Newcastle Mini-Conference 2003- Abstracts

Compiled and edited by Peter L. Jeffery.

AS03003Z  Paper

New possibilities: Supervising Fine Art Doctorates

Elizabeth Ashburn, University of New South Wales

The study of doctorates in art history and art theory has been available for a considerable time and these degrees are well accepted. While art schools have offered masters research degrees for around twenty years the award of doctorates in the fine arts studio area are even more recent and much less familiar. As such degrees also include a practical studio component with a thesis there is no doubt that this has contributed to concerns regarding the definition of projects, their quality, their supervision and assessment.

These fine art studio doctorates provide some new challenges for supervisors as they may be required to supervise both major studio practice and a substantial thesis component. While this supervision can combine elements of traditional doctoral supervision with some aspects of supervision of studio based research master's degrees, I have not found these adequate to accommodate the complexity of fine art doctorates.

Many of these doctoral projects are also interdisciplinary in nature and require joint supervision provided from the wider university. This interdisciplinarity provides yet another challenge for supervisors. In this paper I want to consider the exciting opportunities there are in supervising such doctorates and what pedagogical approaches and teaching strategies are emerging.

AS03021Z ®   Paper

Redefining our experiences of research through the integration of multiple perspectives for the development of postgraduate student research capacity

Hope Ashiabor, Ros Taplin, Mio Bryce, Elizabeth Kefallinos and Anna Reid, Macquarie University

This paper integrates different supervisory models with a view to proposing a framework that will foster a supportive intellectual environment for the supervisor-student relationship.

To provide conceptual background to the discussion, the paper reviews some of the existing models for postgraduate research supervision as found in the literature. The paper juxtaposes these models against the experience that we, the authors, have encountered in our supervision of student research, as well as from interviews that we conducted with other supervisors.

We argue that although the existing literature sets out multiple models of research supervision, our experience has been that they have been rather prescriptive and apply to specific situations. Here we redefine our experiences through our perception of our disciplinary environment, our perception of the university environment, and our student's perspective. Unfortunately, little attention is paid in the literature to the perspective of the student in the supervision process. We argue that to foster an effective environment in the supervision of student research, there is a need to be aware of the variations in applying supervisory models in practice. There is also a need to be aware of the variations in our student's understanding of the research situation, their educational and cultural backgrounds, their expectations of their outcomes of their study and many other factors. Our proposed framework acknowledges that postgraduate supervision is a symbiotic process where balance is integral to the development of the student as a researcher.

BA03006Z

Transforming Doctoral Expectations

Robyn Barnacle, RMIT University

Persistent poor results from PREQ and other surveys regarding the quality of the research environment or culture experienced by research degree candidates suggests a hiatus exists between some candidates' expectations of a research degree and their subsequent experience. Perceptions of what a research degree might, or should, be are often in excess of, or incongruent with, what the experience actually has to offer. To what extent does this hiatus reflect the changing nature of the research degree, and the Doctoral degree in particular? How might the emergence of new research models, such as by project, work based, industry linked etc, and other notable factors, such as increasing part-time enrolment and changing demographic characteristics, impact on what candidates' expectations are regarding the experience of doing a PhD?

This paper explores these questions through presenting findings from recent studies conducted at RMIT that are aimed at better understanding the research degree candidate experience. The findings from these studies are revealing as to the nature of research candidates' aspirations regarding a research environment. They also provide an insight into how Doctoral candidates characterise what the critical factors are in contributing to, and detracting from, a successful research culture. I explore these findings and speculate on what they reveal about the contemporary PhD experience.

BR03012Z   ®

Exploring the multi-layered experience of undertaking creative Doctoral research

Laura Brearley, RMIT University

This paper explores the emotional and existential dimensions of creative research which are often unacknowledged or unexamined. Its purpose is to deepen understanding about the nature of the non-cognitive aspects of the research experience and explore the implications for students and supervisors.

The paper crosses genres and incorporates academic literature, autobiographical narratives, songs and poems within the text. Through the use of multiple voices, I have attempted to reflect the substance and emotional intensity of the research experience and foster an emotional engagement with the data. The paper draws on the literature which examines the experience of research, theories of learning and knowledge creation and epistemological issues of representation in research.

