Hi, silly question, and maybe I am paranoid.

How would you protect your intellectual property. I have developed some tools / questionnaires which my supervisor is quite keen to get, yet not sure for what use.

How could you assure that you are the owner? Via READ ONLY emails? Sending it to someone else first to assure it is clear that you have written it?

Again, may be a silly question. Any ideas?

Our uni sends all postgrads on a compulsory IP course (which was so dull that I zoned out, so can't remember too much). But my point is that your uni almost certainly has an IP advisor or even department: try making an appointment with them.

Your research journal/diary is what it predominantly comes down to.

And who funds you: even if it was your work, sometimes the funding body has the ownership.

Thanks Juno, RoqueAcademic,

this is useful, will keep this in mind.

Any other views or ideas?

Juno,

I am self funding, and everthing is very informal,

thus that I am a bit suspicous

There is a difference between the concept of 'ownership' and the idea of protecting your own IP. juno is correct that ownership may be determined by a number of professional circumstances. But generally speaking your IP is best protected by the content of your research diary. Applying for a patent is generally the next step if you have IP which may be commercially viable. I'm not a patent attorney or a lawyer though, so cannot go into it with much depth.

why it is informal for self-funded students? Shouldn't self-funded be treated 'formally'? It is your work and you should be aggressive for it, otherwise nobody really cares!

What is your definition of 'informal' in your circumstances? If an academic institution treats its research and its research students with informality, then it is negligent in its approach.

(That last post was directed to rick).

Well, by informal I mean that I am in the process of making a research protocol. As soon as this is considered to be OK it will "booked" as a formal study.

I am not to fussed about this, as I work and study aside of my normal job It is not the end of the world if things do not really work out. Obviously I not prepared to work for free and then having someone else using my research!

Didn't you have to sign an IP agreement before you started your PhD. It's quite common at most universities and institutes to sign an agreement which sadly relieves you of IP ownership. However in some institutions you will be entitled to a cut of any revenue made from your inventions.
But if you havent signed anything then maybe you will have ownership.

Yes, it is usually the case that when you sign up for registration as a Uni student, the 'small print' states that you assign your IP to the Uni.