Copyright is is a subset of intellectual property (IP). 

It is a legal concept that 'protects your work and stops others from using it without your permission' (Gov.uk, 2023). It protects the original work of the creator. The current law in the UK was passed in 1988: Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

A doctoral thesis qualifies as original work since one of the requirements to pass a thesis is to create original work. As your thesis contributes to the scholarly record, it is important to think about how you might want people to be able to reuse your work. 

Your thesis will be available for people to read on our repository (SURE) alongside that of previous students. This has been the case since 2016 when our first Open Access Mandate was issued. Our current Open Access Mandate states that 'Research Students are required to submit an e-copy of their thesis to SURE in order to graduate'. This requirement aligns with the University of Sunderland's support for Open Research Principle

You can see the theses that are currently on SURE. 

University of Sunderland research students own the intellectual property (IP) and hence the copyright of the work they produce while studying at the University as per our Intellectual Property policy.

There are some exceptions where the University might claim copyright. For instance, if the IP was created jointly with one or several members of staff, if the student is working on a staff-led project, where there are contracts with third parties and the IP might be owned or shared with the the third party, where the student is employed as a member of staff and their work relate to that employment. 

For most students, the IP on their thesis belongs to them. 

In line with our Open Access Mandate and our Open Research commitments, students grant a non-exclusive license to the university to add their thesis to SURE. 

When submitting your dissertation, you will fill in a Student Declaration Form.

This form asks you to select the license you want to apply to your thesis when it is added to our institutional repository: SURE.

In line with open research principles, we encourage students to consider applying a CC-BY license to their thesis. 

Before you choose a license, you need to consider whether you own the copyright to your thesis. You can refer to our IP policy. Have you worked closely with staff, or on a project they led, have you been working or funded by a third-party?

If you receive funding from a funding body, more and more of them support open licenses such as CC-BY. However, you will need to check their requirements. 

If you can choose your license, then you need to consider whether there are any ethical, legal or commercial reasons not to apply an open license. A Creative Commons license clarifies for users what they can do with your work once it is available without having to seek you out to ask for permission. They still have to acknowledge you as the author of the work if they make use of it.

If you have used third-party material, you will need to indicate clearly in your thesis whether these are all rights reserved. Applying a CC-BY or other open license to your work does not negate the copyright of the material you used in your thesis. However, you will need to obtain the relevant rights to reproduce third-party material in a work that will be available Open Access. It will also be important to clearly identify material that is under a different license in your work. 

The guide below can guide you in understand the different Creative Commons Licenses. You can refer to the Creative Commons Website and use their License chooser. 

Image Copyright by Nick Youngson Creative Commons Highway Sign Copyright Image CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images

Hezine Guide Copyright by Barabara Longo-Flint for the University of Sunderland Library (2024) CC-BY 4.0.