MPA announces Supervisor of the Year
Professor Max King, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Research Training) and Director of MIGR, addressing the students and supervisors gathered for the awards.
On Friday 2 November, around 80 postgraduates and supervisors gathered for the announcement of the winner of the Monash Postgraduate Association (MPA) Supervisor of the Year competition.
MPA received 24 nominations this year, making selection a challenging task for the panel, which is composed of three independent research postgraduates.
Sunshine Kamaloni, MPA President and one of the panel members, discussed the difficulty of the decision making and said the panel wished that every supervisor nominated could have won the award.
Professor Max King, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Research Training) and Director of MIGR, spoke to the gathering about the challenging role of supervisors, and thanked the MPA for establishing the award to celebrate outstanding supervision. Professor King also noted that this year marked the 20th year since the establishment of the MPA Supervisor of the Year awards.
Dr David McCarthy from the School of Civil Engineering was declared the winner.
“It is really such a great honour for me just to be nominated, let alone being awarded the title,” Dr McCarthy said.
"There are plenty of things I love about my job, but the most rewarding part of each day is the time I spend with my students; helping them through the fun times and through the difficult times.
"Even the nomination alone is my greatest honour."
He may have been nominated by one student, Peter Bach, but all 12 of Dr McCarthy’s students were involved in the nomination process and nine were able to attend the ceremony. Peter said they had to compose their nomination while on a conference and had to conceal this from Dr McCarthy, who was also there.
The MPA committee and staff congratulate Dr McCarthy and thank his postgraduate students for their wonderful nomination. The MPA would also like to congratulate all their nominated supervisors for the first-class supervision they are providing.
A special thanks to all the postgraduates who took the time to write the inspiring nominations.