Quality in Postgraduate Research
**SAVE THE DATE 15-17 APRIL 2026 **
QPR CONFERENCE | 17-19 APRIL 2024
Graduate researchers: identity and importance
It was a pleasure to welcome delegates to QPR2024 (the 14th Quality in Postgraduate Research conference) at the National Wine Centre of Australia set in the South Australian capital’s beautiful Botanic Gardens as we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the QPR Conference.
Revisit the best of QPR2024: You can view our PROGRAM here and view our QPR moments. See our keynote speaker information below for audio links to their presentations.
In our commitment to sustainability, we were excited to announce that our Conference Book was accessible for download on our website with no printed copies at the event. Additionally, all papers will be shared through the QPR Conference App, furthering our eco-friendly efforts reducing printing and allowing you all to connect with each other and all conference information on your mobile devices! Our App contains FAQ’s to help you make the most of your QPR experience.
Keynote Speakers
Pat Thomson PSM PhD FAcSS FRSA – Thursday 18 April
Pat Thomson is a Professor of Education at the University of Nottingham, UK and at University of South Australia. She is a former school principal and senior public servant whose research covers three areas: (1) academic writing and research methods, (2) arts and creative education practices in schools and communities, and (3) leading school change. Her academic writing and research blog patter (patthomson.net) is widely used by doctoral researchers and supervisors, and her most recent book is “Refining your academic writing: Strategies for reading, revising and rewriting “( Routledge 2023), one of the Insiders Guides to Success in Academic book series that she edits with Dr Helen Kara.
Prof. James Arvanitakis – Friday 19 April
Hunting in packs: Build collaborative research cultures across universities, government, and industry
A roundtable discussion on the Forrest Foundation, chaired by
Prof James Arvanitakis, with Nicole Feast, Georgia Kinsoe and Mingxin Ye
Professor James Arvanitakis is the Director of the Forrest Research Foundation and recipient of various awards including the Prime Minister’s University Teacher of the Year, Australia India Council Eminent Researcher and received an Excellence in Education Award by the Australian Financial Review for his work at Western Sydney University where he remains an adjunct at the Institute for Culture and Society. A Fulbright alumnus, he is the inaugural Patron of Diversity Arts Australia.
PLENARY Roundtable – Wednesday 17 April
Doctoral education as a site of potential epistemic justice in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and South Africa: foregrounding Indigenous and transcultural knowledges and identities.
Professor Catherine Manathunga [chair] is an Irish-Australian historian with a transcultural family whose research interests on doctoral education and academic identities bring together the history, education and cultural studies disciplines. Catherine is Professor of Education Research, Associate Dean Research in the UniSC’s School of Education and Tertiary Access, Co-Director of the Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre and Chair of cADRE (Australian Council of Deans of Education).
Professor Maria Raciti (Kalkadoon-Thaniquith/Bwgcolman) is a social marketer who is passionate about social justice. Maria is co-director of the Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre, co-leader of the education and economies theme in the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Futures, a member of the executive of the Australian Association of Social Marketing.
A/Prof. Kathryn Gilbey is an Alyawarre woman and an education researcher who specialises in First Nations knowledges, inclusive education and critical race theories. She is the Director of Graduate Studies at Batchelor Institute in the Northern Territory.
Associate Professor (Aunty) Sue Stanton is an Elder Executive Advisor in Academic and Cultural Leadership at Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, Northern Territory and a Kungarakan Traditional Owner-Custodian.
Uncle John Whop is a PhD candidate at Batchelor Institute and recipient of the ARC Batchelor Institute Jeanie Bell PhD Scholarship. He is a respected Torres Strait Islander Elder from the Gumulgal people of Mabuiag in the cultural precinct of Wagedogam (Wag-ged-dogam) and Malulgal (People of the sea).
A/Prof. Hinekura Smith is a Māori woman (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi) and Associate Professor and Director of Ngā Wai a Te Tūi Māori and Indigenous Research Centre at Unitec, Te Pūkenga. She is also Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga’s Emerging Researchers’ Leader, providing further national leadership and coordination of MAI Te Kupenga and developing and nurturing initiatives that contribute to the outcomes and objectives of NPM’s Capability and Capacity Strategy. Her research is grounded in kaupapa Māori theory, and includes the reclamation and revitalisation of Māori language, culture and identity – particularly for Māori women and children as well as the development of qualitative Kaupapa Māori and art-based methodologies.
Dr Jing Qi is a Mongolian-Chinese woman, working in Australia as a Senior Lecturer in the School of Global Studies at RMIT. Dr Jing Qi’s interdisciplinary research orientation is broadly concerned with internationalisation of education. Jing draws together research experience in multilingual, sociological, cultural and technological studies to bring an innovative perspective to educational research.
Jiao Tuxworth (Mengjiao Wang) is a PhD candidate at University of the Sunshine Coast and recipient of the Jeanie Bell USC PhD Scholarship. She is a Chinese music teacher and scholar working in Australia.
Prof. Shireen Motala is an Indian-South African woman who is currently the SARChI (South African Research Chair in Teaching and Learning) Chair, University of Johannesburg (UJ) and a professor in the Faculty of Education. Her research interests and areas of expertise include: Equity and social justice; Teaching and learning in higher education; Schooling; Access to Higher Education; Education – Finance; Education policy; Postgraduate education.
Dr Beatrice Akala is a Kenyan woman and lecturer, University of the Witwatersrand, Wits school of Education (WSoE) in the Curriculum and Social Studies Division. Dr Akala has served as a Research Associate, and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow (PDRF) in the education and curriculum studies department university of Johannesburg (PDRF).
Dr Halima Namakula is a Ugandan woman and postdoctoral research fellow attached to the SARCHi Teaching and Learning at the University of Johannesburg. She holds a BA/Ed from Makerere University Uganda, a B.Ed. (Hons), and an M. Ed from Rhodes University, as well as a Ph.D. in Education from the University of the Witwatersrand. Dr. Namakula’s research interests cover academic literacy development, access and success to higher education, Gender and Education, ICT in Education, early childhood development, and teacher development.
Associate Professor Moyra Keane is a white South African woman and Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg. She works in Academic Staff Development at various universities. Her research interests include Decolonisation, the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Indigenous Knowledge and Supervision.
The 9th Postgraduate Supervision Conference 2025 conference being organized by our partners in Stellenbosch, South Africa, will be held 25 – 28 March 2025. More details can be found here.
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If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with alistair.mcculloch@unisa.edu.au or admin@qpr.edu.au Listen to the QPR Theme Song Ramsey Lewis Trio – Wade in the Water
QPR2018: Impact, Engagement, and Doctoral Education
Thank you to all who attended and supported QPR2018
Recap the 2018 year’s conference:
Programme | Keynote Audio | Pictures
Keynotes Speakers:
2018, QPR was proud to host Alan Finkel; Gina Wisker, Gillian Robinson, and Brenda Leibowitz; and Hugh Kearns as the Conference’s Keynote Speakers. Click here to find out more.
*Please note that the 2024 Program is a WIP and is liable to change depending on feedback from presenters and any withdrawals of papers that may occur. While we will try to minimise change from the current draft program, we cannot guarantee that presentations or other sessions will take place at the time they are currently scheduled for on the draft program.