The purpose of the paper is to stimulate critical reflection by stretching and dissolving boundaries, in both content and its form. The paper has been written in the hope that it will play to the edge of the possible, challenging aesthetic concepts and also inviting us to be more fully conscious of ourselves and our practice, both as researchers and supervisors. My intention is to contribute to our understanding of the creative doctoral experience beyond the cognitive domain in ways which can ultimately enrich our practice.

BR03015Z ®  Paper

Defining the doctorate with Asian research students

Mio Bryce, Macquarie University

The aim of supervision is to support a student's development to become a competent, autonomous researcher. This requires supervisors to have a wide range of responsibilities, abilities balanced views and practices to deal with intellectual, psychological and cultural issues.

The challenge for Asian students is the developing subtly in language, thinking and autonomy. Supervisors should be aware of philosophical and pragmatic levels. First, the magnitude of the language barrier should be recognised as it affects all academic practice; speed of absorption and thinking and quality of comprehension, besides difficulties in academic writing. Second, different ways of thinking should be understood not as cultural and/or personal immaturity, inability but as difference. Third, student's heavy dependence on their supervisors, a serious obstacle for the development of their autonomy, is deeply rooted in their customary perspective and practice that the respect for others is expressed as their full trust and obedience.

In short, it is crucial for supervisors to recognise the difference between students capability and intellectual capacity as researcher, their attitude and practice stemming from their culture, and to help students holistic development, not replacing one culture to another, but based on their native culture to nurture their multicultural intellectualities.

This paper will discuss the difficulties experienced by Asian research students developing into competent researchers in the Western academic environment.

CA01013Z

The Role Of Effective Supervision In Facilitating Constructive Volitional Behaviour In Doctoral Study

Robert Cantwell and Jill Scevak, The University of Newcastle

In this paper we draw on supervisor interview data to illustrate mechanisms by which effective supervision is able to both proactively and reactively mediate volitional challenges faced by doctoral candidates in the course of their candidature. Volitional control refers to the manner in which individuals enact behaviours to protect intentions or goals in learning. Following Pintrich (1999), we examine potential volitional challenges from four perspectives: threats or challenges to motivation, to positive emotions and mood, to constructive intellectual behaviour and to a positive physical and psychological environment. In addition, we suggest that these challengers may reflect at least three levels of concern - at a distal level relating to overall candidature at a medial level relating to major episodes within the doctoral experience, and at a proximal level relating to specific task activity.

We speculate that, in addition to providing intellectual and procedural support, effective supervision also includes an affective support role. There is little doubt that negative affect - whether inwardly or outwardly directed - impacts significantly both on the preparedness of the candidate to commit to aspects of the doctoral task and on the likelihood of the candidate completing in a timely manner. Mapping supervisor comments on to a four by three matrix of Pintrich's four domains of volitional control and the levels of volitional concern, we provide evidence of supervisor actions designed to facilitate constructive volitional control behaviours by candidates.

CA03014Z

Performance Assessment In Doctoral Study: A Framework

Robert Cantwell and Neryl Jeanneret, The University of Newcastle

Recently, the University of Newcastle proposed a series of guidelines for the examination of doctorates in the performing and creative arts. The guidelines indicate that a doctorate in these fields may consist of a combination of creative work and dissertation. In the realm of music, the creative endeavour is expected to consist of, in the case of performance, "a sequence of between four to six one hour recitals or equivalent", and in the case of composition, "a full-length opera or symphonic score, or a portfolio of compositions of equivalent scope or depth for smaller forces". In this paper we address the examination implications of the dual assessment of the creative work and the dissertation. In particular, we draw on previous theoretical work in the assessment of senior secondary school music (Cantwell & Jeanneret, in press) to propose an examination framework that may provide a common metric across the different media, whilst at the same time allowing for both the identification and quantification of the notion of contribution at the doctoral level.

