Stefanie Thorne

Stefanie Thorne is a PhD student that is sponsored by and has been working within the Graduate Centre and the Caledonian Academy since October 2007 to research the impact the introduction of Graduate Schools/Centres is having on postgraduate communities and cultures within two Scottish Universities.

The first case study has been informed and conducted within an ethnographic framework and she has acted as a participant observer in a range of Graduate School activities including skills training seminars, committee meetings and informal gatherings as well as interviewing a range of participants including research students, supervisors and Graduate School staff (Heads, academic and administrative). The emphasis has been on 'being there' for a sustained period of time in order to fully immerse herself the community and engage meaningfully with participants. Two of the interesting aspects that have arisen from this study is the centrality of technology to participants experiences as PhD students, to supervising PhD students (regardless of disciplines) and to administering these degree programmes and secondly that the methods she has employed to date have reached and attracted largely full time PhD students that 'work' full time within the University. Part time, (often mature) or distance learning PhD students have been less able to contribute to the research because of their lack of 'being there' as being central to their PhD experience. She therefore wants to explore the possibilities of using online research methods within the second case study institution to potentially enable greater participation.

Stefanie is being co - supervised by Professor Bonnie Steves, Director of the Graduate Centre, Dr Jon Turner, Director of the Postgraduate Transferable Skils Unit at the University of Edinburgh, Professor Allison Littlejohn, Director of the Caledonian Academy and Professor Rona Beattie of the Caledonian Business School.

Stefanie will shortly be going on maternity leave as she is expecting her second child.

Updated: 17 August, 2009 | Site editor | Legal