Problem Solving Research

Candidates Super Cut

Transcription by Alice Bell

VISUAL:. Problem Solving Research RMIT PhD candidates working with industry partners, develop research projects that respond to industry problems RMIT University logo.

AUDIO: Upbeat electronic music plays quietly in the background through the duration of the video.

VISUAL: Video close-up of Denise Cuthbert sitting in a modern lecture theatre, talking at an angle just off camera.

DENISE: My name’s Denise Cuthbert. I’m the Dean of the School of Graduate Research here at RMIT.

VISUAL: Time-lapse footage of pedestrian and road traffic moving through city intersection, with ultra-modern looking building branded with RMIT logo dominating the background city buildings.

Cut to time-lapse footage taken at tram stop directly outside ultra-modern RMIT building. Cut to time-lapse footage of pedestrians walking through the entrance of the RMIT building.

DENISE: The research that many of our higher degree by research candidates are doing, is applied, it’s addressing real industry problems and coming up with solutions for industry…

VISUAL: Video close-up of Denise Cuthbert sitting in a modern lecture theatre, talking direct to camera.

DENISE:… and for partner organisations. It’s translational and it’s innovative.

VISUAL: Title across screen reads: Chris Berg, Doctoral Candidate, RMIT University. Video medium close up of Chris sitting in modern lecture theatre, talking direct to camera.

CHRIS: RMIT’s been an excellent experience for me. It’s been very flexible. It’s had a large amount of resources but it’s also very industry-focused…

VISUAL: Title across screen reads: Partnership with Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) Child seat safety study. Video mid-shot taken on side angle of man fitting a child seat to a row of model airline seats, then in close up a second pair of hands assists. Cut to a shot of crash test dummies in two rows of airline seats, crashing in slow motion. Then cut to the same footage shown from above with two of the four dummies animated to show different impact areas of the seats and bodies.

CHRIS: …so the connection between the private sector and academia is well-respected, well-understood. The idea behind RMIT’s industry relationships is that there’s deep connections…

VISUAL: Video close up of Chris sitting in lecture theatre, talking direct to camera.

CHRIS: …with the private sector and there’s a great deal of respect for people who work in the private sector.

VISUAL: Title across screen reads: Natalie Hendry, Doctoral Candidate, RMIT University. Video close up of Natalie sitting in modern lecture theatre, talking at an angle just off camera.

NATALIE: One thing about RMIT that I’ve really noticed is that even though I’m doing a media and communications degree everything really interdisciplinary and that suits me as someone who has a background in arts and science and education and health…

VISUAL: Title across screen reads: Partnership with Australian Institute of Sport Sarcopenia study.

Video Close up shows two legs riding a stationary exercise bike, on the floor of the room we can see various cables. Cut to footage of the bike rider from the chest up, the man is sweating and breathing heavily. Cut to close up of bike mechanics. Cut to close up of blood being drawn from the man’s sweaty arm while he makes fits with his other hand to increase the flow. Cut to close up of a person in a white lab coat with blue gloves placing a small item into test tube. Cut to close up taken at the level of the laboratory bench looking through various laboratory equipment to the person working with samples on the far side of the bench. Cut to the blue gloved hands writing equations on a whiteboard.

NATALIE:...and it’s the sort of space where I can actually go to different departments and get access to some really brilliant minds to shape the sort of research that I’m doing and there’s also support for things like funding to go overseas…

VISUAL:. Video medium close up of Natalie sitting in lecture theatre, talking direct to camera.

NATALIE:…and to share my ideas but also to listen and learn from other people around the world.

VISUAL: Title across screen reads: Anthony Ziem, Doctoral Candidate, RMIT University. Video close up of Anthony sitting in modern lecture theatre, talking direct to camera.

ANTHONY: Whatever your subject or whatever you’re studying, if you can get into an industry I think it’s a great way, depending on what it is, you’ll have real data or real information, real problems that are out there and that you can solve or help solve.

VISUAL: Title across screen reads: Stephanie Keehan, Doctoral Candidate, RMIT University. Video close up of Stephanie sitting in modern lecture theatre, talking at an angle just off camera.

STEPHANIE: It gives you exposure to a professional environment that you’re not necessarily going to get when you’re a student…

VISUAL: Title across screen reads: Partnership with City of Kingston Sustainable retrofitting of aging buildings study. Video zooms in on Anthony sitting at a desk working at a computer, the camera focuses on the animation on the computer screen showing an Air Handling Unit.

STEPHANIE:…and I think making those connections with people who are working in the field, which is presumably what you aspire to do,

VISUAL: Video of Anthony walking through a room of interconnected pipes checking equipment. Cut to close up of a part of the equipment.

STEPHANIE:...meeting those people, seeing them in their daily work what they do it can really reinforce for you that it really is what you want to go ahead and do…

VISUAL: Video close up of Stephanie sitting in lecture theatre, talking direct to camera.

STEPHANIE:…and the more people you can know that are working in that industry is going to help you out looking for a job so I think it’s a really important, worthwhile thing to do.

VISUAL: Title across screen reads: Sarah Edwards, Doctoral Candidate, RMIT University. Video close up of Sarah sitting in modern lecture theatre, talking at an angle just off camera.

SARAH: The opportunities that I’ve been afforded through my PhD research…

VISUAL: Title across screen reads: Partnership with Melbourne Museum How natural history informs contemporary art practice study. Video pans across a taxidermy monkey on a shelf with other taxidermy animals across to another set of shelves with taxidermy animals where Sarah is taking notes and another woman is handling one of the animals on the shelf. Cut to camera panning across a row of taxidermy birds under low-lighting. Cut to Sarah adjusting storage shelves containing taxidermy animals. Cut to video panning across a close up of a taxidermy Tasmanian Tiger.

