/ FACULTY OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCES
School of Social and Policy Studies
RESEARCH STUDENTS MAINTENANCE SCHEME GUIDELINES

The Schemes

The School provides support to research students whilst enrolled on a Research Higher Degree course within the School. Funding is provided via 2 schemes and these are:

  • Research Student Maintenance (RSM) – provides a base allocation of $150 per FTE year of candidature. Full-time students can expect a budget of $150 per year, whilst part-time students can expect $75 for each year of normal candidature;
  • Research Student Maintenance Individual (RSMI) – provides up to $3000 per candidature for fieldwork trips, overseas conferences, etc.Please note: RSMI can only be awarded once per candidature.

To be classified as a Higher Degree Research Student, you must be enrolled in a Research Higher Degree in the School of Social & Policy Studies, not in a Coursework Higher Degree. Some Research Higher Degree programs might have a small coursework component, in which case you must be enrolled in the thesis component to be eligible.

Research Student Maintenance BASE

Students will not be required to apply for the Base RSM funding. Students will be informed of their allocation, by memo, as soon as is administratively possible after enrolment census date each year.

Base funding will not be provided when a student is not enrolled (e.g. a period of intermission).

Funds are allocated on an annual basis. Hence, unspent balances do not carry forward to the next year. Students are encouraged to submit claims on their allocation as they incur expenses. It is essential that all claims be presented to the Faculty Services Office by the last Friday of November of each year. Candidates who begin their candidature mid-year, or who are expecting to complete their degree mid-year, are funded on a part-time basis and no RSM is allocated to students after their expected completion date.

Students will not be funded for RSM whilst on intermission.

NOTES:

  1. Eligible items for funding through Base RSM include (list is not exclusive):

SSPS Research Student Maintenance Guidelines – Jan 13

  • photocopying
  • microfilms
  • slides
  • inter-library loans where a fee is charged
  • stationery
  • tapes, data storage (e.g. USB, USB adaptor card), computer ink cartridges
  • minor equipment (most affordable items for the intended purposes)
  • specialist software

SSPS Research Student Maintenance Guidelines – Jan 13

  1. Funding will not be provided for:
  • items that would duplicate basic services already provided by the University, e.g. materials held in the library and internet connection/use charges
  • purchase of books / conference proceedings (although primary-source documents may be considered). Items not available in the library should be ordered through document delivery or can be ordered by supervisors for purchase by the library
  • transcription: in general, transcription is not an eligible RSM item. However, the Faculty will consider requests on a case by case basis where there are special circumstances such as the scale of work required and language difficulties
  • personnel costs for research assistance unless a case is made that this is not reasonably possible via the student’s own efforts
  • conference travel, registration or associated costs, unless the conference itself provides direct evidence or material for the actual research project (i.e. is the equivalent of fieldwork)
  • workshop travel, registration or associated costs, unless the workshop itself provides direct evidence or material for the actual research project (i.e. is the equivalent of fieldwork)
  • thesis preparation costs: note that RSM is provided to assist with costs associated with the actual carrying out of research, not for the production of the final thesis. RSM may not be used for editing / proofreading, printing, or binding of the thesis.
  • computers, except where dedicated and powerful machines required for unusual analyses or to drive experiments, are required and sought by groups through the RSM Group application process.
  1. Funding for conference travel and thesis preparation is provided separately by the Higher Degree Administration and Scholarships Office to which applications should be made. See

The student’s supervisor has a responsibility to ensure that the funds are expended in the best interests of the student.

  1. Funds may not be used under any circumstances to finance travel by the supervisor.
  2. RSM Funds are allocated on an annual basis.

Base RSM funds must be spent or committed by the end of November. Unspent funds willnotbe carried forward to the next year.

Research Student Maintenance Individual (RSMI)
Closing date for applications is the last working date of April and September each year.
Individual Higher Degree Research Students may apply for research funds, up to a maximum of $3,000 per candidature, under the following guidelines:
  • Basic maintenance expenses should not be included in Supplementary RSM applications. For example, extraordinary photocopying/printing requests (for surveys etc) could be included in Supplementary RSM applications, but not requests to cover students’ usual day to day photocopying needs.
  • Support up to the full $3,000 limit would need to be an exceptional case, and students can normally expect the funding level to be significantly less than that.
  • This scheme is to support students undertaking the following activities; large-scale survey work; field based work in the non-experimental areas requiring data collection by observation or from libraries and institutions or from human subjects which involves interstate or overseas travel (see below about other sources of funding for overseas field work); computational and other work (including modelling, simulation, and signal processing) requiring specialist software packages or annual licences fees not available as site licences:
  • students might expect some financial assistance normally only in the year of candidature in which this specific work is undertaken;
  • normally, overseas field work support is only provided once per candidature; applications for additional support will be handled on a case by case basis
  • Students are required to apply for RSM (Individual) on the basis of justified need, not usually in the first year of candidature. Students may find they have different requirements throughout their candidature.
  • No RSM is allocated to students after their expected completion date.
  • Students will not be funded for RSM whilst on intermission;
  • Cases not covered above will be considered on their merits.

