Newsletter 30th October 2012

Hi postgrads!

The cocktail party is on the 2nd of November, 7.30pm, at the Llama Bar and tickets have now sold out! We looked into trying to expand the space that we had been allocated, but it’s unfortunately not possible. Many apologies to those who missed out – I am taking a reserve list (email your name, phone number, and number of tickets to psa@guild.uwa.edu.au) but do not rely on this as a way to get tickets! Interest soared this week!

If you have a ticket you can no longer use, give it back to me before 10am Friday, I’ll refund you and try to resell it!

Those with tickets – one ticket will let one person in. If you have no ticket, you will get no entry. At this stage, I’m going to be on the door. Be afraid, posties.

Other super exciting news for you!

At the AGM, the new committee was elected! You can see them here: http://uwapsa.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/2013-committee.html

You’ll also notice that there are still positions available for next year’s committee – you can still nominate for them!

The higher education sector has been in a bit of an uproar recently – read a quick round up here: http://uwapsa.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/whats-happening-in-higher-education.html

Info from the AGM is going up on the website as quickly as possible. Keep an eye out here: http://sponsored.uwa.edu.au/psa/events/agm/2012_agm

Finally:

Connect: This Thursday, 5pm, Uni Club balcony – this is my last one as President, and it’s going to be super! You’ll get your first glimpse of Postscript, we’re presenting the Editor’s Choice Awards, and presenting the Leadership and Community Service Award, announced at the AGM: http://sponsored.uwa.edu.au/psa/leadership/winners

AWARDS FINAL ROUND: Travel Grants, Small Grants, and Fieldwork all close on the 9^th of November – this is your last chance to seek funding from the PSA in 2012! Nomination forms must be in the PSA Office by 5pm 9^th of November.

Stay cool, I’ll see you soon!

Aisling

Notices

Single parent? The following is a request for participants: I am interested in how you came to decide to continue on postgraduate education and how being a sole parent influences your studies. Your participation would include an initial 90 minute interview and your participation is confidential. To find out more and/or participate please contact Genine: genine.hook@monash.edu

EMPLOYMENT AT ST. CATHERINES: St. Catherine’s College is seeking tutors!

Tutorials are run at the college located across from UWA (usually after 5pm although this is flexible) once a week for one hour. You will be paid $55 per hour tutorial. Classes are small usually 1-4 residents attending. If you are interested please contact Kim Louw at directorofstudies@stcatherines.uwa.edu.au with a list of your availabilities to run the tutorial.

Currently required are tutors with expertise in:
LAWS4401: Constitutional Law II

ECON2234: Macroeconomics

ECON2235: International Trade

SCIE1106: Molecular Biology of Cells (Preferred availability Tuesdays 7pm-8pm)

The Director of Studies position is also seeking Expressions of Interest! The details are on the website: http://sponsored.uwa.edu.au/psa/notices_for_postgrads

Drugs, Alcohol, and Public Health: Alcohol and other drug use present some of the greatest contemporary public health challenges. Presented by experts at the National Drug Research Institute and other international opinion leaders, this one-week intensive postgraduate unit covers relevant theoretical models and provides practical insights into enhancing drug policy with specific populations, the community and in emerging areas such as drugs and the internet. The aim is to provide participants with a framework to improve integration of research into drug policy formulation at local, state, national and international levels

DATE: Monday 3 - Friday 7 December 2012
TIME: 9am - 4.45pm
VENUE: National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University Health Research Campus, Shenton Park
Enrolments close Wednesday 7 November 2012, through Curtin Health Sciences Student Services Office.

