28 - 29 March 2006

Summary of evaluations

I am writing to thank you again for the excellent organisation of the workshop last week. The sessions were great, the opportunities to interact with other researchers were inspiring, the meals were yummy in short, everything was just perfect.

I am particularly grateful for your thoughtful arrangement in pairing up researchers with the Parliamentarians. It is no doubt a time-consuming task. Both myself and Matthew (the researcher I came to the appointment with) had a really informative and inspiring 50-minute session with our Parliamentarian.

Despite of the fact that we had our meeting at 6pm (i.e. late), he was patient in listening to our research ideas and gave us really constructive feedbacks. We were very conscious of the time, on the contrary, he seemed to be relaxed and enjoyed the chat with us.

I've just sent a thankyou note to the MP I met with last week and thought I'd take the opportunity to thank you, too, for the wonderful two days I spent in Canberra at the 'Expanding Horizons' event. I have been raving to all my colleagues about what a success it was and how much I enjoyed it. I have never attended an academic event that was so well-orchestrated and interesting. None of the sessions was a 'dud' (a first in my years of conference and seminar attendance) and everyone on your staff was so professional and helpful.

Meeting and working with people from other disciplines was the most enlightening experience for me. It opened my eyes to the broadest range of possibilities. I have always worked solo and the thought of working in a cross-disciplinary [way] always posed a problem. The exercise with the group has had a profound effect on me.

Well organised, cram packed with stimulation …

Congratulations to you and your team on the expert delivery of a visionary and rewarding programme this week. CHASS is a truly wonderful organisation and I'm so grateful to have some association with it. Wonderful. There was a real desire to learn and listen and all tasks were undertaken charitably and with great candour.

It is a great opportunity to meet Parliamentarians. I would not have thought it possible to be able to approach politicians and discuss research. It has made me think about possible projects in the electorates of the politicians I visited so something may come of it.

This is just a quick note to thank you so much for a fantastic event!!!! It was great on many levels and was a testament to your energy, enthusiasm, flexibility and humour …

I am writing to thank you for all the effort you put into the Expanding Horizons event. It was one of the best organized events I have been to, and clearly a lot of thought went into planning activities that would really teach us how to effectively engage with parliamentarians. Sophie and I had good experiences with the two politicians we were matched with, saw both of them plus their advisors. Both seemed interested in our work, and the Senator in particular seemed to really understand how our work could be used. His advisor sent us some names yesterday.

I was really impressed with how smoothly the event ran, given the chaotic uncertainties you guys had to deal with. All the chairs of the sessions, the panellists, facilitators and speakers were extremely well prepared and presented useful information well. Sessions ran to schedule, and it was always clear what we were supposed to be doing and when. It was very easy for us to get absorbed in the content of the meeting and the interactions with one another, without being troubled by logistics. Mark (my humanities partner) and I thoroughly enjoyed our meetings with [two Parliamentarians].

A resounding 10 [out of 10]!

I really enjoyed talking with people from the arts, humanities and social sciences. I'm used to collaborating across science disciplines, but don't get so many opportunities to discuss research with people from the HASS sector. I liked the group activity where we were asked to assemble an interdisciplinary research proposal; we were encouraged to think more broadly than usual and let go of our pet research interests.

I found [discussion with people from other disciplines] really valuable. Since the conference I have had contact (via email) with many of the people I met.

I have at least three new ideas percolating - so [discussions with people from other disciplines] was really worthwhile.

[Meeting MPs was] very interesting and informative. This is a fantastic opportunity and I strongly encourage CHASS to continue this part of the program.

My team partner was great and together we had a good experience. We were fortunate enough to meet [an MP] that listened, engaged in conversation and expressed some of his concerns with us. We expressed the need for support for the arts, social sciences and Humanities and the absolute need to look to creative thinking as the way forward for this country.

[The best parts of the event were] 1) meeting other young researchers from all over Australia. Even if I do not end up working with these people, it was refreshing to encounter their enthusiasm, and made me feel less alone as an early-career researcher. 2.) Being dropped unescorted in Parliament House and having to find my way to the MP and make a coherent case for my research. Simply seeing Parliament House as the working engine of government was fabulous and inspiring and made the whole event worthwhile for me.

And some suggestions for the next event:

More opportunities to hear what others were doing, and how you might collaborate with them, I think I might only have spoken to about a fifth of the people there. Maybe everyone needs to have a 60 second splurge prepared and present it to a small group then the group changes, sort of a speed dating version of collaborative research.

Surely the point of such a CHASS event is to confront the very challenging task of how to persuade populists of the value of the humanities, arts, and social sciences in all its manifestations, and not leap always and immediately for the conciliatory utilitarian argument. Blind Freddy could persuade a politician to invest in youth alcoholism research or regional health research etc etc. CHASS was not invented to fight these easy battles. It was established to do much harder work. How are you going to advise a literary critic to meet a politician? Or a theoretical economist? Or a sculptor? This is the kind of advice that is far more difficult to come by and it seems to me that only CHASS has the resources or supposed will to concentrate on the task...

The catering was hopeless, I don't know how many times I explained to the catering staff I was vegan (as well as notify CHASS prior to the event) and, at no stage did ANY of the places we had various meals at have any food prepared for me.

The MP that I met with wasn't sure what the purpose of the meeting was. I think that perhaps we should be clearer on what it is that we're doing with the MPs. Most of us didn't have anything specific to ask for. Moreover, most MPs can't do a whole lot in terms of concrete action. Perhaps most of the meetings should be pitched as an awareness building exercise. I know that this is what the organizers had in mind (at least in part) - but I think that the MP that I met with (and some others that I heard about indirectly) expected us to walk in with a log of claims and/or a powerpoint presentation re the state of academia.

More streamlined aim and focus of the sessions regarding what it is they are actually wanting to achieve.

Match the collaborating participants to a Parliamentarian whose ministerial portfolio or committee responsibilities are relevant to the collaborative work of the participants. Failing this, match the participants to a Parliamentarian whose professional background or personal experiences are relevant to the collaborative work of the participants.

An opportunity to expand on the networking with some group work around common academic interest would have been good.

The main problem with the event was the divided focus. One the one hand, there was the sessions focussed on the meeting with MPs, and then there were sessions on working with other disciplines. I think it would have been far more productive to focus on just one of these issues, particularly since the second day was spent basically waiting around for the meeting with the MP, which in my case didn't happen. While the information about meeting MPs was useful, the time would have been more productively on workshops about research possibilities and funding options for cross-disciplinary work. Meeting the MPs was, I think, not very helpful since most of us were meeting MPs who we had not selected and who were not necessarily interested in our research area.

A formal debriefing should be made available to people who need and this should NOT be videotaped. I met people in parliament house that were shattered after their meetings and really really needed time out to talk to someone.

Also needed some quiet time - I just found it all very full on and needed some down time to reflect on what was happening. Perhaps a half hour to reflect, relax, have coffee with others between sessions. When there is a noisy group of academics, it's exhausting.

Have shorter times for each event, sort pollies into those who want to do something and those that just want to listen. Air con in the lecture room would help, and try & bunch people by discipline or potential research project.