Mentors' stories and experiences
Hear about our mentor alumni's experience with the Graduate Research Mentor Program and how it has helped shape them academically and personally.
Rabia Bashir
Department: Australian Institute of Health Sciences
Faculty: Medicine, Health & Human Sciences
Email: rabia.bashir@students.mq.edu.au
My name is Rabia and I graduated in 2019 at the Centre for Health Informatics, which is part of the Australian Institute of Health Innovation. My PhD research focused on looking at the inefficiencies in systematic reviews ecosystem. Using software engineering principles as a lens through which to examine the issues of systematic reviews, my research was based on improving the transparency, completeness, and efficiency of systematic review ecosystem to reduce the waste in clinical research.
When I joined HDR Mentors program, I never could have imagined that it would lead to an exciting journey because it gave me great satisfaction by helping others and sharing my personal experience and skills, which I learnt during my PhD. It was a fantastic program where I contributed to organising different academic and social events and mingled with students from a culturally diverse background.
My profile links are:
Nazia Adeel
Department: Accounting and Corporate Governance
Faculty: Business and Economics
Email: nazia.adeel@students.mq.edu.au
My name is Nazia, and I am currently enrolled in a full-time PhD at the Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the influence of religion & culture on auditors' decision and judgment. I have officially been a volunteer mentor for the HDR lounge since last year but my passion for providing support to juniors, colleagues and friends has always been a very exciting part of my educational and professional life.
Having faced difficulties in the first year of Ph.D., I cannot emphasize more on the importance of mentoring for HDR students especially if they want to maintain a smooth and fruitful PhD journey. Although mentoring is an informal training, however, I believe providing constructive feedback and maintaining professionalism can produce efficient and sustainable results regarding personal gains. Since learning is a two-way process, mentors must be accepting of innovative ideas and flexible in their approach. Both the mentor and the mentee are at benefit if they are willing to agree to each other views and reconsider their opinions. I believe positive reinforcement and appreciation are the best tools for motoring. To conclude, I think knowledge is of no significance unless it is shared, and mentoring provides me with this opportunity and a sense of satisfaction of doing something right.
Oluwatoosin (Toosin) Agbaje
Department: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Faculty: Science & Engineering
Email: oluwatoosin.agbaje@students.mq.edu.au
Do you think you are all alone on the journey of candidature? You are tired of everything thinking: 'I got to give up'. According to Mother Teresa, the worst disease is not AIDS, cancer or leprosy, but loneliness 'isolation'.
A man becomes wise because he loves wisdom and chooses wise thoughts, but "the man who can keep a secret of his wisdom (knowledge) is not half as wise as the man with no secrets to keep". As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. When we allow a combination of wisdom, knowledge, passion and experience from another source to shape our way(s), life becomes easier and meaningful. I believe we can design, build and sustain a "healthy community" by sharing wisdom (knowledge), not hoarding it.
Grace Cheung
Department: Environmental Sciences
Faculty: Science & Engineering
Email: grace.cheung@students.mq.edu.au
I am very fortunate to be one of the many "pioneer" MRes students, especially after such a long break in raising a family. The MRes journey had enriched my life in many ways that I was inspired to further my research endeavour in a joint-PhD with Hamburg University. I am always interested in sustainable development and climate change mitigation. My research topic is "Energy economics and investment decision-making". My focus is on the causality of barriers and challenges in tackling the complexity in transforming the fossil energy systems to low-carbon renewable sources.
I had gained tremendously from my MRes program that I like to pass on this very positive experience along my scholarly journey. I joined the HDR mentoring team only since early 2015. It is amazing to see our team developed from total strangers with various disciplines into a vibrant knowledge/experiences sharing and supporting small communities. Going forward, a continuum of HDR mentoring at Macquarie will only flourish with an ongoing replenishment of fresh energy and innovative ideas from new mentors.
Amir Chiti Zadeh
Department: Marketing and Management
Faculty: Business and Economics
My name is Amir. I am doing my second-year of MRes at the faculty of business and economics. My research area is about a deeper understanding of strategies of rapidly internationalising firms after they enter the foreign market. For my free time, I attend local gym class activities and going to the cinema with friends. Through the first year of MRes, I’ve gained valuable skills and experiences that would like to share them with others. I believe that we should not isolate ourselves during our research journey. Feel free to contact us, when you need help.
