Industry Research Project Legal Requirements

To enrol in an industry subject, a series of requirements must be met.

Legal paperwork for industry subjects

The following procedure is undertaken before you undertake an industry subject:

  1. The Subject Coordinator uses information from the application form (R1) to generate a Standard Letter of Agreement and communicates directly with the Industry Partner to obtain their authorisation;
  2. The Subject Coordinator sends a copy of the finalised Letter of Agreement and Deed of Assignment to the student;
  3. The Student completes and signs the Deed of Assignment and emails a copy to the Subject Coordinator;
  4. The Subject Coordinator authorises the student enrolment into the subject

The purpose of a Letter of Agreement is set out the legal arrangements relating to the project, including Intellectual Property as well as health and safety responsibilities for the student undertaking the research project.  The Letter of Agreement must be signed by the Industry Partner and the University.

The Deed of Assignment is required as the student is not a party to the Letter of Agreement between the University and the Industry Partner discussed above. Accordingly, in order to give effect to the Letter of Agreement, the student is required to sign the Deed of Assignment in favour of the University. The Deed serves three main purposes:

  1. Assigns the rights to your Project Intellectual property (apart from your Assessment Materials) to the University, in order that the University can uphold the Letter of Agreement which provides that the Industry Partner will own Project Intellectual property, apart from your assessment materials
  2. Provides a license to the University to your Assessment Materials which is sub-licensable to the Industry Partner for its internal business purpose.
  3. Records your agreement to keep confidential any of the University’s or the Industry Partner’s confidential information