New Candidates

Welcome to the doctoral community! This page contains everything you need to know as you set off on your doctoral journey.

Doctoral Confirmation Milestones at the University of Auckland

Let's get started...

  1. Introduce yourself: Get to know your supervisor, as well as your Faculty / LSRI's Doctoral Research Co-ordinator. They will be able to answer most of your immediate queries.

  2. Log in to Wahapū: Wahapū is a comprehensive digital system for managing doctoral candidature. It is used by doctoral candidates, supervisors, academic heads, and all other parties involved in managing doctoral processes. All staff and new PhD candidates on the current PhD Statute are given automatic access, normally within the first few days of candidature, and you can log on using single sign-on. Note: Candidates enrolled in Named Doctorates and those on the Old Statute do not have access to Wahapū. 
    * You can access Wahapū here.
    * If you get stuck, you can access the the Wahapū support pages here. 

  3. Scholarships: If you're on a scholarship, you need to let your scholarship administrator know that you have started your doctoral programme. If you have a University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship, you can contact the University's Scholarships Office.

  4. General queries: If you have general queries, visit the online AskAuckland knowledge base, visit a Student Hub, or email doctoraladvice@auckland.ac.nz. This mailbox is monitored by a central team, who will answer your queries, or escalate to SGS if it involves a complex policy question.

  5. IT queries: For basic IT queries, you can contact the Student IT Hub, and for more complex IT questions, you can raise a ticket via the Staff Service Centre's IT Portal on the Staff Intranet. Note: Depending on when you join the doctoral programme, there may be a delay of a few weeks before you gaining access to certain resources such as the Staff Intranet and the Doctoral News e-newsletter. 

  6. Doctoral Induction: You must attend the central Doctoral Induction within the first two months of enrolling as a doctoral candidate. The next inductions are on Thursday 22 January (9am to 3pm) and Wednesday 11 March (9am to 3pm), and we recommend you book as soon as possible. (Remember: Booking links for Doctoral Induction and SGS Workshops will take you to Wahapū. If you don't have access to Wahapū because you are a Named Doctorate or on the Old Statute, you can book via the Doctoral Event Registration Form.)

  7. Confirmation Milestones: Doctoral Induction is one of the milestones you must complete in the first year of your doctorate, in order to be confirmed into the programme. Learn more about the other milestones on our Confirmation Milestones web page.

  8. Canvas course: You should aim to complete the online PhD Confirmation of Candidature Canvas Course within the first two months of enrolling. This, together with the Doctoral Induction, will provide you with the knowledge and tools you need for a successful provisional year. 

  9. Confirmation Review workshop: We recommend that you attend the Preparing for your Confirmation Review online workshop within the first six months, after completing the Canvas course. This is a great opportunity to learn more and ask questions. Book early to avoid disappointment. The next available sessions are on Monday 16 February and Thursday 14 May.

  10. Policies: Visit our Doctoral Policies web page to explore key doctoral policies. You'll also find a link to the University's Policy Hub.

  11. PReSS: Postgraduate Research Student Support (PReSS) funding is provided by the University to assist with the provision of financial support for doctoral research that is not funded by other sources. Read the PReSS Account Policy.

  12. ResearchHub: Explore the comprehensive online ResearchHub to find services, resources and people to accelerate your research.

  13. ResearchSpace: It's hard to write a thesis if you've never read one, so we recommend exploring ResearchSpace (the University's digital thesis repository) and having a look through a few doctoral theses from your field of study. 
     
  14. Doctoral web pages: Explore all 15 of our doctoral web pages, which you can access via the Doctoral home page.

AskAuckland

Ask any question about your doctoral studies at the University of Auckland.