Speaker
Description
In this talk, I will present a broad overview of the PhD requirements and approaches in various countries around the world – though with a primary focus on the UK, where I have most experience. The talk will focus on what I see as the three key aspects of undertaking a PhD. The first of these is the role of the research student. As a student, there are a number of key areas that should be considered, from the ethics of the whole question asked and of the approach taken. Next comes the decisions around the research approach, followed by data collection, analysis and interpretation. The talk focuses on key aspects of the journey, specifically related to the literature review and the interpretation of the findings in terms of that literature. Next, I turn to the examination process, briefly highlighting the different approaches taken around the world before discussing the key messages that appear to be similar across many, if not all, systems. The talk then turns to the role of the independent examiner, a role I am very familiar with having undertaken it 40 times in the UK (England and Wales), Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Sweden. Finally, I consider life after the PhD, which I have always seen as a beginning and definitely not an end The talk ends with an open session in which I will respond to questions from the attendees about any aspect of the PhD journey.
Key Points:
- Different approaches across the world
- The student’s perspective 1:Early decisions, from ethics to analysis
- The student’s perspective 2:What to expect in an examination
- The examiner’s perspective: What an examiner is looking for
- Life after the PhD
Biography
Professor Barry O’Sullivan OBE is the British Council's Director of English Language Research and Impact and has worked on numerous test development and validation projects globally and advises ministries and institutions on assessment policy and practice.
He has undertaken research across many areas on language testing and assessment and its history and has worked on the development and refinement of the socio-cognitive model of test development and validation since 2000.
He has presented his work at many conferences around the world, while almost 100 of his publications have appeared in a range of international journals, books and technical reports.
He is the founding president of the UK Association of Language Testing and Assessment, holds a visiting professorship at the University of Reading, UK, and is Advisory Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. He was awarded Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences in the UK in 2016 and was elected to Fellowship of the Asian Association for Language Assessment in 2017. In 2019 he was awarded an OBE by the government of the UK for his contribution to language testing.
| Affiliate type | Others |
|---|