industry Archives - Research Education and Development

How to build strong foundations with industry and public sector partners (Chris Maylea)

meagantyler — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Photo by Avel Chuklannov | unsplash.com

For any research that hopes to change the world, in whatever way, good relationships with industry and government are essential to all parts of the process.

They’re crucial from the beginning of the process (when you’re defining the research questions and scope) right to the end (when the findings are being implemented). This is particularly important for research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, or other people and communities who have been discriminated against. For research requiring ethical approval, ethics committees are increasingly requiring evidence of engagement with end-users or relevant organisations. At the recruitment or product testing stage, finding potential research participants often requires industry assistance.

How can researchers form these relationships with industry and government?

The answer to this question will vary for each researcher and each research project, but two keys to success are genuinely shared values and genuine reciprocation. Industry and government stakeholders will respond positively if they see that researchers are trying to do good work, not just progress their careers. This means that researchers should not view relationships with industry and government as important for their own research (although they are!) but should see themselves as part of a bigger movement towards social change, better systems, better products or whatever else researchers are hoping to achieve.

For me, this has meant many hours of volunteer work with multiple organisations, including in direct practice as a pro bono lawyer and in governance as a committee or board member. I do this not because it looks good on my CV (although it does!) but because it is important work that needs doing. Almost as an afterthought, these relationships make my research – my day job – more meaningful and productive.

When I needed help with recruiting participants for a funded study during the pandemic, I was able to rely on the generosity of direct service organisations who distributed materials or even picked up and drove participants to the interview location. Conversely, when organisations I work with need an academic ‘talking head’ for a media story or a panel, they’ll sometimes call me because they know I am aligned with their values. I do training and professional development that’s sometimes free, sometimes paid, depending on the organisation.

The same goes for government: if I need support to access data held by government, I have contacts I can call on for support and, if they need advice or someone to sit on an advisory board, I’ll sometimes get called on to do that. All of these connections build my networks with other decision-makers, researchers, and service users. It isn’t so much that any one thing is valuable but, together, all these links create the foundation on which good research is built.

Eventually, these links become deep, beyond just one person in the organisation or department, and collaborations align with the strategic planning and purpose of the organisation. Eventually, we may have discussions about jointly applying for funding, supporting research funded by others, or funding my projects directly. I never start with these discussions but I make myself available for them when the time comes. When we have those conversations, I’m still thinking about what value I can offer the organisation, rather than what I want from them. Reciprocity is key. Whenever possible, I do research that originates as a priority from within an organisation or community group, rather than taking my ideas to them. This means that when my work is published it aligns with what the sector is focused on, and more likely to have an impact.

One example of this is the work I did with the Mental Health Legal Centre (MHLC). I started volunteering with the MHLC in 2014, providing legal advice on the evening phone legal help hotline. I did an unfunded research project with them in 2017, which they identified as a priority area. This resulted in a publication that was cited in a Productivity Commission report that adopted our paper’s recommendations. Later that year, the MHLC raised the issue of women’s safety in mental health inpatient units as systemic advocacy priority. With a colleague, we applied for funding from ANROWS, and were successful in a Category 1 grant, with a report published in 2020. Even without these tangible outcomes, working with the MHLC has given me insights into my research area that I would never have had otherwise.

For researchers who are yet to develop these links, it can be a challenge to work out how to get started. My advice is to find organisations and movements that align with your values and see what you can offer them before you ask for anything back. Like anything in academia, this might take years to come to fruition and many links, relationships and partnerships will never lead to funding.

I haven’t always done these things the right way. In the best case, the organisation has just politely told me that they’re not interested. In the worst case, they’ve said yes to my request for research partnership but haven’t meant it, and the project has stalled because I didn’t actually have the support of the organisation. In every case, this has been a result of not building the foundations required for genuine research partnerships.

Even in these cases, where it can be difficult to see tangible outcomes, learning from working with industry and public sector has improved me as a researcher and a human, so it is never wasted.

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Associate Professor Chris Maylea is a social worker, lawyer, and Associate Professor of law at La Trobe University. He has practice experience in mental health services as a social worker and manager, provides advice to government and policy reform bodies and appears before the Victorian Mental Health Tribunal as a legal representative.

Chris’ work sits at the intersections of health, welfare and the law, and is underpinned by human rights and social justice. He is the author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications and commissioned reports, and is the author of ‘Social work and the Law: a guide for ethical practice’.

Chris tweets from @chrismaylea.

