HDR Update

May 2018

In this issue

• Campus wide HDR training and development calendar
• Visualise Your Thesis!
• Roll of Honour

Welcome note

In recent days it feels as if summer has returned, but the trees are telling a different story and beginning their spectacular autumnal display. I hope, like me, you are finding time to take a stroll during this magical time of year. It’s also a busy time of year and one is spoilt for choice with events all over campus. I was lucky enough to be asked to open the Crawford PhD conference on 14 April. Not only was it a great venue – up on Mount Stromlo – but the program of events offered a holistic approach to candidate progress and wellbeing. There were opportunities to pitch research, network and plan for the future combined with Zumba, circus skills and an invitation to paint your PhD! Thanks to Augustus Panton, Tess McGirr and all the organisers for inviting me.

You might also like to know that as members of Australia’s Group of Eight universities we are partners in a survey project, Understanding PhD Career Pathways, that aims to understand the career paths of PhD graduates. These results which offer a longitudinal study of career destinations a period of years post-graduation, will allow universities to provide better advice to current PhD students and applicants on their career options, and scope support services such as career mentoring and professional skills development relevant to graduate needs.

The following opportunities may be of interest to a number of you. Firstly, for the Australian-French Entrepreneurship Challenge up to 70 PhD students will be invited to participate in teams in a 24-hour challenge to develop a concept for an innovative and profitable start-up. The successful team will head to France later in the year. ANU students have been members of both the successful teams in 2016 and 2017. Applications from PhD students are open until 7 May 2018. If you are interested, please contact Bhavani Balakishnan in the office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor Innovation & Advancement (or Peter Francis in my office). Applications for the 2019 Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships and Endeavour Mobility Grants rounds are expected to open in June 2018. The program provides opportunities for Australian postgraduate students, and postdoctoral researchers to undertake international research and professional development in an eligible country overseas. Potential applicants should read the Application Guidelines and the FAQs section of the Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships website. Applications for Forrest Foundation Post-doctoral fellowships opened on 19 March and close on 18 May 2018. The fellowships are open to outstanding candidates from any discipline and any nationality; they must have completed their PhD after 1 January 2016, or be expecting to submit and be examined by 31 December 2018. The fellowships offer a salary, accommodation and travel expenses package valued at over AU$115,000 per annum for three years.

Congratulations to Kate Macfarlane (Coral Bell School) who has been awarded the Fox International Fellowship for the 2018-19 academic year at Yale University. As a Fox Fellow, Kate will receive round-trip travel, accommodation, health insurance and a US $1,400 per-month stipend (total of $14,000) to cover expenses. Finally congratulations to all those who have successfully completed your HDR degrees and good luck with next great adventure.

Professor Imelda Whelehan

Dean, Higher Degree Research

Upcoming programs

May

June

Showcase

Visualise Your Thesis challenges graduate researchers to present their research in a 60 second, eye-catching digital display, using a pre-supplied template. The competition (created by the University of Melbourne) launches late this month with workshops with the Thesis Whisperer on 30 May 2018, before the ANU Visualise Your Thesis competition Final, at Student Research Conference on 20 July 2018.
Big thanks to Bethany Ellis, PARSA HDR Officer, for the generous use of her image.

Opportunities

Academic Skills & Learning Centre
Want to learn more about writing up your research for publication or thesis submission? Take a look at the Academic Skills and Learning Centre Research Writing website.

Statistical Consulting Unit (SCU) is located in the John Dedman Building (27). The four academic statisticians here can give you free stats advice for your PhD, Masterate or Honours project. We also provide stats support and collaboration for academic staff. If you would like to make an appointment, go to our website for more information. One of the statisticians will then contact you to organise a suitable time. If you are a postgrad, for your first appointment it is good to come with your supervisor. Useful to you too if you can see one of us at the start of your project for stats design advice, rather than waiting until after you have collected your data.

