2 July 2025

CaRST eNewsletter

Applications now open for ThincSeed Accelerator Program

Accelerate your start up success with ThincLab's ThincSeed program. We have partnered with Bridgewater Advisory and are supported by the Adelaide Economic Development Agency (AEDA) to deliver the program.

📢 Calling all early stage founders. 

Applications are now open for our 13–week accelerator program design to get your start-up investor ready. Join a cohort of passionate founders and get the support, knowledge, and confidence you need to reach your business goals. 

The program is open to all early stage start-ups. Founders from all disciplines are encouraged to apply.

📅 Applications close Monday 14 July. Places are limited.

Science Communication Courses for Researchers

Do you need some help designing your scientific poster? Would you like to learn to draw scientific graphics and figures in Adobe Illustrator? Are you interested in creating your own captivating scientific video? Are you a researcher feeling like you're lost at sea when it comes to AI?

CaRST has partnered with science communication agency Animate your Science to bring you 4 incredible courses around these four themes!

• How to Design an Award-Winning Scientific Poster
• Learn to draw in Adobe Illustrator: by scientists for scientists
• Lights, Camera, Impact: How to Produce Captivating Science Videos
• AI for Researchers:  Unlocking New Potentials and Avoiding Pitfalls

CaRST is sponsoring licences for a limited number of researchers to enrol in these courses. These are online, self-paced courses and eligible for CaRST credit. Selected students will be enrolled into the courses from June and have 12 months of access. To register your interest, please complete and submit the online expression of interest form.

Please note students will only be selected for a single course during each round, and due to limited capacity students in their second and third year of HDR will be prioritised during the selection process.

Training & Development Events

Before registering for CaRST events, please review our no-show policy.

Speaking to the Media about your Research

When: 3 July 2025, 9:30am - 12:30pm
Credits: 3 credits, Domain D
Delivery mode: In person 

Being media-ready is an essential skill for researchers. Join Talent Academy's multi-award winning public speaking coaches - including Shannelle Franklin, winner of 2024 Podcast Awards (Australian Comedy Podcast of the Year). This workshop will help you make the most of media opportunities, enable you to develop short but sharp messages for your research and navigate some of the media's games. Register here.

Improve your Confidence with Improv

When: 10 July 2025, 10:30am - 12:30pm
Credits: 2 credits, Domain B
Delivery mode: In person 

Is there a performer inside you, dying to get out? Want to improve your public speaking skills or feel more comfortable when put on the spot? If you answered yes, or you just want to have a truckload of fun, improvisation is for you! This workshop presented by On The Fly Impro is a fun way to help you to build confidence and improve your communication skills. Register here.

Please note: This workshop is based on theatre games and requires physical activity.

Increase your employability with Cultural Intelligence

When: 17 July 2025, 10:00am - 11:30am
Credits: 1.5 credits, Domain D
Delivery mode: In person

Working with people from diverse cultural backgrounds has become the norm for most of us - and whilst rewarding, it can also be challenging. As a researcher, demonstrating Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is vital, whether you're working abroad, collaborating with international colleagues, or engaging with culturally diverse research participants. Join an interactive workshop with Annette Wheatley, Cultural Intelligence Programs Coordinator (Employability, Careers and Student Academic Skills team), to explore how CQ can enhance your employability. Register here.

Good Feedback: Asking for it; getting it; and responding to it

When: 22 July 2025, 1:30pm - 3:30pm
Credits: 2 credits, Domain B
Delivery mode: Zoom webinar

Many graduate students cite getting and dealing with feedback from their supervisors as one of the most frustrating areas of candidature. You can wait for ages and when it comes it’s not what you wanted. Feedback is essential to help you make progress and improve the quality of you outputs. But if you just say “give me feedback” you are leaving it completely up to chance. So what can you do to ensure you get the feedback you need? This workshop will look at asking more specific questions and being clear about the type of feedback you want. Register here.

Entrepreneurship for HDRs

When: 23 July 2025, 10:00am - 1:00pm
Credits: 3 credits, Domain D
Delivery mode: In person

Entrepreneurship is a vital skill for HDRs. It is the bridge that helps ideas travel successfully from Academia to Industry to make the world a better place. In this session, join Tom Hendrick from Talent Academy (a multi-award winning pitch consultancy, and pitch mentor with ThincLab) to learn resourcefulness frameworks to turn an idea into a minimum viable product efficiently and how to analyse a potential market to strategise how to introduce your idea to the world. Register here.

Conducting Research Interviews

When: 24 July 2025, 1:30pm - 3:00pm
Credits: 1.5 credits, Domain A
Delivery mode: In person

Research interviews are a fantastic way to build a rich, nuanced data set that may not be available through other research methods. In this workshop you’ll be given tips and techniques to structure your interview, engage respectfully with your interviewees to get the best outcomes, and manage and analyse your data. You’ll also have a chance to practice your interview skills with your fellow students. This multidisciplinary workshop is suitable for all HDR students who are planning to use interviews as a research methodology. Register here.

The Australian Research Funding Landscape

When: 31 July 2025, 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Credits: 1 credit, Domain C
Delivery mode: Zoom webinar

This webinar provides an overview of the Australian research funding landscape, including the large competitive grant schemes, smaller grants, prizes & awards, as well as industry funded research opportunities. The webinar will also provide early career researchers with tips and tricks to find appropriate funding sources to support their research. Register here.

