Research Week At Ara Continues With Pithy Panel Discussion Amid Second Edition Releases
04 November, 2020
Ara’s Research Week 2020 continued on October 21st after an engaging round of staff presentations with a panel session discussing ‘research culture – what is it and how do we get there?’
The panel, which included Dr. Serdar Durdyev from the Department of Engineering and Architectural Studies, Dr. Allen Hill from the Department of Humanities, Dr. Tony McCaffrey from the Department of Creative Industries and Dr.s Marg Hughes and Lorna Davies, both from the Department of Health Practice, was moderated by Dr. Michael Shone, Research Manager at Ara, and provoked some lively inquiries from the audience about the topic posed.
Dr. Hill spoke about his personal experiences while at Otago and the University of Tasmania, citing the importance of “feeling part of something led by researchers”, evident in contexts where more than 500 attendees would convene to hear the latest findings from internationally-regarded experts. Dr. Hughes agreed, saying that a key part of knowing that one is immersed in a research culture is the pervasive view that it is not “an add-on; that it’s not scary and only achievable for the very finest minds; that it’s fun!”
There was general agreement on this point, with Dr McCaffrey stating that he had found a great deal of support at Ara for his personal research projects and that it was his belief that a genuine research culture is both collaborative, equitable and inclusive.
Dr. Lorna Davies also spoke with a great deal of sincerity about the importance of inclusivity, saying that research should not be relegated to the ivory tower, that it should instead by bought to life within the minds and practices of students – something that she always emphasises during her own research projects within the nursing and midwifery contexts.
Dr. Davies’ own research outputs have lately been re-emphasised by the release of second editions of two of her edited works, published this year within months of each other. Examination of the Newborn and Neonatal Health, a “multi-professional perspective, with contributors from specialists in their fields”, edited with UK-based academic Sharon McDonald and published by Elsevier in 2008, went to a second edition this, which contains significant new material.
“The update contains new content about epigenetics, the human biome, the latest screening tests, and a renewed focus on public health. This new version will be a key text for Ara students, bearing in the mind that currently it’s the only book that comprehensively covers a ‘head to toe’ exam of newborn babies; before this book came out, there really wasn’t anything else that contained the practical and applied aspects of the process” says Dr. Davies.
Dr. Davies says that while the book contains contributions from authors from New Zealand, the UK and Australia, the New Zealand curricula is in general more advanced than that generally found overseas, and incorporates much material that students in countries such as the UK would not be addressed outside of specialised post-graduate courses.
This year has also seen the release of the second edition of Dr. Davies’ Sustainability, Midwifery and Birth, issued by Routledge and edited jointly with Dr. Davies’ Ara midwifery colleagues, Dr Rea Daellenbach and Mary Kensington.
Dr. Davies sees the potential for midwifery practice to provide the healthcare sector with a template for a more sustainable approach and the book details how the principles of sustainability can best be reified throughout midwifery practice, education and research. The new edition now includes a new theoretical models pertaining to this and fresh content that explores midwifery amid rural or isolated communities, and issues of social justice and compassion that arise from these contexts.
In a similar vein, Ara Research Week panelist and engineering tutor, Dr. Serdar Durdyev demonstrated an awareness of the need to stay abreast of the latest scientific advances. “Research is a way to achieve the critical velocity needed to keep up with fast-moving disciplines; if they can be likened to a moving train, one must already be running alongside the tracks so as to catch and board the train; you’ll never get on it if starting from a stationary state!”
Dr. Marg Hughes likewise endorsed the idea that original research allows academics and teachers to pass on the latest and best knowledge to others, saying the “practice must be built upon a foundation of evidence”. Given that she has found that many aspects of practice in her field of healthcare are not precisely underpinned by scientific evidence, she feels that it is important to help create an organizational climate that seeks to challenge received wisdom - and generating original research onsite is a large part of that.
The Panel also touched upon the themes of the institutional prestige that can emerge from research outputs, and the subjective sense of achievement that can be gained individually from undertaking such work. These positive benefits can help to encourage other students and colleagues to value a sense of inquiry, and embody a culture of ‘continuous learning.’
It was also generally agreed that there are some barriers to ensuring that research is given due priority within organizations such as Ara, which operate under the budget, time and resource constraints common to many public sectors.
Dr. Tony McCaffrey seemed to speak for all assembled when he likened the ideal research environment as “an ecology rather than an economy”; a system wherein the value proposition is more organic than instrumental, in that it can embrace failure as a form of experimental learning and market-centric logic is not dominant.