From L-R: Aylwen Cotter (President ABSS). Rachel Davis (Vice President ABSS), Kellie Maybery-Reupert (Secretary ABSS) and Laura Steel (Treasurer ABSS)

For many graduate researchers, doing a Masters or PhD is a rollercoaster ride of emotions, wins and losses, sleep deprivation and aiming to be fantastic at time management. However, under the confident surface of most faces is self-doubt, stress and the feeling of being an imposter.

The organising committee for the Agribio Student Society (ABSS) are all very familiar with this and started using their connection to each other as a method of sharing these experiences. I remember asking one of the other committee members ‘how do you know you are doing enough for your PhD?’. I was really stressed that I wasn’t where I should be, or doing all that I should be. She suggested creating a diary – not one to look at week to week as a guide of progress but to look back on over a month. I did this and the diary has helped me with so many other issues such as planning experiments, listing upcoming tasks to ensure I don’t forget them and also as tool to see just how far I have come.

Realising that our committee can’t be the only ones feeling like this, and with the funding support of the Intellectual Climate Fund (ICF), we convened a stress management workshop for our community of researchers.

The goals of the stress management workshop were to create awareness that mental health is very important and provide helpful self-care strategies. We also wanted to provide an opportunity to develop a supportive network of like-minded people who understood these issues, one that was open to anyone and everyone.

Being from an agricultural science background, the ABSS asked for the help of the Strategy Prevention and Education Team here at La Trobe for some guidance on the most relevant information for students for mental health and wellbeing. They provided us with two wonderful speakers, Kellie Muir and Rose Wimbush, whose breadth of knowledge guided us towards areas we could relate to. They were easy to approach for questions, too!

The event was divided into two sections. The first being the workshop and the second being a networking meet-and-greet. The second part was catered by Caffeine, a café in the Agora at La Trobe. The organising committee were blown away by the positive feedback from attendees as they circulated the room, introducing themselves and starting to create that supportive local network of fellow researchers. Many were comfortable talking about their experience, mental health and challenges they have faced. It was refreshing. The ABSS Treasurer, Laura Steel, gave a quick talk about her experiences during her PhD to conclude the event. Laura’s talk helped open up the discussion and made things more relatable to the participants, connecting with the topics discussed by the guest speakers.

Event participants left with a small token from the day in the form of a stress ball or bracelet. These served as reminders that, as researchers, we’re not alone. There is a community of like-minded people out there and we can reach out if we need it. Kellie and Rose sent us links about the support networks available to everyone here at La Trobe University, in case you’d like to know more.

As President of ABSS, it was great to be part of this project. It provided our graduate researchers with a learning and community-building opportunity. As someone who’s doing my PhD and as prone to stress as anyone else, this event really made me see that I need to tailor my PhD to my needs if I’m to get the most out of it. I don’t need to push through all the time. It’s good to take the time to evaluate and decide what will work best for me to get the job done – and that might not be a 9-5 work day!

La Trobe University links from the Stress Management Workshop:

• La Trobe Health, Wellbeing and Inclusion webpage that contains many other resources edu.au/wellbeing
• Direct booking link here Submit an Enquiry | La Trobe University – Symplicity Advocate

Links to a couple of techniques outlined by the speakers during the workshop:

• 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding technique
• Sky as your observing self metaphor

Understanding how feelings and emotions like anxiety can create more anxiety

• The struggle switch

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Aylwen (Wen) Cotter is a PhD candidate at La Trobe University in the Animal, Plants and Soil Sciences department. Her research focusses on early detection of fungal pathogens for agricultural crops.

She is currently the President of the Agribio Student Society (ABSS) and dog crazy. 

You can find Wen on LinkedIn here. 

The post Managing stress and creating community (Wen Cotter) appeared first on Research Education and Development.

I’m coming to the end of my PhD research, having started January 2020 and I am due to submit soon – fingers crossed!

I have been researching the Biography Program that Eastern Palliative Care Association Inc. (EPC) offers as part of their volunteer services. EPC provides specialist care to palliative patients in their homes, and any patients can participate in the Biography Program. If they do, a volunteer will visit them in their home, or meet with them online/over the phone if they prefer, and record them telling life stories. The volunteer then transcribes their stories and works with them to produce a written life story.

I hadn’t heard of an industry scholarship before applying for one and didn’t understand what it meant until after I had begun. It means that a business/organisation (in my case, EPC) has partnered with La Trobe to provide a scholarship to research a particular subject (the Biography Program). It ended up being a fantastic opportunity and, if they were all like my experience, I’d highly recommend it!

Flyer for Karly’s EPC talk in March 2023

As with most things as a doctoral researcher, though, I think a lot comes down to the people around you. I was fortunate. My supervisors, Drs Bruce Rumbold, David Azul, Fiona Gardner, and previously Susan Furness, all came with similar yet varying areas of expertise, and each offered unique and valuable perspectives. They were all very open in encouraging me to follow where the research and my interests led.  Just as important as this supervisory support was that my industry contact was wonderful to work with. My primary contact at EPC was Krystal Wallis, their Volunteer Services Consultant. She ensured I received relevant training and access, connected me with appropriate people, and helped me understand and navigate EPC’s structure and operational dynamics.

 As the student researcher, I became the lynchpin between La Trobe’s focus on research and EPC’s on healthcare. As La Trobe and EPC each had established operating modes, I had to work between my supervisors and Krystal to ensure I met the expectations and followed the correct protocols for both. I had to submit research plans, ethics applications, and ongoing reports to both and I gave presentations each year to groups from each organisation – so, there’s a bit of administration to manage!

