Students participating in the Engaged PhD program within the Division of Health Sciences will be supported to develop a Portfolio (Stage 3) which showcases the skills and experiences they acquire as they move through the program, undertake their chosen Engaged PhD pathway and complete their research higher degree.

Students can do this using the ePortfolio resource offered by UniSA or with other similar portfolio software if they prefer.

Students can track their activity through using the Engaged PhD Activity Record. You can download this here.

UniSA e-Portfolio

All students at UniSA have the ability to generate an ePortfolio.

The ePortfolio is an online personalised space for collecting and documenting academic, professional and life experiences with text, photo, video, music and multimedia. It can be used to build a resume; publish a blog; showcase achievements and academic knowledge; or simply network with friends and colleagues. Students can create a body of evidence reflecting their aspirations, achievements and learning experiences. It can then be reassembled for Web presentation to target audiences or the world. An ePortfolio can be an invaluable tool while undertaking your research higher degree at UniSA and after graduation to assist in your career development.

Develop your portfolio throughout your research higher degree

Similar to the process undertaken for planning and review of progress throughout your PhD, a critical analysis of your skills, activities and experiences can help you to begin to populate a portfolio. UniSA identifies seven Research Degree Graduate Qualities (RDGQ) that are important for you to acquire and demonstrate:

• Understand research based knowledge & methodologies for knowledge discovery 
• A willingness to continue to learn
• Effective problem solving and critical thinking skills
• The ability to work both collaboratively and autonomously
• A strong sense of social responsibility
• Excellent communication skills as a researcher
• An international perspective

More ideas about the types of skills, activities and experiences relevant to the RDGQ are available here.

In order to demonstrate RDGQ and populate your portfolio:

• Identify transferable skills and knowledge. Most of the RDGQ refer to skills and knowledge that move with you no matter what job you have or degree you study. In making study to career decisions it is these transferable skills and knowledge that will guide you. Consider your strengths! There are transferable skills  and employability skills assessment tools to help you to identify these on the UniSA career development website:
• Identify achievements, activities or outcomes within these qualities that have been assessed or verified with documentary evidence.
• Identify experiences that contribute to the development of particular RDGQ but for which there has been no formal assessment.

The experiences and achievements can be:

•  directly related to your courses and program of study
• related to extra curricula experiences you had while at University, such as involvement in clubs and societies

• related to life outside of University, such as involvement in community organisations.

Tailor your portfolio

As you build a portfolio, you are able to tailor how the individual components within it are viewed in order to present a profile of your skills, knowledge and experiences that is ‘fit for purpose’. During your PhD this may assist you when you apply for awards; scholarships; or placement and collaborative opportunities. Towards the end of your PhD, when you are preparing a resume and participating in employment interviews, it will be important that you present a concise portfolio view that demonstrates your relevant knowledge, experience and transferable skill strengths. These strengths represent your points of difference, and may provide competitive advantage over other candidates seeking the same position as you.