23 October 2024

CaRST eNewsletter

CaRST Employability Series

This month through early December we have the CaRST employability series. Are you looking at preparing your next steps beyond your HDR? Wondering where your research degree can take you? Need practical advice about applying for jobs? CaRST is presenting a range of career focused workshops and panels to make your HDR work!

Head to CaRST Online and select 'Do' → 'Find Upcoming Activities' for more information and to book your spot!

Training & Development Events

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

Understanding Skills

When: 24 October 2024, 11:00am - 12:00pm
Credits: 1 credit, Domain B
Delivery mode: Zoom Webinar

Are you aware of the skills you are developing throughout your research degree and how they relate to employability in both academic and non-academic environments? Do you know how to articulate your skills and how they will be a benefit to employers? This webinar focusses on building skills awareness and how to let employers know about your skill set. Content includes identifying and recording skills, recognising HDR skills valued by employers, and articulating skills effectively. Register here.

Planning your next career steps

When: 29 October 2024, 10:00am - 12:00pm
Credits: 2 credits, Domain B
Delivery mode: Zoom Webinar

How do you plan and prepare for your next career steps after finishing your PhD? And how do you decide which career path is right for you - academia, government, industry or some other pathway? This interactive workshop will give you tools and strategies for tackling these questions based on your own interests, strengths and preferences. If you are unsure about preparing for life after the PhD, this event will help you start sharpening your focus and building the confidence to pursue a path best suited to your skills and priorities. Though delivered online, this is a workshop, not a lecture, and breakout rooms will be used so that students can interact with each other. Register here.

An editor’s toolkit: Grammar for cohesive, clear, and concise writing

When: 29 October 2024, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Credits: 2 credits, Domain D
Delivery mode: Zoom Webinar

Academic writing is a problem-solving activity. You have ideas to convey and constraints on the way you convey them – those constraints being cohesion, clarity, and conciseness. But the academic writing problem can be solved when you understand the grammatical devices at your disposal and how to use them. This workshop presents an editor’s toolkit for communicating ideas successfully from writer to reader. It will be particularly useful for editing your academic writing. Bring a Word file with a ~5,000-word piece of your writing and a short section of your most troublesome sentences. Register here.

Presenting confidently on camera

When: 30 October 2024, 9:30am - 12:30pm
Credits: 3 credits, Domain D
Delivery mode: In-person

In this workshop you will learn how to set up your camera, mic, and surroundings with firsthand online presentation tips. We have even included a Zoom walkthrough to show you how to best present yourself during online meetings and presentations. Register here.

How to navigate an academic career

When: 5 November 2024, 11:00am - 12:00pm
Credits: 1 credit, Domain B
Delivery mode: Zoom Webinar

Are you wondering about the different career options available to you in academia, and how to navigate these pathways? This lecture offers an introduction to university-based careers and insights into the structures, dynamics and terminology you will encounter in the sector. It aims to provide clarity about career tracks and key issues to consider when it comes to developing your profile and track record to suit academic pathways. Register here.

Building Connections

When: 7 November 2024, 11:00am - 12:00pm
Credits: 1 credit, Domain B
Delivery mode: Zoom Webinar

Does the idea of forming connections a.k.a. networking make you quake? Do you have strategies for ongoing relationship building? While many postgraduate researchers experience difficulty with these activities, mastering them is vital for creating a positive research experience and post PhD future. This webinar focusses on strategies to help you create positive connections. Content includes identifying potential connections, preparing for and making contact within your comfort zone, and maintaining an ongoing relationship. Register here.

Networking for introverts (extroverts welcome, too!)

When: 12 November 2024, 9:30am - 12:30pm
Credits: 3 credits, Domain B
Delivery mode: In-person

Learn how to make the most out of networking events by asking “Have/Want” questions and giving “Have/Want” answers. Tom Hendrick from Talent Academy (ThincLab’s in-house pitch consultant) will be running this interactive workshop and believes that your net-worth is proportional to your network: “It’s not what you can do for the world, but what you can get the world to do for someone”. This multidisciplinary workshop is suitable for all HDR students who want to grow their network and improve their conversational skills. Register here.

Creating career opportunities

When: 13 November 2024, 11:00am - 12:00pm
Credits: 1 credit, Domain B
Delivery mode: Zoom Webinar

Are you aware of the hidden job market and how to access it? Do you know how to identify and create potential future career opportunities? This webinar will help you understand activities you can undertake during your degree to help set you for future career success. Content includes sourcing information on career opportunities, accessing the hidden job market, and linking with employers. Register here.

Identifying your strengths/transferable skills to succeed in your PhD or Master by Research

When: 19 November 2024, 10:30am - 12:30pm
Credits: 2 credits, Domain B
Delivery mode: In-person

Do you need to re-energise and re-focus on your research? Join us for a fun workshop to brainstorm ideas to be more efficient and succeed in your PhD or Master by Research. In this workshop we will help you to identify the skills you already have that will help you study better and achieve your goals. You will also identify the skills you would like to develop right now or for your future career. You will also learn how to articulate those skills for your CV and selection criteria. Register here.

Other Training & Events

Research Impact: Creating Meaning and Value

Research impact refers to the contributions your research makes beyond academia. This course covers the fundamentals of research impact – what it is and how it can be embedded into every step of the research journey. This program is relevant to researchers at all levels, across all major disciplines. You can record the course for 3 credits in Domain D for CaRST. Enrol here.

