MSc and PhD Thesis and Defence

MSc and PhD defense procedures follow different guidelines.

However, you should always ensure that you follow British Columbia’s rules regarding intellectual property. In particular you should bear in mind UBC policy SC6: Scholarly Integrity. An excerpt is listed below:

“A factor in many cases of alleged scholarly/scientific misconduct has been the absence of a complete set of verifiable data. The retention by the University of accurately recorded and retrievable results is of utmost importance. Wherever possible, all primary data should be recorded in clear, adequate, original and chronological form. In scientific departments, a record of the primary data must be maintained in the laboratory and cannot be removed. Original data for a given study should be retained in the unit of origin for at least five years after the work is published or otherwise presented (if the form of the data permits this, and if assurances have not been given that data would be destroyed to assure anonymity). Supervisors and collaborators should have unrestricted access to all data and products of their collaborative research. Entitlement to ownership of primary data, software, and other products of research can vary according to the circumstances under which research is conducted. A shared understanding about ownership should be reached among collaborators, especially between supervisors and their graduate students, before research is undertaken.”