Further info about the unit and enrolment process: http://ndri.curtin.edu.au/students/dpph500.cfm

PERFECTIONIST? Want to be part of Curtin's Perfectionism clinical trial? The Curtin Psychology Clinic is trialling an 8-week treatment for clinical perfectionism course using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) strategies.  It aims to help you understand perfectionist behaviours, explore ways to reduce unhelpful thinking and self-criticism, and increase your time management skills and your self-worth. Call Vivienne at the Curtin Psychology Clinic on (08) 9266 3436 for more information or email vivienne.willan@curtin.edu.au

Education Research Forum! Register to attend the 2012 Fogarty Foundation Postgraduate Research Forum at Faculty of Education. This is a free event providing an opportunity for UWA postgrads to present their education-related research.
DATE:  Tuesday 20 November 2012
TIME:  Registrations: 1.30pm to 1.50pm
FORUM: 1.50pm to 4.45pm Refreshments from 4.45pm onwards
REGISTER: Email the following information to Suzanne Dawkins (10562859@student.uwa.edu.au) no later than Friday 9 November 2012:

Your Name
Institution
Email address
Contact phone number
Whether you attended the forum in 2011
Whether you will be attending the social hour after the forum

Like science AND communication? You should totally check out the Science Communication Seminars, Fridays, 4.00pm at the UWA Centre for Learning Technology. No RSVP required, snacks and drinks available – email Sophia Bickford at 20228745@student.uwa.edu.au to join the mailing list!

LITERARY RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM: IAS and the Chair of Australian Literature are presenting a research symposium titled Christina Stead and Literary Ownership. It’s on the 23^rd of November from 9.30am to 5pm, at the University Club. See http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/conf/stead for the info!

Idea-ful? The Day of Ideas is sponsored by the IAS, and focuses on important themes.

Manning Clark House is running a special public lecture “Night of 100 Objects - Creating histories through Objects” by Dr Jeremy Hill, Head of Research, The British Museum. The lecture is on the 8^th of November 2012, from 6.00pm-7.00pm, at the WA Museum, costing $30.

The IAS’s 2012 Day of Ideas lecture series will focus on the theme: “Objects/History/Humanity: Museums in Contemporary Society”. It will take place on the 9^thof November 2012, from 9.30am –5.00pm, in Banquet Hall South, University Club, UWA, costing $75/$70 (concession). The day is followed by sundowner until 6.00pm.

More info and registration: http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/conf/2012-doi

IAS Events:

6 Nov: “Social Responsibility in/of Technology Transfer”, Ashley Stevens, Webb LT, 6pm, (Lecture)

22 Nov: “Re-Reading Christina Stead”, Louise Adler, Webb LT, 6pm, (Lecture)

Do you want to put a notice in the newsletter? You should email me! I’ll spruik most things related to postgrads, professional development, and activities. Newsletter day is currently Wednesday, so email two sentences and any links to psa@guild.uwa.edu.au by 9am on Wednesday to be included!

Website: http://www.psa.guild.uwa.edu.au
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/uwapsa
Blog: http://uwapsa.blogspot.com.au
Email: psa@guild.uwa.edu.au
Internal Mail: M300
Phone: (08) 6488 3194
Office: Guild South Wing, First Floor, Office 1.03
Lounge: Guild South Wing, First Floor, Room 1.05

2013 Committee!

It is my great pleasure to announce the results of the elections for the 2013 PSA Committee!!

Executive

President: Gemma Bothe

VP: Kara Salter

Secretary: Siddartha Verma

Treasurer: Elliot Smith

Office Bearers

Media Officer: Rukmini Pande

Equity Officer: vacant
International Officer: Jenny Tung

Coursework Officer: vacant

Indigenous Officer: vacant

Faculty Representatives

ALVA: Simon Kilbane

Arts: Charmaine Fernandez

Business School: Fatima Khushnud

Education: vacant

Engineering: Revanth Garlapati

Law: vacant

Science: Vipul Agarwal

MDHS: vacant

Ordinary Committee Members

Peter Derbyshire

Christofer Bester

Vacant Committee positions

Vacant positions will continue to be advertised, and people may nominate for them ad hoc. Notice of nominees will be posted for a period of 7 days (on the website, newsletter, and PSA Noticeboard.) for comment by the Association - if there is no objections or further nominations, the nominee will be appointed to the new committee. 