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On the value of research partnerships (An interview with Maria Platt)

meagantyler — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 14:52:00 +0000

In this week’s RED Alert, we interview La Trobe alumna Dr Maria Platt, who started working in the GRS as a Senior Project Coordinator in 2018. Maria shares her research background and offers some great advice to graduate researchers on engaging with industry.

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Photo by Alfons Taekema on Unsplash

Can you tell us about your research journey and your career trajectory?

I have always had a thirst for knowledge, even as a kid. In my undergraduate degree in Public Health I realised that there was this thing called ‘research’ and you could find out lots of interesting stuff, and you got to read articles! That was the bit that I really found quite exhilarating. When it came to knowledge, I really enjoyed the chase. Then I did my honours, and that took me in more of an anthropological direction, looking at the lived experiences of women with Hepatitis C. After this, I took some time out and started doing some research jobs. During this time I realised that I needed to do a PhD in order to advance in my research career further.

I undertook my PhD at La Trobe in the Australian Research Centre for Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS). Initially, my research was going to be focused on HIV prevention programs in Indonesia, but then it morphed into looking more at how women negotiated their way in and out of marriage without any formal level recognition of their martial status. So really, I was on an exploratory journey without a grand plan!

Toward the end of my PhD I was lucky enough to get a Postdoc at the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore, where I focused on extending my doctoral research, and branched out into looking at gendered labour migration in the Southeast Asian context. I was never really entirely sure if I wanted to ‘be a researcher’ or do academic work forever. I set myself a 5 year timeline to work that out. Once I achieved my goal of writing my book Marriage, Gender and Islam in Indonesia: Women Negotiating Informal Marriage, Divorce and Desire, I decided to move more into the research partnerships area, which is where I have worked at La Trobe since 2018.

What is the part of your PhD that you enjoyed the most?

It is such a long project, so it is hard to pinpoint. I can say I never really got sick of my topic! Perhaps the best moment was when I submitted my PhD and I drove down to the beach with music by The National playing loudly and me singing away!

What do you do here at La Trobe?

At the GRS I manage the establishment of industry and international partnerships, which includes setting up partnerships with international universities, and working with external partners to make things like mentoring, internships and industry PhDs happen. I am the point of contact for any student enquiries about mentoring, internships and industry PhDs.

What skills and experiences do you bring with you that you developed during your PhD and post-doc experience?

I developed an appreciation of the complexities that underlie any type of partnership, and how these have to be managed carefully so that all partners get what they require. During my PhD and research career I also learned project management skills, how to manage some big budgets, how to organise conferences and events. These experiences have all been invaluable.

Do you have any advice to offer to researchers on engaging with industry, government and the community sector?

I think partnerships with these sectors can be really beneficial in bringing together what is done really well at universities and embedding these in a different context where those ways of working might be valuable. Its also a two way thing, it can help both parties understand how things work on the other side. To students I would say: be upfront about what your expectations are and what you can and can’t do within a particular partnership. Sometimes it is better not to do something if it won’t be the best fit for both parties, rather than trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

Maria, you co-coordinate the mentoring program for graduate researcher, have you ever had a pivotal mentor who has helped shape your career? Was there any advice they offered that still sits with you now?

Ultimately, my PhD supervisor became a good mentor both during my PhD and the years that have followed. She has been a really good sounding board, and sometimes those conversations have worked to help me do something different than what she has advised me to do! Sometimes the course of action is different from what your trusted mentor has advised – its having the conversation that matters. I remember that one of the overarching things that my mentor taught me was to be authentic and to do research with integrity. It’s not just about collecting the data or meeting the targets. She taught me to follow my conscience, especially when doing fieldwork. That’s a message that still sits with me today.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Doing a PhD can be a great launchpad for lots of different career options – from working academia or as an analyst or something totally left field. I think the skill-sets you learn from managing a project, setting a goal and seeing it through are invaluable in so many ways.

Dr Maria Platt is a Senior Coordinator at the Graduate Research School. She graduated with a PhD from La Trobe University in 2011. Her work has been published in a number of journals including Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology; The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology (TAPJA) and Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific.

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An insider’s view of pitching a project in a competition (Ismael Maclennan)

meagantyler — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 12:30:00 +0000

AMP pitch night participants, image courtesy of AMP Amplify

It was just another day for me, like many of the other days that passed before and perhaps no different from the days that were about to come.

Every day that comes and goes brings you closer to the end of your PhD journey, and during those final days you realise that you devote most of your time to perform one task: writing and writing and writing…

This day, however, was special.

Apart from receiving my usual weekly dose of spam calls, I noticed that someone had left a voicemail.

