Professor Inger Mewburn
Areas of expertise
- Curriculum And Pedagogy 1302
- Specialist Studies In Education 1303
- Educational Technology And Computing 130306
- Natural Language Processing 080107
Biography
I am a research educator who has been working with PhD students for over a decade. I started my academic career as an architecture lecturer in 2001, following a decade in architecture practice with leading design firms. I took up the position of Director of Research Training at ANU in 2013, after working as a research fellow in the School of Graduate Research at RMIT University since 2006.
I created the famous Thesis Whisperer blog, which has had 4.3 million hits in the last five years and has 60,000 followers on email and social media. The blog is the most popular source of advice and a leading influencer for research supervisors and students in the world because it is grounded in my scholarly practice in higher education research. I am known in my field as an innovative and creative scholar, publishing in high-impact journals in my field as well as in a range of other media outlets. I actively create research collaborations to further my research agenda.
I am a passionate educator and have been recognised for my work, both online and in the classroom, with membership as a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I am known internationally for my expertise in research and education, which has resulted in frequent appearances as an expert keynote speaker at conferences, locally and internationally. I comment in the mainstream media, locally and internationally, on research culture and education issues.
I am available to consult with ANU students - please contact researchtraining@anu.edu.au
For further information on my professional activities, you can view my Linkedin Profile, contact me by email on inger.mewburn@anu.edu.au or visit my Google Scholar page.
Researcher's projects
(2016 - ) PostAc: using machine learning and natural language processing to assess the demand for researchers in industry. This project includes ongoing product development, more details available here: https://thesiswhisperer.com/postac/
(2014 - 2015) Insignia: microcredentials in researcher development.
Current student projects
- Li'an Chen, Centre for the public awareness of science (CPAS), Primary supervisor
- Zara Maxwell-Smith, ANU school of the Asia Pacific (Panel member)
Past student projects
Wendy Suiter, ANU School of Music, CASS (primary supervisor)
Nguyen Bui, School of Literature, linguistics and language (primary supervisor)
Jodie-Lee Trembath, School of Culture, history and language (primary supervisor)
Publications
- Xu, C, Mewburn, I, Grant, W et al. 2019, 'PostAc : A Visual Interactive Search, Exploration, and Analysis Platform for PhD Intensive Job Postings', 57th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, ACL 2018, ed. Anna Korhonen, David Traum, LluÃs MÃ rquez, Association for Computational Linguistics, Stroudsburg, pp. 43-48.
- Mewburn, I, Firth, K & Lehmann, S 2019, How to Fix Your Academic Writing Trouble: a practical guide, Open University Press, United Kingdom.
- Mewburn, I, Grant, W, Suominen, H et al. 2018, 'A Machine Learning Analysis of the Non-academic Employment Opportunities for Ph.D. Graduates in Australia', Higher Education Policy, vol. 33, pp. 799-813.
- Mewburn, I 2017, How to be an Academic: The thesis whisperer reveals all, New South Publishing, Sydney Australia.
- Mewburn, I & Thompson, P 2017, 'Social media and academic publishing', in D Wyse, N Selwyn, E Smith & L E Suter (ed.), The BERA/SAGE Handbook of Educational Research, SAGE Publications Ltd, London, pp. 998-1016pp.
- Kizimchuk, S, Freund, K, Prescott, M et al 2016, 'Collective effervescence: Designing MOOCs for emotion and community', 33rd International Conference of Innovation, Practice and Research in the Use of Educational Technologies in Tertiary Education, ASCILITE Adelaide 2016, ed. S. Barker, S. Dawson, A. Pardo, and C. Colvin, University of South Australia, Australia, pp. 348-353.
- Mewburn, I, Grant, W, Kizimchuk, S et al. 2016, 'The use of machine learning to analyze job advertisements for doctoral employability', Quality in Postgraduate Research (QPR) 2016, ed. Michelle Picard, Alistair McCulloch, QPR - Quality in Postgraduate Research, Australia, p. 184.
