GRASP
GRASP Newsletter Issue 3, 2026
July 8th, 2026, by
Hi everyone
Welcome to our third newsletter for 2026.
If you are a newly enrolled HDR student, welcome! Our newsletter provides information about some of the upcoming events provided by the Curtin Library to support HDR students throughout their research journey.
For more details about how we can help you, you can visit the GRASP (Graduate Research Advanced Skills Program) website.
In brief
- Upcoming GRASP workshops
- New GenAI workshop series
- Register now for our next Thesis Blasts and Bootcamps
- Find Your Tribe
- Shut Up and Work sessions
- Consultations
- What’s new in the GRASP Ideas Hub blog
- HDR Viva Empower workshops
- Research Students Summit
- Just for fun – the Ignoble awards
Upcoming GRASP workshops
Our Semester 2 GRASP workshops are a great way to find out what you don’t know you didn’t know, and develop your academic writing and research skills.
The workshops are grouped into the following series:
- Writing your M1 Research Proposal – covers research questions, methodology and methods, literature reading and notetaking, presenting at M1 and more.
- Literature searching and reviewing - covers advanced literature searching, systematic and scoping reviews, NVivo for literature reviews and Endnote.
- Data collection and analysis - introductions to statistics and the key software apps available for data collection and analysis such as Qualtrics, SPSS, Stata and NVivo.
- Research writing and publishing – covers the principles of academic writing, writing good paragraphs, editing and feedback, journal publishing and more.
- Using GenAI – a new series covering navigating AI generated information, prompting and evaluating, academic writing for HDRs, GenAI policy and practice for researchers, and more.
Recordings of previous versions of these workshops are available on the GRASP website.
New GenAI workshop series
Curtin Library has created a new series of GenAI workshops covering a range of topics that will be of interest to HDR students and researchers.
- Foundations of GenAI
- GenAI and Academic Integrity
- Navigating AI-Generated information
- Prompting and Evaluating
- GenAI and Academic Writing for HDRs
- GenAI Policy and Practice for Researchers
The workshops are run both in-person and online. Register here.
Register now for our next Thesis Blasts and Bootcamps
Thesis Blasts (one day event) and Thesis Bootcamp (3 day event) are focussed writing sessions for HDR students. They are a great opportunity to set aside some dedicated time to work on your thesis alongside your peers in a structured, supportive environment that includes timed focus sessions, goal setting and progress tracking. We run them online and in person in the Library.
July Blasts Register your expression of interest ASAP.
- in-person: 13 July
- online: 14 July
August Blasts Register your expression of interest by Friday 6 August.
- in-person: 20 Aug
- online: 21 Aug
Sep/Oct Bootcamps Register your expression of interest by Friday 20 August.
- online: 14-16 Sept
- in-person: 30 Sept - 2 Oct
For more information, visit the GRASP website
Find Your Tribe
Find Your Tribe is an informal group for HDR students, offering a safe space for connecting with one another by sharing stories, discussing challenges, exchanging strategies, and learning from each other throughout the research journey.
The meetups are held online and run fortnightly. We also hold in-person events throughout the year and have a Teams channel where we can share information, ideas and resources.
The next session on Tuesday July 21, 12 - 1 pm is on “Finding Your Dedicated Writing Time: Making Space for Your Research Writing”. Register here for scheduled FYT events
Shut up and Work sessions
If you would like to increase your focus and productivity on a regular basis then join our daily 2.5 hour long online Shut Up and Work (SUAW) sessions for independent, silent working alongside others.
Using a Pomodoro-style format, these student-led sessions will work through 45-minute focused work blocks with short 5-minute breaks in between, helping you stay productive without burning out. This is a supportive, distraction-free space where you can build momentum, stay accountable, and make meaningful progress on your work.
The session runs from 10:00 am - 12.30 (AWST) Mon - Thursday, and you’re welcome to drop in and out as needed. Stay for one work block, the full session, or even longer. Simply bring your task, settle in, and work alongside fellow students and staff who are focused on getting things done too. Register now!
Consultations
Our Research Services team offers in-person and online consultations in: academic writing; data collection and analysis; ‘expert searching’; research data management; research metrics and impact; strategic publishing; and copyright. You can book with a relevant team member.
What’s new in the GRASP Ideas Hub blog
The Ideas Hub blog, written especially for Curtin HDR students, has been posting regularly, so do check out our latest posts listed below. We have started a new series of blog posts of conversations with students – take a look at our first post in the series, From industry to research with Alex Atkins (thanks for participating Alex!) And yes, we would love to include a conversation with you! (email claire.hulcup@curtin.edu.au and she will send you some questions.
Other posts we have published since the last newsletter are:
Try the Pomodoro technique to help you focus
6 tips to improve your academic writing
Disenchanting the art of prompting and other artificial sorceries
Seeing the bigger picture in regression analysis
Thesis Fest and how to make the most of it
Research writing is hard, and this is why
Reading between the (trend) lines - Spotting data manipulation in the wild
The role of resilience in HDR success
HDR Viva Empower workshops
Facilitated by educators from across the Faculties, these small, friendly and supportive workshops enable you to practice delivering oral presentations and responding to questions. HDR Viva Empower is an opportunity to:
- Practice upcoming oral presentations (such as milestones, conference presentations, or vivas) in a warm, supportive environment
- Practice communicating your research and responding to questions about it
- Receive feedback from peers and academic communication skills experts.
The workshops are held in the Library, and run regularly – you can register here
Research Students Summit
Start the day with coffee and connect over lunch. Across the day, you’ll have the chance to meet research students from across Curtin, hear from support services and research leaders, take part in interesting discussions, ask questions, share ideas and build new connections.
Supported by the Curtin Student Guild and Postgraduate Student Committee, this event is all about bringing postgrad and research students together, strengthening community and making sure your voice is heard.
Date: Wednesday 29 Jul, 11am - 2:30pm AWST, Guild Precinct. Register here.
Just for fun – the Ignoble awards
Described by Nature as “arguably the highlight of the scientific calendar”, the ignoble awards are presented annually to some of the most quirky, bizarre, unlikely – but definitely real - scientific research. For example, in 2025, the late Dr. William B. Bean, received a posthumous award “for persistently recording and analysing the rate of growth of one of his fingernails over a period of 35 years.” Another prize was awarded to a group of Japanese scientists who conducted experiments to discover whether cows painted with zebra-like striping can avoid being bitten by flies.” Need I say more? If you could do with a laugh (and reassurance that your topic fits within the range of ‘normal’!), then check out more weird and wonderful research at Improbable Research.
Thanks for reading this newsletter!
Please make any anonymous comments/ feedback, or suggestions for further posts at this link. If you would like to get in touch, or write a post for the Ideas Hub blog, please email karen.miller@curtin.edu.au