One of the wonderful things about industry research for me was that there was a ready-made research participant pool and plenty of volunteers, which eliminated, or at least reduced, any issues with finding research participants. In addition, while I understand the significance of publication, I felt it was important to produce research that was relevant and easily accessible for those for whom the research directly makes an impact. I’ve given a variety of presentations (you can see a selection of them here), which culminated recently in a detailed presentation at EPC, with the video of the presentation now available – check https://www.epc.asn.au/once-upon-a-research-story. As well, Bruce Rumbold secured a grant to make a six-episode podcast series a reality. We’re currently mid-production, with the first three episodes available at https://onceuponastorypodcast.podbean.com/ and more about to be released.

If I were to offer any advice for doing industry research, I’d say you need be proactive.

You are working between two distinct organisations so it is essential to learn how each works (which can take a while). This relies on clear communication and asking many questions to discover the questions you need to be asking! There is also the work of ensuring understanding from the industry partner of La Trobe’s requirements as the academic partner. It includes figuring out what the research expectations are of the industry partner and perhaps offering some education on what the vast landscape of research can look like, as La Trobe has far more experience in this than any industry partner is likely to. I am not sure EPC was expecting the narrative research I’ve provided when they started this process but, so far, I’ve only received positive responses. Each relationship and dynamic will differ, which is why good communication is so vital.

Overall, it has been a great experience and, even though I – as we all – had to adjust to the COVID-19 context, I could still continue.

I would do some things differently if I were to start again, but mostly because I now understand the processes better. They would be things like adjusting how I manage the dynamics, information, and administration between the two organisations. I certainly wouldn’t change the research subject, or the people!

Although, if we are talking about changing things, I’d change COVID-19 lockdowns. But,  unfortunately, we can’t control everything – something we all learn when undertaking any research!

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Karly Edgar is a PhD candidate in the Palliative Care Unit within the Dept of Public health. Her research is a joint project between La Trobe and Eastern Palliative Care Inc. (EPC) researching EPC’s award-winning Biography Program.

Karly has a personal website, and you can find her on LinkedIn.

The post The connective work of an industry scholarship experience (Karly Edgar) appeared first on Research Education and Development.

Photograph by Margarida CSilva | Unsplash.com

Many of you know the value of regular writing practices, such as the very popular Shut up and Write sessions. These give you focused time to concentrate on small and achievable goals in the company of others who are striving similarly towards the clear and polished prose that is so important in a thesis. The focussed time and collegiality are crucial to success here.

Another really useful way to develop both your writing and editing skills is to join a Writing Circle. Writing Circles (sometimes known as writing groups) involve meeting regularly with a group of other writers to review and discuss each other’s work.  At La Trobe University, Thesis Writing Circles focus particularly on aspects of academic, research, and thesis writing. These are loosely organised around people working in similar fields or on similar types of studies – all keen to improve and polish their writing.

The many benefits of this kind of writing activity have been well documented (see, for example, Weigener, Meier and Ingerslev, 2016).  Participants learn a great deal about their own writing by learning to critically review the work of other writers.

They develop skills in written critique, editing and facilitating professional discussions in a supportive and collegial environment.  These skills are particularly important for those anticipating an academic career, but can benefit anyone involved in writing in an academic space.

Thesis Writing Circle members benefit from sharing tips and resources and can develop long-lasting professional networks. Participation also reduces the feeling of isolation and the anxieties that often accompany the doctoral process.

Since the advent of COVID, Writing Circles have been held online, which has produced the additional benefit of allowing members to join from anywhere.

Here are some reflections from previous years’ Thesis Writing Circle participants:

“I participated in a Writing Circle in 2021 because I was interested in meeting other fellow Latrobe students as I had transferred from another university. I did not know what to expect as this was the first time I had taken part in this type of group setting. In all honesty, I was highly nervous and worried about my work being judged as inadequate. However, I had the opposite experience, finding that there was a great respect and interest shown towards each individual PhD project. I immensely enjoyed my participation in the writing circle as there was a real sense of travelling the same road together when often the opposite is true – a PhD student can feel quite alone and isolated, even more so during Covid-19 times! The benefits of participating included engaging with different material from various disciplines, freely asking questions to better understand the discipline of writing and the exchange of positive constructive feedback. Everyone was both encouraging and engaged in helping each other and trying to address areas of writing that we struggled with or needed some guidance on. I highly recommend taking part in a writing circle because you gain a lot from the experience that assists you towards progressing in your studies and feeling a part of the Latrobe university community.”
— Loredana Giarrusso

“Being a PhD research student the three key areas I set out to enhance my skills are in experimental lab work, presentation skills and writing skills. Writing as I go has been an intentional effort on my part as I was advised it makes the final thesis work easier at the end. I have always been able to write conversational English, however, writing my thesis and for publication in scientific journals has been a different ballgame and this is where the Writing Circle comes in. Through the Writing Circle, I have been exposed to different writing styles from diverse fields which has enriched my vocabulary and writing style. I have been able to also share my writing with others in a safe space where I get feedback from diverse people which helps give more insight into and refine my writing skills, making them much better. It does take some of the weight off when sending my written work to my supervisors as I know it is much better than it was when I started.”
— Yvonne Ogagi

“I joined the Thesis Writing Circle in April 2021, just after my Confirmation of Candidature. I thought joining this group was a simple way to break the tedium of working from home. Little did I know, this group would become so much more. It was the catalyst of my productivity, the chrysalis of my creativity. I learned how to write better and give reasonable feedback to my peers. It was one of the best decisions I made in my PhD.”
— Made Rimayanti

