Climate science institute’s graduate director puts PhDs in jobs

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science says its 100 per cent PhD employment rate is due to its graduate director.

Melissa Hart has helped all of the institute’s doctoral graduates find jobs. Picture: Britta Campion

As Australia reels from a string of scorchers that have ignited bushfires, roasted crops and inflamed tempers at the Australian Open tennis, it is no surprise that doctoral qualifications in climate science are highly prized.

But the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science says it owes its 100 per cent PhD employment rate to more than the hot demands of a warming world.

The UNSW-based institute says it is the only centre of excellence — and probably the only single research body anywhere in Australia — blessed with its own graduate director, in the form of atmospheric scientist Melissa Hart. It credits her for shepherding every one of its 52 doctoral graduates so far into a job.

And not any old job. Former students have secured positions not only with locals such as the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology but also overseas magnets such as NASA, Los Alamos and Princeton University in the US, Germany’s Max Planck Institute and Britain’s Met Office, Oxford and Cambridge.

The centre says graduates are being snapped up despite job cuts in climate science agencies around the planet. Some arrive with impressive research publication records, with students notching first author credits in journals including Nature and Geophysical Research Letters.

Hart says she has a unique position in a unique centre. “A lot of universities are employing academics on education-focused roles, but they tend to be targeted towards undergraduate or coursework masters degrees. It’s important to have a dedicated academic looking after higher degree research students.”

The centre offers breadth as well as depth, Hart says. While traditional Australian PhD programs tend to be “very close to 100 per cent research”, the centre fills knowledge gaps with training in generic skills like communication and writing journal papers.

“Most research students are never given guidance on how to do that,” Hart insists. “They’re just told, ‘you’ve finished some results — write a scientific paper and submit it to a journal’.

“We also offer technical training to equip them with the skills they need to do their research, like running computer models and dealing with big data sets. So they’re not sitting in a corner for months on end, working out how to use a specific climate model.”

This approach is not common in Australian PhDs, she says. “Often graduates come out with a wealth of knowledge in their one small research area, but get a job where they have to teach in another part of the discipline. Or their research as postdocs might be very different to what they did in their PhDs. “I have a climate science background myself, so I understand the science. I can develop a program based around the needs of the discipline.”

Hart says all universities should consider bankrolling similar positions, at least at the faculty level and ideally in every school. While bean counters might flinch at the extra salaries, she says the payback justifies the cost.

Most of the centre’s doctoral students complete their degree within four years, while dropout rates are “very low”, she says.

“Student numbers have increased significantly since I came on, because I have the time. Student recruitment is a lot of work. It takes a long time to advertise and attract the best students.”

The role proved “perfect” for Sydney-trained Hart, who wanted to come home in 2012 after a five-year teaching stint at the University of Hong Kong.

“I realised my favourite part of that job was working with graduate students. There’s this love for what they do. ”