Supporting Research Students at NCV

Currently New College Village is home to many students undertaking either PhD degrees or Masters degrees by research.  Additionally, many other students who are undertaking coursework programs complete a minor or major thesis as part of their program.  To support these students, NCV runs a monthly Research Student Group.

The aims of the Research Student Group are:

• to encourage the researchers to socialize with other people having similar experiences; 
• to hear about different students’ research; and 
• be equipped for a career in research.  

Each meeting includes a short time for having a drink and some nibbles, followed by a research presentation from one of our residents and a “skills” presentation by a relevant expert.  The meetings are typically attended by 20-30 students.

So far this year we have had a number of seminars aimed at giving our residents a helping hand on the road to a career in academe.   At one meeting, a panel of upper year PhD students shared their wisdom on “Surviving the First Year of a PhD”.  The panel was made up of students studying in different areas - Naadir Junaid (Faculty of Arts), Laura Sharpe (Faculty of Science) and James Lam (Faculty of Engineering) - and so there were a wide range of perspectives presented.

Other presentations have included:

Ms Janice Besch (Director of the UNSW Grants Management Office), delivered a presentation entitled “An Overview of the Australian Research Grants System”.  Ms Besch’s presentation included some invaluable tips for anyone embarking on a research career.

The Dean of Residents at NCV Dr John Quinn drew on his earlier experience in intellectual property to present on “Protecting Your Inventions: Inside the Patent Process”.

Associate Professor Sue Starfield from the UNSW Learning Centre gave our residents some invaluable advice on “What Thesis Examiner’s Look For”.  Sue’s presentation was full of helpful tips for those facing the daunting task of writing a thesis.

An exciting lineup of speakers have been arranged for coming meetings. A/Prof. Sebastien Perrier from the University of Sydney will provide the students with some tips on getting a high impact publication, Prof. Christine Alexander from UNSW’s Faculty of Arts will share some insights for those setting out on a a career in academia and alumnus Dr Ben Waterhouse will speak about setting up your own consultancy after completing postgraduate research.

To finish off the year the Master of New College, Professor Trevor Cairney will draw on his extensive experience as a supervisor of postgraduate research to advise on how best to get along with your PhD supervisor. A presentation not to be missed!

Additionally, we have also heard a wonderful series of presentations by our own students on their varied and exciting research.  Students at NCV are currently undertaking research on topics as diverse as housing issues in Malaysia through to cancer mechanisms, Bengali political cinema and data structures. We look forward to an interesting semester as we support and encourage our students undertaking research degrees.

Supporting Research Students at NCV

NCV Christmas Aussie BBQ

Because the NCV is mainly for postgraduate students the building is never without residents or staff. In this our first year, over 60 residents were still in the building over Christmas. As a result Carmen and I hosted a Christmas BBQ in the main Common Room for those who were still here and weren't sharing the day with relatives or friends in Australia.

We had a fairly typical Aussie lunch:

• Halal steak (this isn't typically Australian, but NCV has some Muslim residents so we always cater with Halal meat), lamb, chicken, and beef sausages
• Great salads (some Cairney specials - thanks Carmen!)
• Aussie Pavlova (made by Carmen) and traditional Christmas pudding cooked by Trevor and his daughter Louise (a family tradition)

We had about 25 who turned up for lunch and it was a very special time together.

Above: Carmen's Aussie Pavlova and traditional English Pudding (on the side)

We hope that every friend of New College as well as alumni and current residents have a lovely Christmas and New Year.

NCV Christmas Aussie BBQ

Christmas Carols at NCV

Above: Mark & Patrick enjoying the carols

On Monday night residents of NCV shared in a traditional Christmas Carols service in the Main Common Room. Residents gathered to sing traditional songs, hear Bible passages read that tell the Christmas story, hear a brief message from the Master, decorate the NCV Christmas tree then share hot pancakes and maple syrup cooked on the BBQ.

This was a wonderful night enjoyed by people of all the many faiths represented in the building as well as some who hold to no faith position. Just another example of what a wonderful community life we have at the NCV.