CH03029Z  Paper

"Cultural Conflicts": Ph.D Students From China vs Australian Supervisors in Research Training

Shen Chen, Doug Absalom and Allyson Holbrook, The University of Newcastle

As a result of globalisation, Australian universities are taking increasing numbers of international students. Over the past decades there has been a substantial expansion in the provision of both undergraduate and postgraduate programs for Asian students at universities all over Australia. Students of Chinese cultural heritage are listed as the highest number of overseas student enrolments. Recently the number of research students from China is increasing. The difficulties encountered by students from China in adjusting to the new learning environment in Australia have drawn increasing attention form Australia academics. One of the crucial issues in training Ph.D students from China is that there is a cultural gap of expectations between the students and their supervisors.

This paper is based on the outcome of a research investigating specific barriers to effective communication and interaction between Chinese students and their Australian supervisors. It identifies some major problems and "cultural conflicts" faced by Chinese students in adapting the new culture of research in Australia. The significance of the finding will be discussed in terms of how to improve the quality of research training and supervision in multicultural education settings at Australian universities.

CO03033Z

Towards an EdD of Professional Practice

Kennece Coombe, Charles Sturt University and Brian Paltridge, University of Sydney

In a political atmosphere within the Australian Higher Education wherein universities are punished for non-completions in Research Higher Degrees, universities across the board are actively pursuing programs that seek to maximise student success. The Doctor of Education program devised collaboratively between Charles Sturt University and the University of Sydney is one such development.

The new doctoral program has three distinct phases. Phase 1 is a positioning phase where candidates are introduced to notions of understanding and researching professional practice and builds towards the development of a functional research proposal which is defended at a colloquium before the candidate proceeds further into the program. The second phase is the one in which research is undertaken through two or three related projects which were identified in the proposal. The program reaches its completion through an exegesis which binds together the theories and new knowledge arising from the projects.

DA03011Z

Hitting The Ground Running: Issues For Doctoral Students In Education And The Creative Arts

Rachel Darell and Susan Harriman, University of Technology, Sydney

This paper presents the journey being undertaken by a group of education doctoral students at a NSW university. Chance encounters by members of this group revealed a number of shared key issues despite their doctoral studies spanning a wide range of areas such as information technology, classroom environments, imaginary friends and high school selection. In addition it focuses on specific issues faced by a members of the group working in the area of the creative arts.

Some of the general issues addressed in this paper include overcoming the solitary nature of doctoral study, building networks, gaining access to resources within the university setting, as well as identifying the importance of establishing a strong fellowship of beginning researchers at an early stage of study. Specific creative arts issues addressed include the perceived need to conform to traditional research structures to meet the steps to achieve a doctorate. This paper also highlights how these issues relate to both full-time and part-time students.

As the group has been meeting formally since early 2003, this paper will present some of the solutions that have helped to smooth this journey as well as assisting those new students just beginning to hit the ground running.

DA03032Z  ®  Paper

Higher degree examination in the Creative Arts

Kerry Dally, Allyson Holbrook, Anne Graham, Miranda Lawry and Sid Bourke, University of Newcastle

The PhD is distinguished from other university degrees by the emphasis placed on the significance of its contribution to knowledge. The qualities associated with this contribution can differ between disciplines and fields, but there are also strong similarities. One means of identifying thesis benchmarks and qualities is to identify what examiners look for in the PhD thesis. Disciplines are not static and expectations can change over time. Moreover some disciplines, such as the creative arts, did not put forward candidates for the PhD until recently and are still developing their baseline expectations on PhD process and quality.

This paper describes an established mixed-methodological approach which was previously employed to analyse the content of 603 written PhD examination reports from a range of disciplines including the arts, social sciences and science. The results from a cross-section of these previous analyses will be compared to a small sample of recently acquired Fine Art examination reports. The similarities and differences between Fine Art examination reports and reports from other disciplines are investigated. Drawing on the Fine Art examination reports as well as guidelines provided to Fine Art examiners, this paper also aims to identify emerging issues and themes from the creative arts examination process that can be explored in subsequent interviews with Fine Art examiners.

