Welcome to AUT! If you’re a new PG research student in FHES, CSOC, TAP, BEL, or DCT, you might like to get to know us in the GRS, meet your HoS and ADP, join AUTSA, and get started on your EA1 for AUTEC.
Or, you might spend your first month just getting to grips with all the acronyms! Universities love TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) and the wider research context is full of ’em too.
If you are new to research and/or new to AUT, read on. This glossary is designed to help demystify the ‘insider’ language of academic research. Each entry is marked to identify whether it is AUT-specific, or whether it applies throughout NZ or internationally.
You can bookmark this page for those moments when you’re mystified by a seemingly random collection of letters. And if you find an acronym that’s not listed here, please let us know in the comments!
| Term | Meaning | AUT | NZ | Int’l |
| ADP | Associate Dean Postgraduate. This person (one in each faculty, generally) is responsible for leading PG programmes and research in the faculty. Find out who the ADP is for your faculty here. | ✓ | ||
| ADR | Associate Dean Research. This person (one in each faculty, generally) is responsible for guiding research strategy in the faculty. Find out who the ADR is for your faculty here. | ✓ | ||
| APA | American Psychological Association. This acronym is generally used to refer to the APA style citation system established by the Association, which is widely used across many disciplines, especially social sciences, business, education, and some health fields. | ✓ | ||
| AUT | Auckland University of Technology. | ✓ | ||
| AUTEC | AUT Ethics Committee. The group responsible for assessing research ethics applications. The associated AUTEC Secretariat also provides services including advice and education on research ethics. See also: EA1. | ✓ | ||
| AUTSA | AUT Students Association. They represent all AUT students, and they have a position for a Postgraduate Affairs Rep on their Council. | ✓ | ||
| BEL (or FBEL) | AUT’s Faculty of Business, Economics and Law. | ✓ | ||
| CfP | Call for Papers (or Proposals). A common way for conferences and journals to invite academics to contribute their work. | ✓ | ||
| CSOC | AUT’s Faculty of Culture and Society. | ✓ | ||
| DCT | AUT’s Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies. | ✓ | ||
| DHSc | Doctor of Health Science – a type of professional doctorate designed for those with experience in the health-related roles. | ✓ | ||
| DVCA | Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic. A common (but not universal) term for the senior leader responsible for the university’s teaching & learning. AUT’s DVCA is Prof. Wendy Lawson. | ✓ | ||
| DVCR | Deputy Vice Chancellor Research. A common (but not universal) term for the senior leader responsible for the university’s research (including postgraduate research). AUT’s DVCR is Prof. Mark Orams. | ✓ | ||
| EA1 | The application form for ethical approval for (most) AUT research. See also: AUTEC and HDEC. | ✓ | ||
| ECR (or ECA) | Early Career Researcher. Also sometimes expressed as ECA, with the A standing for Academic. This is a researcher in the first few years of their academic career. Sometimes PhD students are considered to be ECRs; though definitions are not consistent. | ✓ | ||
| EdD | Doctor of Education – a type of professional doctorate designed for those with experience in education roles. | ✓ | ||
| EoI | Expression of Interest. This is a preliminary step in many types of complex processes. Used for applications to doctoral programmes, for large funding applications, and so on. | ✓ | ||
| FHES | AUT’s Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences. | ✓ | ||
| GRS | Graduate Research School. The part of AUT responsible for postgraduate research, including: enrolment, progression, research skills development, examinations, and graduation. | ✓ | ||
| GTA | Graduate Teaching Assistant – see TA for details. | ✓ | ||
| HDEC | Health and Disability Ethics Committees. While most AUT ethics applications go through AUTEC, some go through HDEC in specific circumstances. | ✓ | ||
| HDR | Higher Degree by Research programmes – typically doctoral or Masters programmes that are awarded primarily for research, as opposed to coursework. Not commonly used in NZ, but prominent in Australia and elsewhere. | ✓ | ||
| HoS (or HoD) | Head of School (or Department). The academic in charge of a particular school or department within a faculty. | ✓ | ||
| HRC | Health Research Council. A major research funder for NZ health research. Subject to change as NZ moves toward a single research funding body (see also: RFNZ). | ✓ | ||
| IP | Intellectual Property – i.e. the valuable output produced by researchers. IP created through research is often held by researchers, though this may be shared with others, e.g. the university, collaborators, and/or funders. At the time of writing (February 2026), government policy shifts are changing research IP ownership. | ✓ | ||
| LTED | Learning Teaching and Educational Design. This AUT office supports teaching staff with pedagogy, curriculum design, digital learning, assessment, and issues around AI in teaching and learning. | ✓ | ||
