Presentation session 1: Decoding the HDR black box: Identifying and communicating your skills

Have you ever found yourself struggling to describe to someone what you are doing as an HDR candidate? Or how you can use your skills and expertise beyond your thesis?

This session uses the analogy of a black box* to highlight that the HDR process is opaque to those outside the box. This suggests that observers may struggle to appreciate your journey through the box and your transformation to become an independent researcher. Moreover, they may not easily see or appreciate the breadth of skills that you've developed along the way.

At the conclusion of this session you will have strategies to assist you in:

• Identifying the skills you are developing through your HDR experience,
• Investigating where you can use those skills, and
• Communicating those skills to observers outside the HDR black box

* '... a system or process that uses information to produce a particular set of results, but that works in a way that is secret or difficult to understand ...' (Cambridge Dictionary)

Speaker bio

Dr Rachael Pitt (BA Hons, DPsychEd) is an expert in researcher career development learning, doctoral education, and researcher development.

With 20 years’ experience in both academic and professional roles at Australian universities, she has worked extensively across disciplinary and professional boundaries. Rachael’s roles have included academic research positions, interdisciplinary undergraduate teaching and program coordination, higher degree by research (HDR) supervisor support, doctoral and supervisory training coordination, and project management.

Since 2017 she has been providing focused career development and employment support to The University of Queensland’s HDR candidates through her role as HDR Careers Advisor.  Within this role she enjoys using her expertise and research interests in higher education, doctoral education, and research careers to assist HDR candidates to explore their career options and identify strategies for moving forward.

Through her consultancy work, Rachael also provides researcher career development learning support via online workshops to users of the PostAc job search platform