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Professor receives award for postgraduate supervision

26 March 2008

Dr Ceridwen Spark, Dr Eliza Burke, Vice-Chancellor Richard Larkins, Professor Denise Cuthbert, Dr Caroline Elston and Dr Millsom Henry-Waring at the awards ceremony.

Professor Denise Cuthbert, from the School of Political and Social Inquiry in the Faculty of Arts, is the 2007 winner of the Vice-Chancellor's Prize for Postgraduate Supervision.

The prize was presented earlier this month at a graduation ceremony attended by many of Professor Cuthbert's former students.

The Vice-Chancellor's Prize is the third distinction Professor Cuthbert has received in recognition of her work in supervising many graduate students.

In 2006, she was awarded the Faculty of Arts Excellence in Research Supervision Award and in 2007 she was awarded a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning from the Carrick Institute.

Professor Cuthbert's work as a supervisor of graduate research reflects a wide range of disciplines. Her graduates have come from the fields of English, Women's Studies, Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, Anthropology and Sociology. Current students include graduate researchers in Italian Studies and Applied Ethics.

Professor Cuthbert said open, trustful communication and intellectual development as well as providing prompt, critical feedback on written work were essential aspects of the effective supervision of research students.

"However I consider the development of a framework to analyse the research process to be of the greatest value to my students (and to me). I consider this to be very beneficial to the intellectual growth of my candidates as researchers," Professor Cuthbert said.

Former student Dr Margaret Mishra said Professor Cuthbert's feedback was always extensive and, more importantly, critical and honest.

"Although my specific area of research was new to her, Denise would engage with my findings quite easily and was always eager to learn more about the women of my country (Fiji)," Dr Mishra said.

"She also directed me to numerous methodological and theoretical texts that I was unfamiliar with. These shaped the direction of my field research and ultimately enhanced the body of my dissertation."