Held at the ANU’s Kioloa Coastal Campus on 12-14 March, the CECS HDR Retreat saw 36 students receive guidance on their research journey and promote communication and networking between the Engineering and Computer Science schools.
College staff provided training and guidance on presentation skills, publishing papers, and other research related skills such as preparing posters and how to choose a research topic.
Jess Tsimeris and Kiara Bruggeman helped to arrange social events for participants, including a hotly-contested trivia night for the first night of the camp and a wide range of board games and food and drinks for the campfire on the second night.
The students also participated in team building exercises, using uncooked spaghetti and jelly babies to construct towers with the winners being chosen by the Dean.
Staff and student sessions were popular with students hearing staff members’ personal experiences with their own PhD and advice on publishing, choosing research topics and presenting research. Thanks to Steve Gould, Antonio Tricoli, Steve Lee and Mark Reid for their wonderful insights.
The “Lightning Talks” session saw each student present their thesis topic in a minute or less. This was a challenge for many, but students enjoying being given a snapshot of the varied research being conducted within the College. From diagnosing depression, to creating waterproof coatings and restoring cells through tissue engineering, the scope of the topics was varied and inspiring.
The College is looking forward to organising a similar program on an ongoing annual basis. In future it is proposed that every second year the event will take place on campus in order to reduce cost and to include students who are not able to come away for the night.