Office of Graduate Research

The Australian legal system is based on written rule, applied and adjudicated by lawyers and judges in a formal setting. The legal rules are clearly documented in legislation which is accessible to all citizens. If one experiences an injustice or a legal dispute, there are services and avenues available to offer advice and representation to take the matter through the legal system. The South Sudanese legal system is quite different to the Australian however. It is based on customary, oral laws passed down from generation to generation, applied by the local chiefs and leaders in a public, informal setting. Disputes are not considered ‘legal’ but rather ‘familial’ and ‘communal’, and resolutions are not decided according to written legislation by unknown judges, but according to the wellbeing of the community by its most respected chiefs or elders. These differences may not come as a surprise and may not cause an upset in a global setting. However, for South Sudanese communities residing in Australia, these differences can lead to misunderstandings with the law, lack of access to services and legal injustices. This paper explores the legal implications of these differences in dispute resolution processes for Sudanese communities in Australia, drawing upon a qualitative study in progress. It highlights the difficulties South Sudanese communities face in understanding, following and applying the Australian law, as well as the importance customary law still plays in their daily lives in Australia. The paper concludes that service providers in Australia need to have a clearer understanding of the functions of South Sudanese customary law before they can tailor services to meet the legal needs of South Sudanese communities.

The Sudanese community has been one of the fastest growing groups in Australia over the past decade. All bring with them a piece of their culture and customs, which they have to juggle with the Australian culture, values and laws. This article explores the differences in these cultures with regard to family law. It highlights the many discrepancies between the family dispute resolution processes of South Sudan and Australia, illustrating the difficulty South Sudanese communities face in understanding and adapting to the Australian family law. Drawing on a qualitative study in progress, this article shows that South Sudanese communities in Australia justifiably do not have a clear understanding of Australian family law and still widely utilise the customary law dispute resolution system of South Sudan. The article concludes that more targeted education on family law is needed in order to gain a better
understanding of their rights and responsibilities, while the Australian legal system needs to acknowledge and utilise the traditional customary processes of the community in order to meet the needs of South Sudanese families.

Purpose Industry mentoring has been repeatedly called out in sector reports on research training in Australian Universities as an effective way to develop PhD capacity and capabilities during research degrees (ACOLA, 2016; NOUS, 2017). Despite the understood importance of this type of experiential development, there is little published evidence on how effective mentoring is to develop the capabilities linked to improved employability. The University of South Australia developed the industry mentoring network in STEM (IMNIS) Impact Evaluation Instrument (IIEI) to capture advanced self-assessed data from mentees and demonstrate what impact the IMNIS program has on developing industry-relevant knowledge and skills in PhD participants. In 2017, the three universities in South Australia implemented a state-wide study using the IIEI to understand the impact of the national IMNIS scheme on the South Australian cohort. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a case study on the impa...

Purpose Higher degree by research (HDR) graduates are often perceived to be overly specialised and are unable to adapt to non-academic settings (Jaeger and Rudra, 2013). Universities are under increasing pressure to embed research and transferrable skills into the candidature in a flexible and meaningful way to equip graduates with the skills to succeed in a range of careers. The paper aims to study how Flinders University has embedded the Research and Employability Skills Training (REST) Program into the HDR. Design/methodology/approach REST was established to replace the workshop-based professional development program, with a structured, compulsory, comprehensive program for HDR students, based on the Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF). The Program aims to provide students with the research skills they need to complete their studies and the transferrable skills employers seek, through an online, supported program that helps them identify their needs, plan and control the...

Purpose Industry mentoring has been repeatedly called out in sector reports on research training in Australian Universities as an effective way to develop PhD capacity and capabilities during research degrees (ACOLA, 2016; NOUS, 2017). Despite the understood importance of this type of experiential development, there is little published evidence on how effective mentoring is to develop the capabilities linked to improved employability. The University of South Australia developed the industry mentoring network in STEM (IMNIS) Impact Evaluation Instrument (IIEI) to capture advanced self-assessed data from mentees and demonstrate what impact the IMNIS program has on developing industry-relevant knowledge and skills in PhD participants. In 2017, the three universities in South Australia implemented a state-wide study using the IIEI to understand the impact of the national IMNIS scheme on the South Australian cohort. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a case study on the impa...

The Sudanese community has been one of the fastest growing groups in Australia over the past decade. All bring with them a piece of their culture and customs, which they have to juggle with the Australian culture, values and laws. This article explores the differences in these cultures with regard to family law. It highlights the many discrepancies between the family dispute resolution processes of South Sudan and Australia, illustrating the difficulty South Sudanese communities face in understanding and adapting to the Australian family law. Drawing on a qualitative study in progress, this article shows that South Sudanese communities in Australia justifiably do not have a clear understanding of Australian family law and still widely utilise the customary law dispute resolution system of South Sudan. The article concludes that more targeted education on family law is needed in order to gain a better understanding of their rights and responsibilities, while the Australian legal syst...

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