Description: This informal Pre-Summer School Coffee Meet-Up aims to provide HDR students with a welcoming, low-pressure environment to connect and engage before the formal program begins. Scheduled for the morning of the first day, before the official summer School welcome session, the meet-up offers students an opportunity to meet peers, share experiences, and feel part of the broader ADM+S HDR community.

Proposed outcomes for participants:

• Foster early social connections among HDR students
• Encourage wellbeing by promoting a relaxed and supportive start to the Summer School
• Introduce a new practice of regular, informal HDR coffee mornings
• Provide a space for students to raise ideas, issues or suggestions for the HDR Committee in an accessible and collegial setting. Ultimately, this initiative aligns with the HDR Committee’s 2026 goal which is to strengthen community, inclusion, and wellbeing among HDR students within ADM+S.

Description: Many research projects depend on engaging a “sample” that is assumed to represent a wider group. But the way we design our methods can quietly exclude people from taking part. For example, relying on online interviews or digital methods assumes that participants have access to specific platforms (like Zoom or Teams), suitable devices, enough data, and a stable connection. These assumptions can exclude people who are more likely to experience digital exclusion, including those on low incomes, older people, and people in regional and remote areas.
This workshop invites participants to look at their research design through a digital inclusion lens. When we use online tools for data collection – from surveys and videoconferencing to “digital walkthroughs” and “scroll backs” – what are we assuming about people’s access, resources, and skills? What happens when these assumptions are wrong and methods fail, when participants can’t access a platform or misunderstand what they are being asked to do? And how can these moments become opportunities for methodological reflection and innovation rather than just problems to be worked around?
The session will focus on practical strategies for designing more inclusive research, and on recognising who may be missing from our projects and why.

Description: This session introduces verifiable user simulation as a rigorous method for evaluating search and recommendation systems. Participants will explore how Large Language Models can emulate user behaviour, and how such simulations should be validated against real interaction data to ensure behavioural realism and fairness.
We will use an interactive web demonstrator that allows participants to adopt simulated personas, issue queries, and observe how user profiles affect retrieval and RAG outcomes. Through mini-exercises and group discussions, participants will design and critique verification protocols and gain practical insight into trustworthy simulation design.

Proposed learning outcomes for participants:
By the end of the session, participants will be able to

• Understand opportunities and risks of LLM-based user simulation
• Learn simple verification and fairness-checking methods
• Gain hands-on experience with persona-based evaluation tools

Description: In this session, we’ll make the abstract concrete. Drawing on John Swales’ classic framework for academic writing, participants will learn how to craft abstracts that are clear, compelling, and purposeful. Collectively we will unpack what makes a strong abstract, one that not only captures attention but also crystallises the core of your research. Along the way, we’ll explore how the process of writing an abstract can sharpen your thinking, refine your focus, and even shape the direction of your work.

Proposed learning outcomes for participants:
By the end of the session, participants will:

• Identify the key rhetorical moves that underpin effective academic abstracts.
• Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of existing abstracts across disciplines.
• Apply Swales’ framework to produce a concise, coherent, and persuasive abstract.
• Use abstract writing as a tool for refining research focus and articulating contributions.”

Description: In this panel workshop, ADM+S students and early-career researchers will hear from academic colleagues about what is expected in job applications, how applications are evaluated, and how to craft our academic narratives to specific job descriptions. The session will also explore how to craft, communicate, and highlight your academic stories. We hope that you will walk out of the session feeling energised, refreshed, and more confident, with a clearer sense of what you have achieved in the past and the direction for where you want to go next!

Proposed learning outcomes for participants:
By the end of the session, participants will:

• Understand the key components of an academic job application and how selection committees typically evaluate them
• Identify common pitfalls in academic job applications
• Identify strategies to tailor their academic narrative to specific jobs
• Succinctly articulate their core areas of expertise and achievements

This is the story of Melbourne – told by the women who shaped it. Hidden amongst Flinders Street Station, Federation Square, the State Library, the Princess Theatre and Parliament House are the stories of women who shaped Melbourne.
Walk through the heart of the city where women built hospitals, launched movements, soundtracked our streets, and transformed culture – often without recognition. From the steps of Parliament to tucked-away laneways, you’ll meet artists, agitators, entrepreneurs and everyday rebels who dared to speak up and shape the city around them.
Come ready to see Melbourne differently – and to carry these stories with you long after the walk ends. This tour will leave you feeling inspired, grounded, and ready to shape history yourself.
Please wear comfortable walking shoes.