Above: The music team leading us in carol singing

Above: Sue and Lauren decorating the tree

Above: Some of the guys decorating the tree and sharing a pancake (cooked by the Master)

Above: One resident's decoration (Christmas always points to Easter)

Christmas Carols at NCV

End of Year Drinks and Canapes

It's hard to know when the year ends at the NCV. Some residents don't leave at this time but simply keep working on their research. However, many of the coursework masters students and medicine students end earlier. To mark the fact that some were leaving in November we held a drinks and canapes night for all residents (free of course!). The night included fine finger food served by the New College caterers, great conversation and a brief word from the Master to farewell some people and thank everyone for the wonderful first year that we have had at the NCV. This type of event will be run regularly next year to complement our regular free BBQs on a Friday evening.

Above: Some of our residents and staff enjoying the night

Above: Our Chef Manager (Daniel) on the left serving residents some of the food he had prepared

Above: Residents enjoying the evening

End of Year Drinks and Canapes

NCV October Formal Dinner

We had another wonderful formal dinner in October for over 100 residents of the NCV. These dinners occur approximately four times per year and are open (free of charge) to all residents. We had a wonderful three course meal, entertainment was provided by one of our residents (Arun Jothidas) and we have a distinguished guest speaker. Our guest at the October dinner was Mary Jo Capps the CEO of Musica Viva, which is Australia's largest supporter and promoter of intimate concert experiences, presenting approximately 2,500 concerts each year in Australia and around the world. Mary Jo gave us a wonderful overview of the history of Musica Viva as well as telling us about her own career development.

Above: Some of our residents enjoying dinner together

Above: Residents chatting after the dinner was over

Above: Anusha, Rosita, Hafiz, Faris, Trevor (Master of NCV), Karen, Niloufer and Dana

NCV October Formal Dinner

Performing for the kids!

On Saturday night about 70 residents of NCV enjoyed a wonderful night of concert entertainment in the Main Common Room - and we were the entertainment. The night had been organised by NCV resident Yuchan Chew who was personally challenged to raise funds for the Sydney Children's Hospital as part of its annual Gold Week fundraising activities. Each year the hospital's foundation has a major week of fundraising that involves the whole community.

Yuxuan with the support of her Senior Resident on the 7th floor (Kanya Ittinitiwut) decided to organise a concert and encourage all NCV residents to get behind behind it. As part of her fundraising Yuxuan and a group of other volunteers:

• sold tickets to the concert
• sold merchandise to residents in the building and on campus
• sought cash coin donations on campus
• encouraged people to make larger donations

One of the attractions of the idea of the concert was that it was also an opportunity to do some community building as we rehearsed items and entertained each other on the night. And entertain each other we did!


There were about 20 items that included:

• a variety of vocal items (groups, duets, solos with and without instruments)
• a musical comedy item from the Master (me) and Carmen (my wife)
• a card throwing act
• some rap dancing
• guitar items
• digital computer generated music
• piano recitals
• Chinese whistle blowing
• a presentation on the Sydney Children's Hospital by Yuxuan

The audience cheered enthusiastically each item and demanded encores from some (Kelly's love songs were a big hit!).

The night had some wonderful moments including members of the audience joining soloists when they struggled to remember the words. Another enjoyable part of the evening was some group drawing that involved the audience being invited on arrival to choose a blank cut-out of a child and to add the details of someone who you'd like to see as a child.

This was a great night that raised almost $1,000 and did a lot for community building. People are still talking about some of the memorable items.

Residents shouldn't miss the next one!

Performing for the kids!

Community life at the NCV

Now that the NCV is in full operation we have been able to turn most of our attention to the building of a strong, vibrant and supportive community. Here are a few highlights of what happened last week and what will happen this week.

Monday Supper

As usual supper took place on every floor of the NCV on Monday night 25th May from 9.00pm-10.00pm. Every week the Senior Residents on each floor host supper. Food is provided by the NCV and SRs share weekly news of events in the life of the building. This is a great time for people to catch up and have as break from study.

