RECOVER PhD candidate testimonials

What our HDR students say about RECOVER.

Perrin Moss, PhD candidate

I am grateful to have been able to undertake my PhD journey at UQ while working full-time in the healthcare industry. I think that a healthy dose of self-directed autonomy and competitiveness has helped me to fit everything in and deliver on the goals of my PhD while actively pursuing my career. This has allowed me to blend on the job opportunities that integrate my growing research capability.

The dynamic interplay between my field of research and my management role within a large-scale public healthcare organisation has enhanced my ability to translate my research into practice in real time throughout my PhD journey. It has also enhanced my ability to grow professionally and deliver higher calibre outcomes in my role.

Being able to complete my PhD in a timeframe that was suited to my context was essential, and I’ve been able to do so with my supervising team at UQ. The contribution of my research has enhanced my professional and academic prospects and expanded my opportunities to collaborate with colleagues on a global scale.

Prudence Butler, PhD Candidate and Physiotherapist

After graduating as a Physiotherapist in 2011, I spent 10 years working across a range of clinical areas in the Australian tertiary public hospital setting. I was first exposed to research when I undertook an honours program in my undergraduate degree and remember it being challenging, but also exciting. This experience, combined with my clinical experiences working with people with complex persistent pain saw me take a deep dive into a PhD with RECOVER and UQ in 2019, while continuing to work in a part-time clinical role at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH). My PhD is looking at how people view/understand injury and how these views relate to pain and mental health recovery after isolated extremity injuries (e.g., a broken ankle). It has been a steep learning curve, but I’ve been supported along the way by my excellent advisory team, the RBWH Physiotherapy department and my clinical and PhD colleagues. My long-term aim is to use my research skills to better understand how we can improve the care we provide people with persistent pain, and to mentor other budding clinician-researchers.  

Romany Martin, Doctor of Philosophy

I started my PhD Studies with UQ in 2019 and have undertaken research into the teaching and learning of empathy in health professionals. We investigate how to develop empathy in students to prepare them for setting such as rural practice, which is what I’m passionate about.

Whilst the research process has been challenging, working at UQ I’ve had access to everything that I could possibly need whilst also being supported by brilliant supervisors. It’s a community of people who mentor and support you to undertake roles and experiences that you wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise. It’s been great fun and allows you to be autonomous in how you chose to spend your time (investing your time in what you’re actually interested in and developing your own skills). I’ve loved doing my PhD, it’s provided a longer term project for myself to chip away at whilst I work clinically as a physiotherapist and also opened up other career pathways for myself in the future such as higher education. Whilst research can often have a bad reputation, it is really what you make of it and UQ has encouraged me to do exactly that – make the degree my own.