“The Writing Circle came at a perfect time. Just as I was writing up multiple papers for my PhD, it was great to meet other people at various stages of their PhDs and get practical support with writing. Learning how to appraise the writing of others and give feedback is just as important a skill as writing, so it was great to develop those skills too. Once COVID came, the peer support took on a new level of importance, helping reduce the sense of isolation, and it is the funding of services like this that makes La Trobe University a great place to study. The practical support I got from this Writing Circle meant I was able to finish a paper for a project called ‘Standardised Data on Initiatives’ (STARDIT) – which you can learn more about and read here: https://ScienceForAll.World/STARDIT/Beta/”
— Jack Nunn

“I was pleasantly surprised how much I gained from joining the Writing Circle for a few months. The process of reviewing the work of peers on topics unrelated to my research was a great way to learn to analyse the writing itself, as opposed to the content. This enabled me to have a more critical eye when reviewing my own work. Learning to provide different levels (e.g. micro to macro) of feedback was beneficial for own writing, learning to review my colleagues work, and begin peer reviewing for journals. Seeing that my feedback was consistent with others improved my confidence in how much I have learnt throughout my PhD. This also helped with my own writing efficiency, as I was able to back myself and not deliberate over words or sentences for too long! The Circle provided me with motivation to write via feedback from other members, sharing experiences, or just from having time away from writing my thesis to be able to return to my writing with a clearer mind.”
— Brooke Patterson

“I joined the Circle in the last year of my PhD Candidature, in anticipation of improving my writing and to meet others in a similar position.

I was finding the HDR endeavor to be a difficult and lonely pursuit and the engagement with the group provided me with much-needed encouragement, effectively affording a ‘time-out’ pause to reflect on my writing, to share manuscripts and learn from like-minded HDR colleagues in similar situations.  It was an intersection of subject matter, writing techniques and an additional layer of personal support, particularly in the last 12 months of the Covid-19 lock downs. The time spent in Writing Circle group gave me renewed incentivization and was a very much looked forward to and happy two hours spent during my week.

My writing has improved enormously. The guidance from members of the group – their thoughtful comments, suggestions and recommendations – set me on an elevated pathway for writing, which I’m not sure I would have found otherwise. I received recommendations on readings and resources that were invaluable. The feedback from members of the Writing Circle improved my writing, particularly as we didn’t necessarily know each other’s subject area, so it had to be ‘readable’ and make sense. My supervisors have given me a lot of very positive feedback on the improvement on my writing since the Writing Circle group.

I would highly recommend joining a Writing Circle group. It has been a highlight of my PhD.”
— Elizabeth Kennedy

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New Thesis Writing Circles for 2022 – Call for expressions of interest

The Library, in conjunction with the RED team, is now calling for expressions of interest to join a Thesis Writing Circle this year. Writing Circles involve meeting regularly with a group of other writers to discuss and review each other’s writing. Thesis writing circles involve a specific focus on academic style, argument, cohesion and coherence. Participants develop their own writing and editing skills in an informal, supportive and collegial environment, build new networks and share ideas and resources. The time commitment is approximately 2-2 ½ hours per fortnight.

New circles will be established in April.  If you are a PhD student, have completed confirmation of your candidature and would like to join a Writing Circle, or would like more information, please email Dr Lynda Chapple l.chapple@latrobe.edu.au.  Expressions of interest should include a brief statement about your discipline and the nature of your project. Applications close Thursday 24 March, 4pm.

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Dr Lynda Chapple has a PhD in English from Monash University, an MA and Dip. Ed. in English and TESOL, both from the University of Melbourne, and is an alumna of La Trobe University where she did her Bachelor (Honours) degree many years ago. 

Lynda has worked in Academic and Language Skills Advising and as a Lecturer in English for many years, both in Australia and overseas. She can be contacted through the Learning Hub, or directly at l.chapple@latrobe.edu.au.

The post Learning from sharing: Thesis Writing Circles (Lynda Chapple) appeared first on Research Education and Development.

Still from Donovan Garcia-Ceron’s 2019 VYT entry, ‘Exploring Extracellular Vesicles From Plant Fungal Pathogens’

When I first learned about the Visualise Your Thesis (VYT) competition, I immediately flashed back to the numerous cybersecurity emails I get saying “If it sounds too good to be true, then it is probably a scam”. That is because, to me, VYT was too good to be true: create a video showcasing your PhD research and win cash. To keep. And, no, it is not a scam.

I enjoy photography and videography so it took me only seconds to decide that I will participate in VYT with a stop-motion animation entry. The Oscar-nominated short film Fresh guacamole by PES served as an inspiration (watch it – it’ll blow your mind). 

Before I knew it, I was creating a storyboard, snatching Play Doh from 5-year-old kids at the toy section of Big W, and transforming my living room into a chaotic, yet efficient, photography studio. Creating my VYT entry was a fantastic experience that helped me develop effective communication skills, which are crucial in science. 

Here is a summary of what I learned across my participation in the 2019 and 2020 VYT competitions:

1. The message is key. 

   I was not an expert in stop-motion animation and I learned along the way while creating my 2019 video. The judges liked it, too: I won La Trobe’s competition and came 2^nd in the overall international competition. I joined VYT again for 2020 and, this time, decided to dedicate more time to it with creating special effects using Photoshop, trying different lighting, and adding complex animations. It was also a successful video, and I was in 2^nd place in the La Trobe competition.

   However, when I compare both of my videos, I realize that the first one, although simpler in content, was more effective at telling what my research was about. Therefore, even if you think you don’t know much about video editing, you might be an excellent storyteller, and this is what VYT is all about. 

2. This is not supposed to be easy.

   I might have forgotten to point out that VYT calls for videos of no more than 60 seconds. Sixty. Six zero.

