Acknowledgements in an industry-sponsored dissertation

Question

I am a doing a dissertation funded by a company and my dissertation is basically a report of my progress on the problem they have given me. I have an academic supervisor, an industry contact who has given me occasional guidance and basically the company itself who sponsored it, to acknowledge.

• Should I acknowledge the industrial sponsorship the same way one would acknowledge a government grant?

• Also, Since this is a mathematics dissertation, It is written in First person plural: "We do this we do that". For the acknowledgements section, should I use 3rd person to keep it formal: "The author would like to..." or first person singular: "I would like to thank"

• Finally, I think the order should be sponsorship, academic adviser, and lastly the industry contact. Is that the right order?

Answer 1

I can speak from a similar experience. Many moons ago, when I was completing my Honours research (yes, this was and still is considered postgraduate), I was sponsored by a company (mining and economic geology). With the acknowledgements, I was told to give my thanks in the order:

• Academic and industrial supervisors by name and affiliation. These are your first points of contact and did the most of work with you.

• The company for the sponsorship.

• Then friends, family and/or pets.

This is not an opinion, but experience.

But, having said that, I would strongly recommend that you ask both advisors what is expected as @seteropere suggests.

Answer 2

I would say generally there are no perfect settings for acknowledgements. It all depends to your university dissertation rules. If the thesis/dissertation booklet does not cover the way acknowledgement should be stated then its up to you.