The Otago Post issue 7

For people interested or involved in postgraduate study at Otago

The time you spend as a postgraduate student will probably be the only time you ever get to focus solely upon your own research. No matter what roles you move into in later life, it is most unlikely that you will again be given the time and space to devote all your energy to your own research project. Even those of us who work in universities, where research is part of our core business, find it difficult to recapture the concentrated time for our own projects that we enjoyed when we were doing our postgraduate degrees. So enjoy the experience while you can!

This is not to say that there aren't challenges in postgraduate study. There are, and at times these can seem overwhelming, although nowadays universities like Otago have much better structures to support postgraduate students. In the Humanities, one of the challenges is the solitary nature of much of the work we do. Working on your own individual project can be very rewarding, but it means you lack the support provided by a team of scholars working together toward a common goal. For this reason, it's good to get to know other postgraduate students and also participate in the activities provided by Graduate Research Services. Some of these, such as the Three Minute Thesis competition, won last year by English student Carol Wyvill — profiled in this issue of the Otago Post — can even be quite a lot of fun.

Professor Brian Moloughney
Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Humanities

Latest News

	Forensics ambition realised for biochemist As a child, PhD candidate Andrea Donaldson used to write about solving murderous crimes. Now she's well on the way to doing so in real life with her research into a blood test that could make autopsies obsolete as a tool for establishing time-of-death.
	Glimpse into the past earns PhD student spotlight Giving people a glimpse into an amazingly different 16th century world is what PhD candidate Carol Wyvill says won her the University of Otago 2010 Three Minute Thesis Competition and saw her compete in the inaugural Australasian finals.
	PhD in Marketing creates career path There is an enviable energy to Dr Catheryn Khoo Lattimore's descriptions of her experience as a University of Otago PhD graduate; an experience which has sparked an academic career with a continued passion.
	Surveying branches into wildlife management Surveying and wildlife biology are not disciplines the average person would partner together, but they are combined very successfully in the work of Otago PhD candidate Mariano Rodriguez Recio.

In Brief

Entrepreneurship in action
The field of Entrepreneurship is one of the fastest growing degrees at major universities around the world and Otago is proud to be one of the leaders in this area. Recently the University's Centre for Entrepreneurship demonstrated some innovation of its own, developing new programmes to meet emerging needs for postgraduate education…

Coursework Masters students get scholarship support
New scholarships available only to high calibre students who are pursuing coursework rather than thesis-based Masters degrees underline the importance of these degrees as a postgraduate option…