ANZAM Associate PD Session 8 – Dr Subas Dhakal – 21/9/22
A juggling act of pursuing a PhD, university teaching, engaging with industry, … and yes, life!
As a part of a broader higher education reform agenda to drive excellence in research, quality doctoral programs and capable doctoral graduates are at the centre of key policy initiatives such as the Lisbon Strategy and the Bologna Declaration. On the one hand, doctoral researchers find the journey a demanding and challenging one because of the need to juggle multiple roles and projects. On the other, the positioning of HDR students as ‘consumers’ instead of a ‘community of practice’ has led to the commodification of doctoral programs. It is in this context that this presentation draws on the construct of adaptive capacity to address the important question of how doctoral researchers can better position themselves to prepare for the real world.
Dr. Subas Dhakal is a Senior Lecturer at the University of New England (Armidale, NSW) with teaching/research experiences on sustainability policies and strategies in Asia Pacific/South Asia. His recent publications have been in the areas of a) ageing population and society, b) future of education and employment, and c) socio-economic resilience in the context of sustainable development goals. He is a management academic with a demonstrated track record in leadership, research outputs/grants, and teaching innovation/research.