2015 Postgraduate Conference

The 2015 annual Postgraduate Conference was another key event in November. It was held on 13th November and the RHD students had the opportunity to present their work and receive feedback from fellow students, academic staff and experts from industry. We had another successful annual conference and I would like to congratulate RHD students on their progress and presentations. I would like to thank our keynote speaker, Brendan Driscoll, the director project Strategy from Melbourne Metro rail authority, who gave an interesting speech about one of the most important projects in Melbourne. Thanks also go to our guests for the discussion panel, Dr. Davood Shojaei, Dr. Brett Anderson, and Dr. Jessey Lee, who shared their experience and insight about transiting from academia to industry and highlighted the role of higher education in industry. I hope all participants have enjoyed and benefited from our guests’ talks. Last but not least, I would like to thank our graduate society — the GIES committee, and the RHD coordinator, Assoc. Prof. Nelson Lam for organizing the event. I would also like to acknowledge the invaluable help and support from Pauline Woolcock and our Research Committee in organizing the event.

The Postgraduate Conference was very successful and the forum which featured a panel discussion was well-attended and received.

I would like to congratulate to all awards winners as well. It should be mentioned that the best journal paper prizes won Jing Sun, Margarita Saft and Hosna Tashakkori, for civil engineering, hydrology and water resources and geomatics disciplines, respectively.

Winners of the best journal paper prizes Jing Sun (left), Margarita Saft (middle) and Hosna Tashakkori (right)

After the conference GIES committee held a meeting with Head of Department Prof Abbas Rajabifard to discuss about the gained experience and what would be next steps to improve the conference. On the meeting we agreed that the conference was very successful and new suggestions regarding a better coordination between research students and GIES committee were pointed out.

We wish everyone a great break over the coming summer and follow GIES website for future events!

Zahra Navidikashani and Mitko Aleksandrov