Australia’s first ‘digital doctorate’ takes a giant step forward

Higher Degree Research (HDR) students are incredibly important to Flinders, being our future researchers and thought leaders. Early in 2018, the Office of Graduate Research (OGR) met with Digital Research Services (DRS) to re-imagine how Flinders could best support HDR students to most efficiently achieve the endpoint of their candidature, the final thesis.

In three years of study and research, a lot needs to be coordinated. A student must select a supervisor, develop a research proposal, provide a plan, follow the plan, obtain required training to develop skills for their future careers, undertake the research, submit publications, meet review deadlines, and publish their final thesis. The student, their supervisor and HDR coordinator need to communicate throughout to manage expectations and tasks.

This administrative whirlpool can be difficult to coordinate. That is why in 2018 OGR and DRS introduced a new system to manage the entire HDR lifecycle. Inspire is Australia’s first ‘digital doctorate’, the one place where HDR students, supervisors, and others can see what is happening and what needs to be done to ensure HDR student success.

Inspire Release 1 enabled students to analyse and develop the skills they need, using the world-leading Research and Employability Skills Training (REST) framework.

Inspire Release 2 made it easier for students to modify their HDR candidature, by providing online forms and step-by-step workflows. A dashboard provided students, supervisors, and coordinators with a shared view of actions arising from these workflows.

In Inspire Release 3, we’re taking a giant leap forward, by enabling all HDR student milestones to be monitored:

  • Confirmation of Candidature
  • Mid-Candidature Review
  • Final Thesis Review and
  • Interim Reviews for part-time students.

This will make it much easier for a student and their supervisor to track progression on the way to the final thesis. A dashboard view with key deadlines will be provided in early 2019 to present this information clearly and simply.

With Inspire Release 3, it will be easier for students to achieve timely completion. Students and supervisors will know what’s needed every step along the way and will be notified of any actions they’ll need to take.

We thank all HDR students and supervisors for their patience during the transition phase from RHD Research Excellence to Inspire for the submission of Milestones. The OGR will be in touch with you soon regarding Milestones that are due. To help you, from December 2018 through to February 2019 you can get hands-on training and support from OGR. See the Inspire Release 3 webpage for the training schedule.

If you have any questions, contact the HDR Progression Team in the Office of Graduate Research.

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Digital Research Services