Skills Training for Research Higher Degree Candidates
RHD candidates will be sent an email to their student mail address when new seminars are scheduled. Information on Endnote training, IT skills training, animal ethics and counselling services are also available below.
RHD Development
Pre-Confirmation Program
The Office of Graduate Studies and Learning Development are offering a new program in 2012 for pre-confirmation RHD candidates.
The program consists of 12 workshops. Each workshop is delivered four times, once for each discipline group. The workshops are offered at the Callaghan campus.
Individual RHD consultations are also available where you can obtain advice on strategies and techniques for reading and writing effectively as well as preparing for the confirmation process.
Please click here to see full details of the Pre-Confirmation Program and the individual consultations.
RHD Development at Ourimbah
The Pre-Confirmation Program dates at Ourimbah have been announced.
Please click here for more information.
RHD Development: English as a Second Language
The University offers eight types of ESL support for RHD candidates.
As well as the Workshops and Writing Circles designed for RHD students (see above and below), there is specific English Language support available for International RHD students including English Language workshops, RHD speaking sessions and individual consultations.
Please click here to download the information sheet.
RHD Development for Off Campus Candidates
RHD candidates who are enrolled off campus can access a range of support to assist them in their study.
Please click here to download the information sheet.
WRITING CIRCLES FOR RHD CANDIDATES
Improving your writing skills is a key component of successful RHD candidature. Writing and showing your work forces you to stay on track and refine your thinking. The Writing Circles are run by Learning Development and are held at Callaghan and Ourimbah.
For further information please click here or contact Jill McKeowen Jill.McKeowen@newcastle.edu.au
GRAMMAR WORKSHOPS
These workshops are for RHD students from all faculties, at all levels of their program who would ike help with grammatical structure.
For more information please click here or contact Nicholas Collier Nicholas.Collier@newcastle.edu.au
THE HIGHLY EFFECTIVE RESEARCHER SERIES
Hugh Kearns and Maria Gardiner of Flinders University visit Newcastle each year to run their 'Highly Effective Researcher Program". Hugh and Maria have developed a national reputation for working with researchers and RHD candidates to increase their research output. First introduced in 2006, Hugh and Maria now also run their program in the USA, UK, Ireland and Spain. Hugh and Maria will be back in May 2012 to run their successful seminar series again.
The 7 Secrets of Highly Successful PhD Students
Wednesday 16 May 2012: 2.00 - 4.30pm in HB15 (Hunter Building)
Presenter: Hugh Kearns
What do research students do to finish on time, to overcome isolation and doubt and to enjoy the process? And just as importantly what do they do in order to spend guilt-free time with their family and friends and perhaps even have holidays? Do you find that you engage in anything but work on your thesis, constantly telling yourself that tomorrow you’ll organise a meeting with your supervisor or get started on your data analysis? And do you find you are highly productive when it comes to organising the postgrad symposium, but not so much when it comes to things related to your research higher degree? Are you really busy and doing a lot of things, but just don’t seem to be making as much progress as you would like?
This workshop describes the key habits that our research and experience with thousands of students shows will make a difference to how quickly and easily you complete your research higher degree. Key aspects of this workshop have featured in the journal Nature.
This workshop will help you to understand how to:
- take (at least some) responsibility for your relationship with your supervisor
- improve the supervisory experience
- structure your study time so you get more done in 2 hours than 8
- overcome perfectionism
- get the help you need when you are stuck
- deal with multiple commitments
- keep on going when the going gets tough
Who is it for: Research students at any point in their candidature. To attend, please RSVP to nadine.barry@newcastle.edu.au
This workshop will be recorded with Lectopia and will be available from the RHD Blackboard site after the event.
Turbocharge Your Writing
Thursday 17 May 2012: 2.00 - 4.30pm in SRLT2
Presenter: Hugh Kearns
Would you like to know the secret to high output, high quality, scholarly writing? In academia, because writing is such a big part of what you do, it is often assumed that it comes naturally. However, for most academics, it can be a hit and miss activity, with some days (weeks or even months!) being hard to get started. And when you do get started you might sit there for hours and not produce many words. Finally, when the words are on the page, you may wonder why you bothered since what you have written isn’t very good.
This workshop draws on the overwhelming body of research (and experience with thousands of writers). This research shows that there are very clear and practical evidence-based strategies that can greatly increase your writing quality and quantity. Key aspects of this workshop have featured in the journal Nature.
