Event_
Postgraduate retreat
Contextualising the thesis in Southeast Asia
Postgraduate students researching Southeast Asia are invited to attend our annual postgraduate retreat. This three-day program is designed to strengthen your research and writing by contextualising your thesis within the Southeast Asian region, as well as within your disciplinary framework.
When: 9am-4pm, 19-21 November 2018
Where: HC Coombs Centre, Kirribilli, Sydney
Context has implications for the framing, significance and implementation of most PhD research. But many postgraduate students struggle to contextualise their research empirically and theoretically.
In this retreat, postgraduate students will learn how to conceptualise and contextualise their research questions both within the region, and also within a disciplinary – and multi-disciplinary – framework.
Through three days of roundtables, workshops and practical group exercises, postgraduate students will develop strategies for contextualising their research, identifying the wider problems and debates to which their research contributes, and demonstrating the significance of their work through the debates and perspectives which inform it.
Registration is now closed.
Retreat information
Date |
Time |
Session |
Speakers |
Monday 19 November |
9:30am |
Welcome and introduction |
Ms Natali Pearson |
10am |
Session 1: The challenge |
Ms Natali Pearson |
|
10:30am |
Morning tea |
|
|
11am |
Session 2: Positioning yourself within your discipline and beyond |
Ms Natali Pearson |
|
12:30pm |
Lunch |
|
|
1:30pm |
Session 4: Bridging the divide – reflection |
TBC |
|
4:30pm |
Day’s close |
|
|
Tuesday 20 November |
9:30am |
Session 5: The Southeast Asian context: fieldwork, data collection and positionality |
TBC |
10:30am |
Morning tea |
|
|
11am |
Session 6: The Southeast Asian context: ethics and power |
TBC |
|
12:30am |
Lunch |
|
|
2pm |
Session 7: Lessons learnt: What I wish I had known |
Dr Jess Melvin Dr Emma Calgaro Others TBC
|
|
3pm |
Afternoon tea |
|
|
3:30pm |
Session 8: Time to work on presentation |
|
|
4:30pm |
Day’s close |
|
|
Wednesday 21 November |
9:30am |
Session 9: The nature of the field: why context matters |
Ms Natali Pearson |
10:30am |
Morning tea |
|
|
11am |
Session 10: Repositioning yourself after your degree |
TBC |
|
12:30pm |
Lunch |
|
|
1:30pm |
Session 11: Presentations |
|
|
3pm |
Afternoon tea |
|
|
3:30pm |
Session 11: announce winner and close |
|
|
4pm |
Close of program |
|
To register for this retreat, students must be Higher Degree Research students at an Australian university. Course work postgraduate students are not eligible.
Priority will be given to University of Sydney students, however, students from universities across Australia are eligible to register.
A limited number of travel grants are available for students based outside of Sydney to participate in the program. The grant can be used for travel, accommodation and any other costs associated with participation.
Grants will be allocated on a first come first serve basis. Please indicate in the registration form if you wish to be considered for a grant.
Grant amount |
Travelling from |
$500 |
NSW (outside Sydney), ACT |
$750 |
VIC, QLD, SA |
$1000 |
WA, NT, TAS |
2018: Contextualising your thesis in Southeast Asia
2017: Leadership in academia
2016: Interdisciplinary collaboration
2015: Finding your voice
2014: Working across disciplines
