The Academic Identities Conference 2018, Hiroshima, Japan

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Academic Identities Conference, conference report

By Claire Aitchison, Cally Guerin and Susan Carter

Following directly from the IDERN Conference we three editors were lucky enough to stay on and attend the International Academic Identities Conference which was convened by A/Professor Machi Sato of the Research Institute for Higher Education (RIHE) and hosted at Hiroshima University, 19-21 September.

Hiroshima Peace Park
Image by Cally Guerin

The location was a fitting reminder of the historical significance of Hiroshima for global peace, and the conference theme, ‘The Peaceful University: Aspirations for academic futures – compassion, generosity, imagination, and creation’ prompted a reconsideration of academic priorities and challenges.

The focus on identities fostered a wide range of theorisations and explorations of practices, hopes and aspirations for academic work and for students, including inspirational presentations for contesting the challenges arising. While there were relatively few presentations with a particular emphasis on academic or doctoral writing, it was remarkable how, despite significant cultural, historical and contextual differences, there was a common recognition of the impact of marketisation on our academic lives and options as writers.

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A stimulating collegial event: the 2018 meeting of IDERN (International Doctoral Education Research Network)

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Hiroshima University, IDERN

By Susan Carter, Claire Aitchison and Cally Guerin

We three editors of the DoctoralWriting SIG had the re-energising experience of attending IDERN at Hiroshima University in Japan, 15-17 September, 2018.  IDERN is a loose group of people who come together every two to three years to discuss trends in doctoral research. The business of meetings is steered by a committee that organises key sessions including an introduction from the hosting country and followed thereafter by a series of provocations to stimulate discussion groups. This year the meeting was beautifully hosted by Machi Sato (Hiroshima University) and her team.

We learned about doctoral education in Japan from Professors Yohsuke Yamamoto and Shinichi Kobayashi, who described successful Japanese doctoral programs but nonetheless identified a need for reform, and for international collaboration.

Ahoy! what is so interesting about doctoral writing?

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Doctoral writing, Emotion & writing

By Susan Carter

At the Quality in Postgraduate Research conference (April 17-19, 2018), a group of scholars came to a doctoral writing special interest group (SIG). Why, you might wonder, when writing in and of itself might seem to not be a topic with an argument to make. Most were academics who support doctoral writing, and a few were those writers themselves. I asked them to jot down what they find so interesting about doctoral writing, explaining that I would construct a blogpost from these.

Their individual responses splatter around the complexity of the process and product, and led me to the metaphor of sailing.

Reflections on the HERDSA Conference 2018

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HERDSA Conference 2018

By Claire Aitchison

Many of our readers will be familiar with the HERD Journal which has developed a strong reputation for its quality publications on higher education. All three editors of this blog, and many of our readers and guest bloggers, write and review for HERD journal, which regularly publishes on doctoral education and doctoral writing.

HERDSA (Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia) is the parent organisation for the journal and this year Cally and I attended the annual conference in Adelaide, South Australia, 2-5 July. The Conference attracts a range of higher education specialists including academic developers, management and those with a teaching focus.

DoctoralWriting SIG meeting and QPR 2018 conference

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doctoralwriting SIG, impact & engagement, QPR conference

By Cally Guerin

It’s all over so quickly! The biennial Quality in Postgraduate Research (QPR) conference was held in sunny Adelaide, South Australia, last week. As the longest running and biggest conference on doctoral education in the world, QPR gathers together people who are concerned with both the big picture of where research training is heading and the details of how we get where we want to be. The conference keeps growing, and this year we had lots of current PhD candidates in attendance as well as seasoned academics and researchers. The conference website has details about the range of presenters and abstracts.

‘It’s gold!’ – A treasure to help you through your studies A.K.A “Postgraduate study in Australia: surviving and succeeding”

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book review, Postgraduate Study in Australia

By Dr Susan Mowbray

Susan is the Academic Literacy Advisor in the Graduate Research School at Western Sydney University working with postgraduate students at all stages of candidature, supporting them to refine and progress their research and writing. Susan’s interests include exploring and supporting doctoral student experiences.

BOOK REVIEW: Postgraduate study in Australia: surviving and succeeding. (2017).  Editors: Christopher McMaster, Caterina Murphy, Benjamin Whitburn, Inger Mewburn. New York: Peter Lang

In 2017 I requested that my library buy a copy of Postgraduate study in Australia; surviving and succeeding. I was interested to read it given its focus on the experiences of Australian postgrad students – I was also curious given its protracted birthing process because “no Australian education publisher was interested in supporting students in their own country”.

The idea for this book came originally from Chris McMaster and Caterina Murphy, two academics from New Zealand (NZ). Motivated to offer meaningful advice to NZ PhD students from other NZ PhD students, they asked new graduates/late phase doctoral students for chapters in response to the question “If you could go back in time to when you started your studies, what advice would you give your younger self?”