Top topics at the recent Australian Council of Graduate Research (ACGR) meeting of all Deans and Directors of Graduate Studies included: the ACOLA (Australian Council of Learned Academies) review of Australia’s Research Training System (full report); improving supervisor performance; increasing links with industry through internships and industry-linked projects and ensuring quality supervision for industry-linked projects. Both the Student Consultative committee (April 27th) and the University HDR committee (May 11th) will discuss the ACOLA report, our HDR Exit Survey Results and how we can increase opportunities for students to work with industry. We’ll send out a summary of the implications of the ACOLA report separately but one key message is that we need to help HDR students understand early in their candidature what career paths their degree can lead to. That message was echoed by the HDR Exit results. They tell us that students are broadly satisfied with their experience but need greater assistance getting research published and developing career options. A digest of the Exit Survey results will be presented in the Committees and can be provided on request (peter.francis@anu.edu.au).
This month Research Services has been briefing researchers about the Defence Trade Control Legislation (DTCL). You may need to know about this if your research has military applications or is classed as Dual Use. Ask your supervisor if in doubt – the penalties for breaking the law are severe. If you missed the presentations contact your College Research Office to access the materials at https://services.anu.edu.au/research-support/ethics-integrity/defence-export-controls-and-your-research. This is a staff only site at the moment - we’ll try to get a student version of it but ask your College office or supervisor if you want to see the resources there. If there is demand we’ll arrange an HDR-specific workshop on DTCL (contact maria.davern@anu.edu.au if you would be interested).
RESEARCH SKILLS & TRAINING
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