Faculty of Arts Asia Institute

Fieldwork & Conferences

Everything you need to consider if you are travelling overseas or interstate for a fieldwork trip or conference presentation from leave forms to funding and ethics. Start planning as early as possible!

When, Where & Risks

If you are travelling interstate or overseas for study, conference or research purposes, you need to complete the following forms, or seek the following approval. These forms and the necessary approvals need to be submitted together to either SGR or the Faculty of Arts.

All forms and approvals must be completed in conjunction with your supervisor.

  1. Application to Study Away form to notify SGR or the Faculty of Arts when you will be away and where you are travelling to.

    PhD
    PhD research candidates travelling interstate or overseas for the purpose of conference attendance, presentation or any other research related activity must formally notify SGR of their travel plans by submitting the Application To Study Overseas/Away form.
    Masters
    Masters research candidates travelling interstate or overseas for the purpose of conference attendance, presentation or any other research-related activity should formally notify the Faculty of their travel plans by submitting the Leave to Study Away/Overseas form.
  2. Guideline Form For Off Campus Travel & Work Policy, and Risk Assessment Forms to show you are aware of any hazards or risks associated with your travel.
    • All applications to study overseas/away must be accompanied by a completed Guideline Form For Off Campus Travel And Work Policy. There may be other forms you need to complete which are listed on this form. This form should be completed in conjunction with your supervisor who must authorise the form.
    • If a potential hazardous or unique risk is identified either while travelling or in the activities you will be engaged in whilst away then you must also complete and submit a 2D or 3D risk assessment form. These risk assessment forms should also be completed in conjunction with your supervisor who must authorise either of these forms.

  3. Exemption from the Academic Registrar to travel to a country with a DFAT warning (eg: Indonesia, East Timor, Tibet, Iraq etc).

    You must check the DFAT warning level for your destination against the University's Risk Management Office (RMO) requirement.

    If you need approval from the Academic Registrar to travel, you must write a letter addressed to your supervisor. Use these guidelines to help you write the letter, your supervisor should also help you with this. Give your letter to the Postgraduate Programs Officer who will then make a submission to the Academic Registrar for an exemption for you to travel.

    Please note, that even if you are a citizen of the country you are travelling to, you still require approval if there is a travel warning in place.

  4. Travel Insurance - you must show evidence of travel insurance before your leave can be approved.

    The University requires you to have travel insurance if you are travelling as a student of the University. You can purchase insurance at a discounted rate through the University's insurance supplier, ACE only through their website (you will need a credit card).

    Otherwise, you can purchase travel insurance through your travel agent. You must be able to show evidence of valid travel insurance for your application for leave to be approved.

Paying For It

If you are intending to do more than one fieldwork trip over the course of your degree, you should plan carefully which scholarships or awards you will apply for, for which trip.

Some awards are only available once during your degree, so you should think about saving your application for a large award for your main trip and utilising smaller awards for shorter trips. You should expect to contribute personal finances toward your trip as it is very unlikely that the funding you receive will cover the full cost of your journey.

There are a few funding options (below) that MA and PhD students may like to consider when travelling away. Unfortunately, there is no funding available for coursework Masters, Honours, or Postgraduate Diploma students who wish to travel overseas for fieldwork.

University Scholarships

Melbourne Abroad Travelling Scholarships (MATS)
Postgraduate Overseas Research Experience Scholarships (PORES)

Applicants may NOT apply for both MATS and PORES for the same purpose.

Arts Faculty Scholarships

Travel for Research in Postgraduate Study (TRIPS) (PhD and MA)
PhD Fieldwork Grant Scheme

Asia Institute (PhD and MA)

The guidelines for this fund are currently being updated, please see the Postgraduate Programs Officer for further information.

Postgraduate Research Support Fund

Ethics

All researchers (staff, students and student supervisors) who are undertaking research involving humans, are likely to need to ethics approval. This includes anyone who is:

All research projects involving humans are subject to review and prior approval by the Human Research Ethics Committee.

Failure to obtain appropriate ethics approval for research involving humans may result in disciplinary action resulting from a breach of the Code of Conduct for Research and could leave researchers at risk of civil or legal action.

RESEARCH MUST NOT COMMENCE UNTIL ETHICS CLEARANCE HAS BEEN OBTAINED.

Researchers undertaking projects which present low or minimal risks to participants may be eligible for an Expedited Review of their project by the School's Human Ethics Advisory Group (HEAG).

Human Ethics applications are to be submitted electronically via Themis and, specifically, the Human Ethics Workbench. Hard copies of these applications, appropriately signed, are also required and should be submitted to the Postgraduate Programs Officer.

For additional information about Expedited Review and application procedures, please refer to: http://www.research.unimelb.edu.au/humanethics/processes/.

Your application must be completed with the help of your supervisor. Examples of consent forms and plain language statements (PLS)can be found here:

If you are still not sure whether or not ethics approval is required for your research project, please consult with your supervisor in the first instance or contact:

Dr Muhammad Kamal, Chair of the Institute's DHEAG (Ph: 8344 8197) or
Human Research Ethics Office (Ph: 8344 2073/2067)

Please remember that you cannot commence fieldwork without Ethics approval, so get your application in early!

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