GRASP
GRASP Newsletter Issue 5, 2026
October 14th, 2026, by
Hi everyone,
Welcome to our fourth newsletter for 2026, which provides information about some upcoming events that may be of interest to HDR students.
In brief:
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Upcoming Thesis Bootcamps
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GRASP Research Writing and Publishing Workshops
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Profiles, Pics and Pizza
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Share your HDR story: join our Conversation Series
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What’s new in the GRASP Ideas Hub blog
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Just for fun - Spurious Correlations
Upcoming Thesis Bootcamps
The final Thesis Blasts and Bootcamps for 2026 are now open for registration.
These focussed writing sessions are a great opportunity to set aside some dedicated time to work on your thesis alongside your peers in a structured, supportive environment.
October Blasts Register your expression of interest by Monday 19 October
- in-person: 26 Oct
- online: 27 Oct
Nov/Dec Bootcamps Register your expression of interest by Friday 13 November
- in-person: 24-26 November
- online: 8-10 December
December Blasts Register your expression of interest by Friday 4 December
- in-person: 15 Dec
- online: 17 Dec
GRASP Research Writing and Publishing Workshops
Our Semester 2 Research Writing and Publishing workshop series kicked off last week. Whether you’re wrestling with a chapter draft or thinking about your first journal submission, these sessions are designed to help you write with more clarity and confidence.
Coming up:
- Critical Thinking: strengthen your arguments and analysis
- Writing Better Paragraphs: how to craft an effective paragraph
- Editing and Feedback: polish your work and make the most of reviewer comments
- Publishing Your Research: get your work out into the world
You’re welcome to join the whole series or pick the sessions that suit where you’re at. Register at this link.
Profiles, Pics and Pizza event
Curtin Profiles is a new public-facing showcase for individual researchers, built from Elements — the system Curtin researchers already use to manage their publications. It takes that same information and turns it into a polished, public webpage for your research profile.
Come along to this session to set your profile up and connect with other HDRs. We’ll have people on hand to help you navigate the Profiles site, and a photographer if you’d like a professional headshot for it. And most importantly, there will be pizza!
Date: Friday, 30th October 2026
Time: 05:00pm - 07:00pm AEST
Location: TL Robertson Library, 105.434B
Share your HDR story: Join our Conversation Series
Every HDR journey is different, and we’d love to hear yours. Our HDR Conversation Series on the Ideas Hub blog shares students’ stories, on any aspect of the research experience, such as moving from industry to research or studying remotely.
We provide three questions, and at a minimum all you need to write is a short paragraph for each, so it won’t take long! You’ll also have the chance to review your post before it’s published.
Why contribute? Your insights, challenges and tips could be exactly what another student needs to hear. It’s also an opportunity to reflect on your journey, share your research in your own words, and help build a stronger HDR community.
If you are interested, please email karen.miller@curtin.edu.au or c.hulcup@curtin.edu.au
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.
Oh, the things HDRs can learn from children’s books!
From the Valley of Despair to the Plateau of Sustainability
The joy of the planner - Time management as a creative practice
Five HDR challenges the library can help you with
Should I be using GenAI to help write my thesis?
Staying in Research(?) - Career pathways for HDR candidates
Just for fun: ‘Spurious Correlations’
Did you know that the number of Master’s degrees awarded in Psychology correlates with the popularity of the first name Benny? Neither did we, until we consulted Tyler Vigen’s ‘Spurious Correlations’ website. The website pairs unrelated data sets that happen to coincide, producing charts with impressively high correlation coefficients and absolutely no meaning.
It’s a handy reminder that correlation does not imply causation. Mostly, though, it’s a very good way to lose the ten minutes you were definitely going to spend on that literature review or transcript.
For more details on our other services and events, visit the GRASP (Graduate Research Advanced Skills Program) website. If you have any questions or suggestions about GRASP, or would like to unsubscribe from the newsletter, please get in touch using one of the email addresses below.
Warm wishes
Karen Miller (karen.miller@curtin.edu.au)
Claire Hulcup (c.hulcup@curtin.edu.au)