   It goes without saying that summarizing a PhD project (often up to four years long) in a single minute can be challenging. I really enjoyed finding new and simpler ways of describing my research. I found it rewarding and means I may now be able to explain what I do to my grandma without putting her to sleep. Success! 

3. Put your money where your mouth is. 

   Before VYT, I used to think that I was good at communicating my research. What I was good at, in fact, was presenting in front of other researchers who were familiar with my study area. Explaining scientific concepts to people outside of the research world, and even scientists from other disciplines, is a different challenge.

   For me, this challenge got easier. I participated twice in VYT, and twice in the public speech-based 3-Minute Thesis. After these events, I got used to finding new analogies and examples to explain my research and, in some ways, this helped me with being more comfortable with public speaking. 

4. Communication is a powerful tool. 
   
   Imagine if for a whole year, every scientist in the world collaborated to find a cure for cancer. It could most certainly lead to important discoveries. By communicating your research, you are closer to finding a colleague who works on a similar topic to yours, establishing a collaboration with industry, or becoming known and engaging with a philanthropic organization.

   Your research becomes amplified and of greater impact when you connect and collaborate.

   The first step is to put it out there.

There is a significant amount of funding, staff support, and other resources that enable us to perform research. I believe it is critical that we share our knowledge in a way that is interesting and influential. For some, public speaking may be too much, but the good news is that you can write, blog, vlog, tweet, or create amazing videos like the ones submitted to VYT. 

Let’s keep research in the headlines (for the right reasons)! 

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You can view Donovan’s VYT entries: 

2019

2020

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Donovan Garcia-Ceron is a PhD candidate in the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science. He studies fungi that infect cereals and cotton, and investigates how to create new antifungals. He’s a member of Professor Marilyn Anderson’s laboratory.

Donovan supports open and equal access to scientific knowledge. In his spare time, you may find him riding a bicycle or woodworking.

Donovan has a YouTube channel where he discusses how to draw scientific objects using Adobe Illustrator. He’s also on Twitter @DonovanGarciaC.

The post ‘Visualise Your Thesis’ made me a more creative researcher (Donovan Garcia-Ceron) appeared first on Research Education and Development.

Vivian about to present at #HBPRCA_WS2020 (image from this tweet)

I was very excited to have been awarded the William and Elizabeth Fisher scholarship! 

Since the beginning of my PhD, the gender disparity in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) workforce has been evident to me. Because of this, I wanted to join an organisation that aimed to support and empower women in higher education.

I went on the hunt to find out what organisations were out there because, surely, I wasn’t the first person to have this urge to support and empower others. This is when I found the Graduate Women Victoria (GWV) association. This association was founded in 1920 by a group of graduate women who shared the common goal of promoting understanding among university women around the world, irrespective of race, nationality, religion, or political opinion.

One of the ways that GWV supports the careers of Victorian undergraduate and postgraduate women is through their annual awards, scholarships, and bursaries, made possible by donations from their benefactors and members. These are specifically for students who have or are currently overcoming disadvantages in pursuit of their studies.

Given that the last couple of years have been turbulent for everyone, scholarships and awards that help in any way are an opportunity not to be missed. Personally, I was facing difficult family circumstances and, as a result, had additional carer responsibilities which had a significant impact on my PhD studies.

Initially, I didn’t think I would be eligible for the scholarship, and that someone else would be more deserving of it than me. In retrospect, I am grateful that my supervisors supported and nudged me in the right direction, because the scholarship has significantly alleviated my financial burden.

When applying for the scholarship, I was in the second year of my PhD and by then had already hit the ground running. My studies were going well, and I often felt like I didn’t have time to breathe (I’m sure other PhD students can relate!) and never really had the chance to sit down and reflect on my achievements. This was mostly because I had a neverending to-do list, comprised of data analysis and experiments. Writing this scholarship application, however, gave me that chance to reflect and think about my PhD in a broader sense. I was able to condense my research project into an engaging and digestible package and think about how far I have come, despite all the disruptions. Being able to still achieve a high level of productivity throughout this tough time spoke volumes about my love for science and research.

Another section of the application asked me to highlight my strengths. Of course, this is always an awkward thing to think about but, again, it gave me the chance to reflect. Before this, I used to think about how lucky I was to be in the PhD program (that darn Imposter Syndrome!). I am grateful to be surrounded by family, friends and in particular, other PhD students, who often feel the same, and  we should remember that only ~2% of people in Australia have PhDs and getting into doctoral programs can be difficult. So, we are here because we deserve to be. This was reiterated in the letters I obtained from my two referees.

The last section of the application was about detailing our future plans, which is always daunting to think about. I highlighted my goals in becoming a postdoctoral researcher in the cardiometabolic field who was committed to making change. Given my experiences as a first-generation Vietnamese-Australian, and first in my family to pursue postgraduate education, I wanted to demonstrate to the GWV that I was aligned with their goals. I am passionate about raising awareness and creating opportunities for minorities, women, and girls in STEM and I have championed these causes in the past. I want to not only support and empower the next generation of women in STEM but also to one day build a platform to bridge the language barrier, ensuring that marginalised groups receive accurate, evidence-based information to make informed health decisions.

I am extremely grateful to have been a recipient of this prestigious scholarship. To other women (undergraduate and postgraduate) experiencing any forms of disadvantage, I encourage you to reach out and apply for the GWVscholarships. Not only did it relieve financial burden, but the awards ceremony where other recipients shared their journey made me realise that I am now a part of a community of incredible women who are dedicated to supporting, upskilling, and uplifting each other. It takes a village to raise a PhD student and the GWV is just one of those villages!

More broadly to all graduate researchers: seek out funding opportunities and put your hat in the ring! Learning to write applications for grants and scholarships will set you up well in your career, no matter where you go.  

