Intellectual Property (IP) – Learner Guide

1. You Own Your Work

As a learner:

You retain full ownership of anything you create during your studies.

This includes:

• Your thesis

• Any startup or business idea

• Projects, models, dashboards, or designs

2. What You Can Do With Your Work

You are free to:

• Start a business from your idea

• Use your work professionally

• Publish your thesis or projects

• Build a portfolio

👉 Your work is yours to develop beyond the program.

3. Your Thesis

• You own your thesis

• The university may:

  • Assess it

  • Store it internally

  • Use anonymised excerpts for academic purposes

Publishing your thesis

You can publish your thesis (e.g. online or in journals), as long as:

• Confidential or sensitive information is removed

• Ethical and data guidelines are followed

👉 If your thesis includes business ideas or sensitive data:

• You can create a public version and a confidential version

4. Sharing Your Work Publicly

You are encouraged to showcase your work.

You can:

• Share projects in your portfolio

• Publish code, dashboards, or designs

• Open-source your work

❗ Do not share:

• Confidential company or partner data

• Identifiable participant data

• Third-party content without permission

5. Working With Others

Group projects

• IP is shared among contributors

With supervisors

• Supervisors do not own your work

• They may be acknowledged or credited if relevant

👉 Tip: Agree early on ownership when collaborating.

6. Working With Companies or External Partners

If your project involves:

• A company

• A research partner

• A funded initiative

👉 There may be a separate agreement that affects:

• Ownership

• Confidentiality

• What you can share

✔ Always clarify this before starting your project

7. Does the University Own My Work?

👉 No.

Using:

• Courses

• Supervision

• University resources

does not transfer ownership.

8. Can the University Use My Work?

The university may:

• Use your work internally (assessment, accreditation)

• Showcase anonymised, non-sensitive examples

👉 For any public use (e.g. website, marketing):

The university will request your explicit consent

9. IP vs Data (Important)

• IP = what you create → you own it

• Data = what you use → you may not own it

Example:

• You own your model or analysis

• But not necessarily the dataset used

10. Ethical and Data Responsibilities

If your work involves people or sensitive data:

• You must follow ethical and data protection guidelines

• You must anonymise data where required

👉 See: Data Ethics, Anonymisation, and Publication Guidelines

11. Good Practices

✔ Clarify ownership early (especially in teams)
✔ Avoid using restricted or confidential data
✔ Protect sensitive information
✔ Ask your supervisor if unsure

12. Key Takeaways

• You own your ideas and work

• You can publish and commercialise them

• Be careful with:

  • Confidential data

  • External partners

  • Shared ownership

👉 When in doubt: ask early, not later