PSA Newsletter 5th December 2012

Bow Down to Your New Leader (please)

Greetings UWA Postgraduates,

I am your new leader. In a bloodless and uneventful takeover I have managed to wrestle power of this distinguished organisation from the now significantly less busy Aisling Blackmore.

Or alternatively;

Hi I’m Gemma Bothe, your new PSA President. I am in the process of taking up residence in the PSA office, so if you want to come and talk to me about anything, shoot me an email first to make sure I am around.

As of the 1^st of December the 2013 PSA committee has taken over. We still have several positions open on the 2013 committee including Course Work Officer, Equity Office, Indigenous Officer, as well as Faculty Reps for Education, Law and MDHS. If you’re interested in any of these positions, please email me!

There isn’t too much news this time of the year as everyone seems to be winding down (read- slacking off) as we come up to the festive season and university break.

I guess the big news items right now would be that there is no Connect this Thursday or in January. I know; tragic. There just aren’t enough people around the university for these two months to make the Connects worthwhile. However, they will be back in February next year (yay). 

The PSA now has its own twitter account (yeah we tweet and stuff). Find us, follow us, love us. https://twitter.com/UWAPSA

Finally if you know a UWA Postgrad who has achieved something exceptional let us know so we can give them a shout out in the newsletter. We want to celebrate the achievements of our peers and acknowledge the hard work they have done, while shaming the rest of you underachieving plebs into actually doing something (jokes- please don’t form a mob and get me in my first week :D)

I think I have pretty much doubled the average length of Aisling’s editorials in my above rambling.

So, I will say goodbye, until I put you all through another excessively long editorial next week,

Gemma

Notices

·        2013 PSA Committee: There are still some positions open on the 2013 committee, so if you’ve got the desire to volunteer and a passion for postgraduates, shoot me an email!

New members welcome for:
Equity Officer
Coursework Officer
Indigenous Officer
Education Fac Rep
Law Fac Rep

Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Science Face Rep

·        There will be NO Connect this month or in January.

·        The PSA Lounge will be open for use by any postgraduate student anytime I'm in my office. In case I'm not there you can pick up the keys from the Guild reception.

·        The old mailing list, Postgrad Talk is being deleted. Yes I know most of you have no idea that it exists but if you're still on it this notice is for you!

·        Let's pat ourselves on the back! If you know any UWA postgrads who have done anything exceptional in their field of late let us know and we'll include a shout-out in the newsletter and blogposts! We're proud of our posties and would love to celebrate your achievements!

·        Workshop! The GRS is running a workshop on a topic close to many postgrads' hearts,  Communicating Your Research! Details below!

Effective communication is a critical skill to ensure your research has impact and reaches target audiences such as academia, media, industry and community. This 3 hour workshop will provide practical strategies for presenting and communicating the significance of your research in a range of academic, community and industry contexts including conferences, journal abstracts and media releases. Special guest speakers will provide expert advice on how to maximise the impact of your research.

Morning/afternoon tea provided

The workshops are on the 12th December (Mt Lawley campus) and 13th December (Joondalup campus).

Please register for the workshop at:

http://www.ecu.edu.au/events-and-activities/events-view?event_id=0000000562

For further information please contact:
Dr Natasha Ayers, researchtraining@ecu.edu.au

·        Check your student email!! Your student email is where the GRS communicates with you – regardless of if you have a staff account, or still use the same Hotmail account you set up when you were 12 years old. Check that and Student Connect at least once a week to ensure that you don’t have any outstanding fines, fees, milestones which might lead to an encumbrance – this would prevent the automatic re-enrolment of research students! Bad times for everyone.

Don’t start whinging if you’re not re-enrolled, check your student email now.

·        Inter-Uni Summer School! Registrations for the inaugural Inter-uni Summer-school for Postgraduate Research Excellence (InSPiRE) are now open, please find attached the promotional flyer.

InSPiRE will be held from February 11th – 15th 2013, with the opening day being held at the University Club of WA. The remainder of the week will be held across the four other Western Australian Universities, and students may register for single days, multiple days or for the whole week. The program will feature guests speakers from the industry and community, interactive workshops and networking events, and fantastic prize giveaways.

Numbers are strictly limited, and the students will need to register early to avoid disappointment. http://www.ecu.edu.au/conferences/2013/InSPiRE

·        Do you have any old but still working music players, notepads (iPods, iPads), laptops, camera, mobile phones or musical instruments? Do not throw them away or let them age on a shelf. They could be the perfect Christmas gift for refugee children in Perth. This is a private initiative to make it happen this Christmas.

I will collect donations until Friday December 7th. Please leave your donation in the box marked “Donations here!” in the admin office, Social Sciences, Room 1.31. Jenny and Emma will help you to find the box.

For those who are not familiar with the Social Sciences Building, the building is located between the oval and the river and the office is on the first floor, accessible through the courtyard and open Mon-Fri between 9am and 3pm.

You can also contact me on 0438 100 857 or email me on andrzej.gwizdalski@uwa.edu.au

Andrzej

Do you want to put a notice in the newsletter? You should email me! I’ll plug 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

Twitter: @UWAPSA
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