ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies aims to build human capacity and expertise in coral reef science worldwide. To achieve this, we have created an exciting and multi-disciplinary intellectual environment, with a major focus on training and mentoring the next generation of coral reef researchers, enhancing Australia’s research capability, human capital and global reputation.
The ARC Centre of Excellence is the world’s largest provider of graduate training for coral reef research. During 2019, the Centre supported 170 research students (PhD, Masters, and Honours degrees) across our four nodes. Over 80% of the Centre’s graduate students are enrolled in PhD research and 60% are women. The Centre also supports 28 Early Career Researchers (ECRs), who are within 5 years of their PhD. In 2019, 124 international students came from 36 countries.
You can find out more about the many outstanding mentoring and training opportunities we provide to research students and ECRs under the Activities tab.
The ARC Centre of Excellence sponsors two committees in support of research students and ECRs. They are allocated a budget to support training, mentoring and leadership activities during the year. Links to the profiles of current members of the research student and postdoctoral committees are available under the People tab.
Jennifer Donelson
Senior Research Fellow - ARC Future Fellow
James Cook University, Townsville
Peter Cowman
Senior Research Fellow in Ecosystem Dynamics
James Cook University
Greg Torda
Senior Research Fellow (DECRA)
James Cook University
Mentoring is a critical tool that advances the professional and personal development of researchers at all career stages. Students and researchers at the ARC Centre are mentored by their advisors and Program Leaders. In addition to these mentoring relationships, the ARC Centre supports two mentoring programmes: peer mentoring and the Early Career Researchers (ECRs) performance development programme.
Peer mentoring is a form of mentorship that takes place between a person who has lived through a specific experience (peer mentor) and a person who is new to that experience (peer mentee). Peer mentoring is an excellent opportunity for both mentors and mentees as it builds meaningful and mutually supportive relationships and fosters professional and personal growth. The research student and ECR committees of the ARC Centre facilitate a peer mentoring programme for students and ECRs across all four nodes.
A list of peer mentors and their contact information is available here. Peer mentee’s are encouraged to contact mentors directly to arrange a time to meet in person or over the phone or Skype. Please remember that due to time restrictions and prior commitments, peer mentors may not always be available. The research student committee provides 2-4-1 Juliette’s coffee vouchers on the James Cook University campus for mentor-mentee meetings, contact Chloë Boote for more information: chloe.boote@my.jcu.edu.au
Do you feel like you’ve got valuable fieldwork experience and knowledge that would benefit others? Have you been able to successfully navigate the steep learning curve associated with starting a PhD or job at a new university? Are you an ECR who is keen to share their experiences in seeking employment with PhD students? To join the programme as a peer mentor, please fill in your details including a short description of your experience here or contact Chloë Boote: chloe.boote@my.jcu.edu.au
Early Career Researchers (ECRs) benefit from career development at the ARC Centre via workplace performance development programmes. This one-on-one process is forward-looking, discussing progress and setting targets for the research activities in the coming year. These include manuscript submissions, student supervision, conferences, collaborations, grant and award applications and research impact. The Centre provides mentoring to ECRs in grant writing, and with applications for ARC’s highly competitive Fellowship schemes, enhancing their careers and building Australia’s capacity in coral reef research.
The ARC Centre’s annual symposium (Brisbane 2018, Canberra 2017, Hobart 2015, Canberra 2014), attracts >150 delegates from universities, the private sector, State and Commonwealth governments and management agencies. The symposium is an opportunity for ARC Centre members and partner investigators to showcase their latest research. The associated public forum on topical reef issues attracts a large audience. The 2018 public forum at the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane was hosted by Adam Spencer, popular Australian media presenter and author. Videos of presentations from both events are posted on the Centre’s website and You Tube account, attracting high traffic internationally.
An important focus of the research student and ECR committees is the design and implementation of the student and postdoctoral fellow retreats, held the day before the ARC Centre of Excellence annual symposium. The theme of the 2018 student retreat was non-academic careers and science communication, and included speakers from CSIRO, The Nature Conservancy and marine science artist, Sue Pillans. The postdoc retreat featured speakers from the Queensland Museum and Hugh Kearns, who spoke about self-management, positive psychology, work-life balance, learning and creativity.
Martin Taylor (World Wildlife Fund) at the 2017 student retreat.
The Centre provides extensive mentoring and training to research students and ECRs on a range of generic and specific topics. Key among these is training in grant and fellowship applications, publication strategy, research presentation and writing skills, statistics and media. Links to past and future training courses are available under Workshops.
To ensure student and staff compliance with the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research, the Centre provides mentoring and training in the ethical conduct of research, including the appropriate management of research data and materials. We also send one female researcher annually to external workshops and courses to enhance their leadership skills.
As part of its goal to train outstanding coral reef researchers and scientists, the ARC Centre of Excellence offers a range of mentoring activities to all graduate students (Honours, Masters and PhD) attending the annual Australian Coral Reef Society Conference. There are no registration fees for students attending the National Student Mentoring Day and we contribute funds towards accommodation associated with attendance through a reduced conference registration.
The 2018 National Student Mentoring Day capitalized on the tropical location of this year’s Australian Coral Reef Society Conference by conducting a coral identification course with about 30 students from across Australia. The course was taught by Dr Thomas Bridge (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University and Museum of Tropical Queensland), Dr Verena Schoepf (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, University of Western Australia) and Centre Director, Professor Terry Hughes.
Ian McLeod (Cinematic Science) at the 2017 National Student Mentoring Day.
The ARC Centre of Excellence hosts a weekly seminar series to share the latest research of Centre members and students. The seminar series also provides an opportunity for students, ECRs and members to interact with leading researchers and managers from across the globe. The 2018 seminar series has included guest speakers from the University of Victoria (Canada), The University of York (UK), Universite catholique de Louvain (Belgium), Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile (Chile), KAUST (Saudi Arabia), University of Hawaii (USA) and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (Australia).
Seminars are video-conferenced to the Centre’s four nodes and advertised through Facebook, Twitter and our website. Videos of presentations are posted on the Centre’s You Tube account. The seminar series is coordinated by two ECRs to provide professional development opportunities in service.
The ARC Centre of Excellence has developed a highly successful strategy for the communication of our research findings to a diverse audience. We provide media training and one-to-one coaching to Centre members, including ECRs and research students. Digital Communications Manager, Maria Nayfa, coordinates media training and supports the outreach activities of ECRs, research students and more senior researchers across the Centre’s nodes.
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Partner Research Institutions
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au
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