Ehsan Kachooei
Department: Molecular Sciences
Faculty: Science & Engineering
I completed my PhD studies at the Department of Molecular Science in November 2019. My field of study is structural biology and Biophysics. The focus of my PhD research was to have a molecular view of the contraction of heart muscle under stress conditions. The molecule of my interest was “Troponin”. Troponin is a large protein molecule and works as a switch to control the contraction of heart muscle, i.e. to turn it On and Off. Most of my PhD life was spent inside the laboratory, preparing protein samples and struggling with sophisticated instruments. I am also passionate about cinema and music; I play a Persian instrument which is called “Setar”.
HDR mentors program is of the most memorable parts of my PhD journey. It was a flexible environment to share experiences with fellow postgraduate students as well as a community to have fun with lovely friends. HDR mentors program helped me to develop my teamwork and communication skills. As an HDR mentor, I had fantastic experiences of giving talks to a large number of audiences and also to assist my peers with their writing problems. My personal advice is “HDR mentors program is fantastic. Follow the events or be part of it. At the end of the day, you will find yourself in a network of nice various people. Do not miss it, it’s euphoric.”
Anna Guller
Department: Physics & Astronomy
Faculty: Science & Engineering
Email: anna.guller@students.mq.edu.au
I am a 3rd year international PhD student at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, but also I work a lot in the labs of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, trying to marry my 15-year research background as an experimental pathologist with some physics and engineering. The basic idea of my work is to create bioartificial tissues for experimental medicine and nanomaterials research. These tissue engineering models are expected to be more reliable, reproducible and sustainable than traditional in vitro culture and experiments on animals and can be used for studies of mechanisms of diseases and regeneration and for the development of new treatment and diagnostic modalities. I am happy to give a hand to HDR students, especially with regard to the projects on the border between medicine, science and engineering.
Serene Gwee
Department: Biomedical Science
Faculty: Medicine and Health Science
Email: sze-ling-serene.gwee@students.mq.edu.au
Serene is currently a 3rd international PhD student in the newly established Faculty of Medicine and Health Science. The aim of her thesis is to investigate how an enzyme can aid in neuronal regeneration using cell culture and zebrafish models. Throughout her PhD journey, she understands the importance of writing applications for animal ethics, conference presentations and what every PhD student would encounter during one's candidature at the university. With her experience, she hopes that she can contribute to the HDR mentor program.
Tingting (Cacee) Hu
Department: Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies
Faculty: Arts
Email: tingting.hu1@students.mq.edu.au
Transitioned from the year-2 MRes program and started the PhD in February 2016, I'm currently a year-1 PhD candidate researching Chinese cinema and cultural studies. My MRes thesis examined the representation of female victims in the post-2003 Hong Kong crime films. Extended from the MRes thesis, my PhD project explores the representation of women and violence in new millennium Chinese crime films. As a mentor, I would like to share both academic and campus life experience with you, no matter happiness, hardness, success and frustration, as well as build up friendship, develop my communication skills and enhance HDR community. I hope my effort can be helpful along your HDR journey.
Kanwal Javed
Department: Accounting & Corporate Governance
Faculty: Business & Economics
My name is Kanwal Javed, from Pakistan. Currently, I am a PhD candidate at the Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance. My interest research areas are Corporate Social Responsibilities and Sustainable development. My current research project is on gender equality and sustainable development.
I have been involved in HDR mentoring since my MRes year 2. Why HDR Mentor? I believe in a phrase that Helping Others Help Yourself. In my earlier academic and professional career, I enjoyed helping people; having an impact on individual lives, and viewing the cumulative results of my efforts. Helping others gives me a sense of accomplishment and self-satisfaction when things went well. I have just started this voluntary journey as an HDR mentor with the passion for supporting my peers in HDR and a cure for Isolation in the research journey. As a mentor, I would like to share my good, bad, frustrating moments, thoughts, and experiences along with an aim to enhance my research communication skills to face the Academia confidently.
