Conferences and Travel 2005/2006
SORTI will be well represented at the 7th Quality In Postgraduate Research Conference:Knowledge Creation in Testing Times, to be held in Adelaide, South Australia from 20 – 21 April 2006. Doctoral candidate, Kylie Shaw will present a paper: An investigation of the nature and contribution of Honours programs in Australia (Shaw & Holbrook). Another paper, A model for assessing the quality of PhD theses (Bourke, Holbrook & Lovat) presents a grounded approach to identifying and measuring the quality of PhD theses. A third paper, Using research candidate Annual Report data to examine aspects of supervision effectiveness (Holbrook, Cantwell & Bourke) is based on the detailed annual reports of progress by research masters and PhD candidates. Abstracts of these papers will be available on this site closer to the conference date.
Dr Rob Cantwell has had a paper accepted for the 4th International Lifelong Learning Conference to be held in Yeppoon, Queensland from 13-16 June, 2006. The paper is titled Engendering a state of mind: A critical examination of lifelong learning from the perspective of learning theory (with D. Adams).
In September, Dr Jo May presented a paper at the European Australian Studies Conference in Debrecen, Hungary.
Several SORTI members attended the 11th Biennial EARLI Conference held in Nicosia, Cyprus, 23-27th August 2005. A/P Allyson Holbrook presented a paper The ‘expression’ of doctoral quality and assessment in Fine Art (Holbrook, StGeorge, Ashburn, Graham & Lawry). Professor Bourke presented the latest data on the PhD Assessment Project in a paper: Some relationships between nature of PhD enrolment, time of candidature and thesis quality. Abstracts of these papers can be found via the SORTI PhD Examination Publications page. Dr Jill Scevak and Dr Robert Cantwell presented a paper titled Affective factors in the adjustment of mature-aged women returning to formal study. Professor Terry Lovat also presented at the conference.
Associate Professor Shen Chen will be in the Research Institute of Higher Education, Nanjing University, PRC from September to December, for a joint research project "A comparative study on RHD students training in Australian and Chinese universities". Prof. Gong Fang, Director of the Institute, will be the research partner. During this visit, the possibilities of future cooperation including the training of RHD supervisors at Chinese universities will be discussed.
Associate Professor Allyson Holbrook and Kylie Shaw presented papers at the HERDSA Conference: Higher Education in a Changing World, held at the University of Sydney, 3-6th July, 2005. The Holbrook et al. paper is titled The assessment of the literature review in the PhD thesis (Holbrook, Bourke, Lu, Lovat & Fairbairn). Kylie Shaw took part in the pre-conference seminar entitled Research based teaching and learning: The changing direction of undergraduate education. An abstract of the Holbrook et al. paper can be found via the SORTI PHD Examinations page.
Professor Sid Bourke, on behalf of the PhD Examiner Project team, presented a paper at the AARE Special Notice Focus Conference "Quality in Educational Research: Directions in policy and practice" held in Cairns from 4th - 5th July 2005. The paper, by Bourke, Holbrook and Lovat is titled Using examiner reports to identify quality in PhD theses. A copy of this paper can be found via the PhD Examination Publications page.
SORTI members Dr Neryl Jeanneret and Dr Rob Cantwell presented a paper (with I. Irvine) at the ASME XV National Conference held in Melbourne, 3-7 July, 2005.
A paper by Dr Rob Cantwell, Learning style and approach to study across an undergraduate physiotherapy programme: Implications for optimising student learning (with R. Irvine), was presented at the ANZAME Annual Conference, Auckland, new Zealand, 29 June to 2 July, 2005.
June 18-19th, Associate Professor Allyson Holbrook travelled to the Queensland University of Technology to meet with Professor Kerrie Mengersen to start preliminary work profiling research graduates in Australia using ABS data. This project will initially be funded by QUT. While at QUT, A/P Holbrook presented a paper, PhD examiner consistency and implications for identifying doctoral thesis quality: Evidence from a national study of doctoral examination across disciplines, at a QUT seminar.
In March, Associate Professor Allyson Holbrook attended the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) Centres Meeting in Canberra.
In September, Associate Professor Allyson Holbrook travelled to Canberra to attend the Australasian Research Management Society Conference (ARMS), "Oiling the Wheels of Change", which featured extended discussion about the upcoming Research Quality Framework.