I was very excited to hear that my application for the AMP Amplify Ignite PhD competition was successful, and I was shortlisted for a phone interview with Jessica Chalker, the event organiser.

The application process was done online and required me to answer briefly a few questions about myself and how my project would fit in with the ‘edge of possible’ theme of the competition without using very technical language. Following a phone interview, I was selected as a finalist, together with another 19 PhD students from around Australia.

This outcome added some colour to my recently colourless daily routine. Although the goal of my PhD is to make stem cell lines from the highly endangered Tasmanian devil for conservation purposes, I am always interested in the ‘big picture’ side of things. We are living in a fast-paced world where innovation and disruption are leading the way to new technologies and knowledge.

When I learned about the concept of transmissible cancers, I was fascinated. Could this be the missing piece of the puzzle to understand cancer itself? I felt like nature is giving us clues but nobody really pays attention to them. So, this event was the perfect opportunity for me to showcase my PhD work and hopefully raise some interest from industry.

What to expect

The Amplify Ignite program exceeded my expectations. Most of the people involved, including guest speakers, mentors and coaches, were from the marketing, branding and advertising industry.

Even though the program runs for three full days (two days training in May plus the pitch night in June), you can expect to be busy in between! For example, I spent many days – and some sleepless night as well! – thinking about the pitch, deciding on how to present it, and putting all the pieces together.

Before flying back to Sydney for the PhD Night Grand Final, I met with my supervisor Dr Adam Hart and Dr Katherine Firth (RED Unit). They provided me with valuable feedback and eventually motivated me to re-focus the direction and title of my pitch. Inspired by Adam Scott’s FreeState talk, I put everything I had into the competition as I assembled a ‘detectivesque-noir’ performance that I called ‘Hunting down a serial killer’. The pitch relied on the use of audiovisuals, lighting, and an immersive script that had to be delivered in only 150 seconds. I really wanted to make a compelling and cohesive story and to do that I had to run the extra mile, explore my creative side, and become familiar with video editing software such Adobe Premiere and After Effects.

What I learned

The Amplify Ignite PhD Night Grand Final was held at the Basement in Sydney. It was initially scheduled for 6pm but all Ignite finalists had to be there in the morning for rehearsals. I was very excited with the coach’s feedback comparing my presentation to a ‘choreography’. The Basement had Star Wars-style theme, including C3PO and R2D2, and someone in the audience even looked like a young George Lucas.

Participants were divided in three groups according to the Star Wars episodes:

Episode 1: Ignite the Force
Episode 2: Research of the Jedis (I was here!)
Episode 3: The Doctorates Strikes back.

The competition was fierce. Everyone improved greatly from their rehearsals. The mood in the audience was high and cheerful throughout the night so I became hesitant whether my noir-style presentation would connect properly.

Both winners (People’s choice and Ignite winner) were from Sydney. In hindsight, perhaps one of my biggest mistakes was to give up on my lighting instructions due to time restrictions as it would have required me to rehearse several times with the AV technicians. Eventually, my words didn’t convey the same emotion and passion from the rehearsal. This taught me one very important lesson: just keep it simple (especially if time is short).

Finally, all Ignite students were also required to prepare a Pozible crowdfunding campaign that went live the day after Grand Final night. The name of my campaign is ‘See No Devil, Hear No Devil’. So, if you want to help save an endangered species and fight cancer, make a pledge for a reward or simply donate for this important cause! Here is my campaign.

Why you should consider it

Without a doubt, I would highly recommend that every one of my PhD peers apply for this type of program.

You get the chance to be immersed in a very dynamic environment, get to know really interesting people, and spend quality time with PhD students from other universities.

Sometimes, when you think your life can’t get any more uneventful, it can surprise you with an unexpected twist. The opportunities are out there waiting for you to take them.

I was very honoured to be part of Amplify Ignite during La Trobe’s 50th year anniversary. I am also very thankful for the support received from my supervisor Dr Adam Hart (School of Molecular Sciences) and the Graduate Research School (GRS).

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Ismael Maclennan‘s scientific career got a huge boost when he moved out of his comfort zone in Peru to Australia ten years ago.

Having graduated as a Cell biologist from the National University of San Marcos (Lima-Peru) and completed two Masters degrees at Monash and La Trobe Universities in Clinical Embryology and Biotechnology respectively, he is in the final days of his PhD journey at the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS).

His research interests are in the field of stem cell and regenerative medicine and, throughout his PhD, Ismael has developed a special fascination in the application of stem cell technology in marsupials.

