Research Education at UniSA A great leap forward

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Research Education at UniSA(A great leap forward)

• Professor Nanthi Bolan
• Dean (Acting) of Graduate Studies
• Orientation 2008

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Welcome

• You are not alone
• The Support Chain
• Supervisor the Epicentre
• Beyond Supervisor
• Research and research education at UniSA
• Support and resources at UniSA
• Quality Assurance Processes

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You are not alone!
Feb 2008 900 enrolled HDR students 840 doctoral
60 masters by research
The myth busters
You are part of the PG Family
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The Support Chain
STUDENT
SUPERVISOR
DVC-RI
RESA
OGRS
RDC
DEAN-DIVISION
DEAN - GS
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Supervisor-Student Symbiosis - S3 a two way
working relationship
Supervisor The Epicentre of Research
supervision
Supervisor
Inform
Impact
Feed back
Student
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Beyond Supervisor

• Networking e.g. attending conferences/worksho
  p in your subject area, PG Colloquium
• Informal learning e.g. attending RESA/GRS
  workshops
• Research culture e.g. Participating in
  divisional research activities (research day)

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Research and Research Education at UniSA

• A focus on strategic and applied research in
  multidisciplinary teams (consistent with national
  research education agenda)
• 6 Research Institutes
• 11 Research Centres
• 23 Research Groups
• Won over 100m in research funding since 2000

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Research Training Scheme

• Research Training Scheme (RTS) focus is on
• Timely completions
• Reduction of attrition
• How UniSA makes RTS work for us by providing a
  research environment that nurtures excellence in
  scholarship, innovation and social responsibility
• Support and resources
• Quality assurance processes (Planning, reporting
  and reviewing progress)

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Support and resources

• Research Education Support Activities (RESA)
• Home pages and grad pad
• Research Degrees website
• Your email account
• Whats new Newsletter
• (Dianne Bills, Jayne Taylor and Nanthi Bolan)

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Quality Assurance Processes (Planning, reviewing
and reporting progress)

• Statement of agreement
• Confirmation of candidature
• High quality Research proposals
• Formal progress reviews
• Research Degree Graduate Qualities (RDGQ)
• PORTIA on line candidacy management system
• (Jayne Taylor)

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Research can be tough but you and your
supervisor can make it fun and rewarding
PhD student collecting urine for her GHG emission
experiments
Collecting urine from Holy Cow is tough so
Jagrati came up with a novel idea
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She trained the cows when to urinate
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Supervisor the brain behind
It's a fine sunny day in Mawson Lakes, and a
rabbit is sitting outside his burrow,
tippy-tapping on his laptop. Along comes a fox,
out for a walk. Fox "What are you working on?"
Rabbit "My thesis. Fox "Hmm. What is it
about? Rabbit "Oh, I'm writing about how
rabbits eat foxes. Fox "That's ridiculous! Any
fool knows that rabbits don't eat foxes! Rabbit
"Come with me and I'll show you! They both
disappear into the rabbit's burrow. After a few
minutes, gnawing on a fox bone, the rabbit
returns to hit his thesis and resumes typing.
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Soon a wolf comes along and stops to watch the
hardworking rabbit. Wolf " What's that you are
writing?" Rabbit " I'm doing a thesis on how
rabbits eat wolves. Wolf " You don't expect to
get such rubbish published, do you? Rabbit "
No problem. Do you want to see why? The rabbit
and the wolf go into the burrow, and again the
rabbit returns by himself after a few minutes,
and goes back to typing. Finally a bear comes
along and asks, "What are you doing? Rabbit "
I'm doing a thesis on how rabbits eat bears."
Bear "Well that's absurd! Rabbit "Come into
my home and I'll show you" As they enter the
burrow, the rabbit introduces the bear to his
supervisor - the lion.
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THANKS
IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW SILLY YOUR THESIS TOPIC IS.
WHAT MATTERS IS WHO YOU HAVE FOR A SUPERVISOR