| MBIE | Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment. The government ministry responsible for many matters related to research, including funding (see also: RFNZ). | ✓ | ||
| MLA | Modern Language Association. This acronym is generally used to refer to the citation system established by the Association, which is widely used in the arts and humanities. | ✓ | ||
| ORCID | Open Researcher and Contributor ID. These are stable identifying numbers attached to individual researchers (including postgraduate students) so that you can move institutions and/or change your name without losing credit for your research record. | ✓ | ||
| PBRF | [Outdated]. Performance Based Research Fund. Now replaced with the TREF (Tertiary Research Excellence Fund); however the PBRF acronym lives on as it relates to residual funding streams. | ✓ | ||
| PG | Short for postgraduate, and used to reference postgraduate students, study, or courses. PG study is completed after an undergraduate degree, and may include research and/or coursework. (Often called “graduate” internationally.) | ✓ | ||
| PGR# | [Outdated]. Most AUT forms for postgraduate research used to be coded PGR and then a number. They’re not anymore, but sometimes you’ll still hear “PGR#” as a shorthand for the stages in a degree (e.g. “she’s doing her PGR9” would mean that a doctoral student was completing her confirmation of candidature). | ✓ | ||
| PhD | Doctor of Philosophy, from the Latin Doctor Philosophiae. Sometimes called a DPhil internationally. This is a type of “doctorate” or “doctoral degree,” however is not synonymous with those terms as they also include professional doctorates such as the DHSc (Doctor of Health Science) and EdD (Doctor of Education). | ✓ | ||
| PI | Principal Investigator. This is the lead on a major research project. It is typically someone with significant experience, and they will often lead a wider research team. | ✓ | ||
| PTF | Professional Teaching Fellow. This is a particular type of contract for tertiary-level teaching work. It is typically more senior than a TA position. Unlike many lecturing positions, it usually doesn’t include an expectation to do research. | ✓ | ||
| RA | Research Assistant. Someone (often a PG student or recent graduate) employed to work on a research project. | ✓ | ||
| RCAB | Research Committee of Academic Board. This is the group that guides research strategy and policy at AUT. It is chaired by the DVCR and faculties are represented by their ADRs. | ✓ | ||
| RFNZ | Research Funding New Zealand. A new independent board under the auspices of MBIE that will make decisions on how and where to disseminate research funding. At the time of writing (February 2026) this is still in a transition phase. | ✓ | ||
| SAG | Student Advisory Group. This group of postgraduate students and decision-makers meets regularly to ensure that students have input into postgraduate matters. | ✓ | ||
| SLT | Senior Leadership Team. Often used to refer to the leadership of a school, faculty, or university. | ✓ | ||
| STEM (or STEAM) | Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics. A quick way to refer to science-based disciplines, as opposed to humanities and arts subjects. Sometimes expressed as STEAM where it is intended to include arts. | ✓ | ||
| TA | Teaching Assistant. TAs are usually postgraduate students, employed to teach tutorials and mark students’ work for undergraduate courses. Sometimes expressed as GTA, for ‘Graduate Teaching Assistant’. | ✓ | ||
| TAP | Te Ara Poutama (AUT’s Faculty of Māori & Indigenous Development). | ✓ | ||
| TEC | Tertiary Education Commission. The government body responsible for university-level education in NZ. | ✓ | ||
| TES | Tertiary Education Strategy. A nationwide strategy aligning tertiary education with New Zealand’s future skills and innovation needs. | ✓ | ||
| TKPR | Te Kahui Poipoi Rangahau – AUT’s research office. They can advise on research funding, policies, contracting, and partnerships. They work mainly with academic staff. | ✓ | ||
| TREF | Tertiary Research Excellence Fund. This funding stream replaces the Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF). At the time of writing (February 2026) this fund has been announced, but details on how it will work are still emerging. | ✓ | ||
| UG | Undergraduate; as distinct from PG (postgraduate). | ✓ | ||
| UNZ | Universities New Zealand. This sector group brings together the senior management teams of all eight NZ universities. | ✓ | ||
| UPRB | University Postgraduate Research Board. These are the people who make high-level decisions about postgraduate study at AUT. Membership includes the ADPs and the Dean of the GRS (see above). | ✓ | ||
| VC | Vice Chancellor. Every university has one, and they are responsible for setting the overall strategy and direction for the university. AUT’s Vice Chancellor is Prof. Damon Salesa. (Tip: Despite the word “vice,” VCs are the people who lead universities on a day-to-day basis. Chancellors are also in place – AUT’s is Rob Campbell – and their role is to Chair the University Council.) | ✓ |
