ANZAM Workshop & Conference

I had a really good time in Melbourne. Although the schedule of both events were tight, I enjoyed everything. I got along with many people. I used to be extremely shy, but not any more. I spoke up, introduced myself and my topic, and discussed with others.

I met some female students and became friends. Their names were like US presidents' wives so I named our group as "First Ladies Club". They loved it. We had nice coffee chats. Two of them recently changed their supervisors that was the most interesting.

At the doctoral workshop, the main topics of discussion were:

• Dilemma in publishing to journal articles and conference papers;
• Battling against first authorship;
• Supervision disasters;
• Miserable isolation;
• Scary confirmation seminar (for early candidates);
• Access to organisations (data collection stage);
• Annoying ethical clearance procedure;
• Developing a career in the white, male dominant world;
• Methodology disasters; and
• Time, stress, motivation and health management.

At the conference, guest speakers came from a large enterprise and its major suppliers. It was lucky that I could take a seat with professors and the guest speakers. They were interested in my topic and a manager of the large enterprise offered to support for data collection. Yeah me!

I also had a quick, but invaluable discussion with a delegate. His question was, "Why don't you use SH's articles more? I think he is a leader in your topic area". I answered, "Well, I wish I could do so... but I found that his series of articles are identical to texts in TO's book".

"Hey, hey, really? You need to be careful to say it. It sounds the matter of plagiarism!"

"Yest, I guess so. I know SH is a visiting professor here (venue of the conference), a leader in my topic area, an editor of journals I want to publish my articles. I am annoyed and scared."

"Well, talk with your supervisors. I think you should mention it somewhere at some stage. Your thesis will be stuck, otherwise."

"Yes, it is one of the biggest issues at this stage. Thank you very much for your consideration. I will think about it more and talk with my supervisor. But he knows SH very well..."

"Oh, well, I think you really should find a way to deal with SH's articles. Your examiner might have the same question I gave. You will need to explain it in your thesis anyway."

It reminds me a case about David Robinson, a former vice-chancellor of Monash University who resigned over plagiarism claims.

I think I should raise a voice.