ED03036Z  Paper

Design Research and the five-legged dog

Antony Eddison & Michael Dickinson University of Newcastle

In design there are several ways of defining 'research' and there exist several traditions as to how research should be carried out and to what degree research training should be given. From a developing personal perspective, this paper examines some these issues. The ideas have evolved over the past few years following many discussions with colleagues and those involved in both research training and professional practice, undergraduate and postgraduate students of design and perceptions from those working in disciplines other than design in the UK, Europe and Australia.

Some of these issues are then set in the working context of the discipline of design at The University of Newcastle that now finds itself within a new school that includes the discipline of Information Technology, the school being one of five that make up a new Faculty of Science and Information Technology. These alliances provide for many opportunities, however there are many inherent issues, particularly at RHD level where knowledge and methodology has a tradition of being viewed from a scientific perspective.

The paper makes reference to a parallel situation in the very recent past from a QAA Subject Review of a similar school at a university in the UK with which the author was closely involved.

The paper concludes with a call for greater ongoing communication between schools of Art and Design in Australia on their research activities and issues and proposes a catalyst project that may well be of assistance in this.

EV03007Z  ®  Paper

A brief review of PhDs in Creative and Performing Arts in Australia

Terry Evans, Peter Macauley and Karen Tregenza, Deakin University and Margot Pearson, Australian National University

This paper reports on an aspect of a pilot project in 2003 by the authors comprising a bibliographic analysis of all (42,000+) Australian PhDs. The pilot work is both a data and methodological basis for a larger project that investigates the nature and development of PhDs in Australia as they evolved in the context of economic, social and educational changes. This paper reviews the evidence from the bibliographic data held in library catalogues of PhDs in each Australian university. It provides an overview of the first instances, locations and frequencies of PhDs in the creative and performing arts in Australia, fields which are relatively new to doctoral study and which pose challenges in terms of doctoral pedagogy and scholarship. This is contextualised in terms of the rise of the modern university and the new professional doctorates in the creative arts.

EV03030Z

Guidelines for Best Practice in Doctoral Education

Terry Evans, Deakin University and Leonie Rennie Curtin University of Technology

In recent years the Australian Council of Deans and Directors of Graduate Studies has become increasingly concerned about the quality and standards of doctorates, that is, PhDs, professional and other doctorates. It has become clear that PhD programs are not always of sufficient quality and that some PhD students do not receive a quality doctoral experience and outcome. Similarly, the Council has been concerned about the quality of some Australian professional and other doctorates. As a result of these concerns, the Council established a working party to prepare a set of guidelines for best practice in Australian doctoral programs. The draft guidelines are consistent with the Australian Qualifications Framework and were reviewed and refined at the last Council meeting in May, 2003. In this presentation, an overview of the guidelines is offered for further discussion and advice to the Council.

FI03018Z  Paper

An Eye On The Prize: Fourth Year Honours Students, Thesis Writing And The Group Supervision Process

Phil Fitzsimmons, Raelene Anderson, Barbra McKenzie and Honglin Chen, University of Wollongong

This presentation discusses a project arose as a result of an 'Open Forum on Supervision' at the University of Wollongong (September 2002), where the discussion centred on the need to explore different forms of doctoral supervision as it seems that the current focus on supervision of research students across Australasia as a whole is in a current state of flux (Mullins 2002). It would appear that although the supervision of thesis writing students has been a natural and accepted part of an academics working life, little is really known about the actual process, the conditions which underpin optimal supervision or the nature of alternative formats to the typical one on one nature of the process. As stated by Tinkler & Jackson (2000:167), the whole process as it stands is 'shrouded in mystery'.

Thus, in an attempt to explore possible alternatives to all research programs, and mentor possible future doctoral into the research process, a team or a 'community' based approach was set up by the Education faculty. The specific aims were to provide both individual and group mentoring while simultaneously providing an avenue for "openness, and a spirit of inquiry, all of which are desirable traits for educational researchers, whether beginners or otherwise" (Pallas 2002;9).

This paper discusses how the students involved in a 'community of learners' approach have reacted to the initial stages of this new model and the epistemological diversity they encountered.

