Postgrads feature at Forum

Fifteen lightning presentations by postgraduate students were a feature of the two-day Research Advisory Forum in Canberra in October.

The PhD Students were offered the opportunity to summarise their studies in a university-style Three Minute Thesis format before the 120 participants at University House, at the Australian National University.

One student, James Furlaud, from the University of Tasmania, found much interest in his studies on fire in the wet forests of Tasmania.

“That I had a number of end-users and researchers approach me afterwards enquiring about my research made me understand that, even as a PhD student, my research was an integral part of the CRC’s mission,” said James. [See a full report from James here.]

Around 25 postgraduates spent the day before the forum in a professional development workshop focusing on life after a PhD. A wide range of speakers talked about the opportunities and the pitfalls of either continuing in academia or working in the sector.

The Research Advisory Forum focused on projects in the physical sciences and engineering clusters including:

• Monitoring and prediction
• Next generation fire modelling
• Prescribed burning and catchment management
• Hardening buildings and infrastructure
• Coastal management - storm surge

The RAF supports both the research and the utilisation aims of the CRC by allowing for a more intensive discussion on the progress of each project, as well as providing more opportunities for informal networking.

All the presentations from the RAF are available from the resources tab on this Events page.