Other Training & Events

Australia Awards Fellows Presentations and Networking Event

Join JBI from The University of Adelaide for an afternoon networking event showcasing the work of JBI’s Australia Awards Fellows from India. The event will showcase the outcomes of the Fellows’ year-long implementation projects, which address key priority areas including maternal and child health, mental health, nutrition, and access to primary care for India's Indigenous populations. Esteemed local panellists will also join to discuss Australia and India’s shared commitment to inclusive health development and enduring bilateral collaboration. 7 July 2025 1:30pm-4:30pm. Register here.

Data Management Planning Essentials

What makes a good data management plan and why is it important? Join us for this session where we’ll look at the benefits of data management planning, your data management planning obligations at the University of Adelaide, and how a well thought out data management plan can help to make your life as a researcher easier. You can record this session for 1 credit in Domain C for CaRST. 8 July 2025 11:00am-12:00pm. Register here.

Introduction to Strategic Journal Publishing

Are you looking at where to publish your next paper? Join your liaison librarians for an engaging introduction to strategically selecting journals for your publications. We will provide guidance on finding journals in different disciplines and assessing journal quality (including rankings and impact factor) using tools such as Journal Citation Reports (JCR), Scopus and Scimago (SJR). Learn how to evaluate predatory journals, assess open access opportunities, and select the best option to maximise the impact of your research! You can record this session for 1 credit in Domain D for CaRST. 14 July 2025 11:00am-12:00pm. Register here.

Learn to Program: Python

Python has deservedly become a popular language for scientific computing and among researchers, but getting started can be challenging, especially if you have never programmed before. That's where this introductory live coding workshop comes in, where we will use Jupyter notebooks to write programs and produce results. You can record this session for 6 credits in Domain A for CaRST. 16-17 July 2025 9:30am-12:30pm. Register here.

Unix Shell and Command Line Basics

The Unix environment is incredibly powerful but quite daunting to the newcomer. Command line confidence unlocks powerful computing resources beyond the desktop, including virtual machines and High Performance Computing. This training will help demystify Unix as you get to work running programs and writing scripts on the command line. You can record this session for 3 credits in Domain A for CaRST. 22 July 2025 9:30am-12:30pm. Register here.

Understanding Predatory Publishing

Lurking within the vast research landscape are what are known as predatory publishers – publishers (or conference organisers) who engage in unprofessional or unethical practices. They will often target researchers with direct invitations to contribute. Identifying predatory publishers is important as publishing your work with them can damage your research impact and professional reputation. This workshop will help you to understand how to assess a journal or conference to identify whether it is legitimate, or might be predatory. You can record this session for 1 credit in Domain D for CaRST. 22 July 2025 11:00am-12:00pm. Register here.

Introduction to LabArchives Electronic Research Notebook

LabArchives is an electronic research notebook that can be useful when needing to store, organise and collaborate around digital material and research data. LabArchives has Android and iOS apps that allow you to upload data and access your notebooks on the go and in the field. This webinar is for new users getting started, or current users seeking a refresher on how to create notebooks, add and manage data, sharing and access controls, collaboration tools, and export options. You can record this session for 1 credit in Domain C for CaRST. 31 July 2025 11:00am-12:00pm. Register here.

Excel for Researchers

Learn to use one of the most widespread data wrangling tools, Microsoft Excel, to import, sort, filter, protect, transform, summarise, merge, and visualise research data. While aimed at novice Excel users, most attendees will walk away with new tricks to work more efficiently with their research data. You can record this session for 6 credits in Domain A for CaRST. 29-30 July 2025 9:30am-12:30pm. Register here.

Getting started with HPC using Slurm

High-performance computing allows you to accomplish your analysis faster by using many parallel CPUs and huge amounts of memory simultaneously. This online training provides a hands-on introduction to running software on HPC infrastructure using Slurm. Note: This course assumes basic familiarity with the Bash command line environment found on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like environments. To come up to speed, consider taking the Unix Shell and Command Line Basics course. You can record this session for 6 credits in Domain A for CaRST. 7-8 August 2025 9:30am-12:30pm. Register here.

Florey Postgraduate Research conference

The Florey Postgraduate Research Conference is a major highlight in the Faculty's calendar. This is a great opportunity for you as a student to network with your peers, researchers and academics from across the university. This year, the conference will feature an additional Postgraduate Careers Expo component aimed at providing advice, guidance, opportunity and support for all current students.

Date: Wednesday 20 August
Time: 9.00am - 4:40pm
Venue: Adelaide Convention Centre

Participating in this event provides opportunities to win prizes, showcase your research, build your academic profile, take part in the interactive professional development session, network with colleagues and identify potential collaborative opportunities, gain invaluable advice from potential employers about career options and direction and gain Career and Research Skills Training (CaRST) accreditation.

Keen to see what to expect? Here’s a little taste of last year’s conference.

For more information and to submit an abstract, please visit the Florey Conference website.

About CaRST

Located within the Adelaide Graduate Research School, CaRST is a specialised training and development program for HDR students at The University of Adelaide. For further information on CaRST visit the CaRST website.