Research School. The email should detail the length of extension sought (typically one month) and the reasons for the request.

Step 1 – Student

• Well in advance of the required completion date for your annual review (2 - 4 weeks prior), organise a mutually convenient time to meet with your supervisory panel to:
  • Review your progress during the previous twelve months or since you started in candidature;
  • Discuss and establish a plan of work and set academic and Career and Research Skills Training (CaRST) milestones or goals for the next twelve months;
  • Review your ethics, IP, resource and supervision needs; and
  • Identify any concerns/problems/grievances that may have interrupted/delayed your progress and their impact on your progress in terms of the number of research days lost.
• Make a second later appointment to discuss your progress with the person nominated by your principal supervisor to authorise the completed annual review on behalf of your School (the 'school approver'). The approver will normally be your postgraduate coordinator, however, if your PGC is a supervisor, it will be another senior academic from within your school which your principal supervisor will select from a pre-approved list
• Following (or during) your meeting with your supervisors, complete all sections of the online form when prompted ensuring that all information provided is accurate and correct.  You will be required to:
  • Confirm your personal details and supervisory panel details are correct.
  • Describe work completed during the review period.
  • Upload a Gantt chart or completion plan.
  • Detail any industry engagement that occurred during the year of review, including the name and URL of the organisation, the dates and type of engagement (placement or internship, supervision, mentoring, or employment).
  • Provide clearance numbers of ethics approvals already provided to the Adelaide Graduate Research School, and upload copies of any clearance documents not previously provided.
  • Consider whether your research involves any hazards (e.g. chemical, plant, equipment, biological, radiation etc.).
  • Provide titles of intellectual property contracts and/or agreements previously supplied to the Adelaide Graduate Research School, and upload copies of any contracts and/or agreement documents not previously provided.
  • Consider whether the agreed resources and facilities defined in the minimum resources proforma in your core component of the structured program (CCSP) have been provided since your last annual review/completion of your CCSP if this is your first review since enrolment.
  • Total any leave of absence days you have taken in the reporting period.
  • Detail any unavoidable delays, problems and/or grievances experienced during the review period.
  • Upload a current PDF of your CaRST Progress Summary dated within 1 week of when your Annual Review form is submitted (navigate to the ‘Review’ page in CaRST Online, click the ‘Generate PDF’ button, and save as PDF), enter your total recognised credits, and provide a reflection on development activities completed since the previous milestone review and future development goals.
• Certify the form and submit to your principal supervisor for comment.

Step 2 – Supervisors and school approver

Following your progress review meeting, your supervisory panel will discuss and review your progress.

• On receipt of your submitted annual review, your principal supervisor will review the information you have provided, make comments in response on behalf of your supervisory panel and provide an assessment of your level of progress relative to the standards and timeframe for completion of your degree.
• The principal supervisor will be asked to nominate a ‘school approver’ from a pre-approved list to authorise the completed annual review on behalf of the School.  The principal supervisor will select the relevant postgraduate coordinator, except, where the PGC is a supervisor, in which case an alternate school approver who is a senior academic staff member will be selected from the pre-approved list.
• Once the principal supervisor has completed the supervisor sections on the annual review, the form will advance to the nominated school approver to review your progress and your supervisors’ recommendations on behalf of the School;
• After certifying the form on behalf of the school, the school approver will authorise the form’s return to you for final review prior to submission to the Adelaide Graduate Research School.

Step 3 - Student review

• On receipt of email notification that your completed annual review form containing supervisory comments and your school’s assessment of your progress is ready for viewing, access and review the annual review form in its entirety
• Following review, you will be prompted to agree with the school’s assessment of your progress (including, if applicable, any milestones/tasks that have been set for you to complete during a period of conditional re-enrolment).
• If you disagree with the school’s assessment or wish to report any complaints or grievances that you have been unable to resolve within your school, you will be able to upload a confidential report for the attention of the Dean of Graduate Studies.  If you attach such a report, it will not be visible to your supervisors, PGC or head of school.
• Authorise the submission of your annual review to the Adelaide Graduate Research School prior to the due date

• After submitting your portion of the annual review to your principal supervisor in the recommended timeframe, ensure you regularly log back into your annual review dashboard/form to track the progress of approvals by your supervisor and the school approver.
• If your annual review has not been actioned within the recommended timeframe or, within ~one week of being sent to an approver, please follow up with them to request that they review and action the form.
• Ensure that your annual review is on track to be returned to you for final review and submission to the Adelaide Graduate Research School prior to 31 October.
• If you will be unable to submit prior to the due date, it is your responsibility to prompt your principal supervisor to request an extension (normally for one month) on your behalf. 

Please download the most appropriate MS excel template for your needs:

3 year Gantt chart
4 year Gantt chart
5 year Gantt chart
6 year Gantt chart

Note. All templates are password protected. This means you have some limited editing privileges, including the ability to add and delete rows without a password.

Completion plan
You may choose to use a completion plan. The Adelaide Graduate Research School has made an example plan available.

Completion plan example

View full size workflow image.

Download a PDF of the annual review workflow.