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Vivian Tran is a PhD student at the Centre for Cardiovascular Biology and Disease Research. Her PhD aims to characterise a novel mouse model of diet-induced metabolic syndrome. Currently, she is developing her research profile. For her scientific work, she has presented at several national and international conferences. 

Vivian’s passion for science extends far beyond the lab. She is dedicated to creating an inclusive STEM space and empowering students to become confident in their STEM-related abilities. She champions this by being a STEM outreach demonstrator and Educational Partnerships facilitator, and actively participates in various science communication events. 

You can find Vivian on Twitter @vivianvtran.

The post What writing a scholarship application taught me about myself (Vivian Tran) appeared first on Research Education and Development.

Last year, I had the opportunity to take part in the Graduate Research School Career Mentoring Program. 

Recently, I’ve reflected on what I took away from this experience and what advice I would give fellow graduate research students embarking on a new relationship with a mentor. 

Here are my four key ingredients to a beneficial mentoring relationship:

1. Choice

I’ve always felt that mentoring programs were a bit hit and miss. Sometimes, you land yourself an amazing mentor, who works in a relevant field and can share pearls of wisdom with you. Other times, you just don’t click and, despite the best of intentions from both parties, conversations can feel awkward and strained. I think the key ingredient in developing a beneficial mentoring relationship is to allow the mentee to choose their own mentor. 

This selection process was the most useful aspect of the Career Mentoring Program I did. The GRS encouraged all participants to brainstorm a list of potential mentors. Ideally, these would be people working in relevant fields outside academia whom we felt we could learn from, or at least have a series of interesting conversations with. 

Researching potential mentors gave me an insight into where PhD graduates could end up outside of academia and made me consider what types of roles appealed to me. After much deliberation, I created a list of eight potential mentors, all of whom had completed a PhD and were now working for not-for-profit organisations or local government. The GRS then reached out to my top preference to invite them to join the program.

2. Confidence

If you’re going to start a conversation with a complete stranger, in person or virtually, you’re going to need a healthy dose of confidence. Many graduate researchers struggle with imposter syndrome, and it can be difficult to get out of this head-space. My advice is to ignore those little doubts and back yourself! 

I was really nervous about connecting with my potential mentor but, to my surprise, she had already heard of me! We shared a few mutual contacts and she had learnt about my area of research on Twitter. This made me feel much more comfortable and helped to justify the many hours I have spent on social media!

3. Preparation

Before our first meeting, the graduate researcher mentees were encouraged to do some solid preparation. 

We needed to think about what topics we might like to cover with our mentor, what we could contribute to the conversation and, ultimately, what we wanted to gain from the relationship. One reason I chose my mentor was that she had moved between different fields and had developed a varied and interesting work history. I wanted to hear more about how she’d made these career jumps, such as how she had adapted her unique skills and experiences to meet different key selection criteria. I was also keen to discuss work-life balance and any tips she had for the final months of a PhD. Other students in the program took a very different approach and wanted to discuss specific areas of research or recent ‘hot topics’ in their field. Whatever your interest, being prepared for meetings is key to keep your conversations on track and to maximise face-to-face time with your mentor.

4. Commitment

As with all new relationships, managing a mentoring relationship requires a decent amount of commitment. 

During the Career Mentoring Program, the mentees were encouraged to set up a minimum of three meetings with their mentor (conducted over Zoom due to the pandemic), over the space of three months. This required writing and sending out meeting agendas, taking minutes during meetings, and scheduling upcoming Zoom calls. Students who invested more time and energy into managing their mentoring relationship seemed to get more out of the experience.

Since the GRS program officially ended, my mentor and I have stayed in touch. We felt we had a lot of common research interests and wanted to pursue these further. We invited several additional people to join the conversation and are now aiming to collaborate on a paper looking at the success of urban ecology initiatives in cities.

Everyone will come into mentoring with unique ideas, interests, and aims. But if you keep these four key ingredients in mind, you should be well on your way to forming a successful and beneficial relationship with your new mentor!

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Jacinta Humphrey is a PhD student in the Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution, School of Life Sciences. She studies the impacts of urban development on the birds that share our suburbs. Jacinta aims to determine the relative influence of housing cover and canopy tree cover on bird diversity, community composition and the occurrence of individual species in greater Melbourne. Ultimately, she hopes to develop some recommendations for local governments and residents on how to better support native birds in our cities.

Jacinta is passionate about making urban spaces more wildlife-friendly and is always looking for new and interesting ways to communicate her science. You can follow her on Twitter as @HumphreyJE_.

The post The key ingredients for a beneficial mentoring relationship (Jacinta Humphrey) appeared first on Research Education and Development.

With 2021 well and truly upon us, many researchers are wanting to plan the year ahead. 

For most of us, this includes scheduling and planning the academic events we would like to organise, participate in, or attend. 

Personally, I have found pencilling in symposiums or conferences quite difficult with what feels to me like the weekly opening and closing of borders within Australia, combined with the extremely unlikely possibility of being able to travel overseas for work. With this in mind, I thought I would share some tips and suggestions for hosting an online academic event, in case you would like to do the same!

As a loud and proud extravert, I came up with the idea to host a symposium while I was feeling lonely and disconnected from other migration researchers in the midst of lockdown number one in Melbourne. 

One night, I came across an email inviting graduate researchers to submit an application to receive funding through the Intellectual Climate Fund. I thought the scheme could provide a good opportunity to re-connect with migration researchers from across La Trobe and I used my initial application to propose the creation of an online, inter-disciplinary migration reading group that would come together for an in-person symposium once restrictions had eased. My initial application sought funding to cover many of the operational costs of a regular pre-COVID symposium such as catering for morning tea and lunch. 