FL03026Z

Illuminating the Text

Adele Flood, RMIT University

In this paper I will investigate ideas of practice based research from the interrelated perspectives of being an artist, a writer and a researcher. It will draw heavily upon my recently submitted PhD thesis titled Common Threads and from a series of images that were created independently but parallel to the ideas I was investigating within the research. It will explore ideas of identity, memory and will investigate

• How my own arts practice impinged upon the research.
• How the research practice directly impinged upon my arts practice by triggering a narrative response in the form of a series of images.
• How the series of images enabled self reflection and in turn further informed and made explicit my understanding of the research processes.

This kind of interrogation of processes is a way of beginning to engage in practice based research. The very act of making or creating art works involves such interrogation both implicit and explicit.

GA03038Z   Paper

A Doctorate by Definition:
Exploring possibilities and opportunities in education

Trevor Gale, Monash University

Plenary presented at AARE's 'Defining the Doctorate' Mini-Conference,
Newcastle, Australia, 2-4 October, 2003

The diagram and table reflect my conceptualisation of the issues raised at the Conference as well as the issues that these suggested for me. Two broad questions frame this characterisation: (i) what defines the doctorate? and (ii) where to now? My comments are brief and intended to stimulate further discussion of the issues in particular and their categorisation in general.

GI03009Z  Paper

Evaluating the doctoral curriculum in education

Rob Gilbert, James Cook University

Recent developments in the nature and context of doctoral research have focused considerable attention on evaluating aspects of doctoral education, especially the process of supervision, the efficiency of outputs of the higher degree system, and assessments of student satisfaction with their experiences. Less often have studies identified just what it is that is learned by doctoral graduates in the course of their studies. In Education, for instance, little is known about the range of experiences which comprise research training across the University system. Consequently, it is difficult to answer the question 'What does it mean to be trained as an educational researcher?' The recent policy emphasis on viewing doctoral research as a form of training makes this question even more salient. From this perspective, it is possible to view doctoral programs as curricula, and to apply conventional ideas of curriculum evaluation to them. The seminar will consider the implications of viewing doctoral research in this way, and will propose a framework for evaluating doctoral research training in light of these considerations.

GR03027Z

Research Supervision: RIP

Pam Green, RMIT University

In recent times the importance of research supervision has truly come to the fore in research training circles within Australian universities. The impact of the Research Training Scheme has certainly highlighted the need to provide optimal conditions for research supervision in the promotion of successful timely completions. While such contexts might pressure us to a more pragmatic supervisory style, we cannot ignore all three key aspects of supervision. The relational, intellectual and physical aspects (RIP) of research supervision deserve and demand recognition, attention and space.

In a research training context where the focus is on timely (and successful) completions and where the nature of research degrees is shifting dramatically, the nature of research supervision is under the microscope. With a greater focus on supervision, as evidenced by the emphasis on supervisor training and policy development in Australian universities, we have an opportunity to focus on the complex nature of supervision and to raise issues related to the roles and responsibilities of the supervisor and the candidate.

This paper will consider the three aspects of supervision and examine how the research training context is affecting the attention given to the relational, intellectual and physical spaces for supervision. Both supervisor and candidate viewpoints about the crucial elements of supervisory practices will be presented. The paper will also comment on the findings of recent RMIT research on research reports in terms of what students view as crucial elements of a successful candidature, and resourcing issues.

Questions pertaining to supervisory practices in the context of RTS will be posed including the following:

• What supervisory practices are emerging?
• What do students and supervisors want and need in terms of supervisory practice?
• How are the three key elements of research supervision catered for in times that are governed by tight timelines?

Such questions are explored and discussion invited about the challenges for the future with respect to research supervision in Australian universities. Research supervision: RIP?

HA03017Z

Assisting students to develop their research questions

Paul Hager, University of Technology, Sydney

Early phase Doctoral students commonly spend significant time developing the 'right' research questions. How can we best assist them to achieve this efficiently? What strategies facilitate progress from the initial stage of having an approved problematic or research topic to the next, and crucial, stage of turning this problematic or research topic into viable research question(s). In this Round Table, I will present an outline of my own ideas and experiences on this issue and facilitate a discussion on these matters in which interested participants can add their own ideas, experiences and questions.

