Higher degree by research days
In addition to the ongoing support provided by two expert academic supervisors, the school offers all research candidates access to two HDR days each year. Here candidates can access broader, regular academic feedback and advice to help guide their research.
The days are designed to help students maintain a high quality of work and deliverable timelines. Timeliness and quality are both features that interview panel members look for when making academic appointments.
At a HDR Day, candidates will be encouraged to present an informal explanation of their research plans and findings before a professorial panel of GSBL academics who will provide feedback in addition to that of appointed supervisors. This process increases the likelihood that each thesis will address possible critiques from external examiners prior to final assessment.
Accelerated writing and publishing workshops
Increasingly, when academic appointment panels are comparing applications from recent PhD graduates, priority is given to those applicants who have been published during their candidature in high ranking academic journals. In order to support candidates to achieve this, informal workshops will be run every two weeks with the GSBL HDR Coordinator and other GSBL PhD candidates.
The workshops will assist candidates to understand the differences between high and low ranking journals, and to prepare draft journal articles for publications based on their own research. To increase the likelihood that articles will be accepted and published, drafts are be read by members of the GSBL’s Professoriate, in addition to the feedback provided by appointed academic supervisors.
Feedback from the School’s Professors and Associate Professors is invaluable because of what they have learnt during their academic careers about how to publish in A and in A* ranked research journals.
Industry feedback
When there is sufficient interest, the HDR Coordinator organizes for small groups of HDR candidates to visit major business organizations such as the National Australia Bank and the Future Fund, so they can present their research plans to senior managers who provide feedback on what they see as the practical benefits of the proposed research. Those managers also often make suggestions about alternative and contemporary directions for research.
International research community
Our PhD candidates have opportunities to interact with, and potentially get feedback from, leading international researchers who participate in the GSBL’s Visiting Scholar Program. This in turn helps candidates to build their own research networks and organize future research visits, in addition to the benefits associated with their own PhD project. Building a network within the international academic community is a great way to accelerate a future academic career.
The Centre for Innovative Justice
The Centre for Innovative Justice undertakes research to identify effective alternative approaches to improve criminal justice, civil dispute resolution and legal service provision.
The Centre conducts, advocates, teaches and translates research into practical application - all with a focus on innovation to improve criminal and civil justice mechanisms, and legal service provision.
For students, the centre provides placement and research opportunites, not only offering practical exposure to the practise and social context of the law, but equipping them to use their legal training to advocate for change and achieve change.
