Cheers to Brian
Supervisor of the year
While
Dr Brian Cheers doesn’t judge his success on the number of awards in his
cabinet – “this is the first thing I’ve ever won, besides a footy trophy
when I was in high school,” he quips – the Whyalla-based social work
associate professor is honoured to have been named Supervisor of the Year in
the recent UniSA Student Association Postgraduate Awards.
He was nominated by Sarah Wendt, whom he is supervising as she writes a thesis on rural domestic violence.
Over a glass of wine on a Friday evening, the two talked about what it was that makes a good supervisor – and a good research student.
“Brian is an excellent supervisor because he goes that extra step, getting you into networks and conferences, and looking at the bigger picture of you and your career beyond the PhD,” said Sarah.
“As a student it can be a bit daunting to receive constant criticism back on your work, but he always provides feedback in a tactful, non-threatening manner – and he returns emails and phone calls within 24 hours!”
Brian – who is director of the Centre for Rural and Regional Development – says it’s not all one-way and that he gets a lot of satisfaction out of supervising Sarah and others.
“A lot of my rewards come from the people I work with, seeing people like Sarah find their own style and express their own personalities through their work,” he says.
“I love working with PhD students. They’re intelligent, they’re determined, they have their own ambitions and a lot of courage.”