Your institutional account

Managing your student and researcher identities (and log-ins)

As a graduate researcher, you will manage two broad identities as both student and researcher.  Similarly, you have two ICT accounts that are necessary to access university systems: one to access student-oriented systems (and for official University correspondence relating to your enrolment), the other giving you access to staff-oriented systems that are useful as a researcher, including an online researcher profile and the graduate research examinations module.

Your student account

For many services related to your enrolment, you will need to read the emails sent to your student email address and log into systems with your student account. So, make sure you use your student account to:

• receive important email correspondence relating to your studies
• Check your candidature details and progress milestone dates in MyOverview
• access student platforms, such as PebblePad, AllocatePlus and LMS
• complete online forms relating to your candidature and progress (examination forms use your institutional account as they are managed through the PRIME researcher portal).
• access Student Online
  • you can use Student Online to do things like change your address, pay your SSAF fees, check your enrolment, view and print an unofficial transcript and collect your Statements of Account.
  • if you change your address, you must update your details using Student Online.

Your institutional account

You also have access to an institutional account and associated research profile. This gives you access to more tools, processes and information that are useful as a researcher but also necessary for you to complete your research degree.  It will also help you to craft your online professional image within the research community at La Trobe and beyond. If you are a La Trobe staff member, your institutional account is your staff account.

Your institutional account gives you access to:

• An academic profile to enhance your professional image within the wider research community.
• A professional La Trobe email address to communicate with your academic networks and industry partners.
• The La Trobe Intranet, which provides access to a range of platforms and tools that allow you to book rooms (Book La Trobe), store and publish your research data (OPAL), and many other resources.
• The PRIME Researcher Portal – La Trobe’s research management system which you will use for the administration of your graduate research thesis examination. You can use it to keep track of your examination status and submit forms relating to your examination.
• The PRIME Researcher Portal also brings together grants, research collaborations, research consulting, and ethics processes. It enables researchers to access funding opportunities, streamlines grant submission processes, collaborate with internal stakeholders, and to manage research funding.

If you are not also a La Trobe staff member, you will need to activate your institutional account by contacting Student IT Services.

Your access to an institutional account doesn’t change your employment status with La Trobe, so if you are not already a paid staff member, you won’t receive a staff card.

Switching between accounts

You can use incognito or private browsing in Chrome, Safari or Microsoft Edge to access different systems without needing to log off from your computer.

For more detailed instructions, see our guide on switching between your student and institutional logins [PDF 206KB].

When to use which account?

As a rule of thumb, if a system is primarily aimed at students, use your student account. If a system is primarily aimed at staff, use your institutional account.