As of 2017, The Centre of Global Food and Resources (GFAR) has an official PhD group!

Sometimes being a PhD student can be tough…the hours are long and the work can be isolating. That’s why we created the GFAR PhD group. The aim of the GFAR PhD group is to bring people together, build lasting professional ties, create great friendships, and learn a thing or two in the process. We meet every month to discuss issues that are close to the hearts of PhD students – grants, networking, time management, writing skills…you name it! Then the minutes are reported to the GFAR monthly staff meeting to make sure that PhD student views are properly heard and accounted for.

We also focus on making sure PhD students get the most out of their experience at GFAR. Last week we ran workshops to make sure that PhD research is visible and accessible to other researchers and the wider public. Next month our focus is on the Three Minute Thesis competition. Everyone in the GFAR PhD group will be competing in the faculty heats in July, and we have high hopes for all our students competing. We are also running workshops and trial runs to make sure the GFAR PhDs are as prepared as possible for the competition or any other time they are stuck for three minutes in an elevator with an important professor.

We also have social events, such as our bi-weekly exploration of Adelaide’s best coffee shops. By the end of our candidatures we could happily present a thesis on the best coffee in Adelaide too!

This post was prepared by Claire Settre, final-year PhD candidate at the Centre for Global Food and Resources.