Alumni Feature Story

Dr Sandra Arnold

Fast facts

Graduated: 2010 Qualification: Doctor of Philosophy Thesis: Sing no sad songs: grieving the death of a young adult child from cancer Current Position: Writer

Sandra’s best memory of studying at CQU was the fantastic support from her supervisors who strongly believed in what she was trying to achieve. Her supervisors turned out to be right – Sandra went on to successfully publish the creative component of her thesis with Canterbury University Press in 2011 as Sing no Sad Songs. Since graduating with her PhD, she has also published essays, short stories and two more books – a novel titled The Ash the Well and the Bluebell and a collection of short stories Soul Etchings. Sandra’s work has been published and anthologised internationally and has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize, Best Microfictions and The Best Small Fiction. With all this under her belt, what is Sandra’s best best tip for the next generation of RHD graduates? ‘Choose a topic you are deeply involved with and keep at it until it’s finished’.

Spouses Dr Abu Sayem and Dr Umme Mumtahina from Bangladesh graduated with their PhDs on the same day, cheered on by their daughter and brand new baby, born just a week prior to the ceremony.

DID YOU KNOW?

Some people enjoyed our research higher degree community so much, they came back a second time! The University’s reporting shows more than forty alums who have graduated from not one, but two research higher degrees. Many of these are a masters course followed by a doctorate, with an average gap of around 8.5 years between the two graduations; and some returning more than 20 years later. There are also multiple examples of spouses and other family members studying their research together at CQUniversity.

RECOLLECTIONS FROM RESEARCH SUPERVISORS

Featuring Dr Bob Newby

I joined CIAE in 1981, so I was there when we started offering RHDs and generally trying to encourage a research culture. My contribution was not the number of students I supervised (which was modest) but rather that they were amongst the earliest to graduate from CQU. I even supervised a Rockhampton‑based student who we had to enrol through another institution as the University was not offering research degrees at the time. Fortunately, after graduating, he subsequently undertook a PhD through CQU, which by then offered doctoral degrees. Because of my role as Associate Dean and Head of Department, I felt I could play a bigger role in fostering research by encouraging students to do an honours degree (something many had not considered). I was always a strong supporter of the honours program in biology, which I think was the first such degree offered. For me, the most enjoyable part of supervision was seeing students ‘over the hump’ ‑ getting them to the point where they could see it was all going to come together. The other aspect was hearing how their career developed after graduating with a RHD. In those early days, we were encouraged to do ‘regionally relevant’ projects so I had students working on things like pollination in pawpaws, spider mites in pineapples and spiders in organic orchards; all projects linked to local industries.

My students were typically involved in field projects and for some time there were few changes in the practice of field data collection. The biggest change was the increasing sophistication of statistical analysis. Increasingly, remote sensing and GIS techniques became an important component of field studies, and in biology, the emergence of genomics has revolutionized what we can do.

Another broad change from the 1990s was the increasing emphasis on a candidate putting together a detailed proposal for their research, so that everyone thought through all aspects of the project from the early stages. When I reflect back on my own career, we were often simply thrown in at the deep end with minimal guidance. Another of the big changes in expectations I have witnessed is the emphasis on publications. Early on, publications were generally something you did after the thesis was accepted. I am impressed by how modern RHD students are publishing well before they graduate. Another significant change has been the emphasis on time taken to completion. Once, people enrolled in what seemed like never‑ending projects (there was always ‘one more field trip’!). Nowadays, a positive outcome has been that projects now need to be tightly focused with clear aims, hypotheses to be tested and methodology/ techniques to be used. My tip for future RHD students would be simple: ‘Give it your best shot (and enjoy it)’. It is a unique opportunity to learn and grow. You may end up in a career that is only tangentially related to your project but the broader experience gained during your RHD will stand you in good stead.