High Achievers Ignore International Email

Selected Monash South Africa students have ignored an email about the opening call for papers for the International Conference of Undergraduate Research.

 

 

Monash University students from the South African, Australian, and Malaysian campuses, who are considered to be high academic achievers, received an email on the 19th of April 2015, encouraging them to submit an abstract to the International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR). The email invited students to apply for one of the two available scholarships for an all-expenses paid trip to the UK to present at the University of Warwick during ICUR 2015. The email informing students about the fact that the call for papers was open was either ignored or deleted.

 

Many students explained that they had deleted the email thinking that it was just spam or that the email did not apply to them even though the first line of the email states: “You have been selected based on your exceptional academic performance…” Click on the video below to view the full email content:

 

 

The ICUR is an undergraduate research and learning initiative by the Monash-Warwick Alliance. It is an annual multidisciplinary forum that connects students from universities in seven countries across the world to a single conference via videoconference technology. The University of Warwick is based in Coventry, England and annually hosts the ICUR which they say is “an opportunity for undergraduates to showcase their research in a formal yet supportive academic environment.”



Click on the photo above for the link to the ICUR portal

 

When asked about the email, some students said that if they had known what the email was about they would paid more attention to it.

Marli Rossouw, a second year African Literature student explained, “I did receive the email, but I’ve been swamped with assignments and work so I just don’t have enough time to do it.”

Monique de Chalain, a third year International Relations student said, “Please, I have enough things to do without having to worry about the equivalent of an international assignment to complete. I’m 28. So this just doesn’t apply to me.”

Bronwen Murphy, a student majoring in Child and Youth Development explained, “I deleted the email because I thought it was spam. It was sent by someone from the Monash Australia campus so I assumed it didn’t apply to me.”

 

Another student, who wishes to remain anonymous said, “I didn’t receive the email. But I think whoever did should be honoured, especially if they were invited because of their good grades. It sounds like a big opportunity and I would definitely have grabbed it.” Click on the video below to watch Benazir Mirza's reasons for ignoring the email she received:

 

When asked, Merle Werbeloff, the Psychology Research lecturer at Monash South Africa said she did not know anything about the email. Werbeloff added, “It seems like a great career opportunity for anyone who has entered. It’s a shame that I didn’t know about it or else I would have told my students to enter.”

Click on the video below to listen to what Precious Chingono, the Media and Communications lecturer at Monash South Africa, had to say:

 

The closing date for abstract submissions is on Friday, the 22nd of May 2015. Students chosen to represent Monash during the ICUR 2015 are to be contacted via email.

The 3rd annual ICUR will be held on the 28th-30th of September and will run throughout the 48 hours, beginning on the east coast of Australia and ending on the west coast of the United States, with students linked continuously through video-conference technology, live streaming on YouTube, and Twitter.

Expert Speaks To Journalism Students

Special guest speaker, Michael Schmidt, spoke to students about Investigative Journalism in South Africa.

Michael Schmidt

Second year and third year Journalism students were invited to attend the lecture on 17 April, in order to gain a more in-depth view on what the field of Investigative Journalism is all about.

Michael Schmidt is an investigative field reporter, journalism trainer, free press activist and former special investigative writer for the Independent Newspapers Group and his book, entitled Drinking With Ghosts: The Aftermath of Apartheid’s Dirty War, has been long-listed for the 2015 Alan Paton Award.

Schmidt began his talk by asking students whether they thought the ‘Investigative Journalism hat’ fit them or not. He continued to speak about the different forms of investigative journalism including Systematic Investigation (document-based), Narrative Investigation (interview-based) and Experiential Investigation (legwork-based). He also spoke about the different forms of journalism found within these categories including counter-intelligence, structural, conflict, forensic, sociological and process journalism.

Schmidt says, “Investigative Journalism is great because it gives you a holistic and nuanced understanding of your world – behind the curtain of PR, propaganda and appearances, self-confidence to speak to anyone at any level of society at any time about anything, a passport full of stamps relating to unbeatable experiences that will be the envy of dinner-party conversation anywhere, and the respect that comes with the ease with which you will wield the combined skills of a lawyer, negotiator, researcher, political analyst, psychologist, historian, raconteur and sociologist – not to mention multimedia expert.”

Schmidt added, “People in power sure don’t like investigative journalists and yet they get some of their most crucial non-intel information from us.”

He ended his talk by asking students, “So, do you want to venture behind the curtain? Does the Investigative Journalism hat fit you?”

During the question and answer session, when asked about the impact of journalism and the difficult scenarios field journalists are exposed to, Schmidt explained, “Most journalists excel by getting their hands dirty. But you have to keep your mind clean.” He also shared that he suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) but has received help for it. Schmidt added, “You’ve got to be human in whatever situation you’re in. It is difficult sometimes to talk about it, but you have to learn sometimes to not emotionally overcommit. It’s important to look after your own mental state. Investigative Journalism changes you, but you’re still human.”

 

 

After the first Mental Health Awareness Day held on the Monash campus in March, Journalism students were able to identify with Schmidt and understand what could lay ahead when venturing into the journalism field. Cameron Gunn Mackay, a second year journalism student said, “After listening to Michael, I personally feel very motivated to go into the field of investigative journalism. It seems exciting and you get to see the world and experience things that others can only dream of.”
For more of what Cameron thought of Michael Schmidt, listen to the clip below:

Students say that they hope more guest speakers like Michael Schmidt will visit the campus and speak to them in the future.