Doctor of Philosophy

As a Doctor of Philosophy candidate you will undertake supervised research with the aim of making a significant and original contribution to a discipline or profession.

Research areas include:

intellectual property, copyright, trade marks law, innovation and technology in legal services, artificial intelligence and law, sentencing, criminal law, commercial and corporations law, Asian law, transnational lawyering.

Find out more about research areas and expertise in the Swinburne Law School.

This program is suited to applicants who:

have some prior research experience are interested in a pursuing a career in research have a desire to make an original contribution to research in a particular field have a naturally inquiring mind and a desire to know more wish to gain an internationally recognised qualification want to enhance their employment opportunities.

As a Doctor of Philosophy candidate you will undertake supervised research with the aim of making a significant and original contribution to a discipline or profession.

• a bachelor degree (three or four years) and a Masters by Research or
• a bachelor degree (three or four years) and an Honours year or
• a bachelor degree (three or four years) and a Masters by Coursework or
• a bachelor degree (three or four years) and a postgraduate diploma in Psychology or
• a bachelor degree (four years) in an approved discipline.

The Doctor of Philosophy program has the objective of producing graduates with the capacity to conduct research independently at a high level of originality and quality. Graduates will demonstrate a capacity to design, conduct and report sustained and original research. While the research is conducted under a supervisor students are expected to demonstrate the ability to work independently.

A Doctor of Philosophy graduate is expected to be able to:

• conduct independent research at a high level of originality and quality
• independently conceive of, design, conduct and complete a research project or program
• understand their given substantive area as well as the given methodological approach(es)
• communicate an argument convincingly, with clarity and relevance to appropriate audiences.

Other key skills obtained by research graduates include:

• Independent thinking
• Decision-making skills
• Good judgement
• Logical thought, rationality
• Communication skills
• Project management skills
• Data analysis
• Problem solving
• Critical thinking