He ensures he has a balanced lifestyle, and is a keen sports enthusiast and a passionate guitar player. Ismael is also an avid language learner, being fluent in Spanish, with a good command of English, and with a knowledge of French. He’s currently also studying Mandarin.

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Industry mentoring? What’s that about? (Marguerite Evans-Galea and Lara Bereza-Malcolm)

meagantyler — Mon, 03 Jul 2017 12:30:00 +0000

During Careers Month in May, we had the privilege of having Marguerite Evans-Galea (Executive Director, IMNIS) and Lara Bereza-Malcolm (La Trobe PhD researcher, Environmental Microbiology) as our guest speakers during a session focused on industry mentoring and graduate researchers’ experiences of it.

The huge push across the higher education sector for industry collaboration means that these initiatives are more important than ever!

We interviewed Marguerite and Lara separately about their perspectives on the IMNIS industry mentoring scheme and the broader project of bringing academia and industry closer together to collaborate and learn more from each other.

Establishing these connections will also enhance opportunities for highly qualified professionals, with a PhD, in different industry sectors.

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1. Interview with Marguerite Evans-Galea

BIO: Dr Marguerite Evans-Galea trained in world-leading laboratories in the USA at the University of Utah and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She is the Executive Director of the Industry Mentoring Network in STEM (IMNIS) with the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), Honorary Fellow Manager at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and Honorary Fellow at The University of Melbourne.

What do you think are the greatest strengths of PhDs when going to work in industry, post-degree?

Marguerite: PhDs bring a wealth of skills that can strongly complement existing expertise in any organisation.

Graduating with a PhD means you are among Australia’s best critical thinkers, trouble-shooters and problem solvers. To successfully complete a PhD project, you have developed tenacity and are capable of pursuing tough questions, being innovative to overcome challenges, and push the forefront of knowledge or application. You can ask a question, gather the data and objectively analyse the evidence before you to reach a logical conclusion. This is the scientific process. You don’t change your mind – you cannot change your mind – because you know “the data are the data”. The evidence is what guides you.

In addition, you’ll have developed skills in public-speaking, project management, risk assessment and scientific writing. Importantly, through your research and attendance at conferences, you’ll often have experience in collaborating and networking to boot! If you engage online, you’ll also have some research communication skills. The skills you develop in the course of doing a PhD are all highly transferable!

What are some of the most significant challenges for PhDs moving into industry?

Marguerite: The greatest challenge for anyone leaving research, especially if they have been in research for some years, can be their losing their identity as a researcher. For example, people will ask themselves “Am I still a scientist?”, and my answer is a resounding YES! You are a fully-qualified researcher. You will always apply the research processes to your work, whatever you do. It is inherent in your professional qualification! It can be a bit like riding a bike or driving a car. Once you learn it, you know it, and you just automatically do it.

Why did you choose to take on this role at IMNIS?

Marguerite: I’m a change-maker who loves to help people! That’s why IMNIS is a good fit for me. I love research – always will – and I knew I would only ever leave research for a role with meaning and purpose.

IMNIS has the vision to foster a collaborative culture of innovation that values basic research by bringing industry and academia closer together. It broadens the scope of our young researchers, increases their understanding of industry, and expands their skills and network. It has immense potential to diversify how we do research in the future!

Every day I catch myself saying “this is just like managing a collaborative research team” or “like reviewing a manuscript” or “like trouble-shooting a research project”.

>> To find out more, visit the IMNIS website!

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2. Interview with Lara Bereza-Malcolm

BIO: Lara Bereza-Malcolm is a PhD student at La Trobe University in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Microbiology. Her PhD project is focused on the development of microbial biosensors for the detection of heavy metals in the environment. Lara participated in the MedTech-Pharma Pilot of the IMNIS program, in Victoria from 2015-2016.

What were the best aspects of the mentoring experience you had?

Lara: I enjoyed multiple aspects of my IMNIS experience.

It was an invaluable opportunity to be paired with my mentor with such a rich background and knowledge base. I also enjoyed having the opportunity to network during the various event held by the IMNIS team.

I really appreciated the opportunities that I was given during my time as a mentee. I feel that I have gained a broad-range of skills from my experiences.

What would you consider the biggest challenges of that same mentoring experience?

Lara: Setting time aside to meet with my mentor was difficult at first because, as a PhD student, I felt that I should always be in the lab or writing!

However, I found that actively setting time aside to meet and learn from my mentor was very rewarding. It highlighted how essential it is to do more than just research during your PhD.

