What About Our Researchers?

"Like any other skills, research skills have to be nurtured and developed," says Prof. Dash, who established research education programs here at Swinburne.

What is research education? It introduces students to a range of skills and concepts essential to conducting their own research and evaluating the research of others. Such skills include literature review skills, project management skills, research presentation skills, and responding constructively to feedback.

Swinburne's research education program is designed to develop researchers' discipline specific skills as well as their capacity for collaboration and communication.

Dialogue among research institutions has been growing on research policies and best practices. In 2005, Prof. Dash co-founded the Journal of Research Practice, published by the Athabasca University Press, Canada, which introduces new knowledge about research practices.

"We wanted to start a conversation about research education with other universities in the region and that's how the idea of a conference came about."

The Borneo Research Education Conference (BREC) is now in its fourth year and has become a collaborative initiative of the research universities in Sarawak and Sabah. The fifth edition, BREC 2017, is planned to be held at Curtin University in Miri, Sarawak.

"Apart from giving researchers an extended support network, the conference also brings new research perspectives to light, which is crucial as it keeps the research community better prepared for the future."

Discover [Swinburne Sarawak research bulletin], November 2016, pp. 6-7.