Dr Christine Stirling, UDRH Assistant Director, who successfully completed her PhD in 2007.

Having now completed my thesis I can look back at the time I spent working on it and say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, particularly when I moved from part to full-time study. The luxury of being able to read and absorb large volumes of literature on methodology and sociological theory was a luxury. While in some ways, completing a thesis is a team effort, where supervisors, peers, friends and family play important support roles, it is also a solitary enterprise. Completion requires that you draw on your own creativity, thinking and writing skills, and continue to believe in your own ability and the worthiness of your project during inevitable times of doubt. Now I have completed I feel grateful for the supporters, proud of my work, and ready to move on to a new phase of research that builds on all the skills and thinking that I developed during my candidature.

Peter Morgan is an ambulance officer who sees the benefits of his Masters degree study in these terms.

Having been in the Pre Hospital Care industry for 30 years, I have seen significant changes in the development of Ambulance ( Pre Hospital Care) from a first aid and transport style organisation to an emerging profession.

When I started in the job, I would ever have thought about myself at this stage of life starting out as a Masters Preliminary student. As a profession, we still have a long way to go before we can claim to have professional status. Part of the growth that is needed is for us to establish our own field of practice, our own research and develop the direction that we wish to travel.

Over the years I have spent a lot of time trying to encourage our new ambulance officers to continue their studies beyond the base in order to develop and promote the profession. It dawned on me one day that I could have more effect, if I also started to do some more formal study and demonstrate that even an old fella could do it. Over the years I had developed a quite a few soap boxes to stand on and these have given me plenty of scope to dwell on.

I am particularly motivated to look at the way we can expand the scope of practice for Rural Ambulance Professionals. I believe that there is a huge scope to improve the way we provide emergency care in rural areas. Our colleagues in the UK and the States are moving in this direction, and while we can learn from them I think we can develop further.

Are there challenges? Yes, many! In describing what it’s like for a graduate student returning to study and balancing life after many years away from study, one of my student colleagues talks about a cartoon that she saw recently. It showed a swimming pool with three lanes in it - the fast lane, the slow lane and the totally bewildered lane. I think that slowly but surely I am moving towards the slow lane in the middle of the pool. Whether or not I’ll drown there is another question, but I am enjoying the challenge, even if, every now and then, the dog does challenge me when I come home.

Martin Harris is a research fellow with the UDRH and has been part of the Community Engagement team since 1999. He was recently awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award to support his research. His supervisors are Professor Judi Walker and Dr Marion Myhill.

Before taking up his position at the UDRH Martin travelled widely, and also worked for many years in independent schools, holding senior teaching and pastoral care posts. Besides his academic writing, Martin enjoys writing for recreation, and has had a number of short stories published.

Martin’s PhD examines the personal characteristics of resilience in young males that are sustaining and protective in the absence of familiar contextual supports. The aim of this research is to explore and contribute to the understanding of the mental health implications of geographic dislocation, the mechanisms of personal resilience, and the pathways for intervention. In many ways the understanding of resilience has been retarded by a lack of agreement as to its characteristics. The earlier literature suggested groups of risk factors that might make someone more or less vulnerable to stressors. Later work suggested constellations of protective factors that might buffer against stressors. More recently, research has been focused on the personal mechanisms that operate in the face of adversity.

Martin’s research looks more closely at the salutogenic aspects of personal wellbeing, i.e. those factors that allow individuals to thrive.

I have focused on geographic dislocation, so identifying a major stressor that consequentially excludes the familiar support aspects normally associated with resilience.

The cohort used to explore the experience in this study is the AFL draft and particularly those players who are relocated to take up their contracts. For the young rural men moving from ‘one world to another’, this study will provide a rich source of information and directions for appropriate preparations that will assist them to thrive in their new environment.

I hope that for the clubs involved this research will provide a better understanding of the particular needs of young recruits, improved understanding of the psychosocial needs of players and an opportunity to develop strategic plans to support player welfare.

Kate Squibb is a Scottsdale-based sonographer who is testing her personal boundaries by attempting the ultimate academic challenge, a Doctor of Philosophy degree.

In my professional practice I am very interested in x ray interpretation by radiographers and in research I would like to investigate the ethical dilemmas faced by rural radiographers/sonographers living and working in small communities.

Like many mature-aged students Kate initially found the computer’s domination of the academic landscape daunting.

I learned to use a computer in a “hands on” way and so was, and still am, unaware of some of the terms used. Until relatively recently I thought a desktop was the timber surface supporting the computer.

Balancing competing demands for my time and attention is another major challenge - something will always be left wanting! I have decided that my family is my first priority - then the rest. House work is last, but in that area I am lucky to have a very supportive husband and two teenage sons who always like to earn extra pocket money.