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Whilst there has been some growth in the number of Indigenous Australians completing Higher Degree Research (HDR) over the past decade, the parity rate remains significantly behind that of other domestic Australian students. The bulk of research which investigates strategies to improve Indigenous Higher Education participation and completion tends to focus on undergraduate students, leaving a significant void of knowledge in how the sector can better cater for, and support, Indigenous postgraduate students.

This chapter proposes a set of strategies to seed the success of Indigenous HDR students. It draws on the findings of three separate studies undertaken during 2006 to 2013 in order to provide a detailed overview of the current challenges Indigenous HDR students regularly face.

It outlines various support mechanisms available to this cohort as well as those that are desired, but not necessarily available. An important component of the chapter is the inclusion of the voices of Indigenous Australians who were undertaking their postgraduate studies at the time they were interviewed, as well as a group of Indigenous Australians who had successfully completed their doctoral degrees. Through generously sharing their postgraduate experiences, participants provided important insight into this area which remains significantly under-investigated.

The purpose of this paper is to present approaches effectively used by a large multi-campus Australian university to improve the research student experience as a direct result of their feedback. These approaches include: identifying trends in the research student experience and areas needing improvement through the Research Student Satisfaction Survey conducted by the University in 2009, 2011 and 2013; prioritising and implementing improvement solutions; and monitoring the improvement actions to measure their efficiency based on student feedback, and to identify areas warranting further improvement attention.

Quantitative study was undertaken with research students.

The study outlines the need for universities to have a systematic approach in measuring and enhancing the experience of research students. Systematic approach enables the university to take timely action to enhance student experience.

Undertaking analysis of the survey at faculty or school level. Increased accountability on Associate Deans (Research) to implement improvements at faculty level.

The paper is based on ten years of study in a large multi-campus university.

This paper aims to demonstrate the value of a collaborative research culture framework (Gasson and Bruce, 2018a), featuring trust and respect as core elements of healthy collaborations, to support the research success of higher degree research (HDR) students. HDR is a term used in Australia to reference Doctoral and Master by research programmes.

The authors propose that by positioning collaboration as part of a research culture built on trust and respect, discussion about and the development of healthy collaborative research culture will be facilitated. A healthy culture is defined as one that supports sustainable and productive collaborative research.

The applications of the framework demonstrate the role the framework can play in supporting researchers to understand, engage in and manage collaborations.

Reflection on discussions to date has led to the authors’ view that collaborative success requires a unique set of skills (i.e. skills in the development of a collaborative research culture) and that the framework provides a deliberate and overt way of supporting development of those skills.

The framework helps HDRs develop the capacity to build healthy collaborative research cultures vital for their research productivity and longer-term success as researchers.

Social marketing and government policy are intertwined. Despite this, policy analysis by social marketers is rare. This paper aims to address the dearth of policy analysis in social marketing and introduce and model a methodology grounded in Indigenous knowledge and from an Indigenous standpoint. In Australia, a minuscule number of First Nations people complete doctoral degrees. The most recent, major policy review, the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA) Report, made a series of recommendations, with some drawn from countries that have successfully uplifted Indigenous doctoral candidates’ success. This paper “speaks back” to the ACOLA Report.

This paper subjects the ACOLA Report, implementation plans and evaluations to a detailed Indigenous Critical Discourse Analysis using Nakata’s Indigenous standpoint theory and Bacchi’s Foucauldian discourse analysis to trace why policy borrowing from other countries is challenging if other elements of the political, social and cultural landscape are fundamentally unsupportive of reforms.

This paper makes arguments about the effects produced by the way the “problem” of First Nations doctoral education has been represented in this suite of Australian policy documents and the ways in which changes could be made that would actually address the pressing need for First Nations doctoral success in Australia.

Conducting policy analysis benefits social marketers in many ways, helping to navigate policy complexities and advocate for meaningful policy reforms for a social cause. This paper aims to spark more social marketing policy analysis and introduces a methodology uncommon to social marketing.

The paper aims to explore the new and changing role of the research librarian with specific reference to Charles Darwin University (CDU), Australia. In response to the changing research landscape in Australia, Charles Darwin University Library in the Northern Territory has developed a series of services and resources to meet the special needs of its growing research community.

The impact of the support being provided to researchers by CDU Library has been measured through two survey questionnaires followed by focus group discussions. Feedback is also obtained regularly from workshop participants through an evaluation form. In order to meet researchers' needs, Library staff have successfully used both formal and informal methods of professional development on an ongoing basis in order to bridge any gaps that are identified through the evaluation exercises.

In the face of the changing research landscape in Australia, the research librarian needs to ensure that in turn, his or her skills and qualifications will need to be continually updated to ensure that researchers' needs are being met. Librarians have to become involved in new roles, roles that are not traditionally associated with librarians, such as data management and curation.

The practical implications will include: Continuing Professional Development for the research librarian; possible reorganisation of the functional units of the Library; and the relationship between the librarian and the researcher in a changing environment.

This paper asks questions of LIS providers in relation to opportunities for upgrading the skills and status of librarians engaged with the research community.

This paper provides a discussion on recent literature on research librarianship and it deals with an issue that is currently of interest to a number of academic libraries. The strategies adopted by CDU will be of interest to smaller, isolated and less well resourced university libraries in similar situations.

Higher degree by research (HDR) graduates are often perceived to be overly specialised and are unable to adapt to non-academic settings (Jaeger and Rudra, 2013). Universities are under increasing pressure to embed research and transferrable skills into the candidature in a flexible and meaningful way to equip graduates with the skills to succeed in a range of careers. The paper aims to study how Flinders University has embedded the Research and Employability Skills Training (REST) Program into the HDR.