NCV Research Seminar

Last Thursday evening (28th May) we heard from Professor Joe Wolf who spoke about his reasons for leaving a quest to become a professional musician to become instead an academic researcher and teacher working on the acoustics of the ear, the vocal tract and musical instruments. His work also covers information processing in auditory signals and cellular thermodynamics. Professor Wolf is well known on campus not just for his research but because of his reputation as a teacher.

Postgraduate Review Night

On Thursday evening our Research Seminar was followed by a seminar for research students that aimed to offer them a practice run at their mid year review. Professor Cairney acted as Chair and offered a critique of each presentation. The audience also gave verbal and written feedback. The diverse topics included the impact of landscape architecture on patients at four key hospitals, the impact of background music on the effectiveness of people's work, the role of political film in West and East Bengal, and the reasons for failure in second year university chemistry.

NCV Barbeque

On Friday evening (29th May) 250 residents turned up in the Central Courtyard for our 6 weekly BBQ. As usual the Senior Residents, the Master and Carmen cooked and the residents ate, talked and had a good time.


NCV Church Service

On Monday evening (1st June) 30 people gathered for the first NCV Church service. This was an encouraging night in which 6 residents played various parts, the Master lead the service, residents lead the music, prayed and read the Bible and Ben Gooley (Unichurch) preached from 1 Thessalonians.

NCV Soccer challenge

On Wednesday night (3rd June) the NCV is playing New College in our first major sporting challenge. This friendly match will determine who has bragging rights in football (soccer).

Sydney Children's Hospital Gold Night Concert

On Saturday evening (6th June) residents will come together for a night of entertainment. Each floor will provide varied entertainment and all proceeds from the night will go towards the annual Children's Hospital Gold Week appeal.

Community life at the NCV

Getting used to living in the new building

There have been some amusing moments in our first few weeks living in the NCV. I was at reception yesterday and one of our residents raced up to me with the words: "I've just done something VERY silly, I've dropped my wallet down the garbage chute when getting rid of my rubbish" To which I replied, "let's go and see if we can find it".

Down to the garbage compactor room we went to work out how you find and extract a wallet from the garbage. "Let's try rotating the garbage compactor and we'll see what we find." I pressed the appropriate button tentatively (never having operated it before) and waited. It whirred into action and there it was on top of a bin filled with well wrapped garbage.

Fanny was one very pleased resident who will probably not make the same mistake again. Fanny decided that she wanted a record of this event (as you can see below).

Getting used to living in the new building

What type of community will the NCV have?

Our aim in building the New College Village is to create a unique community for postgraduate students enrolled at UNSW. Many universities around the world attempt to provide designated postgraduate accommodation (although very few in Australia). However, not many universities have seriously given time to community building. I lived in a postgraduate residence consisting of 200 two and three bedroom apartments whilst a postdoctoral fellow at Indiana University (Bloomington) in the early 1980s. Tulip Tree Apartments (picture opposite) was designed for postgraduates and their families. While it was a nice building, it had no common rooms, no shared facilities and virtually no support programs. The estimated 37 nations represented in the building had to find ways to make friends and support each another. At that time (over 20 years ago) the building offered little more than a mail service and its design did little to foster community building. Other than some long corridors, the elevator and a limited playground, there were few places where residents could meet one another. While I enjoyed my time in Bloomington it was because of the connections we made with other people through the faculty, community, school and the local Methodist church that our lives were enriched. Tulip Tree was just a place to live.


The New College Village has been designed to facilitate community building. We have attempted to recognize that single postgraduate students will want more privacy than undergraduates, but at the same time we have attempted to design the building to allow residents to mill and mix in many shared spaces. We do not want our residents to spend all of their time alone in their rooms. There are four key planks in our strategy to build a vibrant community:

1. We have designed the building to facilitate contact with other people - we will have 14 common rooms, two external courtyards, a rooftop terrace, a games room, business centre, large common room, reading room, private courtyard and convenience store.

2. We will have staff support - every floor will have a residential adviser who has the task of knowing residents, offering pastoral care and academic support and facilitating social interaction.
3. The residents themselves will be encouraged to build an active social programme supported by staff through a residents committee.

4. Alumni and friends of New College will act as mentors and supporters of residents through a fellows programme.

I will provide more details on some of these approaches in future posts.

What type of community will the NCV have?