Chemical and Physical Sciences Postgraduate Recruitment Meeting notes

Date

11 Jul 2016

Attendees

Jane Young (Unlicensed)
Issie Grundy
Uli Zuelicke
Megan Sellars

Discussion items

Title	Notes
General	Physics and Chemistry are enabling disciplines. the modern world has complex questions that need a range of tools to solve. Chemistry and Physics supply these tools.
Why do postgraduate	BSc is a good survey degree but by doing it you can't necessarily call yourself a Chemist PG study is sharply focussed on a particular area and they build on ug to fill in all of the advanced details Master of Science 1 more year of study and research entering the real world they need to not just absorb knowledgt but generate knowledge - knowledge goes from passive to dynamic prepares people to do PhD - research on the cutting edge Taught Masters Chemistry/Physics but less academic more employment focus - Master of Drug Discovery the programme is developing more and will be interdisciplinary but not until 2018 Honours is the beginning of Masters OR more general degree with converts to a taught Masters. testing ground for people unsure about focus or pg study in general not great to international mobility domestic students get funding from government but Master part 1 they don't To make it in the world you needs a Masters
Research	they start to experience this at undergraduate but really dive into it as pg Taught = project based, industry or led placements (60 points) Masters = research masters equivalent (90 points) You need to be a pg student to be let loose in the labs or become involved in research/approval of drugs into country How do people find their topic? work with research mentor - often supply student with idea, students may want to work wiht a particular supervisor and in their lab. Often this work is part of a funded grant and this provides direction for the topic more directed at the start and then they are freer and freer as things go along to develop their own ideas and follow them. Strong interactions between research centres and the core research groups - Chemistry spectroscopy (strength of school) - several people interact on this. Also relates to MIR spectroscopy which has medical applications etc. (I am not sure this i the correct spelling of spectroscopy)
Funding	Scholarships for Masters Stipends, which are usually written into grant proposals 2x masters students might cost same as 1x PhD conference/research visits/field trips They have more scholarships than other areas they top-up standard scholarship in order to be more internationally competitive Ferrier - chem/bio interdisciplinary area, give it a great boost through facilities and expertise in institution MacDiarmid - chem/physics
Student experience	students are integrated as part of the School and then within this as part of research groups. all contribute to research programmes there are functions where everyone comes together - students meet socially as well as through research work what you are doing matters, you are part of advancing knowledge no isolated, nobody works alone, you always work collaboratively you are testing against reality\ there are pg workshops over the summer period, these help build both technical and communication skills. as part of this PhD students may give workshops based on something they have developed. Workshops work in conjunction with MASA (sp?) pg group
Connections	GNS Media School at hospital and DHB NIWA (not sure how much) Start up area - commercialisation Kai Chang - graduate currently working in commercialisation Tim Brocks - grad developing .... (too slow)