Research student sessions and support
Northern Institute has a wonderful community of Masters and PhD candidates working on a range of fascinating projects! We invite NI & wider CDU HDR (Higher Degree by Research) students to join our in-person & online events to connect with peers and academic staff and support each other throughout their research and academic journeys.
Meet your mentor: Professor Helen Verran
Helen has had a varied career in academia at seven universities on four continents. Before taking up her professorship at Charles Darwin University, Helen spent twenty-five years teaching and researching in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Melbourne in Australia. During that time, she worked closely with Yolŋu Aboriginal knowledge authorities and scientists as they tried to work together in respectful ways.
Helen is a fantastic support and a wonderful resource for our research students. She has facilitated our student connection events for over 7 years. Read profile.
NI HDR Hub Events
Thesis Talk
Connecting to and through ideas, with research peers…
Thesis Talk is a facilitated academic discussion for HDR candidates to discuss ideas together. Professor Helen Verran (Northern Institute) brings rich academic expertise and a supportive approach to facilitating student discussions. Talk through the nitty-gritty of research practices. Participate in intellectual conversations and expand your thinking by talking and listening. Explore concepts, theories and practicalities. Share your research experiences. Listen to and learn from peers undertaking various valuable research projects. Reflect on your work and realign your goals. You are a valuable part of our research community – please join us!
- Monthly sessions with a different topic
- In-person at Savanna Room & online via Zoom (using the same link).
- Fourth Wednesday from 3.00-4.00 pm (ACST) from March to November 2024.
- Available for all current CDU HDR (Higher Degree by Research) students and supervisors
How to Register
Northern Institute Students
NI Students can find all events in the NI HDR Hub Shared Calendar (you are added to this SharePoint/ Teams site when you begin studying). Please RSVP by adding the events you wish to attend to your personal calendars or by accepting the calendar invite sent out the week before.
Thesis Talk will run monthly in the Savanna Room. You will be notified if the sessions move to online only, if there is a change of date or deferred to the next month.
CDU Students
Thesis Talk is available to current CDU students and as a hybrid event (in-person or online via Zoom). If Darwin-based, we encourage you to join us at the Northern Institute's Savanna Room:
CDU Casuarina Campus, Building Yellow 1, Level 2, Room 48.
Google Maps Location
You only need to register interest in a NI student event once per year. After approval, you will receive a confirmation email. Calendar invites will be sent to your email for upcoming sessions with the online meeting links so you can join if you are attending virtually.
Have any questions or issues registering for an event? Contact the RSS team at thenortherninstitute@cdu.edu.au.
2025 Student Sessions Schedule
Please make sure you have adequate headphones and webcam or built-in camera & microphone if you are attending online as our classes are interactive and conversational.
Month | Events & Topics | Date |
|---|---|---|
| MAR | Thesis Talk TOPIC: People. Policy. Place. Our slogan in the Northern Institute is 'People Policy Place'. How does your inquiry express this vision? Are your puzzles related to one or other of those topics of social inquiry about people? About a policy? About a place. My response to that question would be to say my inquiries have concerned 'people-places' which I understood as a singular entity. I was taught to focus my inquiry in that way by my Yolngu colleagues many years ago. What about you? How are you thinking about your focus? | Wed 26 March 🕙3-4 pm 📍In-person @Savanna ⏺️Online via Zoom |
| APR | Thesis Talk TOPIC: Policy Work Let's get a story together...Do you think of yourself as a policy worker? Will your Research Higher Degree training enable you to be a better policy worker? How are you imaging that? | Wed 30 April The date has been changed to accommodate the easter holidays. |
| MAY | Thesis Talk TOPIC: Working with Messy Data Our topic in May will continue on from the April discussion 'Becoming comfortable with lively data that forms itself into messy sets that evade theories and challenge our analytic concepts'. | Wed 28 May The date has changed to accommodate the Faculty of Arts and Society Graduation. |
| JUN | Thesis Talk Topics are available a week before the session date. | Wed 25 June 🕙3-4 pm 📍In-person @Savanna ⏺️Online via Zoom |
| JUL | Thesis Talk Topics are available a week before the session date. | Wed 23 July 🕙3-4 pm 📍In-person @Savanna ⏺️Online via Zoom |
| AUG | Thesis Talk Topics are available a week before the session date. | Wed 20 August The date has changed to accommodate the Faculty of Arts and Society Strategic Planning dates. |
| SEP | Thesis Talk Topics are available a week before the session date. | Wed 24 September 🕙3-4 pm 📍In-person @Savanna ⏺️Online via Zoom |
| OCT | Thesis Talk Topics are available a week before the session date. | Wed 22 October 🕙3-4 pm 📍In-person @Savanna ⏺️Online via Zoom |
| NOV | Thesis Talk Topics are available a week before the session date. | Wed 26 November 🕙3-4 pm 📍In-person @Savanna ⏺️Online via Zoom |
Previous Student Events
Thesis Talk was previously run as the 'Espresso Yourself!' student session and is a space for current CDU HDR students (and supervisors) to connect, gain support, and receive valuable academic advice.