AGM Documents

The minutes, amended Constitution, President's Report, and AGM presentation will all be available from the website next week!

Election Updates!

Postgrads, the election is tomorrow night!
Absentee ballots close in just over an hour!
Exciting time all around!

I must inform you of a late withdrawal from the the Presidential nominees. Below is an email I received from Nima at 15.37 25th October:

Dear Aisling

I had a meeting with my supervisor this afternoon and I talked with him about nominating myself for PSA committee position. Unfortunately he was not happy with my decision at all as my work load is going to increase in a couple of months starting some new external projects for the industry. As a result I have decided to cancel my nomination for the President position and would like to wish the best for the remaining candidates

Regards

Nima  

The Presidential candidates are now: Gemma Bothe, Elliot Smith, and Siddartha S. Verma.

 

See you tomorrow for the election!

(By the way, totally started a Twitter hashtag for the AGM! You can follow my excitment about the election on #2012PSAGM)

 

Aisling

What's happening in the Higher Education sector?

Any views expressed in this post are entirely those of the author, and do not necessarily represent those of the University of Western Australia or the UWA Student Guild.

Image Credit: alesia17, sxc.hu/photo/895649

Postgrads, there has been a lot of coverage recently on a number of developments in higher education. This post is not to tell you want to think, but to give you quick and easy access to some relevant materials on these issues, so that you can make up your own minds!

I do think it is important that we are aware and properly informed about wide-ranging issues in higher education, becuase they affect us as postgraduate students but they also affect the sector more broadly - including our opportunities as early career researchers and teachers!

Funding of the sector

So what on earth is happening here? Late last week we heard that there was a freeze on research grants (the Australian Research Council grants did not open as expected), and there was speculation that these grants would not be available. This development was very vocally criticised.

The Federal government released their Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook for 2012-13 on the 22nd of October. You can have a look at the official documents here.

First of all, the ARC and NHMRC funding was not reduced - the ARC linkage grants opened on Monday and there was $652 million distributed from the NHMRC. (citation)

This mini-budget did include significant cuts to the higher education sector, especially to the "abolition of University Facilitation funding (saving $270m) and reductions to the Sustainable Research Excellence (SRE) ($499m) as well as savings in relation to student income support and scholarships ($250m)." (S. Creagh, "Mid-Year budget slashes $499m from research support"). Specifically around student support, the Government has delayed making all Masters by Coursework students eligible for student payments and delaying any increase in the rate of Student Start-Up Scholarships. (citation)

The SRE funds exist to "support the 'indirect' costs of research such as administrative, equipment and staffing costs bit covered by research grants." (B. Hall and B. Preiss, "$1b cuts tipped to hit jobs, overseas students")

So far, commentary has pointed to potential job losses, the potential reduction in the quality of research space, a possible slippage in ranking, and the destablising effect on Australian researchers and their desire to work here (and a possible brain drain).

CAPA President Meghan Hopper pointed out that "These cuts may help the government achieve surplus in the short-term but they dismiss the long-term benefits of higher education to our economy and research output." (citation)

This budget is concerning to many in our sector, but especially for UWA with the new Cycle Two courses (the new Masters by Coursework), this is of great concern to the PSA.

Future of the sector

The other significant discussion happening at the moment is around what the Higher Education sector will look like, in a rapidly changing external environment. There are two important resources I would direct interested people to look at:

First, The Conversation have been running some incredibly interesting articles about the future of the sector, which culminated in a panel discussion last week. You can access it here.

Second, Ernst & Young released an interesting report today advocating radical change within univeristies. You can find and read that report here.

The Ernst & Young report highlights some of the drivers of change within the sector and The Conversation discussion focused on the developments around online teaching, Massive Open Online Courses, and the effect on learning.

I really want to highlight that these are developments we, as postgraduates, need to be thinking about. The way that the sector changes in line with a new digital economy will have long-term impacts on us - whether we want to be researchers or teachers.