I also found it difficult to approach people I didn’t know during the first IMNIS event. However, I learnt from my mentor – and through practice! – that the best way to make a new contact is to approach them directly and just introduce myself.

During the industry mentoring program, what did you learn about yourself?

I learnt that I have a skill-set that can be applied outside of research, and that I have the ability to make connections with people from all aspects of business and industry.

I also learnt that I could be a mentor to others and help them, just like how my mentor guided me.

>> For more information, check out La Trobe’s industry mentoring scheme page!

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What does industry want? (Interview with Greg Sheehan)

meagantyler — Mon, 22 May 2017 12:30:00 +0000

What is it that industry wants from graduates?

This question occupies a lot of air-time in higher education circles, and the push is on from the Australian government to foster closer collaborations among universities, industry, and graduate researchers.

You’d be right in thinking that not getting on top of these new research priorities could set your career planning back a step or two!

This week’s ‘Careers Month’ post is an interview with Dr Greg Sheehan, Director and Principal Process Engineer with Hatch Ltd. Hatch is an international consultant engineering and project implementation company with offices in ten countries.

Greg graduated with his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Queensland.

“I graduated at a time when the engineering sector, particularly in my field of Chem Eng, was very different, ” he said. “I got my first job at MIM Holdings straight after graduation, started at the company the following week, and was on-site in Mount Isa in a day! I’ve been with Hatch now for nine years.”

Greg developed his extensive experience in commercial minerals research and project implementation with MIM Holdings and the Australian Magnesium Corporation. He has also held the Xstrata Chair of Extractive Metallurgy (University of Queensland). These days, he spends a lot of time travelling between Australia, North and South America, and China, as well as many national sites.

Greg’s experiences mean that he is a strong advocate of more connection and development between academic and industry contexts.

These are the three key pieces of advice he’d offer to PhD researchers:

1. Research the sector that interests you

“Whichever sector you want to work in, make sure you do your research about it! If you’re doing Engineering, for example, and believe that engineers can always find a job in industry…well, make sure you check on that for the industry you’re looking at,” said Greg. “Over the past four years all global engineering firms (China excepted) have been shedding staff rapidly. In Australia, most will be down about 60%, with hiring freezes as well.”

He describes his own field as applied biochemistry, and flags that the new PhD appointments in his organisation have come from nanotechnology and biomedical areas.

Greg encourages PhD researchers to find out about the state of the sector they’re wanting to join. “It’s worth looking not at what has been done but what is coming through as new initiatives. If there are jobs to be had in the area, that’s where they’ll be!”

“Hatch Ltd., for example, has a relatively new portfolio of expertise established in Digital Operations. This was not something that I would’ve foreseen at the time I joined the firm.”

For Hatch particularly, Greg flags that the ability to conceive of the work and workplace as a broader space that must respond to competition as science and technology transforms industries is very important. “It’s a global business, after all,” he said.

Image sourced from Hatch Ltd. website: https://www.hatch.com/en/Projects

2. Why your PhD topic’s not relevant

Several times during our interview, Greg made mention of the fact that a researcher’s PhD topic is not relevant. “PhD-qualified applicants aren’t specifically recruited and any applications are mixed in with the general pool,” he said. “New staff are taken on as the best match for the team, rarely for their PhD topic.”

“We invent and market our own technologies, so the focus is on engineering technical excellence, team fit, and leadership potential (technical or people). Every company has its own processes and way of doing things, and I guess the idea of ‘team fit’ comes down to a person’s skills and expertise and their personality.”

So, from this perspective, you can see why applications that focus too much on research specificities may not fly as well as those that showcase professional potential and demonstrated experience of those traits. What will you be required to do in potential new roles? What is the best way to show that you are a great choice for those skills and qualities?

All that said, Greg does not think that doing a PhD is meaningless!

3. Why doing your PhD does count

When we discussed what those who have done PhDs bring to their roles, and whether this gave them an edge, Greg replied, “I feel that these graduates have more maturity and can act more independently. In our discipline, most PhDs have had good training in critical thinking, planning, persuasion and writing.”

“They’ve had substantial development and experience in approaching and solving problems. These abilities are crucial in our work, which has project management and implementation at its core.”

So, the PhD gets you some way through the door!

But it’s your ability to articulate your skill-sets well, develop engaging and relevant interpersonal skills, and be a quick study of organisational dynamics that will land, and keep you progressing through, a job and into a career.

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Greg Sheehan was interviewed by Tseen Khoo on 22 May 2017.

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