#thesisthinkers

DOCTORAL STUDENTS AND SUPERVISORS
RESEARCHING HIGHER EDUCATION TOGETHER

Deciding to embark on a PhD in the field of Higher Education (HE) is not always an easy choice. For one thing, in Australia, there are few faculties/schools of education where HE is a research priority; there are only a handful of dedicated HE research centres; the commitment in learning and teaching/academic development centres to research is often patchy and governed by strategic improvement agendas; and many who start PhDs in HE often come to it with backgrounds in disciplines and professions other than Education.

The idea that HE might be a distinct field of inquiry is sometimes a surprise, and, remains the topic of lively debate. Is it a discipline, a field, a practice or context? Does it have a unique set of scholars, literatures, methodologies, methods and journals that a new student researching HE ought to wrestle with? What does the shape of the field look like in different systems and in different cultural contexts? Does any of this matter? And if it does, what matters about it?

We think grappling with these ideas matters to the future shape of HE research, to the quality of research, and it matters to the way students understand what it means to care for, and become stewards of, HE research as a field of inquiry.

Since 2016, we – Dr Tai Peseta, Professor Simon Barrie and Associate Professor Amani Bell – have been experimenting with a form of cohort, group-based doctoral supervision that regularly brings together each of our research students. In the early stages, we were all working in the (then) Institute for Teaching and Learning at The University of Sydney. In 2018, we found ourselves together again, this time, at Western Sydney University, and joined by our new supervision colleagues Dr Jenny Pizzica (fomerly WSU now at University Notre Dame in Sydney) and Dr Kate Thomson (Health Sciences, The University of Sydney). At the end of 2019, Amani found herself back at Sydney University.

The #thesisthinkers cohort model is not only a space where students toil away at their research with each other, it is an opportunity to engage in the practices of supervision pedagogy.

This site is a record of our group’s conversations, insights and observations about the field of HE. It documents our work of being researchers together as well as achievements, outcomes and impact.

As a #thesisthinkers student, in addition to regular individual meetings, the cohort meetings (and associated activities such as writing retreats and the #HEScholars network) are a regular part of how we supervise.

We invite our students to bring to each meeting an intention to progress their own research, and to support the research of others through generosity and challenge. Students have opportunities to:

focus on the specifics of their research, including ‘stuck points’, and to receive feedback intended to offer choices about moving forward;
read each other’s work and to offer feedback designed to strengthen the research;
read about theory and methodology slowly, and in ways that advance their research;
invite scholars whose writing we want to think more about into the group supervision space for collective dialogue;
figure out how to enact new research and writing collaborations;

plan how to take advantage of research opportunities and developments e.g., writing for publication, developing a book or journal special issue proposal, ideas for funding, developing international research collaborations, developing a social media profile, getting the most out of academic conferences etc., and
discuss the contemporary scenes, challenges and opportunities involved in being a HE researcher within the strange and precarious contexts we labour in.

To date, we have published over 85 peer reviewed articles and chapters, and three of our students have successfully achieved their doctorates.

If you are considering a research degree in HE and our approach appeals to you, feel free to have a conversation with us.

If you are supervising students in HE research and are keen for a chat about connecting with your students with our network, please get in touch.

Alternatively, contact any of the students we work with to get a view from them on their research experience with us or check us out on twitter #thesisthinkers.

Contact Dr Tai Peseta.

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