Will the kind of jobs we see now still exist? Are we being properly trained in new resources so that we are competitive in an increasingly international environment? Are the same standards of teaching and learning being maintained in an online environment? What are student-teacher ratios going to look like in 5 years?

Have a read of some of the commentary for yourself! Think about how you want our future to look.

Universities must adapt or perish

What students want and how universities are getting it wrong

Research online: Why universities need to be knowledge brokers

MOOCs offer enormous potential

How can we influence or respond to this?

So now you're informed and have an opinion - what can you do with it? Can you influence the process or the future at all?

Yes, you can.

• Talk to your supervisors and your research group, and raise their awareness too.
• Express your opinion to the PSA!
• The PSA has access to both the UWA administration and can lobby for you there
• The PSA is also a member of CAPA, and will help formulate CAPA policy and priorities in our Annual Council Meeting at the end of November.
• Interact with the conversations going on online, write to the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research (Chris Evans, who happens to be a Senator from WA), or write to your local Federal Member of Parliament.

Thanks for taking the time to read through this post, I hope that the collection of resources is useful to you!

Aisling

2012 PSA President

Newsletter 24th October 2012

Hi posties!

Wow, these three weeks are HUGE for the PSA! We have had committee nominations and Leadership Award applications close last week, AGM and elections this week, and my last Connect as President and the Cocktail party next week!

It is so very important that you participate in the process of electing the new President, postgrads. I hope this year you have realised how much representation this person must do for you – so you want someone who will actually keep in touch and let you know what is going on! (If you don’t know who they are and what they’re doing, how can they represent you?) There are four nominees – read about them here: http://uwapsa.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/election-next-steps.html

Keep the PSA strong and independent, and working for you!

Absentee voting: If you can’t make it to the AGM, you can still vote. Email psa@guild.uwa.edu.au to get the ballot paper. Absentee voting opens on the 19^th of October and closes 5pm on the 25^th of October. If you lodge an absentee vote, you cannot vote at the AGM.

The AGM is on Friday the 26^th of October, from 5.30pm, Arts Lecture Room 5. We will have a sundowner at the Club with drinks and nibbles afterwards! IT’S A MINI CONNECT! We’re also going to be presenting the Inaugural Leadership Award, and discussing the future of the PSA!

The cocktail party is on the 2nd of November, 7.30pm, at the Llama Bar. Keith Johnson let me know that I confusingly wrote in the Supplementary Newsletter last week that Cocktail tickets are $25 each for committee members – I meant Association members (that’s all of you!)! Cocktail Party is for you, and your partners! We’ve put a lot of time into creating a magnificent party for you all, so please come and get your tickets from Guild Student Reception quickly! (They’re selling fast! Please bring exact cash.)

Two very quick good news stories: Master of Clinical Psychology and PhD Student in the School of Psychology David Erceg-Hurn was named 2012 WA Student Scientist of the Year! Congrats David! Lauren Hollier, winner of the UWA 3 Minute Thesis, came runner up in the Trans-Tasman level of the competition! Congrats Lauren!

Apologies for the long editorial, I promise they’ll return to being short, sweet, and full of !!! soon!

Aisling

Notices

Single parent? The following is a request for participants: I am interested in how you came to decide to continue on postgraduate education and how being a sole parent influences your studies. Your participation would include an initial 90 minute interview and your participation is confidential. To find out more and/or participate please contact Genine: genine.hook@monash.edu

EMPLOYMENT AT ST. CATHERINES: St. Catherine’s College is seeking tutors!

Tutorials are run at the college located across from UWA (usually after 5pm although this is flexible) once a week for one hour. You will be paid $55 per hour tutorial. Classes are small usually 1-4 residents attending. If you are interested please contact Kim Louw at directorofstudies@stcatherines.uwa.edu.au with a list of your availabilities to run the tutorial.

