Postgraduate research students’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and student-led policy solutions

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Ross Goldstone ◽  
Jingwen Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Postgraduate Research ◽  
Research Students ◽  
Policy Solutions

scholarly journals The Researcher Toolkit: a preventative, peer-support approach to postgraduate research student mental health

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie R. Homer ◽  
Linda Solbrig ◽  
Despina Djama ◽  
Anne Bentley ◽  
Sarah Kearns ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Peer Support ◽  
Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Population Total ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Researcher Development ◽  
Postgraduate Research ◽  
Research Students

Purpose Rates of mental ill-health among postgraduate research students (PGRs) are alarmingly high. PGRs face unique challenges and stigma around accessing support. The purpose of this paper is to introduce The Researcher Toolkit: a novel, open-source, preventative approach to PGR mental health. The Toolkit empowers PGRs and promotes positive research culture. This paper describes and evaluates the Toolkit to encourage adoption across the sector. Design/methodology/approach Four workshops were designed by integrating researcher development, critical pedagogy and psychological knowledge of well-being. A diverse group of PGRs co-designed workshops and delivered them to their peers. Workshops engaged 26% of the PGR population (total 116 attendees). PGR Workshop Leaders and attendees submitted anonymous, online feedback after workshops (74 total responses). A mixed-method approach combined quantitative analysis of ratings and qualitative analysis of open-ended comments. Findings Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Workshops were universally appealing, enjoyable and beneficial and the peer-support approach was highly valued, strongly supporting adoption of the programme in other universities. Findings are discussed alongside wider systemic factors and recommendations for policy. Practical implications The Toolkit translates readily to other UK institutions and can be adapted for use elsewhere. Recommendations for practice are provided. Originality/value The Researcher Toolkit is a novel PGR well-being initiative. Its originality is threefold: its approach is prevention rather than intervention; its content is new and bespoke, created through interdisciplinary collaboration between psychologists, researcher development professionals and PGR stakeholders; and support is peer-led and decentralised from student support services. Its evaluation adds to the limited literature on PGR well-being and peer-support.

scholarly journals Challenges of research conduct among postgraduate research students in an African University

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 336-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Titilayo Desmennu Adeyimika ◽  
Theodora Owoaje Eme
Keyword(s):  
Postgraduate Research ◽  
Research Students

scholarly journals On Dr Dick Climie and Dr Jack Thomas, and the Genesis of Chemical-Clinical Pharmacology in Australian Anaesthesia Research

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 3-13
Author(s):  
L. E. Mather
Keyword(s):  
Local Anaesthetics ◽  
Neuromuscular Blocking ◽  
Systemic Absorption ◽  
Specialty Area ◽  
Physiological Signal ◽  
Signal Collection ◽  
Postgraduate Research ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Research Students ◽  
Student Projects

Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic research is regularly reported in most contemporary anaesthesia-oriented journals. This sub-specialty area of pharmacology grew rapidly from the 1960s as various essential concepts and tools—laboratory analysis of drug/metabolite concentrations in biofluids, physiological signal collection, and methods for analysing/presenting relevant pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data—started coming together. For Australia, such research began in Sydney in the mid-1960s with collaboration between anaesthetist Dr C.R. Climie (1923–2013) at the Royal Hospital for Women and medicinal chemist Dr J. Thomas OAM (1928–2017), and was achieved through a succession of postgraduate research student projects in the Department of Pharmacy of The University of Sydney, initially supervised by Dr Thomas. These consisted of studies concerned with the systemic absorption and placental transmission of drugs being used in parturients. By the late 1960s, Sydney anaesthetists Drs G.J. Long and C.A. Shanks (1936–1998) were also participating, and the projects were becoming more complex, including studies of the metabolism of local anaesthetics and other drugs by mothers and neonates. Between the mid-1970s and early-1980s, with additional anaesthetists, postgraduate research students and their academic supervisors participating, the projects focussed mainly on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of neuromuscular blocking agents. This form of chemical-clinical-pharmacologically-based anaesthesia-oriented research that started in Sydney with the collaboration of Drs Climie and Thomas led to many challenging higher degree projects for pharmaceutical scientists, and access to unprecedented research capabilities for anaesthetists. Most significantly, it established a permanent place for multidisciplinary pharmacokinetic- and pharmacodynamic-based research within Australian academic departments of anaesthesia.

scholarly journals Designing a short course for graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) in mathematics: principles and practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Cosette Crisan ◽  
Melissa Rodd
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Assistants ◽  
Graduate Teaching Assistants ◽  
Practitioner Research ◽  
Research Student ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Graduate Teaching ◽  
Short Course ◽  
Postgraduate Research ◽  
Research Students ◽  
Mathematics Research

Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) are postgraduate research students who contribute to the teaching of undergraduates while they pursue their own doctoral research. This paper reports on a mathematics-specific 10 learning hour introduction to teaching for postgraduate mathematics research student GTAs. The principles that guided the design of the course are discussed and results from our practitioner research are presented. We found that ‘training’ could not be delivered in such a short course yet, paradoxically perhaps, education could be achieved, given the qualities of our GTA participants.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Sleep Habits, Generalized Anxiety, Perceived Stress, and Research Outputs Among Postgraduate Research Students in Hong Kong During the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol Volume 14 ◽  
pp. 3135-3149
Author(s):  
Shahnawaz Anwer ◽  
Heng Li ◽  
Maxwell Fordjour Antwi-Afari ◽  
Mohammad Abu Shaphe ◽  
Ahmad Alghadir ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Sleep Habits ◽  
Postgraduate Research ◽  
Research Students

scholarly journals Postgraduate Research Students’ and their Supervisors’ Attitudes towards Supervision

10.28945/3541 ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 227-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parveen Ali ◽  
Roger Watson ◽  
Katie Dhingra
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Constructive Feedback ◽  
Research Supervision ◽  
Supervisor Relationships ◽  
Postgraduate Research ◽  
Research Students ◽  
Effective Supervision

There is a need for research exploring postgraduate research students’ expectations from research supervisors, the characteristics of effective student-supervisor relationships, and the opinions of students and supervisors about research supervision. We also need instruments to explore the student-supervisor relationship. The present study investigated postgraduate research students’ and research supervisors’ views about postgraduate research supervision and the student supervisor relationship. It also reports on factor analysis conducted to identify the underlying dimensions in their views about postgraduate research supervision and the student supervisor relationship. Such information can be used to develop strategies to promote student-supervisor relationships and enhance the student experience. Data were collected using an online questionnaire with 30 Likert-scale statements from 131 postgraduate research students and 77 supervisors. Following exploratory factor analysis, a three factor model consisting of leaderhip, knowledge, and support was extracted. Results indicate that students and supervisors agree about the attributes of effective supervision. Both supervisors and students consider that a supervisor should have an interest in the student’s research. The supervisor must provide timely and constructive feedback and should help the student to manage time effectively. Students and supervisors believe a supervisor should help the students where limitations and learning needs are identified. Students believe supervisors must encourage students to work independently and use opportunities to present their work.

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