Not Just Feedstock The Challenges of Early Career Research John Nowakowski and Tammi Jonas Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations

Overview Who are HDR students? Why is supporting early career researchers important? What are the current problems? How can we solve these? Data throughout this presentation provided by DEEWR (2009 Student Numbers) and ACER (Unpublished Research)

Research postgraduates 51,000 HDR students 35% part time 76% part time at ACU 50% part time at Melbourne University 35% aged 20-30, 50% aged 30-49 30% have no scholarship 54% with no scholarship in Education

Researchers in the pipeline? Estimates of a shortfall of academics of up to 20,000 HDR students put out up to 40% of the country’s research Currently, 62% of HDR students hope to work at a University upon completion of a doctorate – around 40% will do so.

Profile of a student

Key Issues Scholarships Full time v Part time study Minimum resources Career pathways

Scholarships Increase APAs by 20% Extend APAs to 4 years with possible 6 month extension

Full time v Part time Equity Carers Disability Generic skills – work – community engagement Nearly 60% of HDR students work 82% who work are in 'somewhat' or 'closely' related employment Innovation and creativity 'people who live in the intersection of social worlds are at higher risk of having good ideas' (Burt 2003)

Minimum resources 32 of 38 Australian universities have policies Office space Annual funding for production & dissemination of research Representation & student services TEQSA has an important role to play

Career pathways Reform pay & conditions for casual academic staff Improve employment opportunities for recent graduates Casual positions that roll into ongoing DECRAs an excellent initiative Value teaching experience in HDRs, and provide appropriate support Nearly half of all HDRs teach during their degree Only 16% receive any formal pedagogical training