This workshop will help you to understand:
- why it can be hard to get started
- how we deliberately use distractions to slow down writing
- the principles of quick starting
- why snack writing is generally more productive than binge writing
- how to deal with the internal committee that slows down writing
- how to set achievable goals by writing in a silo
- how to greatly double (or more) the number of actual words you produce
- how to clarify your thinking and improve the quality of your work
Who is it for: Researchers and research students. To attend, students should RSVP to nadine.barry@newcastle.edu.au. Staff members please register via HR online.
This workshop will be recorded with Lectopia and will be available from the RHD Blackboard site after the event.
These workshops are offered as part of the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) Highly Effective Researcher Program.
The care and maintenance of your supervisor
Hugh Kearns and Maria Gardiner - the presenters of the 'Highly Effective Researcher' Seminars including 'The Seven Secrets of Highly Successful PhD Students' have recently had three articles published in the prestigious science journal 'Nature'. 'The care and maintenance of your supervisor', 'Waiting for the motivation fairy' and 'Turbocharge your writing' can all be viewed on line. To view the articles, go to http://www.nature.com/ and type Hugh Kearns into the search function.
2012 RHD SEMINAR SERIES
Human Ethics Application Processes
Date: Wednesday 2 May 2012
Time: 10.00 am – 11.30 am
Place: Lecture Theatre HB13 (near the Hunter Building Café)
Presented by Professor Allyson Holbrook, Chair, Human Ethics Committee, this seminar covers the importance of obtaining ethics approval and the application procedures. If you require ethics approval for your research and have not yet obtained it, then this seminar is important for you. It will be recorded with Lectopia and available from Blackboard for downloading. To attend, please RSVP to nadine.barry@newcastle.edu.au
Understanding the Confirmation Year Process
Date: Tuesday 8 May 2012
Time: 2.30pm – 4.00pm
Place: Lecture Theatre HB13 (In the Hunter Building, near the Café).
This seminar is important for all commencing RHD candidates. It explains the reasons that students undertake confirmation, the requirements and the process. It is presented by Prof. Scott Holmes, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Dean, Graduate Studies. This is a one-off seminar, not to be confused with the Pre-confirmation workshops run by the Centre for Teaching and Learning. The seminar will be recorded with Lectopia and available to download from Blackboard. To attend, please RSVP to nadine.barry@newcastle.edu.au
Off campus students
For students located off campus, Learning Development has a Blackboard site with many online resources. Please log in to Blackboard and select Learning Development from the ‘My Courses’ list. Once there, select the ‘online resources’ button. Where possible, seminars run by the Office of Graduate Studies will be recorded with Lectopia and can be viewed from the RHD Blackboard site.
NUPSA
NUPSA organises training sessions for its members - please check the NUPSA Blackboard site for details.
Recommended Reading
The Library contains useful resources for RHD students on successful RHD study. We recommend: Doctorates downunder : keys to successful doctoral study in Australia and New Zealand, edited by Carey Denholm and Terry Evans;
By Hugh Kearns:
The 7 secrets of highly successful PhD students
Defeating self-sabotage : getting your PhD finished
The PhD experience : what they didn't tell you at induction
Endnote
What is EndNote?
EndNote allows you to record and organise personal databases of searchable references to books, journal articles, conference papers and other publications. You can create your bibliographies automatically by inserting references from your Endnote library into a Word document. Endnote formats the bibliography for your paper in the reference style that you choose. Endnote training is organised by the Library. For details of online training and workshops please visit:
http://www.newcastle.edu.au/service/library/endnote/
Animal Ethics
There is a separate training program on Animal Ethics provided by Research Services. Full details are available at the Animal Ethics website.
General Skills Training
A range of general skills training is available to research higher degree candidates at the University of Newcastle.
ITskills is a suite of "learn-it-yourself" training modules which are free to access. There are over 100 interactive online modules for the PC or Macintosh environments, in topics such as Microsoft Office, project management, Dreamweaver and basic computer skills.
The Careers and Employment Office of the University provides assistance or workshops on CV writing, interview techniques and writing job applications.
Counselling
The University's Counselling website has many resources to help you clarify and resolve a range of issues, which might otherwise interfere with academic or personal effectiveness.