Then came lockdown 2.0.

By this point, my application had been accepted and the LTU migration reading group had begun our monthly Zoom meetings with some really interesting papers and discussion. Despite most of us still not having met in person, our 1-day virtual symposium Borders, Categories and Mobilities at the end of November 2020 was held to great success (in my humble opinion).

Here are some of my tips for running an online event: 

Reach out to the resources (both human and material) made available to you

Throughout the whole process of organising the symposium, the RED team were an enormous support. Having never run an online conference-style event, I had many questions and the RED team were always there to answer them and introduce me to interactive online platforms like Padlet, as well as sharing Eventbrite expertise for setting up our registration.

Think outside the box

After getting over my initial disappointment of not being able to run an in-person symposium, we decided to use the allocated funds in a way that was important to us. We were able to fund an amazing keynote presentation by Dr Jordana Silverstein and the ICF scheme allowed us to financially compensate ECRs in this way. We used online platforms to connect and recorded the sessions to send to presenters for their own academic purposes. Another positive aspect of running our online symposium is that we were able to accept papers from all around the world. We had papers from Melbourne and Sydney migration scholars, as well as presenters from England, Mexico, and Nigeria.

Collaboration is key

I wouldn’t have been able to run the symposium if I didn’t rely on the amazing support and advice given to me by my fellow graduate researcher and ECR reading group buddies. Remember to find keen and interested peers to share the workload and ideas with. This is also particularly important for an online event where you will require lots of assistance navigating the different technologies you are using.

Don’t be disheartened

Events that are held online, and in particular free ones, can often be met with limited attendance by the time the event comes. Try and keep the communication regular and consistent in the lead up to the event and don’t forget to celebrate afterwards! We certainly did.

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Emily Foley is a PhD candidate and sessional academic in the Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy at La Trobe University. 

Her research is focused on Australian politics and migration studies. She is also the overseeing coordinator of the SAIL program and is a co-convener of Melbourne Free University. 

She is learning how to tweet at @emilyrosefoley

The post Running a symposium (Emily Foley) appeared first on Research Education and Development.

From 12-16 April 2021, La Trobe University is celebrating PRIDE Week. 

PRIDE Week is a fantastic opportunity to show support for our sex, gender, and sexuality diverse community members. 

La Trobe University is fortunate to have researchers undertaking innovative LGBTIQA+ scholarship. This week the RED Alert blog will be sharing posts focused on the experiences of our diverse LGBTIQA+ researchers and profile some of the fantastic LGBTIQA+ research that our scholars are contributing to.

In this post Nikos Lexis Dacanay reflects on his current and past research work with queer subjects in Southeast Asia and what it means to be a Filipino queer scholar based in Melbourne. 

Follow #LTUPRIDE2021 if you are participating online! 

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I’m currently a PhD candidate with the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS) at the School of Psychology and Public Health. I’m studying the risk environment inhabited (and pleasures experienced) by migrant male sex workers (MSW) in Thailand.

I guess what got me interested in this subject is my past research and development work in Southeast Asia. From 2003 – 2006, I lived in Bangkok and studied Thai men who go to gay saunas for my master’s thesis. In 2013, I did another master’s and this time I studied a community-based organization in Jakarta where young gay men use social media to encourage other young gay men in the city to access HIV counseling and get tested for HIV. In between finishing these two master’s degrees, I was involved with different non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Thailand where I worked with migrants from Myanmar and with civil society representatives to the board of UNAIDS, the United Nations Joint Programme to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

In retrospect, I think my experience in studying queer identities as well as working on health and other issues of key populations at the grassroots and policy levels has shaped the ways I am now framing mobile and cross-border male sex workers in Thailand. These academic and development endeavors have also profoundly shaped my understanding of myself as a Filipino queer scholar and my own personal politics. For instance, while I identify as gay, I am conscious of how this term is grounded in my owned lived experience and different positions of privilege and marginality, and informed and influenced by the different systems of gender and sexuality operating in the Southeast Asian contexts where I have lived.

Researching at La Trobe University as an international student and queer scholar

I remember on my first day at La Trobe university, some of the people at the Centre were discussing and theorizing different kinds of sexual practices in the pantry while sipping coffee. I knew right then and there that this was a safe environment for me!

I want to describe ARCSHS as a self-contained lesbian, gay, trans and gender diverse, intersex and queer (LGBTIQA+)-friendly zone. The walls in the office are covered with beautiful LGBTIQA+ posters, and I think that many PhD students here identify within the LGBTIQA+ spectrum. In the office, people discuss sex, drugs, queer subjectivities and health in a non-judgmental manner. On my first week, after my supervisors had welcomed me, the next order of business was orienting me to the LGBTIQA+ scenes in the city – the venues and events in Fitzroy, the queer film festival, the pride celebrations, and the different LGBTIQA+ social groups. Eventually, I also learned about the different LGBTIQA+ support systems provided by the university and the city of Melbourne.

For someone not used to a dizzying array of activities specifically organized and tailored around LGBTIQA+ identities, everything was both exciting and overwhelming. I’ve never seen queer communities so very visible and public.  At the same time, I can’t help but also wonder: how do LGBTIQA+ people of color in Melbourne see themselves within the larger LGBTIQA+ community/ies? How do aboriginal LGBTIQA+ individuals articulate their queer identities vis-à-vis their racial and other political identities?

I also find myself constantly reflecting about home and wondering what an enabling environment for LGBTIQA+s in Southeast Asia might potentially open up. How might more publicly visible and supported queer communities lead to better and more fulfilling queer lives?  Would it lead to better harm reduction programs? Would it be able to significantly reduce the now rising HIV infections amongst young gay men, men who have sex with men (MSM) and male sex workers?