R210: Exploring Chi-Square and correlation in R

This hands-on training is designed to familiarise you with the data analysis environment of the R programming. In this session, we will traverse into the realm of inferential statistics, beginning with correlation and reliability. We will present a brief conceptual overview and the R procedures for computing reliability and correlation (Pearson’s r, Spearman’s Rho and Kendall’s tau) in real world datasets. You can record this session for 3 credits in Domain A for CaRST. 25 October 2024 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. Register here.

R211: Traversing t tests in R

R has become a popular programming language for statisticians, data scientists and researchers. It has an excellent ecosystem including the powerful RStudio and the Shiny web application framework. The primary goal of this workshop is to familiarise you with basic statistical concepts in R from reading in and manipulating data, checking assumptions, statistical tests and visualisations. This is not an advanced statistics course, but is instead designed to gently introduce you to statistical comparisons and hypothesis testing in R. You can record this session for 3 credits in Domain A for CaRST. 29 October 2024 1:30pm-4:30pm. Register here.

Advanced troubleshooting & translating searches for systematic reviews (Health & Medical Sciences)

Are you conducting systematic database searches for your evidence synthesis project? This presentation will focus on tips for advanced troubleshooting, and for converting your initial systematic search strategy so that it will work in a variety of databases. This is an advanced-level course and is suitable for anyone who has attended the previous ‘Introduction to Searching for Systematic Reviews’ webinar, or for those who have a basic understanding of systematic database searching techniques using logic grids, and who require more advanced support. You can record this session for 1 credit in Domain A for CaRST. 30 October 2024 11:00am-12:00pm. Register here.

R212: Exploring ANOVAs in R

R is quickly gaining popularity as a programming language for statisticians, data scientists and researchers. It has an excellent ecosystem including the powerful RStudio and the Shiny web application framework. This half-day course covers one and two-way Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) and their non-parametric counterparts in R. To better understand the tests, assumptions and associated concepts, we will be using a dataset containing the mathematics scores of secondary students. This dataset also includes information regarding their mother’s and father’s jobs and education levels, the number of hours dedicated to study, and time spent commuting to and from school. Lifestyle information about alcohol consumption habits, whether the students have quality relationships with their families and whether they have free time after school is included in this dataset. You can record this session for 3 credits in Domain A for CaRST. 31 October 2024 1:30pm-4:30pm. Register here.

PYTHON203: Data Manipulation and Visualisation in Python

Python has deservedly become a popular language for scientific computing. It has all the friendly features and conveniences you’d expect of a modern programming language, and also a rich set of libraries for working with data. In this workshop, you will explore DataFrames in depth (using the pandas library), learn how to manipulate, explore and get insights from your data (Data Manipulation), as well as how to deal with missing values and how to combine multiple datasets. You will also explore different types of graphs and learn how to customise them using two of the most popular plotting libraries in Python, matplotlib and seaborn (Data Visualisation). You can record this session for 6 credits in Domain A for CaRST. 7-8 November 2024 9:30am-12:30pm. Register here.

R205: Introduction to Machine Learning using R: Introduction & Linear Regression

Machine Learning (ML) is a new way to program computers to solve real world problems. It has gained popularity over the last few years by achieving tremendous success in tasks that we believed only humans could solve, from recognising images to self-driving cars. In this course, we will explore the fundamentals of Machine Learning from a practical perspective with the help of the R programming language and its scientific computing packages. You can record this session for 6 credits in Domain A for CaRST. 12-13 November 2024 1:30pm-4:30pm. Register here.

R206: Introduction to Machine Learning using R: Classification

Comprehensive introduction to Machine Learning models and techniques such as Logistic Regression, Decision Trees and Ensemble Learning. Know the differences between various core Machine Learning models. Understand the Machine Learning modelling workflows. Use R and its relevant packages to process real datasets, train and apply Machine Learning models. You can record this session for 6 credits in Domain A for CaRST. 21-22 November 2024 9:30am-12:30pm. Register here.

R207: Introduction to Machine Learning using R: SVM & Unsupervised Learning

Comprehensive introduction to Machine Learning models and techniques such as Support Vector Machine, K-Nearest Neighbor and Dimensionality Reduction. Know the differences between various core Machine Learning models. Understand the Machine Learning modelling workflows. Use R and its relevant packages to process real datasets, train and apply Machine Learning models. You can record this session for 3 credits in Domain A for CaRST. 27 November 2024 9:30am-12:30pm. Register here.

Neurodiversity Mentoring 2025

The Disability Support Unit will be launching a Neurodiversity Mentoring Program in 2025 to support neurodivergent students. Mentors will assist their neurodiverse mentees and provide advice around study habits, executive functioning, academic skills, and managing studying whilst neurodivergent. Please visit the Neurodiversity Project webpage to learn more about this pilot program and how to become a mentor. You can claim up to 7 credits in CaRST for completion of the program and training

The University of Adelaide partners with Intersect Australia to provide training on digital tools and technologies for our HDR students. These courses tend to fill up fast, but even if they're fully booked, it's worth adding your name to the waiting list. The Digital Research Assistants at Intersect will follow up with waitlisted students to let them know when courses will be offered again, and they might even be able to get you into session offered through another university. We also use the waitlists when deciding which courses to offer throughout the year.

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.