- Caldwell, G, Osborne, L, Mewburn, I et al 2016, 'Connecting the Space between Design and Research: Explorations in participatory research supervision', Educational Philosophy and Theory, vol. 48, no. 13, pp. 1352-1367.
- Mewburn, I, Grant, W, Suominen, H et al 2016, 'What do non academic employers want? A critical examination of 'PhD shaped' job advertisements for doctoral employability', Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) Annual International Conference 2016, SRHE and Open University Press, unknown, pp. 3pp.
- Pitt, R & Mewburn, I 2016, 'Academic superheroes? A critical analysis of academic job descriptions', Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 88-101.
- Caldwell, G, Osborne, L, Mewburn, I et al 2015, 'Guerrillas in the [Urban] Midst: Developing and Using Creative Research Methods-Guerrilla Research Tactics', Journal of Urban Technology, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 21-36.
- Mewburn, I, Tokareva, E, Cuthbert, D et al 2014, ''These are issues that should not be raised in black and white': the culture of progress reporting and the doctorate', Higher Education Research and Development, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 510-522.
- Mewburn, I, Osborne, L & Caldwell, G 2014, 'Shut up & Write! Some surprising uses of cafes and crowds in doctoral writing', in Claire Aitchison and Cally Guerin (ed.), Writing Groups for Doctoral Education and Beyond: Innovations in practice and theory, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, Abingdon and New York, pp. 218-232.
- Mewburn, I, Cuthbert, D & Tokareva, E 2014, 'l Experiencing the progress report: an analysis of gender and administration in doctoral candidature', Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 155-171.
- Mewburn, I, Freund, K & Rutherford, E 2014, 'Badge trouble: piloting open badges at the Australian National University', Rhetoric and Reality: Critical perspectives on educational technology, ed. B Hegarty, J McDonald, SK Loke, ASCILITE: Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education, Dunedin New Zealand, pp. 643-648.
- Corbett, J, Macintyre, A & Mewburn, I 2014, 'Functional Dystopia: Diversity, Contestability and New Media in the Academy', in Margaret Thornton (ed.), Through a Glass Darkly: The Social Sciences Look at the Neoliberal University, ANU Press, Canberra, pp. 195-208.
- Mewburn, I & Thompson, P 2013, 'Why do academics blog? An analysis of audiences, purposes and challenges', Studies in Higher Education, vol. 38, no. 8, pp. 1105-1119.
- Mewburn, I 2012, 'Creative doctoral work', in Carey Denholm and Terry Evans (ed.), Doctorates Downunder: Keys to Successful Doctoral Study in Australia and Aotearoa, New Zealand, Australian Council for Educational Research Press, Melbourne Australia, pp. 126-136.
- Mewburn, I 2012, 'Lost in translation: Reconsidering reflective practice and design studio pedagogy', Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 363-379.
- Mewburn, I 2011, 'Troubling talk: assembling the PhD candidate', Studies in Continuing Education, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 321-332.
- Barnacle, R & Mewburn, I 2010, 'Learning networks and the journey of 'becoming doctor'', Studies in Higher Education, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 433-444.
- Maher, A & Mewburn, I 2007, 'An Economy of Knowledge: Research, Architectural Practice and Knowledge (in) Translation', 'Being Heard' Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference EPIC 2007, ed. Melissa Cefkin, Ken Anderson, Wiley Online Library, online, pp. 258-269.
Projects and Grants
Grants information is drawn from ARIES. To add or update Projects or Grants information please contact your College Research Office.
- PostAc Individual A speciality job search engine for researchers (Primary Investigator)
- Development of a Learning Interface Platform for use in Machine Learning System Coding (Primary Investigator)
- Tracking Trends in Industry Demand for Australia's Advanced Research Workforce: Pilot Study (BCS 06-2015-1-SEEK) (Primary Investigator)
- INSIGNIA: An open badge system for research training and supervision at ANU (Primary Investigator)
