The Researcher Development Unit (RDU) was lucky to have a graduate intern, Megg Tomczynski, join the team last year. In addition to providing invaluable support to our team, it has been a pleasure to watch her grow in the researcher development space – and learn some of the skills that can only be gained from workplace experience.

We asked Megg to write a few words on her time with us, and what she has learned along the way.

Why did you apply for this internship?

I attended the University of Wollongong, and I graduated with a degree in social science and public health. 

Coming out of university I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go next. I saw this internship for training and events, and I thought it looked interesting as I love organising everything and everyone. Researcher development wasn’t something I was overly familiar with, but I love learning new things, so I thought I’d give it a shot. 

What can you tell us about your experience? 

Being able to help researchers develop their skills and further their careers is an important role that takes a lot of behind the scenes planning with all its ups and downs.

I have enjoyed helping to arrange the pilot programs the RDU ran while I was here. I got to help create and disseminate promotional posters, organise and analyse participant feedback and send many an email. I also got to participate in the sessions that we ran. I especially enjoyed the Effective Feedback and Coaching Conversations workshop from a participation perspective. I learnt a lot that will definitely be relevant to me in future roles. 

I also got to write an article to go on the website about the Laffan Research Excellence and Inclusion Prize. This was really great to work on. I got to interview a previous recipient and use this to write about the impact of the prize to encourage more applicants to apply which will also hopefully further peoples’ understanding of the reach and impact of these prizes.

I think my favourite part of the experience was coming into the office every week. Being able to see people face to face. Having a chat about our cats, opinions on Yo-Chi or even just how our week has gone. These connections are what I most enjoyed.  I also enjoyed attending the planning day for next year. While I’m not going to see next year, it was still really interesting seeing how the team breaks down the year gone by – making notes of the teams wins, possibilities for growth and what didn’t go so well. So that way, they can set themselves up to start the new year in the best way possible. A great look behind the curtain.

Looking to the future, what will you take with you from this experience? 

As someone with a disability I wasn’t physically able manage part time job and study at the same time. So, I felt very behind the rest of the people at my life stage as I hadn’t really had any work experience. 

I think one of the biggest things I learnt that will help me in the future is how to be on and work with a team, how meetings can flow and general office culture. As well as how teams plan for and run their offerings. Having never worked in an office environment before now all of this was new to me so being able to experience it before stepping into a permanent role has been extremely valuable. 

My confidence since being here has grown tenfold. I have learnt to commute to Sydney via public transport. I have met and learnt to communicate with many different kinds of people. This has allowed my communication skills to grow in ways that wouldn’t have been possible without being here. Being responsible for planning and writing an article and being given such independence has also grown my confidence.

I can feel the impacts of this internship not only in a work environment but also in my personal life just with having so much more confidence in myself and my abilities. All of which wouldn’t have been possible if not for an amazingly supportive team such as this. 

If I could create anything for researchers in the future, it may be a forum page on the website or just more casual catchup sessions for researchers to hash out problems and questions with each other. From the time I’ve been here it seems like community is really important in the research space, but it is easy to get caught up in your own business and issues and forget that there are other people at the university who do understand and are going through the same things you are. 

What’s next for you now?

I have been offered a place in the NDIAs graduate program for next year, which means I will be able to use the public health side of my degree. I’m excited not only to be starting a new role but also it being a graduate position I will be able to try out different areas of the company. I feel a whole lot more prepared to step into the role now I have had the experience here with the RDU.