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Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health

Honours

Honours in SMAH

Studying Honours in the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health gives you the opportunity to further explore your passions and develop your scholarly and research skills.

Honours is designed to provide you with skills to demonstrate excellence in research with a clear understanding of a research question in relation to current knowledge. The degree program fosters the following abilities and skills:

  • plan, design and perform a research project
  • collect, analyse and evaluate data
  • synthesise results and integrate with relevant ideas and concepts
  • communicate findings
  • and put relevant principles into practice.

Completing an Honours degree enhances your career opportunities by demonstrating advanced research capability, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills highly valued across industries. Honours graduates are well-positioned for competitive roles in research, government, healthcare, and industry, and gain a strong foundation for further study, including Masters and PhD programs. An honours year also provides a valuable opportunity to build professional networks and work closely with leading academics in their field.

A young scientist in a lab coat operates equipment in a modern laboratory filled with glassware and scientific tools.

Honours in SMAH can be completed via two pathways.

Embedded Honours

A 4-year degree which incorporates the honours program in the fourth year of study. Students enrolled in an embedded honours degree will complete four years of study under one degree name and a single course enrolment. 

End-on Honours

This is a 1-Year honours degree which is undertaken after the student has successfully completed a three-year Bachelor degree at UOW or another institution. Students interested in End-on Honours need to submit an application to apply for the degree before they are eligible to enrol in to the course.

Browse courses by study area

Health

Medical Science

 

Nursing

Science

Applying for Honours

If you are a student enrolled in a 4-Year Embedded Honours degree, you will need to meet the minimum requirements as per the course handbook to proceed into your honours year. 

You will receive direct information in your 3rd year of studies about the next steps and instructions via your Honours Subject Coordinator or Academic Program Director. If you have not received direct information by October of your third year of studies, please contact the relevant Honours Coordinator with the Academic Program Contacts page.

Your honours year will run on a different session schedule to the first 3 years of your Bachelors degree. Refer to the non-standard session dates for your related honours year via UOW Key Dates. 

Applying to End-on Honours means that you are applying for a new degree of study.

When to apply - It is recommend that End-on Honours Applicants start the application process in the final year of their bachelor's degree after they have received their Autumn session results.

How to apply for End-on Honours

1. Find a suitable honours degree

2. Find a supervisor and develop a project

Think about the areas you are passionate about, and start considering options for your honours project. Find at least one SMAH Academic in this area who would be happy to supervise you. Together, you will be able to further develop your project and complete the next step. Not all Academics are able to take on honours students. Don’t be discouraged if you need to contact a few Academics before you find a potential supervisor. You can find a supervisor by;

3. Complete an Honours Project Proposal Form

Before submitting an application, every End-on Honours applicant (domestic and international) is required to complete a Project Proposal form in consultation with their supervisor(s).

Each End-on Honours Course has a unique Project Proposal form, ensure you download the current form as listed below;

4. Submit your Honours Project Proposal Form for Faculty Endorsement

Once section A & B of your Project Proposal form has been signed and completed in consultation with your Supervisor(s), please email the form as per the instructions in section C for review and endorsement by faculty delegates. 

Please note: Submission of a Project Proposal form does not guarantee entry into an Honours degree. Honours Project Proposal Forms are required to be reviewed and endorsed by Honours Subject Coordinators and Head of School before a student can submit a formal application. 

5. Submit an application  

Once you receive your endorsed Honours Project Proposal Form, with all required signatures, please submit a formal application via UOW Apply Online, and attach your endorsed Project Proposal in the supporting documents, along with any other required documents.

6. Await your outcome

If successful, you will receive an offer letter and be able to enrol into your new Honours Degree. 

The Next Steps:

    1. Once you have your Offer Letter, you can enrol into your new degree 
    2. Once enrolled in to your degree, all honours students need to be manually enrolling in to their Honours Subject. To do this, please submit a Subject Management Form. Make sure you select the correct subject instance that reflects your start date.
    3. Once your Subject Management Form has been processed, you will be able to view your subject enrolment via SOLS.
    4. All that is left to do from here is to attend orientation and start your honours!

Key dates

SMAH Honours programs are run across non-standard sessions.

Refer to UOW Key Dates and the non-standard session dates of your related honours year for your unique key dates such as course commencement, census date and fee dates and more.

All honours students are invited to an Honours Orientation Day at the commencement of their honours journey, keep an eye on your UOWMail for an email with your Orientation date and more information. 

View UOW Key Dates

Follow a passion and advance your career

UOW Nursing Lecturer Chris Patterson and PhD Candidate Taylor Yousiph talk about the benefits of undertaking the UOW Bachelor of Nursing (Honours) degree. Hear how the Honours program can help you drive evidence-based change and provide career advancement opportunities.

Chris Patterson: I think the Honours program is really worth considering. It really can set people up for their future career in nursing. It's a year full-time, two-years part time, and I think it's really worth thinking about if you have a particular area of interest you want to research.

Taylor Yousiph: I used to read papers and articles and not really understand them very well; during the Honours year though, and doing the systematic review just had a great opportunity to be able to learn how to synthesise that evidence, to read it, to understand it, and be able to even integrate that into practice.

Chris Patterson: After a number of years as a clinical practice nurse, a lot of nurses do look for those higher management or clinical consultant or education positions, and an Honours degree really is a solid foundation that boosts you into those positions and helps you drive change in an evidence-based way for the future.

Taylor Yousiph: The research skills that you develop in an Honours degree are skills that will set you up for a really privileged nursing career in the future. It's just such an amazing experience, so I would encourage anybody to do it. It's what I would end with.

Enquiries

If you have any questions, contact the relevant Honours Academic Program Director or Honours Subject Coordinator.

Academic Program Contacts