Following a red-eye to Hobart the student workshop was a great chance to catch up with fellow PhD students and reflect on the PhD journey. A lot of the students, including myself, are now much closer to the end rather than the beginning, and the workshop was geared around finishing your PhD and what lies ahead once completed (beyond catching up on sleep). The theme of the day was networking, making connections during your PhD and turning them into career opportunities. My personal highlight was Dr Tom Remenyi from the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC, whose networking skills led to work on an Antarctic research vessel in the Indian Ocean, where the only language spoken was French!
The RAF focused on how to use the research generated by the range of CRC projects, bringing together researchers and end-users so the research generated has a meaningful, useable output. It was interesting hearing the dialogue between researchers and end-users, gaining an appreciation for the many types of outcomes from research and the benefits that could be provided for a variety of different end-user groups with different interests.
The biggest take away for me was just how important dialogue is. The PhD experience can be very isolating, and conversations, ranging from connecting with end-users to discussing your project outputs, to reflecting on how frustrating your latest experiment was with a fellow student, are always beneficial, even if it is just to clear you mind.