Students receiving RSM (Individual) allocations will be issued with a separate account. Advice on how to obtain an advance, or make a claim for reimbursement, is included in the Supplementary RSM (Individual) Claim Guide.

RSM (Individual) funds are allocated on an annual basis and it is expected that these funds will be spent or committed by the end of November. However, in special circumstances, application may be made through the Research Committee to carry over funds into the next calendar year.

NOTES:

  1. Eligible items for funding through RSM (Individual) include (list is not exclusive):

SSPS Research Student Maintenance Guidelines – Jan 13

  • travel for data collection purposes (fieldwork)
  • participant/subject payments
  • minor equipment (most affordable items for the intended purposes)
  • specialist software
  • technical assistance (including programmers or experiment observers) approved by the supervisor as not needing to be undertaken by the student
  • other costs directly associated to the fieldwork data collection

SSPS Research Student Maintenance Guidelines – Jan 13

  1. Funding will not be provided for:
  • items that would duplicate basic services already provided by the University, e.g. materials held in the library and internet connection/use charges
  • purchase of books / conference proceedings (although primary-source documents may be considered). Items not available in the library should be ordered through document delivery or can be ordered by supervisors for purchase by the library
  • transcription: in general, transcription is not an eligible RSM item. However, the School will consider requests on a case by case basis where there are special circumstances such as the scale of work required and language difficulties
  • personnel costs for research assistance unless a case is made that this is not reasonably possible via the student’s own efforts
  • conference travel, registration or associated costs, unless the conference itself provides direct evidence or material for the actual research project (i.e. is the equivalent of fieldwork)
  • workshop travel, registration or associated costs, unless the workshop itself provides direct evidence or material for the actual research project (i.e. is the equivalent of fieldwork)
  • thesis preparation costs: note that RSM is provided to assist with costs associated with the actual carrying out of research, not for the production of the final thesis. RSM may not be used for editing / proofreading, printing, or binding of the thesis.
  1. Funding for conference travel, fieldwork and thesis preparation is provided separately by the Higher Degree Administration and Scholarships Office to which applications should be made. (see ‘Other Funding’ section).
  1. RSM (Individual) applicants are reminded that they must provide justification for the items requested. This justification should relate to their research project and should include any calculations used to arrive at the amount requested (especially in relation to fieldwork travel or experimental needs). Applications without a justification of the budget will not be funded.
  2. RSM (Individual) Application forms should be submitted to the School Research Committee Secretary (Tara Gagliardi, Room 379, SSS)
  3. Once decisions are made about RSM (Individual) requests, the Research Committee Secretary will arrange for the account number to be allocated and officially notifies the student and his/her supervisor of the details.
  4. Allocations are at the discretion of the School and no guarantee of full funding can be made.
  5. The student’s supervisor has a responsibility to ensure that the funds are expended in the best interests of the student.
  6. Funds may not be used under any circumstances to finance travel by the supervisor.
  7. RSM Funds are allocated on an annual basis.RSM (Individual) funds: it is expected that these funds will be spent or committed by the end of November. However, in the case of applications made late in the year or special circumstances, application may be made to carry over funds into the next calendar year.

Ethics Clearances

The policy of the University requires that appropriate ethics clearances (e.g. Animal Ethics and Human Ethics) be issued before research projects may commence. A condition of RSM funding is that, if Ethics Committee clearances are required for any components of the project, you will seek and obtain the necessary approval prior to commencing those components. Failure to comply with this requirement will result in funds for this grant being reclaimed.

Ethics clearances can be sought from one of the following committees:

Animal Welfare Committee

Flinders Clinical Research Ethics Committee

Social and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee

Biosafety Committee

Ethics guidelines, forms and related material are available from:

Clinical Trials and Insurance Requirements

The only research that needs to be assessed for insurance purposes is clinical in nature which therefore goes before the Flinders Clinical Research Ethics Committee. The FCREC application guidelines include advice to applicants to contact the University’s Insurance Officer for confirmation of insurance for their project and the committee will not give its approval without that confirmation. For more information see

Other Funding

Funding for conference travel and thesis preparation is provided separately by the Higher Degree Administration and Scholarships Office to which applications should be made. See

Students who wish to undertake a field trip overseas should apply in the first instance to the Scholarships Office for an Overseas Field Trip Grant. For details see and scroll down the alphabetic list to find Overseas Field Trip Grant. Note – this item will only appear on the Scholarships Office website when the round is open. Two rounds are held each year with closing dates in May and October. Applications for the Overseas Field Trip Grant should be lodged with the Higher Degree Administration and Scholarships Office, not later than 31 May for awards tenable during the twelve months commencing July of the same year. Students who have received RSM (Individual) funding for field work, and who subsequently receive an Overseas Field Trip Grant must notify the School Research Committee within two weeks of receiving notification of their award to assess whether any adjustment to their RSM (Individual) funding is needed.

SSPS Research Student Maintenance Guidelines – Jan 13