Research Ambassador Program

The program provides employment opportunities for HDR (Higher Degree by Research) students to :

• share their skills
• learn from others
• broadly be involved in the development of Victoria University's research culture.

Research students in the program need to apply skills obtained through their studies or other experience, and in doing so identify a portfolio of skills relevant to their career goals.

The proposed model is based on the SOAR (Support, Opportunities, Advice and Resources) Centre ambassadorship program at Edith Cowan University.

Victoria University's Research Ambassadors will provide up to 50 hours/weekly support from across three campuses:

• City Flinders
• Footscray Park
• Werribee.

Ambassador services

Research Ambassadors offer a range of skills and expertise to support research students and staff in becoming active members of the Victoria University research community. They support professional development by directing researchers to relevant training and VU services. Honours students are also welcome to use the service.

Research Ambassadors not only offer their extensive research skills for peer-to-peer training, but are also available for a chat about anything to do with your research or student experience. They can be used as a sounding board for ideas and questions you may have in relation to your candidature.

They are also a great contact if you have a question but do not know who to direct it to. If they don't know the answer to your question, the Ambassador will find out and get back to you.

Advice for building research skills is available in the following areas:

• candidature preparation
• data analysis software - NVivo, SPSS
• data and file management 
• document formatting
• EndNote
• ethics applications
• IT troubleshooting
• Library research databases
• mathematical modelling
• Microsoft Office - Excel, Word
• research design and methodology
• referencing and citation styles
• Turnitin
• writing support for literature review, research proposal and thesis chapters

Ambassadors also provide support for cultural, academic and campus transition, including:

• cultural transition: adapting to living in Australia
• academic transition: adapting to life as a research student and its associated challenges and;
• campus transition: finding services and staff for appropriate support (referral service)

Mini-workshops

Research Ambassadors run one hour workshops throughout the year on a range of different research topics. These short workshops consist of presentations, discussion, problem solving and peer to peer support and are run in a relaxed and informal learning setting.

Both research students and staff are welcome. Topics include:

• research design
• data analysis
• data management
• statistical software
• Qualtrics
• writing
• ethics applications
• general transition support.

Information about the mini-workshops schedule is available on the Library training programs page.

If you have any suggestions for future workshops, email seekRA@vu.edu.au

Research Ambassador profiles

• Cian McGinley
• Paris Nassirnia
• Faith Ong
• Trini Espinosa
• Esme Lkhan-Aajav
• Manpreet Grewal

Contact a Research Ambassador

From Monday 30 March 2015 to Friday 5 June 2015, you can find us at:

• Footscray Park (P416 - Research Lounge): Monday to Friday, 11am til 3pm
• City Flinders (9.10a): Monday to Friday, 1pm til 5pm
• Werribee (next to Research Room in Library): Fridays, 1pm til 5pm.

Note: The service is not available on public holidays.

You can contact us online every weekday from 11am to 5pm (except public holidays):

• via email at seekRA@vu.edu.au
• on Skype (look for contact name 'vuseekra').

You can also book an appointment online or like our Facebook page.

Become a Research Ambassador

Are you interested in becoming a Research Ambassador?

Recruitment occurs twice a year at the start of each semester. 

Please contact Cameron Barrie (mailto:Cameron.Barrie@vu.edu.au) for more information.