2024
| 2023 Session Topics | Date |
|---|---|
| MARCH Topic: Problems with Starting? | Cancelled |
| APRIL Topic: 'Impact for the good' "We all start out in our HDR candidature in hopes that the information we unearth and/or assemble in our research will have an impact for the good." In April, we will discuss some questions that will help us think about what exactly 'impact for the good' implies and consider if there are implications for how we design our study. | Cancelled - office flooding |
| MAY Topic: Confirmation of Candidature "Calling all Northern Institute, FAS, and CDU Research Higher Degree students who are preparing themselves to leap over their FIRST RHD candidature hurdle.... The CoC (Confirmation of Candidature) presentation and paper. Come to our Thesis Talk meeting and tell us about how you are preparing. Get some ideas about what else might help you as you prepare to make the leap!" | Wednesday 22 |
| JUNE Topic: Is your research concerned with 'social and public policy'? How? Come to the June Thesis Talk Meeting and tell us! Helen will have a go at asking and answering the following questions: What IS 'social and public policy'? What sort of work is involved in doing social and public policy? How do you research it? Thesis Talk is made available to all CDU Research Higher Degree candidates by The Northern Institute, a social and public policy research centre. We are located within CDU's Faculty of Arts and Society. Our research aims to develop an understanding of the full gamut of what is involved in regional development going beyond the economistic vision; to collect, formulate and provide evidence that can inform policy thinking and services delivery; to facilitate the develop of capacity building amongst the various and often very different sorts of institutions and organisations that have life in our region; and provide responsive and responsible for good governance. Our large cohort of Research Higher Degree students are an important element in our being able to do that. | Wednesday 26 |
JULY We need to have a working-story of how the knowledge work of different disciplines differ... Then we can begin to ask about connecting them in different ways. | |
SEPTEMBER In order for your research to lead to a valid knowledge claim, and in order for it be accountable, you as a researcher need to have some sort of local 'authorising' group. These are sometimes called 'reference groups'. We will ask students to tell us about the groups or individuals who have agreed to over-see their research". | Wednesday 25 |
| OCTOBER Topic: Mixed Methods What are you mixing? Why do you mix them? How do you mix them? What sorts of results come out 'at the other end' when you use the mixture? Using 'Mixed Methods' is quite fashionable in social science research these days. Agencies that fund research feel that such studies provide good value for money. The understanding is that mixed-methods research both contextualises a problem or phenomenon and provides information that supports an operational response. The way I prefer to distinguish between the disparate methods of inquiry that are being used when mixed methods are deployed in a single project is to think about the analytic concept that the inquiry pivots on, and ask how you will use that. | Wednesday 23 |
| NOVEMBER Topic: Generating Research Data in Participating We often assume that research data should be generated by maintaining a position outside and removed from happenings and situations you as a researcher are inquiring into. Your research will analyse and interpret this data so you imagine you should NOT participate in those events as you gather the data. This view of what research IS was certainly the orthodoxy of the 1960s! But things are different in the 2020s. So what is the method for obtaining data through participation? Ethnography. The final Thesis Talk session will discuss the strengths and the workings of this method. | Wednesday 27 |
2023
| 2023 Session Topics | Date |
|---|---|
| FEBRUARY 'The new kid on the block' of global Research Higher Degree life: Open AI | Wednesday 24 |
| MARCH Problems with Starting? | Wednesday 2 |
| MAY Who is your IDEAL reader? | Cancelled |
| JUNE What's your Data? | Wednesday 28 |
| JULY Thinking critically, talking and doing it together. | Wednesday 26 |
| AUGUST On-the-ground experience in postgraduate research | Wednesday 23 |
| SEPTEMBER PhD Overwhelm | Wednesday 27 |
| OCTOBER Analysis VS Interpretation | Wednesday 25 |
NOVEMBER (EOY Event) This 28th edition of the journal is a special issue inquiring into Northern Australia. Edited by Prof Helen Verran, the edition features five papers written by doctoral students as they neared the end of their research higher degree candidature. Please join us to discuss the publishing experience during HDR candidature facilitated by Helen Verran. The authors will each speak briefly about their articles and share their reflections. The event will be held online and in the Savanna Room, Northern Institute. Please RSVP. | Friday 1 December 3 – 4 pm ACST |
Northern Institute Students only:
Please find the links to the NI student SharePoint site below:
NI acknowledges the Larrakia Nation (Saltwater People), the Traditional Custodians of the region where our NI Research Support Services are located and their continuing governance and care for community, land and waters. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and elders past and present. We stand with Indigenous struggles for social justice, empowerment and equity in Australia and globally.
⚠️ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this website, linked publications and content may contain images, voices and names of people who have died.