My takeaways from my PhD experience in Melbourne

I’ve still got a long way to go before I finish my PhD. But as early as now I’m observing some things that I think would be interesting to follow in the Southeast Asian context. ARCSHS works closely with the Rainbow Health Victoria, a program funded by the Victorian State that supports LGBTIQA+ health and well-being. Many of the research projects of ARCSHS feed into the activities of Rainbow Health, informing their training, resources and policy advice. I think this model of close collaboration between a research center and an LGBTIQA+ program is important as research is translated into evidence-based policy interventions and services for LGBTIQA+  communities. I think this kind of collaboration could really benefit development and advocacy work in Southeast Asia. 

Moreover, I think collaboration between and amongst queer scholars in Southeast Asia can also be productive. I observe that in my centre, researchers work together from across disciplines and with other researchers from other universities, allowing for sharing of ideas. I think that if there are more joint LGBTIQA+ research projects by different disciplines and universities in the region, a research agenda can be mapped out that can touch on relevant issues affecting LGBTIQA+ communities.

I’m really happy to be celebrating Pride Week with others here at La Trobe University, and I’m sure the energy from the celebration will motivate me as I continue to think about ways I can contribute to the bigger project of queer emancipation in Southeast Asia.

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Nikos Lexis Dacanay is a graduate researcher with the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS) at La Trobe University. Under Associate Professor Adam Bourne, he is studying the role of insecure and uncertain environments of migrant male sex workers in Thailand in producing and increasing their risk to HIV infection. Nikos is from the Philippines and – before starting his PhD – had been based in Thailand since 2009.

The post The research experience of a mobile queer scholar (Nikos Lexis Dacanay) appeared first on Research Education and Development.

From 12-16 April 2021, La Trobe University is celebrating PRIDE Week. 

PRIDE Week is a fantastic opportunity to show support for our sex, gender, and sexuality diverse community members. 

La Trobe University is fortunate to have researchers undertaking innovative LGBTIQA+ scholarship. This week the RED Alert blog will be sharing posts focused on the experiences of our diverse LGBTIQA+ researchers and profile some of the fantastic LGBTIQA+ research that our scholars are contributing to.

Our next post in this series is written by Haylo Roberts, a La Trobe graduate researcher. 

Follow #LTUPRIDE2021 if you are participating online!

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The experience of ‘transitioning’ from a masters or honours student to a fledgling doctoral researcher can be an awkward one. 

As with many students, I find myself sometimes not knowing my place as it exists somewhere between staff and student; I’m somehow simultaneously often the most knowledgeable person on my PhD research topic but also very inexperienced within the world of research. The last time I felt I existed within such a grey area was when I went through puberty – when I lived in the threshold of childhood and adulthood. In a way I think all PhD students are going through a type of adolescence – a short period of tremendous personal growth and change as we work our way to being mature researchers. For lots of us this involves three (or more) years of growing pains.

My PhD student experience has been one of compounding the awkwardness! This is because the transition from PhD student to doctor isn’t the only transition I’ve been going through. 

I am a transgender man and in my first year of my PhD I also started my medical transition from female to male. I was about five months into my PhD when I officially began my medical transition and started hormone replacement therapy. The hormone replacement therapy for people transitioning from female to male can be delivered in a few different ways, I opted for the most hands-off regimen of intramuscular injections every 12 weeks which are administered by a nurse at a clinic. I thought this regimen would minimize the amount my medical transition would disrupt both my life and my PhD, which in hindsight was naïve. 

The clinical side of transitioning was the easiest part. I was so focused on getting my hands on my hormone therapy, I didn’t think much about what would come after it. Obviously, I was prepared for the physical changes that testosterone would cause in my body. I was prepared for, and even waiting in anticipation for my voice to start dropping, my fat composition to start changing, facial hair growing, even my receding hairline (which I’m sure will stop receding any day now…right??). I almost forgot that everyone else would notice these things as well. 

There was a period of about 8 months from the end of 2018 to mid-2019 where my gender was ambiguous to everyone around me. My voice was noticeably deeper, but my face was still quite feminine. This period was a challenging one when it came to interpersonal interactions. Ordinary encounters could become uncomfortable as people would ask unsolicited and inappropriate questions about my body and identity. 

For researchers out there who want more information about gender identities and transition – I suggest you research it! Taking on the responsibility of figuring it out yourself means you won’t need to ask your trans colleagues uncomfortable questions and it may lead to less impatience and frustration experienced by trans folks you know.  

Now, in my third year of my PhD, both my current puberties are coming to an end. My hormone replacement therapy has done most of its work, and my PhD will be completed soon enough. This has been such a strange time in my life – I can’t recognize pre-PhD/transition me from 2018.  I’ve gone through tremendous growth; as I start to wrap up my PhD and the awkwardness is starting to subside I feel at ease within myself.  But I also feel distinctly alone, even though I am surrounded by great friends and supportive coworkers within and outside the office. 

I think that is a common experience of any
trans person reaching higher or expert levels in their fields. Being a trans
person in a society that isn’t welcoming to transgender people is hard enough
but excelling within these conditions is more challenging still. I also believe
that academia has further to go to improve the visibility of transgender people
in research in order to illuminate the path for trans people like me entering
academia.

La Trobe University Pride Week is a great
opportunity for LGBTQIA+ people to share their experiences, but also a great
opportunity for allies to gain awareness. I believe that the people around us
being more educated provides a safer and more welcoming environment for all.

