Careers will be accelerated when some of the world's brightest PhD researchers meet at the CCI Winter School.
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI) is hosting its second winter school at QUT's Creative Industries Precinct, from June 23 to 28.
It brings talented PhD students together with leading international creative industries academics for a week of intensive learning and exchange.
The program focuses on mentoring, collaboration and social interaction, drawing on the centre's expertise in digital media, communication and culture, economics, policy and law.
Chosen through a competitive process, 25 researchers from 12 countries will arrive with a draft paper they want to publish and refine it through a series of workshops.
"We call it the Paper Jam," CCI Deputy Director Dr Jean Burgess said.
"It's a very effective method of encouraging collaboration between researchers who wouldn't necessarily mix together, and it helps produce some outstanding work.
"Each day three researchers present their draft paper and the others provide advice and suggestions in working groups that also involve CCI mentors and guest academics.
"It's an opportunity for the students to not only further develop their own papers but to also share their knowledge, references and writing tips.
"It also opens the doors to a whole world of potential new research directions."
The winter school aims to provide highly practical individual feedback and collaborative relationships that will endure throughout researchers careers.
Doctoral students involved in last year's inaugural CCI Winter School have already published work based directly on the papers they presented, developed and refined through the Paper Jam.
The 2012 group also produced a book of co-authored work on the politics of production within the creative industries, which is currently being considered by leading international publisher Routledge.
"The book will serves as both a benchmark for the future alumni of the CCI Winter School, and as a highpoint on the portfolios of the emerging career researchers who took part in this amazing CCI initiative," said the book's project leader and CCI PhD student Jonathon Hutchinson.
2012 Winter School participant Kathleen Kuehn, from Victoria University of Wellington, this year published her co-authored paper Hope labor: The role of employment prospects in online social production.
"I feel excited and re-energised not just about my own research again but also about working to capitalise on the collaborative spirit that the CCI Winter School has done a fantastic job of fostering."
Dr Burgess said feedback from the 2012 CCI Winter School was overwhelmingly positive.
"Over the past several years, through our Emerging Scholars Program, the CCI has established a strong tradition of offering high-quality professional development for our own doctoral students and early career researchers," she said.
"We held our first Winter School to provide a similar opportunity to emerging scholars from Australia and around the world, and the feedback was so positive we committed to holding the event again in 2013."
Students participating in the 2013 CCI Winter School are researchers in a wide range of creative industries fields including:
•online privacy
•identity and communities
•videogame programming
•design and play
•social media and participatory culture
•media and development
•the contemporary music and film industries.
For more information about the 2013 CCI Winter School, visit www.cciwinterschool.org.
About the CCI
The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI) is a nationally-funded research centre based at QUT, with partner universities located around Australia. It is a cross-disciplinary, internationally-focused centre embracing both theoretical and applied research in media, cultural and communication studies, law, education, economics and business and information technology. The Centre addresses key problems and opportunities arising for Australia, the Asian region, and more broadly in the world, from innovation in and through the creative economy.
Media contact: Kate Haggman, QUT Media, 3138 0358 or kate.haggman@qut.edu.au