IR03034Z  Paper

A personal journey of differential engagement: coming to terms with the meaning of 'doctorate'

Ian Irvine, University of Newcastle

The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical account of underlying cognitive processes involved in the production of works of art and in thesis production. It is argued that there is a conceptual relationship between the quality of thinking and the way in which a work of art and a thesis is constructed and processed. Understanding the nature of the cognitive processes underlying different levels of concern assumes fundamentally different ways in which knowledge is addressed. This suggests fundamentally different epistemologies with which the task is conceived and addressed. This will be illustrated by reference to recent research conducted into the processing behaviours of composers and similar inferences will be drawn about my own doctoral studies.

LA03019Z   Paper

GETTING INSIDE THE MIX!

(formally known as In the Mix!)

Karen Lambert, University of Western Sydney

It is the intention of this paper and my conference presentation to document the personal and research process by which my thesis is evolving from within a framework of invested interest, academic desire, fluidity and personal passion. I will also discuss ways in which I have managed to 'keep the passion' and excitement by immersing myself in a phenomenological personal process whilst still managing to conform to doctorate and academic requirements. I intend to illustrate this by providing a rough description of how I have engaged with my research through social theory and how this engagement and appreciation for and of theory has allowed me to further explore the potentialities of my project through the examination of various mixtures. Like my thesis, this is a work in progress, a constant and ongoing process of re-designing, re-constituting and re-conceptualising, hence the slight shift in my title.

MA03010Z  Paper

Reconceptualising the role of Art educators in their engagements with art museums

Donna Mathewson, University of New South Wales

This presentation will outline an ongoing doctoral investigation into relationships between museums and schools, and more specifically between art museums and art education. Previous research by the author has identified problematic relations between museums and schools that, from a school-based art educational perspective, inhibit the realization of museum-based learning opportunities. Using extant research from the museum and education fields, and drawing on the sociological theories of Pierre Bourdieu, this research examines different conceptions of how interactions between museums and schools enact, construct, enable and constrain educational opportunities. In providing an explanatory framework it particularly examines what is concealed within public discourse through an exploration of how implicit forms of power operate to create, maintain and silence barriers to engagement on the part of school-based educators. The unique contribution of this study is its provision of a perspective originating from secondary art education that addresses the particular experiences of secondary school aged audiences based in regional contexts. The research specifically acknowledges the role that secondary education and visual arts educators have to play in enacting change within museum/school relationships and aims to highlight the significance of that role.

MA03025Z   ®  Paper

Tensions and contradictions in research higher degree innovations

Judy Maxwell, RMIT University

Current changes in Research Higher Degrees (RHDs) in Australian universities stem mainly from continued reduction in government funding for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and globalisation issues. The old idea of education as a service provided by the government and as a given right for citizens is rapidly being replaced by the idea of education as trade, available only to those consumers who can afford to buy it. Within this context of the commodification of Research Higher Degrees, there are many contradictions and tensions. In an effort to make our education more culturally accountable and heterogeneous, we 'internationalise' our curricula, but at the same time, our students are increasingly becoming players in the largely homogeneous 'globalised' knowledge economy. Similarly, there is tension between the hegemonic Western canon of HEI research and allowing international students freedom to pursue indigenous epistemologies and methodologies. Further contradictions are seen between the instrumental, practice-based research of some of the newer fee-for-service RHDs and the more entrepreneurial research needed in the exponentially-growing knowledge economy. As buyers of a service, students' needs in terms of an appropriate education also seem to be in conflict with the need for HEIs to maintain economies of scale. This paper seeks to explore these tensions and contradictions.

MA03028Z  Paper

Defining the (research) Professional Doctorate: Can the notion of the creative arts portfolio contribute?