SARAH: Has really enhanced my firsthand experience and knowledge of my subject matters which enable and enhance what I can produce as an artist. I think it brings a real sincerity and a credibility…

VISUAL: Video close up of Sarah sitting in modern lecture theatre, talking at an angle just off camera.

Cut to Sarah in same position, talking direct to camera.

SARAH:…to the work that I’m producing it’s not just having looked in a book and being copying from a book, my practice wouldn’t be what it is without that connection between the University and the Museum.

VISUAL: Title across screen reads: Gauri Laud, Doctoral Candidate, RMIT University. Video close up of Gauri sitting in modern lecture theatre, talking at an angle just off camera.

GAURI: It was a nice feeling that whatever I was doing was not going to just be stale remaining in my thesis but the insights were going to be used and be applied in a real industry context.

VISUAL: Title across screen reads: Ylias Sabri, Doctoral Candidate, RMIT University. Video close up of Ylias sitting in modern lecture theatre, talking at an angle just off camera. Cut to Ylias talking direct to camera.

YLIAS: There’s a lot of benefit actually working with these companies, first of all you get exposed to the real world problems, you get to go and see the process and you get to see where the problem you’re working on is going to be applied to and how it’s going to solve the problem.

VISUAL: Video close up of Natalie sitting in lecture theatre, talking at an angle just off camera.

NATALIE: For people who are studying the benefit of engaging with industry partners…

VISUAL: Title across screen reads: Partnership with The Australian Paralympic Committee Customisation of Sports Wheelchairs study. Video shows a woman and a man and standing at a table looking at a prototype frame of a wheelchair, making adjustments. Cut to black and white slow motion footage taken side-on of a man wheeling a stationary wheelchair. Cut to video of teams playing wheelchair basketball on an indoor court.

NATALIE:…would be that research makes a difference right from the start. The research is relevant and it’s almost like people are checking as you are going along

VISUAL: Video close up of Natalie sitting in lecture theatre, talking direct to camera.

NATALIE: You also learn new ways of thinking about things and testing your ideas as you go along.

VISUAL: Title across screen reads: Vinita Godinho, Doctoral Candidate, RMIT University. Video close up of Vinita sitting in modern lecture theatre, talking at an angle just off camera. Cut to Vinita talking direct to camera.

VINITA: There’s many things that you can afford to do as an academic that you can’t afford to do when you’re in industry and right enough that there’s a commercial focus, you need to focus on what it is that brings dollars into the business. You don’t really have the luxury of time sometimes to stand back and take a look at what’s happening and study things in any particular detail and I think that’s the opportunity that academic research offers and many times it can inform industry policy it’s just that we haven’t made the effort to stop and think.

VISUAL: Title across screen reads: Mark Burgess, Doctoral Candidate, RMIT University. Video close up of Mark sitting in modern lecture theatre, talking at an angle just off camera. Cut to Mark talking direct to camera. Cut back to Mark talking at an angle just off camera. Cut to Mark talking direct to camera.

MARK: ‘A desk is a very dangerous place from which to view the world,’ which is John le Carre, and it’s such a great quote because it applies both in industry, in management, and in research where you need to get out from behind that desk to get a much better view of what’s going on in life and what’s going on in the world. Even the most theoretical research that may not be applied at this stage, it will be applied one day so I think you always need to look at the outside world, especially industry, for how that research even if it’s not ready to be applied yet, but how it might be applied. I think regardless of whether you’re doing a very applied project or a very theoretical project those industry ties are helpful.

VISUAL: Video close up of Anthony sitting in lecture theatre, talking direct to camera.

ANTHONY: I would definitely recommend getting onto the academic side to solve problems that you have within industry because sometimes we think it’s just ‘me’ that I’ve got this issue, but no, it’s not just me.

VISUAL: Video close up of Stephanie sitting in lecture theatre, talking direct to camera.

STEPHANIE: Exposure to that professional environment is really key…

VISUAL: Title across screen reads: Partnership with the CSIRO Building regulations study. Video still image of Mark wearing a CSIRO branded lab coat looking at a building model. Cut to video still looking across a building model through a window to a high rise building being constructed branded with the RMIT University logo. Cut to video panning across man looking through a wooden building model.

STEPHANIE: It’s so worthwhile to go out there and see the job it is that you’re aspiring to do someday. The benefit I get is just immeasurable.

VISUAL: Video close up of Stephanie sitting in lecture theatre, talking direct to camera.

STEPHANIE…I don’t know where I’d be without the guidance and the assistance of those people and I’m just really lucky to have that.

VISUAL: Title across screen reads: Carey Lyon, Doctoral Candidate, RMIT University. Video close up of Carey sitting in modern lecture theatre, talking at an angle just off camera.

CAREY: I think if you’re in practice and you have the sense that you know what you’re doing…

VISUAL: Title across screen reads: Partnership with Mizuno Shoes Kansei Engineering study. Video close up of a person sitting at a computer, on the monitor is a graphic of a running shoe. Cut to a shot of a laptop on a desk showing an image of a running show with a spring underneath the heel. Cut to video of a man running through a forest on asphalt road and then a dirt track. Cut to tight close up panning across several running shoes.

CAREY:…but you really want to enhance that with some very specific knowledge and research, then the PhD program’s a fantastic way to do that. What’s most exciting is the idea that you can take what you’re learning in your professional practice…

VISUAL: Video close up of Carey sitting in modern lecture theatre, talking direct to camera.

CAREY:…and actually apply that to the context of the university and hopefully get some really successful results.

VISUAL: RMIT University logo. www.rmit.edu.au.

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