0

During my PhD I had the opportunity to collaborate with people with many different affiliations.

Now that I am ending my Thesis I would like to read sum hint on how to compactly mention them, their affiliations, and possibly the logos of their affiliations.

I say possibly because I don't know whether I can do that legally speaking.

1 Answers1

1

At almost any university, your thesis will include an "author declaration" stating that the thesis is your original work, and that you have clearly stated the contribution of others to your thesis. (I have included the relevant parts of that declaration from my university below this answer.)

Subject to those conditions, in theory, you can state how others helped you in any way you like! In practice, your thesis examiners will expect your thesis to follow the usual pattern of theses they have examined before. If you read previous theses from your university, you will probably find that:

  1. Collaborators who have worked on material throughout the whole thesis are thanked in an initial Acknowledgements chapter;
  2. Collaborators who have worked on material for one specific chapter are thanked in an Acknowledgements section at the end of that particular chapter.

The thanks can include affiliations (for example, "I am deeply grateful to Professor Frodo Baggins of Shire University for his experimental assistance in observing the melting conditions of cursed golden tori"). That will usually be enough. Logos often will not be included in the thesis. (Having said that, collaborator logos are often included in the slides for oral presentations).

Remember, the thesis is your work, as your declaration of originality will state. You should be proud of it as your work, and your collaborators would not want to overshadow that achievement.


At my university, any thesis will reproduce the "declaration by author" which includes these statements:

This thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference has been made in the text. I have clearly stated the contribution by others to jointly-authored works that I have included in my thesis.

I have clearly stated the contribution of others to my thesis as a whole ... The content of my thesis is the result of work I have carried out since the commencement of my higher degree by research candidature ...

Shern Ren Tee
  • 3,059
  • 7
  • 20