The COVID Recovery Fellowship Scheme, launched by Pro Vice Chancellor Graduate Research Professor Simon Handley last month, uses Research Support Program funds allocated to the University by the Federal Government to support new fellowship positions for Macquarie PhD graduates across two rounds in 2021 and 2022.

The fellowships will be targeted to fields of emerging research strength, with the fellows supported by a Fellowship Mentor in their host department at Macquarie, as well as a $5000 project grant.

“COVID-19 has significantly and adversely impacted early career researchers,” Professor Handley says. “The intention of this scheme is to support the recovery of the careers of Macquarie PhD graduates, with the recipients using the time and funds to complete a project, build a track record through publications, engage in commercialisation activity, or advance their competitiveness for the next funding opportunity.”

Round 1 applications will close on 31 August for positions commencing in late October. Round 2 applications will be open from 1 September to 30 September for positions commencing 1 January 2022.

Interested applicants and potential mentors can refer to Funding Rules for the scheme, including specific eligibility criteria, before completing the MQ COVID Recovery Fellowship Application Form.

How do you think you would go if you had to summarise 100,000 words – the average length of a PhD thesis – in three minutes? Oh, and by the way, your audience probably doesn’t have any knowledge of your field, so you need to make it super simple. Oh, and could you also make it entertaining, please?

That’s the challenge of students participating in the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, which sees more than 900 universities in over 85 countries showcasing the best of their PhD research.

Last week, the 2020 Macquarie University 3MT Competition winner was announced by HDR Academic Director Professor Jennifer Cornish who was Chair of the live event. The prestigious judging panel included Professor Simon Handley, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Higher Degree Research Training and Partnerships), Professor Sakkie Pretorius, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Professor Dominique Parrish, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching).

And boy did our students rise to the 3MT challenge.

First place winner Geraldine Sullivan from the Department of Molecular Sciences wowed the judges with her presentation on the fight against antibiotic resistance.

“It is a great honour to be recognised by the judges, who are well established in their careers and great researchers themselves,” says Geraldine.

“The competition improves your presentation skills and makes you think about your research in a new light. I used to get stage fright when I was younger, so I always take the opportunity to practice my presenting skills.”

Watch Geraldine’s winning presentation

Did you know we’re on a trajectory towards 10 million deaths worldwide per year (more than COVID-19 and cancer deaths combined) because of antimicrobial resistance? Geraldine explains how combining antibiotics could be the answer.

Congratulations to the other winners:

• Second place: Maryam Shahpasand, Department of Computing
  (Watch See the wolf in sheep’s clothing)
• Third place: Andres Vidal-Itriago, Department of Biomedical Sciences
  (Watch Who is wiring your memories?)
• People’s choice: Sumedha Prabhu, School of Engineering
  (Watch Kidney healthcare from home)

As part of their win, Macquarie’s 3MT finalists undertook a media communications masterclass with SBS World News presenter Anton Enus, with Geraldine receiving an additional 1:1 session with Anton, as well as professional videography support from Group Marketing to prepare her entry for the Asia-Pacific Final.

You can show your support for Geraldine by voting for her in the People’s Choice ballot on 1 October on the Asia-Pacific 3MT website.

Macquarie’s outstanding research – the quality of which has been reflected in the 2018 ERA results – doesn’t happen without great people working together in great ways. And one of the most important relationships in academia is the one between a research student and their supervisor.

Among the initiatives supporting the objectives of Macquarie’s research strategy is our Supervision Enhancement Program, which aims to enhance the quality of the supervisor-student relationship and provide HDR candidates with outstanding supervisory expertise and mentoring.

The program – convened by Associate Professor Bill Ashraf in the Office of PVC HDR Training and Partnerships – combines a compulsory orientation unit for supervisors with an optional HDR Supervision Fellowship stream.

The Fellowship has drawn praise from government and industry leaders such as Chief Scientist Professor Alan Finkel, who remarked that he looks forward to a time when Macquarie’s innovative approach is ‘ubiquitous’ across universities.