Currently required are tutors with expertise in:
LAWS4401: Constitutional Law II

ECON2234: Macroeconomics

ECON2235: International Trade

SCIE1106: Molecular Biology of Cells (Preferred availability Tuesdays 7pm-8pm)

The Director of Studies position is also seeking Expressions of Interest! The details are on the website: http://sponsored.uwa.edu.au/psa/notices_for_postgrads

RECLAIM THE NIGHT: This year women and their allies are coming together on Friday, 26th October to Reclaim the Night. The march will begin at Pioneer Park, Fremantle at 6:30pm. It will be organised and led by self-identifying women but everyone that supports our goals is welcome to attend. Email Anita at anita_creasey@hotmail.com for more info.

Education Research Forum! Register to attend the 2012 Fogarty Foundation Postgraduate Research Forum at Faculty of Education. This is a free event providing an opportunity for UWA postgrads to present their education-related research.
DATE:  Tuesday 20 November 2012
TIME:  Registrations: 1.30pm to 1.50pm
FORUM: 1.50pm to 4.45pm Refreshments from 4.45pm onwards
REGISTER: Email the following information to Suzanne Dawkins (10562859@student.uwa.edu.au) no later than Friday 9 November 2012:Your Name
Institution
Email address
Contact phone number
Whether you attended the forum in 2011
Whether you will be attending the social hour after the forum

Like science AND communication? You should totally check out the Science Communication Seminars, Fridays, 4.00pm at the UWA Centre for Learning Technology. No RSVP required, snacks and drinks available – email Sophia Bickford at 20228745@student.uwa.edu.au to join the mailing list!

LITERARY RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM: IAS and the Chair of Australian Literature are presenting a research symposium titled Christina Stead and Literary Ownership. It’s on the 23^rd of November from 9.30am to 5pm, at the University Club. See http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/conf/stead for the info!

Idea-ful? The Day of Ideas is sponsored by the IAS, and focuses on important themes.

Manning Clark House is running a special public lecture “Night of 100 Objects - Creating histories through Objects” by Dr Jeremy Hill, Head of Research, The British Museum. The lecture is on the 8^th of November 2012, from 6.00pm-7.00pm, at the WA Museum, costing $30.

The IAS’s 2012 Day of Ideas lecture series will focus on the theme: “Objects/History/Humanity: Museums in Contemporary Society”. It will take place on the 9^thof November 2012, from 9.30am –5.00pm, in Banquet Hall South, University Club, UWA, costing $75/$70 (concession). The day is followed by sundowner until 6.00pm.

More info and registration: http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/conf/2012-doi

Institute of Advanced Studies Lectures and Masterclasses

25 Oct: 10am – 4pm, “Uncovering Oceanic Transport Barriers”, Thomas Peacock, Old Senate Room, (Masterclass)

Registration and questions should be directed to the IAS: http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/about

Do you want to put a notice in the newsletter? You should email me! I’ll spruik most things related to postgrads, professional development, and activities. Newsletter day is currently Wednesday, so email two sentences and any links to psa@guild.uwa.edu.au by 9am on Wednesday to be included!

Website: http://www.psa.guild.uwa.edu.au
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/uwapsa
Blog: http://uwapsa.blogspot.com.au
Email: psa@guild.uwa.edu.au
Internal Mail: M300
Phone: (08) 6488 3194
Office: Guild South Wing, First Floor, Office 1.03
Lounge: Guild South Wing, First Floor, Room 1.05

2012 PSA AGM Agenda

 2012 UWA Postgraduate Students’ Association Annual General MeetingAgenda: 26^th October, 5.30pm, Arts Lecture Room 5

Reports

1.       President’s Report

2.       Treasurer’s Report/Presentation of PSA Financial Statement

Issues for discussion and debate

3.       The position of the PSA within the Guild: Possible models for change

a.       Merger

b.      Reform

c.       Separation

4.       Recommendations of 2012 PSA Committee, for ratification by the members of the PSA

a.       Cessation of PSA membership for Association members

                                                               i.      From the minutes of the Committee 20^th of September: Given that membership of the PSA is automatic once a student enrolls in a postgrad course at UWA, the committee was asked when membership should cease. The committee determined that membership ceases once the student has a ‘disenrolled’ status.

b.      Terms of Office for PSA Committee members

                                                               i.      Given that some postgrads may complete before their committee term has ended, the 2012 committee was asked to determine whether the elected rep would still be eligible to remain as part of the Committee. The committee determined that they were.