Andrew Locke
Department: Statistics
Faculty: Science & Engineering
Email: andrew.locke@students.mq.edu.au
I started my PhD journey in the first semester of 2016. My research is an extension of my MRes thesis which looked at developing a better way to describe the distribution of data when it does not follow a known distribution. I have previous experience mentoring during my undergraduate studies and 2nd year of my MRes. To me, mentoring is about passing on knowledge and offering advice if I am able. Sharing my MRes experience (and struggles) normalises the struggles we all face during higher degree research. Mentoring is a very rewarding experience, in the sense of enjoyment gained by helping others but also provides an opportunity to develop new skills and expand horizons. HDR Mentors provides a place to meet new people from different disciplines, engage in interesting discussions and try to make HDR a better experience for the student.
Ian Loke
Department: Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences
Faculty: Science & Engineering
Email: ian.loke@students.mq.edu.au
Ian is currently a 3rd year PhD student under the supervision of Dr Morten Thaysen-Andersen and Professor Nicki Packer.
His work focuses heavily on the human immune system in the field of glycobiology, haematology and immunology. He has achieved several milestones in his PhD in the context of publications, conference presentations, grants and biosafety applications, both at a local and international level. Importantly, he understands what a PhD student will encounter as one progress through his or her candidature at the university. He strongly believes that his experience and knowledge will greatly contribute to the HDR mentor programme.
Alexandra Lynch
Department: Environmental Sciences
Faculty: Science and Engineering
Email: alexandra.lynch@students.mq.edu.au
Alex completed her Master of Research in 2017, with a focus on sustainability education. This research looked at whether sustainability is explicit in the curriculum of the pre-service primary education program at Macquarie. Alex says the highlights of her Master of Research included attending a conference full of passionate environmental educators, working on a project with two amazing supervisors (Wendy Goldstein and Bronwen Wade-Leeuwen), and making lifelong friends with her MRes team in the Department of environmental sciences. Alex is familiar with the process of doing a Master of Research and knows how tough it can be, even at the best of times. She is happy to support upcoming MRes students on this challenging but worthwhile journey.
Tushar Malica
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Faculty: Science & Engineering
Email: tushar.malica@students.mq.edu.au
Our purpose as a community is to blaze through our early research careers and not just merely survive it and I believe this can be done better together. I've travelled and studied over three continents which has equipped me with an understanding of different cultures and experiences that will enable us to move a bit further, faster. I'm a full-time PhD student working in the field of laser physics which means I get to play with lasers while concentrating on non-linear dynamics, chaos and theoretical models as my main focus area. As a mentor, I'm currently involved in marketing, branding and industrial link-ups. We make sure that our program has high visibility on-campus and social media presence along with, connecting with private research industry and hopefully, provide more exposure to PhD students wanting to explore out of academia.
On top of peer to peer support, HDR mentors is a great community for those looking to develop their soft skills while having fun and did I mention that it's totally flexible! Mentors are encouraged to undertake projects that are of interest to them and fits their schedule, regardless of your research timeline involving off-site research as was my case. So drop us an email, we are a fun bunch, I promise :)
Maryam Mathers
Faculty: Business and Economics
My name is Maryam, an MRes graduate from the Faculty of Business and Economics. My research topic was focused on the diasporic experiences of first and second-generation Iranian-Australian women living and working in Australia. Through qualitative research, I have explored the gendered and racialised discrimination and associated challenges which these two groups faced especially at their workplaces. View my whole thesis.
Throughout my research journey, I have gained valuable skills and experiences which can be extremely useful for new research students who are coming on board. Time management and project management are some of my expertise and I would love to be able to share them with you. I believe in work/study/life balance and while I study hard, I give time to my hobbies such as photography and sketching and spend time with family and friends.
HDR Mentors' community is a friendly and supportive community which I am very lucky to be part of. There are many events and activities run by the HDR Mentors which I have personally found them very enjoyable and also a great opportunity to get to know other fellow research students from other faculties. Whether you are looking for a one on one mentor or just to socialise, HDR Mentors are here to help.
Nicole Miles
Department: Ancient History
Faculty: Arts
Email: nicole.miles@students.mq.edu.au
I have been involved in HDR mentoring since it was just a concept and have been with the program since. I love being a mentor as it is a wonderful opportunity to "pay it forward" while at the same time "paying back". I really enjoy being able to help people and generally know that I can make a difference to someone who may be struggling with some aspect of student life. I also really love mentoring as it is a wonderful opportunity to connect with students and the MQU community in general. I get a real buzz when one of my mentees has a wonderful result with their studies and/or student life in general. I have been a mentor since 2011 and it has been a wonderfully rewarding journey. I hope the adventure continues for many more years to come. I have been fortunate to meet many fascinating people during my time as a mentor. I have had the chance to teach, learn, and share as a mentor and the experiences will stay with me for a lifetime.
