CCI research higher degree (RHD) Mainstreaming Idea Jam Challenge 2009

8 June 2009 – 24 June 2009

Download this page as a PDF CCI RHD Mainstreaming Idea Jam Challenge 2009

Summary

Ideas generated included:
1. Who needs a Doctoral Programme? – Thomas Petzold
a. First Pragmatic Suggestion: Establish a clearly visible ‘Doctoral Programme’ button on the homepage.
b. Second Pragmatic Suggestion: … is rather leading to a question. What can a ‘Doctoral Programme’ include if the idea received sufficient support? Sampsung already mentioned seminars or short programs á la Oxford Internet Institute
Summer Doctoral Programme. Any others?
c. Third Pragmatic Suggestion: A CCI quarterly or biannual newsletter that showcases the latest RESEARCH achievements (not ‘news’ which are already on the website or the creative economy weekly update which gathers relevant outside news)

2. Learning to play the game from the outset – Mark Ryan
a. Proposes CCI creates a document ‐ perhaps in orientation bags ‐ that encourages
students to work towards the following:
i. publish as many articles as possible during candidature
ii. publish as many refereed conference papers as possible during candidature
iii. attend as many conferences as possible
iv. write articles with supervisors
v. write articles with fellow RhD students
vi. form writing teams to write articles
vii. organise a post‐doc or a position on a grant before graduating.
viii. know the difference in terms of value attached to sole‐authored research
and co‐authored research

3. More hands‐on experience to meet professional development needs – Henry Li
a. Get RHD students involved in CCI issues, in agenda setting, events organization and
research plans.
b. Open teaching and research assistantship jobs to all RHD students affiliated to CCI.
c. Set aside special scholarships for RHD students to support them to attend
conferences, workshops and other networking opportunities.

4. Job postings for positions in the CCI network – Krystina Benson
a. I'd like to get information about fellowships or post doctoral positions available within the CCI network.

5. Let’s show off at the CCI conference! – Woitek Konzal
a. Why doesn't CCI add another conference room specifically for RHDs during their next conference? Benefits include:‐ getting inspiration from others, practicing talking in front of people, getting your name out there and profiting from CCI's reputation before being able to become a Centre Fellow

6. Networking – Wen Wen
a. Holding a fortnightly get‐together to talk about our 'achievement' or difficulties face to face?

7. Themes, space and beer – Jaz Choi
a. Do we have resources to organise the following few things?
i. Cohorts (theme‐based): this information should be available online and
accessible to all RHD students. Each student should also be able to flexibly
join / leave their cohorts.
ii. Space for regular (monthly / fortnightly) meet‐ups where
iii. Food can be arranged. It doesn't have to be grand (e.g. beer on friday,
sandwiches for lunch on Wednesday)

8. Dedicated budgeting and dedicated staffing – Linda Watterson
a. CCI could have a dedicated officer (paid, of course, 10 hours/week
maybe,volunteering doesn’t work in long term) within CCI (either a later stage
research student or a current staff with extra load) to organize:
i. Regular get‐together for students, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, within CCI
or with outsider (other faculty, universities, nationwide or
international) involved (see various previous posts);
ii. Web‐site with more interactive figures for research students (see post of S
Reiter );
iii. Introductory activities for new students (see post of K Schmeider);
iv. Mentoring scheme administration, matching students with their mentors
(see post of K Benson);
v. Conference assistance, including sourcing conference, applying GIA or other
funding, dealing with logistics such as travel or accommodation;
vi. Publication consulting, including tips and tricks for publication;
vii. Bi‐annual post‐graduate conference (Ignite 10);
viii. Liaison between students and CCI on other issues;

9. A focus on professional development – Alex Bradley
a. I wonder if an opportunity exists for CCI to provide parity of opportunity in this
regard, not only across Supervisors, but across Universities. I am not suggesting
particular skills or resources to be addressed, but rather that CCI provision of these,
as a whole, would be beneficial. Additionally, the existing website could provide a
supplemental and centralized resource for any programs offered over time.

10. More communication between PhD students – Sampsung Shi
a. Here are some ideas I have in my mind at this moment:
i. The CCI website is designed to provide a platform for researchers and RHD
students to interact with each other, or at least let others know what he/she
has been doing. However, in most cases what I can see is just a short bio of
each member. It might be unrealistic to ask people to blog on this site;
however, the centere can blog on it. It can also trigger some debates on the
site.
ii. More siminars or short programe for and by RHD students with supports
from professors of the Centre.

