Manna Institute is committed to the training and research development of our HDR students. The Manna HDR Community of Practice (HDR CoP) is essentially a collective of individuals supporting each other and learning from one another, sharing their experiences and challenges in a safe space. This is doubly important for Manna’s geographically dispersed researchers. Ownership is encouraged to be shared by member HDR students. The HDR CoP meets weekly for voluntary writing sessions, monthly over Teams for seminars and has the opportunity to meet at Manna face-to-face sessions.

If you are an HDR student researching a topic related to regional mental health we would love to have you join our HDR CoP.

Bridging the Gap to Support Rural Postgraduate Students

Members of Manna’s HDR Community of Practice (CoP) are now co-authors of a book chapter that aims to promote connection and support in higher education – the very foundations the CoP is built on.

The chapter evolved from the CoP’s highly popular Shut Up and Write (SUAW) Sessions and explores how these collective writing sessions can be of benefit to rural postgraduate students, for whom the isolating nature of postgraduate studies is magnified, as well as the rural research they lead.

“Tailored systems to support research training and capacity building in rural settings are critical,” the team wrote, reflecting on how peer-led, virtual SUAW sessions delivered through Manna have supported wellbeing and development.

The benefits, they wrote, “extend far beyond writing productivity, connecting disparate groups of rural postgraduate students, and providing opportunities for interaction, knowledge-sharing, belonging, community, and identity formation”.

The writing team included HDR CoP convenors Dan Wadsworth, Jolene Cox and Dylan Poulus, and researchers David Duncan, Stacey Whitelaw, Kate McCubbery, Rebecca Terlich, Alexandra Potter, Michelle Gossner, Ishwar Koirala and Erin Harcourt.

The e-book chapter can be found here - https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003633327-13

The book, published by Routledge, is now available in hard cover from Routledge and major book sellers.