Khondker (Galib) B Mohiuddin
Department: Marketing and Management
Faculty: Business and Economics
Email: khondker-galib-b-.mohiuddin@students.mq.edu.au
Galib developed marketing plans for his family's businesses in teenage and has since pursued his interest in Marketing. Both his undergraduate from Bangladesh and an MBA from Melbourne Business School concentrates on Marketing. His PhD research explores 'coolness' from a Brand Marketing perspective. He also has a diploma in Social Business and Welfare from HEC (Paris). Galib provided marketing consultancy services to advertising firms and telecom operators in Bangladesh. He has experience in corporate training and taught Marketing to undergraduate students for more than eight years. He volunteers for HDR Mentors of Macquarie University, and for Bangla Academy Australia community school.
Uche Ngwaba
Department: Macquarie Law School
Faculty: Arts
Email: uchechukwu.ngwaba@students.mq.edu.au
Uche Ngwaba is in the final year of his Doctoral Research Work at Macquarie Law School. His PhD research investigates how the 'right to health' can serve as the basis for transforming the health system of Nigeria. Since the start of his Candidature in 2014, Uche has been very involved with the Macquarie HDR community. In 2015 he was the 2nd Place winner of the Macquarie University 3MT Competition. He was part of the Arts HDR Committee that successfully organised and hosted the NewMac Humanities Postgraduate Symposium 2015. He currently sits on the Board of the NewMac Humanity Journal, serving as its Editor-in-Chief. Uche has joined the Macquarie HDR Mentors program to contribute and benefit from the collegiality fostered by that community.
Ravindra Palavalli Nettimi Ravi
Department: Biological Sciences Department
Faculty: Science and Engineering
Email: ravindra.palavalli-nettimi@students.mq.edu.au
Website: rvndrpn.wix.com/ravindra
I run behind ants to know how them being tiny affects their visual navigation. Did you know that the ants use cues from the sky, like the Sun's position and light pattern, to navigate? I can talk to you about it till you get more interested in ants. I hope to peep into their brains soon to explain their navigation abilities and how body size affects it. When I am not doing this, I like exploring at least one new food and place a week. I then show off by making a video of it. Perhaps you can suggest me what to explore next, or join me! I am also interested in visual media: making videos and podcasts. I like teaching and science communication. I learn, and so I teach. I teach, and so I learn. We can work together to make our PhD/MRes experience memorable.
Samiya Tabassum
Department: Biological Sciences
Faculty: Science and Engineering
Email: samiya.tabassum@hdr.mq.edu.au
I am a domestic 3rd year PhD candidate from the Department of Biological Sciences. My project looks at how invasive plants are able to expand in their range so fast when they are first introduced into a new environment. I have been an HDR candidate at Macquarie University since MRes year 2, having been part of one of the pioneering batches. Throughout my studies at Macquarie University, I have accumulated a wealth of experience that may resonate with fellow HDR students including experiments not working, meeting supervisor expectations and trying to maintain a healthy work/life balance. I joined HDR Mentors as a way for me to share my experiences and hopefully help new students that may be going through similar situations. In my spare time, I enjoy cooking and painting. Come and say hi if you see me around!
My Truong
Department: Linguistics
Faculty: Human Sciences
Email: thi-my.truong@students.mq.edu.au
My name is My Truong, from Vietnam. I am doing my PhD at the Linguistics Department. My research interest is teacher cognition, teacher professional development, and teacher research.
I have been formally engaged in HDR mentoring for nearly a year now, but longer informally. What initially drove me to this activity is simply my wish to pass on the kindness and support I received from others when I was a nervous freshman at Macquarie University, and what has kept me on this journey is also the gains that go far beyond my only investment of time. I gained, from free professional training workshops, invaluable communication and mentoring skills, which I can bring even to my family and friend relationships. I gained, from positive HDR students I mingled with, the positive feelings and philosophy that lift up the downs in my own research study. I gained, from various events, a network of congenial researchers, whose majors may differ from mine, but share similar thoughts and even difficulties. And much more...I don't think HDR mentoring is merely an extra-curricular activity that spices up my student life; it is an essential part of my HDR scholarship.