Here are some resources! I encourage you to
educate yourself and pass them on to students who may need them, or colleagues
who may be interested:

LGBTIQA+ Support at La Trobe: https://www.latrobe.edu.au/students/support/wellbeing/lgbtiqa-services

LGBTIQ+ inclusive language guide: https://www.minus18.org.au/resources/lgbtiq+-inclusive-language-guide

How to be a trans ally: https://www.minus18.org.au/resources/how-to-be-a-trans-ally

Guide to pronouns video: https://www.minus18.org.au/resources/online-activity:-a-guide-to-pronouns   

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Haylo
Roberts (he/him)
is a PhD candidate in the Grant Lab of Functional Nematode Genomics. Haylo is
researching the interactions of bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia and
filarial nematodes. Outside of his PhD, Haylo spends time with his birds and
plays video games. Twitter & Instagram: @aqueerscientist

The post Going through puberty while doing my PhD (Haylo Roberts) appeared first on Research Education and Development.

Photo by Garmin Bao | Unsplash

From 12-16 April 2021, La Trobe University is celebrating PRIDE week. 

PRIDE Week is a fantastic opportunity to show support for our sex, gender, and sexuality diverse community members. 

La Trobe University is fortunate to have researchers undertaking innovative LGBTIQA+ scholarship. This week the RED Alert blog will be sharing posts focused on the experiences of our diverse LGBTIQA+ researchers and profile some of the fantastic LGBTIQA+ research that our scholars are contributing to.

Our next post in this series is written by Roz Bellamy, a graduate researcher in the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society.

Follow #LTUPRIDE2021 if you are participating online! 

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I started my PhD at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS) at La Trobe in early 2018, drawn to their work around the health and wellbeing of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual people, and other sexually and gender diverse people (LGBTQIA+). I am queer and non-binary and I had been working as a secondary school English teacher. Schools aren’t always the best settings for being out and proud. Being visibly queer had meant students came to me with questions but it had also led to me experiencing queerphobic sentiments.

During my time as a teacher, I had observed many students struggling to connect to the curriculum or to the school environment. Some students didn’t connect to the very white, very straight texts on the school’s text list. One student wanted to be a make-up artist and found school pointless. Another student told me that sex education was awkward and uncomfortable since it was taught by her straight male P.E. teacher. A Pacific Islander student told me she had never encountered anything at high school that connected to her culture, apart from lunchtimes spent with her friends.

I often encountered students with mental and physical health challenges and wanted to help but didn’t always have the resources or capacity to do so. Also, it wasn’t necessarily my place. I referred students to the appropriate counsellors or services, but couldn’t help wondering if there was something more I could do. As a writer and passionate book devourer, I wanted to make it possible for all students to have the experience of enjoying writing and reading. This meant, occasionally, veering away from the curriculum and the set text list.

Being a classroom teacher left me with some big, interdisciplinary questions relating to education, sociology, creative writing, cultural studies and health promotion. One of these was: What needs to change to ensure that marginalised students have positive experiences at school? I didn’t want to limit my research to one faculty or discipline. ARCSHS turned out to be an ideal place to work on exploratory research and search for answers.

As I moved away from teaching, I thought about the ways that life writing (autobiographical writing) offers me important tools. Writing memoir and personal essays helps me make sense of my life experiences and understand myself better. When life gives me lemons, I make lemonade from the circumstances by writing pieces that help me process what is going on.

I wondered if life writing might offer the same for other people. My previous experience had suggested that there isn’t usually much autobiographical writing done in secondary schools.

I worked with my supervisors to design an empirical research study that would let me explore what engaging in life writing might look like for other people and what it might mean to them. We discussed the different communities that could benefit from participating in my research study, which ultimately involved attending a life writing workshop and submitting narratives, and I decided I wanted to work with young LGBTQIA+ people.

This was partly in response to knowing that there was no national or state-based program in schools to promote inclusion of LGBTQIA+ students anymore. It was knowing, from my own school experiences at a religious private school, what it felt like not to be represented in the class texts and not to feel safe writing about my sexuality or gender within institutional settings. It was wanting to make writing safe so that young LGBTQIA+ people felt like they had a space where they could blurt out whatever they wanted, in whatever form they wanted.

Now, in the final year of my PhD, I look back at the last three years with fondness and appreciation, despite my stress levels. ARCSHS, and La Trobe broadly, have been safe spaces for me as a queer researcher. Just as I wanted to offer safety, resources and space for complexity around identity and making sense of experiences to my participants, LTU has offered this to me as a graduate researcher. It is where I have found community with other researchers – from other HDR students, supervisors, my committee, academic staff, the Graduate Researcher Team, the Graduate Research School, the Union (LTSU and NTEU), in online spaces (e.g. the Facebook group for LTU Gender, Sexuality and Diversity students) and in the library (shout out to Clare O’Hanlon – librarian extraordinaire in all areas but especially in this area).

Back when I was a student – at school and other universities – I had no idea that I would one day be able to integrate my own identity into my academic pursuits so fully. I thought I would always have to keep aspects of myself hidden or compartmentalised, separate to my studies. I know that isn’t possible in all fields. Regardless, I hope that this Pride Week offers you a sense of solidarity, pride and celebration, and that it reminds all of us that support is there if we need it.

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Roz Bellamy (they/them) is a PhD candidate at the Australian Research Centre of Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University, a writer and the online editor at Archer Magazine. Their writing has appeared in the Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald, SBS, Huffington Post, the Big Issue, Overland, and Growing Up Queer in Australia (Black Inc.) You can follow their work on Twitter @Bellarozz.

The post La Trobe University is a fabulous place to be an LGBTQIA+ researcher (Roz Bellamy) appeared first on Research Education and Development.