5.       Constitutional Amendments

a.       Section 11, A, iv, j: “Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Representative” to “Faculty of Arts Representative”

b.      Section 11, A, iv, o and Section 11, A, iv, q: “Faculty of Life and Physical Sciences Representative” and “Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences Representative”. Delete both, and replace with Section 11, A, iv, o “Faculty of Science Representative”.

Election of the 2013 Committee

6.       The election will run in the following order:

a) President and Senate Representative
b) Vice-President
c) Secretary
d) Treasurer
e) Media Officer
f) Equity Officer
g) International Student’s Officer
h) Coursework Student’s Officer
i) Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts Representative
j) Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Representative
k) Business School Representative
l) Faculty of Education Representative
m) Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Representative
n) Faculty of Law Representative
o) Faculty of Life and Physical Sciences Representative
p) Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry Representative
q) Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences Representative
r) Ordinary committee members (2 positions)

Other Business

7.       Presentation of inaugural PSA Leadership and Community Service Award

8.       Thanks of the 2012 PSA Committee

9.       Close of meeting

The meeting will be followed by a sundowner for all members and guests who attended the entire meeting.

Election: Next steps

So, nominations closed today! Let me run through a brief summary for you:

Number of nominations:

President: 4 nominees

VP: 3 nominees

Secretary: 1 nominee

Treasurer: 1 nominee

Media Officer: 0 nominees - nominations will be accepted from the floor at the AGM

Equity Officer: 0 nominees - nominations will be accepted from the floor at the AGM

International Officer: 2 nominees

Coursework Officer: 0 nominees - nominations will be accepted from the floor at the AGM

Indigenous Officer: 0 nominees - nominations will be accepted from the floor at the AGM

Faculty Reps:
ALVA: 1 nominee

Arts: 1 nominee

Business School: 1 nominee

Education: 0 nominees - nominations will be accepted from the floor at the AGM

Engineering: 1 nominee

Law: 0 nominees - nominations will be accepted from the floor at the AGM

FLPS: 2 nominees

MDHS: 0 nominees - nominations will be accepted from the floor at the AGM

FNAS: 0 nominees - nominations will be accepted from the floor at the AGM

Ordinary Committee member: 2 nominees

Who are these nominees?

In alphabetical order by last name:

Vipul Agarwal

Nominated for: FLPS

Gemma Bothe
Nominated for: President and OCM

This year, as a commencing postgraduate, I have seen how beneficial the PSA can be, and I would love to be a part of that in 2013. Postgraduate education at UWA is, at times, lonely, isolating and intimidating. This year in Anthropology and Sociology we have tried to combat this through the introduction of a peer-mentoring programme and postgraduate run, semi-regular, workshops. Being a part of these programmes has made me realise how much postgraduates benefit from the support of our peers. Being a part of trying to make these programmes into an official, university run trial in Anthropology and Sociology for 2013, has made me realise how much we all benefit from the support of an active PSA. With your backing I hope to be a part of the PSA next year so that I can be a part of the continuing support that the PSA gives postgraduates.