ANU Library

Need support with EndNote? Writing a paper for publication? Book a one-to-one consultation with a Library staff member for assistance with advanced EndNote troubleshooting and formatting. Our Research data management workshop will teach you essential skills for organising and managing research data. Techniques such as: backups, version control, security, privacy, and sharing (archiving, publishing) of data. Issues relating to data are explained and various methods for solving problems with software tools and ANU services are discussed. A variety of research and digital literacy training is available – register via the ANU Library online training calendar.

News & links

Academic Skills & Learning Centre

Need some advice on writing up your research? Wants some ideas on how to work more efficiently? Through one-to-one appointments a Learning Adviser can work closely with you to develop and improve your writing and writing habits. There are also extensive web resources on the Research Writing website. Additionally, ASLC is currently running writing programs in most of Colleges. Links are provided in the events list above and personal invitations have been sent to candidates with registration passwords included. For more information, contact academicskills@anu.edu.au. If your College or School does not currently have a program – contact ASLC to discuss tailoring a program for you. General workshops for all candidates can be found on their Eventbrite page.

ANU Online Wattle, Turnitin & Echo360 training

ANU Online provides training on Wattle (Moodle), Turnitin, Echo360, and using technology for teaching and learning. We offer: face-to-face sessions, self-paced online training on Wattle Basics, Turnitin, ePortfolio, or Echo360 ALP, monthly online coffee courses - where we discuss topical educational technologies in 15 minutes, or you can join the conversation about education technology with our ANU Online Community.

For more information on Wattle or training, contact us at wattle.support@anu.edu.au or for training please contact EdDesign@anu.edu.au. You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter, with news, events and tips, and view the latest version here.

ANU Qualitative Research Network

QRN Forum: Qualitative research at the margins: case studies of innovative methods

Centre for Higher Education, Learning &Teaching

Are you a PhD student who has tutored at ANU? Learn about new ideas and practices. Are you interested in gaining new skills to improve your effectiveness as a tutor/demonstrator? Principles of Tutoring and Demonstrating (PTD) is an intensive 10 module program, designed to help you develop teaching strategies, apply effective lesson planning principles, offer practical help with marking and examples of how to give feedback to your students. This program is offered during O Week to PhD students who have some tutoring experience. Another PTD program is scheduled for semester 2 and is more practical for those participants new to tutoring. Dates for the ‘new to tutoring’ program released in mid-June. Registrations essential at https://services.anu.edu.au/training/principles-of-tutoring-and-demonstrating

Counselling Centre

Group Programs and Workshops for Semester One

Ethics training

Twice monthly Human Ethics Training sessions

HDR Administration Support Project

The University is committed to identifying improvements for administration and support functions that affect the HDR student experience. Under the direction of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) the ANU Service Improvement Group has a project in progress aiming to identify effective ways of delivering significantly improved HDR Administrative Support outcomes. 

To read the most recent news from the project, click through to the update. For more information on the HDR Administrative Support Project please visit the web site or contact the Project Managers: Kailee Fisher (PM for the Admissions component) and Megan Easton (PM for the broader body of HDR work).

Library

New to ANU? The Library can help get you oriented through branch tours or information sessions. A full schedule is available on the Library website.

Take the free shuttle to the NLA. A free hourly shuttle is now available from Hancock to the National Library of Australia. The ANU Campus Traveller bus departs hourly from 10am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. Look for the yellow and blue bus at the entrance to Biology Place, the road next to Hancock Library.

Book a research consultation. Subject contacts are available for personalised, one-to-one research consultations. Book in now and get the subject specific advice you're after.

Statistical Consulting Centre

Appointments for statistical consulting

Postgraduate & Research Students' Association (PARSA)

PARSA Shut Up and Write days, nights, and coffee sessions are run each week! Register for day or nights, or just rock up for the coffee sessions. Information on timings here.

Check out the PARSA website for the PARSA Survival Guide and more

From the Thesis Whisperer

Roll of Honour

Warm congratulations to these following students who have been recently approved to graduate from their PhD or MPhil. Well done all!

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