Course Overview

Working under the expert guidance of a supervisor, PhD students design and pursue an individual research project shaped by their own personal, academic, or professional needs and interests. They participate in seminars and other activities in a diverse and vibrant research community, and disseminate their work through conference presentations and publications to both academic and non-academic audiences.

Research Themes

We are committed to interdisciplinary research that can make a real difference to society and people’s lives by informing policy, changing practice, and challenging perceptions. Current research strengths in the department are:

• Language learning and teaching
• Working, relating, and adapting across cultures
• Language teacher education and development
• Professional and workplace communication
• Discourse analysis
• Language structure, variation and change

Teaching and Learning

PhD researchers are individually mentored by academic supervisors from the beginning of their journey. They also participate in weekly research seminars in Year 1 to develop their skills and understanding in relation to research issues and approaches, methods of data collection and analysis, and research ethics.