Rachel Sing-Ee Tan

25 February 2019, Monday was a big day because I submitted my thesis. My big day was very special due to four events. I was 1) accompanied by some colleagues and cohorts of my department, the Higher Education Development Centre (HEDC), and friends; 2) well-received by the Graduate Research School (GRS); 3) congratulated by the Vice Chancellor ; and 4) the first PhD student to ring the historic bell in 2019.  First, the HEDC postgraduate coordinator, Vivienne Anderson, kindly invited colleagues, cohorts and friends to walk with me to the submission office. She sees accompanying PhD students to hand in the thesis as a celebration of their accomplishment. I was very blessed that some colleagues and cohort took the time to accompany me. The collegial support shown by this international family, who comes from Samoa, Fiji, Iran, South Africa, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, and Canada,  made the day amazing for me. Next, the GRS was well-organised in their submission proce

Summer is the season to be jolly and a time of merriment in Dunedin! December in New Zealand is certainly something that I look forward to. The campus would be exceptionally quiet as many would be away for the festive season and long breaks.  It's a time that reminds many of us PhD candidates to take a few days off (after many long hours of research work) for the year. Yet, a number of my friends and I find it difficult to unplug from our work. Consciously allocating time for work and non-work activities apply to many aspects of our life as a working adult. It is not uncommon to hear the pressure of deadlines looming (i.e. article, essay or grant applications) that most of us felt restricted to do non-work related activities. A tight timeline made it really hard to 'switch off' even when we have worked for more than 10 hours every day of the week.  Still, I try to practice a balanced social lifestyle instead of one just for work. I find these activities are foo

The purpose of an academic conference is for knowledge sharing and networking. The event can be exciting for a new student to meet acquaintances and friends doing different studies but in the same field of interest; confusing for a young scholar being told to network strategically for job opportunities; nerve-breaking for an emerging academic to present her work under the scrutiny of prestigious and experienced colleagues. I have experienced all these complicated feelings and they all came from the pressure of how to make the most out of conferences. With plenty of advice and tactical like plans especially for networking can be overwhelming to decide which method might work best. In my opinion, networking will come naturally because you will bump into people. A polite hello and small self-introduction will set the ball rolling. However, how could you make yourself more relevant to a conference? Speaking from the perspective of a young scholar, I realised that if one is more involved

Searching for my first international conference on my research interest in globalisation, I stumbled upon Common Ground that hosts the Global Studies Research Network. My application was accepted and I attended the 10th Global Studies Conference (8-9 June 2017) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Before I share my conference experience, I want to express my gratitude to be given this conference experience by the generosity of: 1. my institution, the University of Otago for providing the logistics and, 2. the Global Studies Research Network for providing free participation by selecting me as its Emerging Scholar Awardee . The 10th Global Studies Conference On my scholarly experience: Globalisation and Global Studies Globalisation is an area of study to examine the complex cross-border movements such as policies, practices, people, products and pollutions. As an emerging area of study, the Global Studies can provide a key to understanding the theory of globalisati

Earlier this month, I attended the 10th Global Studies Conference (8-9 June). It was an exciting experience because: 1. It was my first conference abroad .  2. I was one of the recipients of the Emerging Scholar Award! 3. It was held at the prestigious National University of Singapore (NUS).  Benefits With the award, I received three great benefits: 1. An invitation to the conference that eliminated the registration fee, an important helping hand to my self-financed PhD journey. 2. An excellent networking position. 3. A boost to my academic conference experience because we had the roles of a chairperson in parallel sessions, technical assistant for presenters, leader of the Talking Circles, and presenter of my research.  Amongst these given responsibilities, I enjoyed the chairing role. Some of the awardees. Networking Conferences are essential to meet new people, exchange ideas and create future collaborations. An Emerging Scholar Awardee shares respons

Dear Malaysians, PTPTN and Ministry of Education, I humbly ask for your permissions to service my loan after I complete my PhD degree, please? I am a Malaysian, a third-generation Chinese, born and raised in Malaysia. Self-financing my PhD study in Higher Education Development Centre, at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Without the financial support from any institutions, I have to juggle between my PhD work and the financial stress of student fees, living expenses and the poor currency exchange. Such stress would not allow me to service my undergraduate study loan, a valid reason to support my application of delaying the payment. I received the approval from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN), although I was warned that the interest rate of the loan will continue to accumulate . I believe the key role of a Government is to protect its citizens. I had to count the blessing that I was reducing the chances not to be barred from travelling abroad. Trusti