Tom Maxwell, University of New England

Maxwell and Shanahan (2001, and others) found that the early doctorates were essentially a PhD plus course work (with important exceptions). These early (first generation) Professional Doctorates began to give way to second generation Professional Doctorates (see Green, Maxwell and Shanahan 2001; Maxwell 2003) yet the impact upon industry appears still to be limited (McWilliam et al 2002). The Doctoral 'gold standard' is the PhD dissertation and it is argued that the dissertation's strength is also its weakness in the Professional Doctorates. The portfolio has been the main means for assessing the quality of work produced in the creative arts. It is argued that the portfolio notion provides potential for Professional Doctoral 'students' to explore questions of interest to their professional lives through the opportunity to research a range of professional concerns. This potential is discussed along with some of the limitations of the approach. Issues will be raised such as the 'balance' of the portfolio and its coherence, portfolio supervision, and examination. Some practical quality assurance mechanisms to ensure doctoral standards are more likely achieved are addressed through a case study.

MC03008Z   ®  Paper

Exposing the private in the public through stories and poems: Reflections of a PhD student

Coralie McCormack, University of Canberra

As narrative researchers PhD students can find themselves balanced on an edge - making choices about what to include in a story (exposure) and what to exclude (keep hidden) - making choices about re-presenting the private in the public. But what if the private we are making public is our own life? And this exposure is occurring through stories and poems? In this presentation my reflections on these questions, written as I lived the experience of being both researcher and participant, are re-presented through reflective poems drawn from my thesis. My reflections, written from the security of successful graduation, are woven into the text surrounding these poems. The simultaneous mirror/window quality of these re-presentations opens for the listener a reflective space within which to imagine and re-imagine their research experience.

MC03031Z

Becoming a Scientist: The experience of a PhD education in science

Louise McHeyzer-Williams, University of Technology, Sydney

Higher education institutes strive to prepare the next generation of scientist to meet future scientific challenges. A defining step in the scientist's beginning career is their doctoral education. This doctoral education is designed to allow a student to progress from a novice researcher to an independent thinker. Despite a growing body of research on the PhD experience of students in non-science fields, surprisingly little is known about the experience of science doctoral students.

This paper provides insight into the experiences and expectations of science doctoral students. The research explores the lived experience of 35 doctoral students currently enrolled in a PhD program of biological science at one institution. Using a modified ethnographic approach, participants were followed for over a year, interviewed at least 3 times using open-ended questions and observed during their daily endeavours. Using these methods, a qualitatively rich picture will emerge of individuals participating in the experience of undertaking a PhD in the biological sciences. An initially analysis shows that even though science is reported as a collaborative venture, the students present the experience as highly individualized and appear to accept the ideology of competitive and individual effort.

MO03001Z

The museum as a resource for doctoral studies in Fine Art

Rachel Burgess and Tessa Morrison, The University of Newcastle

International museum collections of archeology, history and medicine have provided Rachel Burgess and Tessa Morrison with a rich visual and archival resource for their Doctoral studies in Fine Art. The collections and archives of museums are now available as on line catalogues and CD-ROM's this makes information far more accessible to researchers. Visiting international museum collections provides the researcher with an opportunity to experience visual and archival material first hand. It cannot be underestimated how valuable it is to see this information in its cultural context. Rachel's research focused on the history of wax anatomical models produced in Italy during the seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries and in particular the important partnership that once existed between art and medicine. Tessa's research covered a wide span of history from the Neolithic Age to the Middle Ages. Her research into the use of symbols as a conveyor of concepts crosses cultural boundaries and time and is largely dependant on collecting a wide range of visual material from museums in Britain and Europe. This proved a largely rewarding experience. However, it also revealed that restorations could fabricate history, particularly from the prehistoric period, and that the visual material of museums can be ambiguous in terms of its presentation and accepted interpretation. The purpose of this paper is to describe the benefits of using international museums as a resource for Doctoral studies in Fine Art.

PH03022Z  ®  Paper

The Embodied Thesis

Maggi Phillips, Dance History, W.A. Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan University. Western Australia.