REST was established to replace the workshop-based professional development program, with a structured, compulsory, comprehensive program for HDR students, based on the Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF). The Program aims to provide students with the research skills they need to complete their studies and the transferrable skills employers seek, through an online, supported program that helps them identify their needs, plan and control their skills development. Such a comprehensive online candidature management system has enabled Flinders to implement the RDF and successfully and comprehensively embed REST into the HDR candidature, assisting students to articulate and demonstrate their skills with documented evidence.

The Program has been running for one year, and so far, has been successful. Students are increasingly completing the initial online Skills Needs Analysis assessment component, which helps to identify their skills gaps and recommend workshops to meet their needs. Supervisors and students are engaging with the Program through structured discussion and refection of skills at each annual milestone, thanks to the help of the Inspire online candidature management system.

REST is a valuable resource for HDR students, providing them with a range of skills to progress with their research, writing and professional development training that complements, but is separate from, their degree. Providing a structured training program which follows and supports students’ candidature, and is based around the training needs and career trajectories of the student assists the students be more equipped and supported to complete on time and are well prepared for a range of career outcomes.

Achieving quality standards in postgraduate education, particularly among Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students, can be challenging. In addition to the diverse educational and cultural backgrounds of these students, thesis writing frequently involves the development of new skills associated with the comprehension of a large volume of information, critical analysis and the development of an academic writing style. Many students need support in one or all of these key areas. Universities currently provide a number of different writing support activities to address students' needs. The purpose of this study is to report on a writing support intervention that employed a specialist in academic writing to support HDR students in the business faculty.

Following a two‐year period, the intervention was evaluated to assess the appropriateness and effectiveness of this support using qualitative methods. The results of this study are presented and discussed from different angles. First, a lecturer in academic writing support outlines her observations and reflection on the value of individual consultations and students' progress. Second, the attitudes and experience of students and their supervisors to this service are discussed. This is followed by the faculty senior management view with regard to the effectiveness and efficiency of this service.

This research found that both students and their supervisors expressed satisfaction with the service offered. Also it was found that the writing quality of submitted theses is improving; the costs of thesis editing have reduced; HDR students appear to be more satisfied with and confident of their academic writing; the attractiveness of the PhD program has been enhanced, as judged by the increase in PhD enquiries and the quality of potential applicants.

The results reported here indicate that the intervention was successful. However, the sample size was relatively small and the HDR candidates and supervisors were drawn from only one faculty in one university.

The study provides some recommendations that could be taken into account by senior management and academic staff in order to set up and deliver a faculty‐based writing support service for HDR students, which would bring benefits to students, their supervisors, faculties and universities.

The value of this research is that the writing program was proven to be beneficial for universities to support research students in the development of their writing skills, which in turn, could improve the quality of thesis and ensure on time completion.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the emotional competence of first year undergraduates enrolled on a high or low drop‐out rate (HDR and LDR, respectively) course, at a newly established university within the UK.

A mixed methods approach using both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods was used. The Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue) established participants' emotional competence, and semi‐structured interviews were used to probe the findings from the TEIQue.

The results indicate that typical HDR course participants have high self‐esteem and a good level of interpersonal skills, but are controlled by their emotions and exhibit an external locus of control. This manifests itself in a distrust of peers as a source of support and a reactive attitude to self‐improvement. Typical LDR course participants have low self‐esteem and a good level of intrapersonal skills, but have developed the ability to control their emotions and exhibit an internal locus of control. This manifests itself in a high level of confidence in peers as a source of support and a proactive attitude to self‐improvement.

The paper contributes to the learning styles literature by investigating the impact of students' characteristic affective behaviours on their vulnerability to drop‐out.

The Higher Degree Research (HDR) journey is known for its difficulties, complexities and challenges (Lees-Deutsch, 2020), with many students experiencing multi-faceted issues and concerns (Skopek et al., 2020). Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the relationships that exist between variables, vulnerability factors and doctorial capital of candidates (n = 532) studying at Australian universities (2019).

A quantitative cross-sectional correlational research design and Bronfenbrenner's socio – ecological framework (personal, home, university, community) was utilised to collect participants' (n = 532) descriptive statistics. Bourdieu's social reproduction theory was used as a lens to examine how experiences, across the PhD candidature, are influenced by several psychosocial factors and doctoral capital.

From such a dual methodological approach, the findings from this study suggests that (1) age, (2) gender, (3) nationality, (4) financial/work status, (5) years of PhD and (6) attending postgraduate (PG) student events, go to significantly (p < 0.001) impact (positively and negatively) on students' experiences and correspondingly, impacts on their self-confidence, motivation and mental health and well-being status.

Research limitations are related to the recruitment of more doctoral students across more Australian universities. Further research is required from HDR supervisors, so as to “balance” the experiences of the PhD journey in higher education.

In order to succeed in academia and HDR programs, students need to identify with and develop the “right kind of capital” to successfully navigate fields of social and scholarly play. Investigating how the participants perceive their social and scholarly habitus is seen as crucial in helping students to develop positive dispositions relevant to being a doctoral student.

The concept of doctoral capital and well-being, amongst Australian PhD students, is under researched and requires further investigation as a precursor to developing more specific policy designs aimed at providing heightened positive learning environments/HDR programs tailored to support doctoral students.

Whilst reforms to improve PhD experiences are well established across the international literature (Geven et al., 2018; Skopek et al., 2020), evidence for Australia is largely missing. It is envisaged, that findings from this research will further assist in the development of quality policies that would go to provide effective services and support for doctoral students within Australian universities.