“It’s really about demonstrating to candidates and other stakeholders the level of professionalism that Macquarie brings to HDR supervision and our support for research training generally,” says Bill.

Manager or mentor?

Dr Rae-Anne Hardie (pictured, on right), a Post Doctoral Research Fellow in the Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research, is a recent participant in the Fellowship program. She is currently supervising chemical pathologist Wilson Punyalack (pictured, on left), who is undertaking a Master of Research part-time.

“Much of how to be a great supervisor is learned on the job,” notes Rae-Anne. “But professional development programs like the Supervision Fellowship give you the directly applicable skills and knowledge you need to be able to reflect on, and improve, your supervisory practice.”

With her own research training having been completed not so long ago, Rae-Anne says she is distinctly conscious of providing good guidance and leadership for her own research students.

“Many of the areas where I developed most during my postgraduate research had little to do with the project itself – although the project was definitely important!” she says. “I feel like it’s my responsibility to give my students a well-rounded experience.”

Both Rae-Anne and Wilson agree that the qualities of an excellent supervisor stretch well beyond competence in the discipline.

“A good supervisor has empathetic listening skills, good time management skills, an encouraging demeanour and the ability to ‘lift a student up’ into opportunities they might not have had without my help,” says Rae-Anne. “One of the hardest is the quality of being able to give constructive feedback so that the student can learn, but not be discouraged. It’s a hard balance!”

“Like any professional relationship, good communication skills and approachability are great traits to have,” adds Wilson. “The fact that I am only on campus once a week has not hindered the level of supervision and support afforded to me at Macquarie.

“Rae-Anne is always encouraging, and makes the effort to not only answer my questions, but to go beyond and educate me on the why. She’s a great mentor.”

Mental health

A particularly unique aspect of the Fellowship is the option to enrol in a blended learning program to achieve accreditation with Mental First Aid Health Australia (MHFA).

“Mental health issues are unfortunately common in HDR students, so it’s important to know what to do if your student is having a mental health issue,” says Rae-Anne. “I’ve taken the Mental Health First Aid Course as part of the Fellowship to develop my abilities in this area.”

The next intake for the Fellowship program is in June, with participants provided with face-to-face workshops, as well as a curated set of materials relevant to improving their practice as teachers and supervisors.

“I would recommend the Fellowship program to other Macquarie staff, especially ECRs with little ‘official’ supervisory experience,” says Rae-Anne. “It has definitely enhanced my skills as a supervisor.”

Contact hdr.supervision@mq.edu.au if you would like more information about the Supervisor Enhancement Program.

“No other university in Australia has achieved what we have in the past three years,” said Professor Pretorius. “Our academic black belts, our professional staff and our HDR candidates – they are the ones who made this possible.”

Macquarie’s external research income has improved from $48 million in 2013 to approximately $67 million (unaudited) in 2015. Macquarie’s HDR completions have increased from 297 in 2013 to 594 in 2015. While Macquarie’s weighted publications have remained relatively unchanged at 1849 in 2013, 1833 in 2014 and approximately 1830 (unaudited) in 2015, the quality of this work has greatly improved.

The increase in Macquarie’s research quality was demonstrated through the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) 2015 evaluation. One hundred per cent of Macquarie’s research at the 2-digit Field of Research Code (FoRC) level was rated ‘at or above world standard’ by ERA 2015. No discipline areas at Macquarie received a rating of ‘well below world standard’ at either the 2-digit FoRC or 4-digit FoRC level.

“Macquarie has already achieved the 2024 targets we set ourselves for ERA in the Strategic Research Framework,” said Professor Pretorius. “It is now time to defend our areas of strength and build capability and quality across the University.”

Professor Pretorius and Professor Peter Nelson, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Performance and Innovation), will be visiting the faculties and MGSM for town hall meetings this week, providing an opportunity for all staff and HDR candidates to ask questions.