If doctoral studies seek to develop and accumulate expert knowledge across the myriad facets of human experience, then consideration needs to be given to the varying forms of intelligence through which that knowledge is explored and made manifest. Intra and inter disciplinary approaches to dance suggest that the physical body may be situated at the centre of 'knowing,' thereby challenging the privileged position of the word in western scholarship. The first approach probes embodiment to examine the choreographer/dancer, Marie Chouinard's statement that "[w]hen I dance, my body becomes a laboratory for experience." Such experiential analysis has the potential to complement and make visible the sensate dimensions of medical science, although dance's principal engagement focuses on the imaginative flesh of complex physical thought. The second approach moves outwards from embodiment, triggered by Cezanne's enigmatic observation that "[m]an [is] absent from but entirely within the landscape" which, in my propositional translation, becomes moving human bodies are absent but entirely within theoretical paradigms. Both approaches raise critical issues about the management of embodied knowledge within doctoral assessment paradigms. Can performances, like written theses, 'analyse and explain,' is dance 'legible' and how can such knowledge be stored?

RA03004Z   ®  Paper

Oral history, the insider becomes an outsider: Using a qualitative approach in a doctoral study by distance education

Elaine Rabbitt, Edith Cowan University

The focus of this paper is the use of oral history as an alternative medium for gathering data for a doctoral study. It will investigate the advantages and disadvantages of taking such an approach, where the researcher becomes privy to 'insider' information but remains an 'outsider' in an attempt to maintain academic distance.

Defining the parameters of the research, the ethical considerations of how the information will be gathered and used is involved in any project. These complexities are further intensified when writing a doctorate as a distance education student in a small community. The community member as a researcher has their own 'insider' perspective, with prior knowledge of the lives of others through established relationships. This allows for the collection of 'privileged' information, based on trust and rapport.

The participants' narratives become the data and subsequent framework of the thesis. Questions arise as to how much data needs to be collected and how many participants need to be involved. How does the researcher maintain 'insider' community status and 'outsider' academic status? What are the social and cultural implications?

TA03023Z ®  Paper

Defining the Environmental Doctorate: Education for sustainable development

Ros Taplin, Macquarie University

The Earth Summit 2002: Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development's "Key Outcomes" highlighted education at all levels as an important means of effective implementation of sustainable development objectives. This paper argues that in the higher education sphere environmental studies PhD research should be pursued in the context of the increasing international focus on transition towards sustainability. With this objective in mind, it is reasoned that doctoral study of environmental problems should utilise a transdisciplinary approach that is directed towards providing advice for stakeholders.

The paper describes a methodological approach for transdisciplinary environmental research as involving integration of the specialist methods and techniques of the traditional disciplines - both sciences and social sciences - to provide research outcomes and insights for the environmental management and policy realm. Selection of the disciplinary perspectives starts with the impacts of the environmental problem. Broader contexts are then selected on the basis of relevance to the policymaking setting and stakeholders. Accordingly, it is argued that environmental PhD thesis outcomes focussing on sustainability should include policy scenarios and make recommendations on the best approach to manage or adapt to an environmental problem both in the short and long term. The experience of undertaking doctoral research with this framework should, in due course, prepare students for careers in academic or professional roles relevant to sustainable development goals.

WI03005Z

Launch of the JellyGene

Craig Wilson, Trevor Weekes and Miranda Lawrey, University of Newcastle

Increasingly, we hear news that diseases previously immutable to humankind, are being conquered by strategies that hit at their foundation the genes that cause them. The genetic make up of the animal and plant world is being manipulated to serve the needs of humans. The overall aim of the research program is an art critique on current scientific advances in the genetic-engineering movement. The aim of this presentation is to stage a dramatisation of a launch of a fictitious product called JellyGene. The new model JellyGene will be revealed by an actor playing a leading scientist in genetic engineering, the scientific facts will be explained to the audience and a 3D model of the JellyGene will be displayed. As part of the launch that makes up the presentation, there will be testimonies' of people who say that they have used the JellyGene product. Each testimony will be a few minutes long, and use videoed interviews. From the videos, display images will be taken, in the way of a film still. These will be used for art gallery posters as well as banners for advertising'. There will also be merchandise featuring the JellyGene image, such as fridge magnets, notepads etc, given out as part of the presentation.