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Atrium13 | 2010PAGE018 | 02 019THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNEFACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & PLANNINGMSD SummerResearch InternshipsSUPPORTING TALENTED STUDENTS TOdevelop AND PUBLISH INNOVATIVE RESEARCHLOUISA RAGASThe Melbourne School of Design (MSD),the graduate school within the Facultyof Architecture Building and Planning,is committed to creating opportunitiesfor its students to extend their researchand writing talents and make an impactin communities beyond the Universityof Melbourne. It is one of the factors thatdistinguishes the Melbourne School ofDesign, its teaching program, knowledgetransfer and research activities.The MSD Summer Research Internshipsprogram launched this summer embodiesthis spirit of engagement and studentdevelopment. It encourages highachievingstudents across all MSDdisciplines – architecture; urban design;urban planning; landscape architecture;property; construction management -to extend, refine and publish researchthat they may have worked on withina specific subject. The program wasspecifically devised to encouragecoursework students to publish theiroriginal research, with flow-throughbenefits back to both the student andthe Faculty. Developing and publishingtheir research boosts the student’sscholarship score employability,and by connection increases theFaculty’s publication profile.MSD students who had completed a25-point research project as part of theircoursework were eligible to apply for thesummer internship program in late 2009.Eight applications were received andassessed by a panel of Faculty academics- Professor Kim Dovey, Professor PhilipGoad, Professor Bharat Dave, AssociateProfessor Julie Willis and AssociateProfessor Paul Walker. Following thiscompetitive application process, four8-week internships were offered andthree were taken up: by Christina Collierand Matthew Ford, both Master of UrbanPlanning students, and by Allison Stout,a Master of Architecture student.Each of the successful students haddemonstrated an aptitude for researchand proposed ‘current’ topics they werepassionate about - topics which wereinnovative, in-depth and had the potentialto be published in high-profile, refereedjournals. The three interns were eachpaid a bursary of $500 per week andwere given office space to write up theirresearch projects, to bring them to apublishable standard, with the supportof their supervisors.Allison Stout chose to refine her researchproject on indigenous housing andcommunity engagement – a topic borneout of her experience working withindigenous communities in the NorthernTerritory, Southwest Victoria and mostrecently Papua New Guinea. Her paper,‘Giving voice to indigenous housing: acase study of design consultation with‘top end’ fringe communities’, identifiesways to negotiate different avenuesof imagination across cultural divides.It outlines the consultative processemployed in a MSD project to renovate aderelict house in a town camp communitynear Darwin. The paper discusses therenovation project conducted in 2009,and reflects on the collaborative andcreative problem-solving process thatoccurred during three-month consultationand ten-day renovation periods.‘During my studies, my passion forsustainable and socially aware designbecame focused on Indigenous Housingand Architecture after completing adesign studio during my second yearat the University of Melbourne,’ Allisonsays. ‘The studio was Dr David O’Brien’sfirst attempt to work with IndigenousAustralians after doing similar workin Indonesia.’For Allison being a MSD SummerResearch Intern had numerous benefits.‘It gives the hard work put into writinga research paper a sense of realization,’she says. ‘Being a part of anotheraspect of academia has been extremelyinteresting and eye-opening. Also, beingable to let future employers know thatI am most likely going to be publishedis an added bonus that has assuredan interview everywhere I’ve appliedthus far.’ Allison also praises hersupervisor Dr David O’Brien for makingthe experience ‘fantastic’ and actingas her mentor throughout the process.Allison, who aims to specialize inIndigenous Architecture, is currentlyworking as a research assistant at theUniversity of Melbourne and has juststarted her own design practice. ‘I dohope to continue this sort of work asit has become a lifelong passion andpursuit,’ she says.Christine Collier, another of the successfulInterns, concurs with Allison’s positiveview of the internship program. Herpaper ‘Urban Planning Regulations forEcologically Sustainable Development(ESD) in Victoria: Beyond BuildingControls’ explores the current andpotential ability of urban planningassessment mechanisms to achieveecologically sustainable buildings,using the Victorian planning systemas a case study.‘Being a recipient of the internship hasgiven me more confidence in my abilities.I worked closely my supervisor, Dr AlanMarch, who guided me through theprocess and assisted in refining myarguments and improving my writingskills. This was fundamental tosuccessfully turning my thesis into anarticle,’ Christine says. ‘The internshipalso gave me a better understandingof the nature of research and of thewider research community. Theopportunity to interact with researchstudents at the faculty gave me aglimpse of what it’s like to be anacademic researcher and has promptedme to seriously consider undertakinga PhD.’
We’re inthis togetherCreating viable and ecologically sensitivecities through the inclusions of ESDprinciples in planning controls has longbeen an interest of Christine’s. ‘My particularinterest in the nexus between buildingand planning regulation stems from myundergraduate studies and professionalexperience in the field of constructionmanagement. This experience exposedme to the scant regard conventional buildingpractices have for the natural environmentand prompted me to pursue a career whichwould allow me to influence the environmentalperformance of buildings from the outset.ESD in the built environment is definitelya research area I’m interested in pursuingfurther in the future.’The MSD Summer Research Internshipprogram is just another way the MSD issupporting students to extend their researchpassions and impact their own futures.To set up and fund the program, ‘StrategicInitiative Funding’ was secured from theFaculty of Architecture, Building andPlanning. The aim, however, is for theinternship program to be self-sufficientthrough external support.Giving opportunity:If you are interested in supporting the MSDSummer Research Internship program andfurthering the careers of high-achievingMSD students, please contact TheoGouskos - tgouskos@unimelb.edu.auor phone: 03 8344 1191. AThroughout its history, the Faculty of Architecture, Building andPlanning has received the generous support of alumni and friendswho donate each year to provide scholarships for our studentsand support our teaching and research staff.In the early 1960s a student appeal committee comprising RobertPeck (chairman), Margaret Suchestow and Miles Lewis in associationwith Prof. B.B.Lewis (Dean of Architecture), L.U.Simon (Directorof Building) and Rai Rahni wrote:‘The School of Architecture and Building at the University ofMelbourne is appealing for support to complete its building. Therehave been appeals in the past, and the response has been generous.The building exists in spite of governmental indifference, and solelybecause the building industry has loyally donated brick by brick,the bulk of the materials needed.We are asking for more than this. The School has emerged asa leader in the British Commonwealth, and locally as a centre forbuilding, architecture, and the arts. To maintain these functions theSchool MUST have research and testing laboratories, postgraduatefacilities exhibitions spaces, and a library capable of serving theindustry The School WILL have these because 700 students areasking, and will continue to ask, for help from every source. Thisappeal concerns the whole business community. The building industryis vital to the economy of the country, and is as desperately in needof trained architects and builders as it is of adequate research andtesting. We firmly believe that this project should be shouldered byevery company, every foundation, and every individual capable ofhelping in any way. We are not merely struggling for existence;we are planning to make this School the best in the world’.Today the Faculty of ABP is embarking on its next stage of evolution.Although the times have changed, our vision to create one of theworld’s leading architectural and design centres remains the same.In their call to action at the time the students and staff asked thatthe community to invest in their future. Such foresight ensured therewas capacity to educate generations of students, many of whom aredistinguished graduates, leaders throughout all of our professions.Once again, we are at a definitive moment and ask you to continuethe tradition of investing in the future generation of graduates fromour Faculty. AMSD Summer Research InternsChristine Collier and Allison Stout
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