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Learners’ dispositional attributes form the foundations for their learning behaviour and therefore academic outcomes. This study aims to explore the dispositional attributes of postgraduate learners in coursework programs, and to understand the relationships between dispositional attributes and academic achievement at this level.

This study profiled the dispositions towards learning of 880 Master’s students in Australia, reported in an online survey. Statistical analysis was used to explore the possibility of underlying dispositional dimensions and latent clusters of participants within the cohort.

The profile of the cohort overall was as expected for an elite academic group, yet there was substantial variation between individuals. Cluster analysis identified three groups of students with meaningfully different dispositional profiles. Exploratory factor analysis revealed two underlying dispositional dimensions, representing epistemic and agentic attributes. Epistemic attributes were most closely related to academic achievement.

It is argued that students at Master’s level typically possess the agentic attributes necessary for effective self-regulation. At this level, therefore, epistemic attributes are more relevant for differentiating between higher and lower achieving students. The attainment of sophisticated epistemic attributes is in line with the stated goals of postgraduate education. This supports the explicit teaching of metacognitive and epistemic skills within postgraduate degrees.

This study contributes a detailed analysis of Master’s students’ dispositional profiles. Two underlying dispositional dimensions are identified, representing agentic and epistemic attributes. The importance of epistemic attributes for postgraduate academic achievement identifies an opportunity for targeted interventions to raise the quality of learning at this level.

Highly developed and agile learners who can clearly convey and call on their skills are sought in all walks of life. Diverse demand for these capacities has called attention to how the skills and knowledge gained during doctoral study can be conveyed, translated and leveraged in non-academic settings; however, the complex learning reality underneath doctoral development is challenging to convey.

The data set for this particular analysis was obtained from 245 in-depth telephone interviews with PhD candidates collected prior to COVID-19. Candidates were asked about learning processes, challenges and changes, and both the questions and thematic analysis were guided by theories of doctoral development and transformational learning.

For many participants, learning and development were not familiar topics, while a small proportion deflected questions about learning altogether. One fifth of participants presented rich and lucid accounts of learning in which cognisance of complexity, metacognitive processes and transformational experiences were embedded and multiple avenues of development were in evidence. They were well-placed to convey the complexion of doctoral development. Candidates more deeply engaged in learning also commented more about changes they noticed in themselves. The most identified avenue of development was in understanding and approach to knowledge.

Candidate communication about learning and development is an under-explored dimension of doctoral experience and skill that is relevant to advancing knowledge about doctoral development and illuminating graduate potential both within and outside academe. This must constitute a key element of the re-vitalisation of the doctorate post-pandemic. The salience of framing transferable skills within a learning development perspective is discussed.

Highlights the importance of music in ritual and culture generally, extending the focus to collective action. Argues that music and its emotional and cognitive impacts can be fundamental to the construction of social movement culture. Analyses song lyrics from the southern textile strikes of 1929‐1934 in an attempt to show how music and song helped construct a collective identity across relatively dispersed mill villages, shifted accountability for mill workers problems towards the labour process and its beneficiaries and suggested to the listener a collective solution. Discusses the implications of the findings for understanding music, culture and their relation to subordinate group challenge.

Vehicle weight reduction represents a viable means of meeting tougher regulatory requirements designed to reduce fuel consumption and control greenhouse gas emissions. This paper aims to present an empirical and comparative analysis of lightweight magnesium materials used to replace conventional steel in passenger vehicles with internal combustion engines. The very low density of magnesium makes it a viable material for lightweighting given that it is lighter than aluminium by one-third and steel by three-fourth.

A structural evaluation case study of the “open access” Wikispeed car was undertaken. This included an assessment of material design characteristics such as bending stiffness, torsional stiffness and crashworthiness to evaluate whether magnesium provides a better alternative to the current usage of aluminium in the automotive industry.

The Wikispeed car had an issue with the rocker beam width/thickness (b/t) ratio, indicating failure in yield instead of buckling. By changing the specified material, Aluminium Alloy 6061-T651 to Magnesium EN-MB10020, it was revealed that vehicle mass could be reduced by an estimated 110 kg, in turn improving the fuel economy by 10 per cent. This, however, would require mechanical performance compromise unless the current design is modified.

This is the first time that a comparative analysis of material substitution has been made on the Wikispeed car. The results of such work will assist in the lowering of harmful greenhouse gas emissions and simultaneously augment fuel economy.

This case puts students in the shoes of the Ebola response leadership teams of Firestone Liberia and its parent company, Bridgestone Americas, as they worked together to respond to the deadly 2014 Ebola epidemic. While the companies had received positive press for their containment of the virus on their rubber farm in Liberia, which was home to 8,000 employees and 80,000 Liberian citizens, the situation off the property was worsening. With death counts rising and hospitals across the nation closing as staff caught the virus, the Liberian government declared a national state of emergency. The teams now faced the possibility that the government might attempt to take control of the farm's medical center. How could they balance their duty to care effectively for employees against the demands of the Liberian government? Should they try to fend off the government or cooperate to meet the government's demands? Students will learn how to do a methodical situation analysis that considers ethical obligations and strategic implications, and to distill their recommendation into a briefing for senior leadership.