Group meetings

Yesterday, I organised a group meeting of my PhD students. It included 4 here in Perth, one in sydney and one on Victoria. Fot the remote students I used the speaker phone for one and Skype for the other. The line was poor for the Skype student but it worked out OK in the end.

There was a lot of value in having them all just explain where they are up to and what they have planned for this semester. Everyone thought it was of value. The benefits included:

1) A chance to talk about about their research in front of others (even though it is was a small group).
2) Finding out where others are up to and the challenges they face can help solve your own issues.
3) It provides a sense of not being on one's own but part of a team that together can make an impact. This should be encouraging.
4) Provides a wider circle of contacts to draw upon for advice, information and support.

Maybe it is worthwhile having these sessions at the start of semester and at the end of semester.