Charmaine Fernandez
Nominated for: Arts

Charmaine Fernandez is a doctoral candidate in the discipline of English and Cultural Studies at the University of Western Australia. Her thesis considers contemporary Singaporean fringe theatre as a vehicle for socio-political activism and expression, focusing on representations of characters neglected or silenced by the State narrative. Her other research interests include fantasy fiction, film and pedagogical developments in special needs education.Charmaine believes in the value that academic collaboration and peer support adds to postgraduate life. Initial feelings of isolation and disconnectedness are more quickly overcome with the resources provided by an existing peer network. Charmaine is enthusiastic about working with stakeholders to improve the postgraduate experience. As Arts Faculty Representative, Charmaine aims to (1) work toward increasing structural support of and access to information for newly enrolled postgraduates, (2) help to make more opportunities for academic collaboration available, and (3) obtain greater institutional support to ensure the continuity of such efforts

Revanth Garlapati

Nominated for: ECM
I have been the PSA ECM Rep for the 5 months. During this period, I have actively assisted the PSA committee in organizing events such as quiz night and family picnic. I also made editorial contribution to the postgraduate student magazine-Postscript. At the faculty level, I have promoted the interests of the postgraduate students in the faculty board meetings. I have more to offer to the postgraduate student community. Hence I would like to continue in my current position for another term.

Fatima Khushnud

Nominated for: Business

Simon Kilbane

Nominated for: ALVA

Nima Moradi

Nominated for: President

Having studied here for the last 3 years at both Master and PhD postgraduate levels, I have a really good insight of life at UWA. The postgraduate experience is a unique opportunity to develop skills that makes a profession, it's a trade of between sleepless nights and a brighter future! An angry supervisor and the joy of a published paper! it is a scaled model of the life. Yes that's the way posties handle this experiment! however to make sure you are not producing crappy results with 100% confidence or not crashing your simulations, you need some magical stuff! Here at PSA we intend to help you use your own magical stuff (you mind!), utilizing an appropriate and balanced method to enjoy both your life and your studies! It would be an honour for me to be with you, work with each other to promote outselves and enjoy this period together. WITHDRAWN

Kara Salter

Nominated for: VP

Heading into my fourth year this year... and heading out of scholarship… I’ve had a chance to experience several different postgraduate perspectives. As a parent to a 16month old it is really important to me that the time I spend at uni is as productive as possible. I believe that that productivity is helped by the support of a strong postgraduate community. I really am passionate about this and had found my discipline lacking in such a community. Now after the efforts of many postgrads I feel a part of a supportive community in my discipline and in Arts. I want to see that grow and do what I can to seek structural support for its continuation. I see the PSA as a great place to help implement changes like this and also to help others across the university achieve changes they might want in their own disciplines.

Elliot Smith

Nominated for: President and VP

Jenny Tung

Nominated for: International Students Officer

I am from Hong Kong (same land as Jackie Chan) and can speak English, Cantonese and Mandarin fluently. I am reliable, friendly and organized. I have studied in the United Kingdom for 6 years and the end of this November will mark a full year in Australia, so I know what is it like is to study/live overseas and would love to make YOU feel at home during your stay in UWA/Aussie Land. I’ve also travelled a lot, so I’ve been exposed to different cultures. I was elected as Deputy Head of House and Captain of Chapel Choir in my high school back in UK, and I am now the social secretary of SCR (senior student group) at St. Catherine’s College, UWA. Through these responsibilities, I have developed leadership and communication skills. I hope to put my skills to good use by taking on the responsibilities of the ISO of PSA.

Siddartha S. Verma

Nominated for: President, VP, Secretary, Treasurer, International Students Rep, FLPS

What happens now?

On Friday I'll confirm that all of these candidates are eligible to run for election to the PSA committee and for each of the positions they have nominated for, then I will use a random number generator to choose the positions for each candidate on the ballot papers for the positions which will need them (President, VP, International, and FLPS).

Friday will also be the day that people who need an absentee vote will get the info on how to do that.

In the meantime, read the info provided by the people above, and consider any questions you might like to ask them at the AGM. Think about the positions with no nominations, and consider if that is how you might like to contribute.

Most of all, block the 26th of October 5.30pm out in your diary, come to the AGM and VOTE. I don't know if PSA have ever had this many Presidential candidates before? But if you want your PSA to be run for you, you need to take ownership of it!

An exciting week ahead! Stay tuned to the blog for further updates!