“I don’t think school kids should feel that pressure of I need to know exactly what I am going to be. The wonderful thing about our high schools is you do a very comprehensive, wide-ranging series of subjects and slowly work your way into the ones that you like the most and you are quite good at. If it is possible to keep doing that in the form of a BSc, a BA, then that is a great next step. If you find that you really like it, and you are good at it, why not see if there is a path to keep going and do postgraduate work which could be a Masters, it could be a PhD. Allow yourself to think, as a high school student, that this might be something you do. Don’t lock yourself in. But feel that you might have that capability and you might be interested and let yourself go on that journey”.

In this Session, Dr Susan Close talks to us about how taking exception to her supervisors published work led to her own PhD research project (and having him as her supervisor!), why she chose not to use title Doctor for a long time in her early political career, and what made her decide to use it later on, and some very valuable advice for all students who are making decisions about their future.

Title of your PhD: The Australian Labour Party 1983-1991: traditions under challenge.

Where did you complete your PhD: Flinders University

What year did you graduate: 1997

Honours or masters: BA (Hons)

Job title: Deputy leader of the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labour Party.

Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-close-268080100/?originalSubdomain=au