11. Learn through others’ twists and turns – Elaine Zhao
a. It is good to see some public lectures and presentations are given by researchers
associated with CCI. Most of the time the presentation is about research results.
Since a journey from problem identification to problem solving is a journey of twists
and turns, well, more or less, mini‐case studies on what problems are encountered
and how they get solved during the research process will help students to learn
through other people’s journey. Learning by doing through PHD research and
research assistance work is important, and learning through others’ twists and turns
makes our own less zigzag.

12. Suggestions of a newbie (‐: ‐ Kathrin Schmeider
a. Firstly the whole website of the CCI should be more interactive. Why not include the possibility to add a comment under each article? This simple solution helps to get more involved not just for research students but also for everyone at the center and outside.
b. A research higher degree network would probably be good.
c. The website should definitely provide the possibility to read who is a student at the
CCI, in which area he/she does research and a possibility to get in contact with them.
Let's add contact details for students under the menu link ‘people’, like it’s already
done for some?
d. Furthermore I believe the following additional offers would be interesting for research students: access to selected databases like e.g. “ISI Web of Knowledge”, financial support to attend international conferences, professional development
possibilities or academic job announcements.

13. Informal doctoral consortium @ QUT, or other Brisbane Universities – Sebastian Reiter
a. A month ago I attended a doctoral consortium hosted by the faculty of business with
Prof. Andrew Van de Ven on the topic “Engaged Scholarship”. In my opinion hosting
a day like this on a quarterly basis would be a great opportunity for all research
students. Firstly to get a different view of research as well as advise, next to the
principal and associate supervisors .Secondly to have a guided open discussion with
other research fellows.

14. Mentorships between students and experts – Krystina Benson
a. MENTORING It would be great to feel that the experts are willing (and ideally desiring) to mentor us up‐and‐comers. Perhaps as CCI students, one of the direct tangible benefits of membership could be to set up an official mentoring network.
After stage 2 or confirmation, each student is organised to have a mentor within the CCI network for brainstorming sessions. These sessions would take the form of an hour long meeting once or twice a year, either one‐on‐one or in a small group. This
would build relationships between post grads and faculty. It would give post grads an opportunity to have discussions about their work with an expert in their field and give the experts an idea of emerging research in their field.

15. Creating a space for presenting doctorate and post doctorate research – Krystina Benson
a. Although IGNITE was a good experience, it would be great to have an opportunity to present to the outside community in a conference setting. Hosting a conference for national and international doctoral and post doctorates would be a supportive
environment and a great niche for CCI to position themselves as on the cusp of new and innovative research. This conference could take the form of something similar to UQ’s Annual Work‐in‐Progress Conference, or could be a separate program in the
CCI conference.

16. Research lectureships or Posdocs for members – Alex Bradley
a. I noticed an advertisement in the Australian on the weekend for 'Research Lectureships' at the University of Western Sydney. They described these as "A 3 year contract with provision for conversion to ongoing teaching and research appointment. Appointees will have a one‐third of a normal teaching load for the initial 3 year contract to establish a research career". I'm not sure what the difference is between this and a Post‐doc..maybe that lecturing is a requirement and that it's focusing on teaching and research rather than research alone? I think this kind of thing is a great idea. As a Higher Degree is an apprenticeship into academia, how about extending the apprenticeship and employment opportunities via
Research Lectureships or Post‐docs? A set number could be provided by CCI across participating universities, specifically set aside for CCI RHD students.

17. Communication of news via email – Sebastian Reiter
a. Centralize all modes of information for distribution to one single channel and in one
single style
b. Via a QUT virtual every student/researcher chooses like how I the kind of news I would like to receive at BNET or other news
c. Everyone gets only the information he is looking for.
d. All other information stored in the web in one place

ACTION ITEMS
Easy:
1. Assist with establishing reading groups and writing groups by providing facilitating admin
support
2. Assist with establishing RHD‐led Steering Group to represent RHD interests in interacting
with Centre management
3. Have RHD community systematically notified about CCI jobs and postdoc positions
4. Find out which CCI staff are willing and able to provide mentorship and advertise their
availability as such to the RHD community (this could be an email‐based mentor
relationship, no need for physical co‐location) (see idea from Krystina Benson – idea number
4 above)

Important:
1. Investigate a conference/colloquium format for CCI RHDs to present to each other and the
external community [could be undertaken by the RHD Steering Group]
2. Investigate ways to promote use of CCI website profiles as primary source of info/contact for
CCI RHDs and/or requirements for establishing a social network for CCI RHDs using a
platform such as Ning [could be undertaken by the RHD Steering Group]

For deeper consideration:
1. Investigate costs/benefits of a structured CCI doctoral programme addressing development
of skills to succeed as a post‐doc/researcher from the outset with info & resources clearly
accessible from the CCI website (see ideas from Thomas Petzold (idea number 1 above and
Mark Ryan idea number 2 above)