Gavin Hazel

Gavin is the first research student for the Centre for the Study of Research Training and Impact. Prior to receiving a scholarship to study with the Centre, Gavin was the Research Officer for SORTI.

His current project (his PhD which is in its final stages) is the development of grounded theory of epistemological change in "real world" problems. Focusing on the postgraduate research as his site for analysis, Gavin has been exploring the supervisory and research processes that make up doctoral study in an attempt to explore the ways in changes in "knowledge" contribute to the development of a "research thesis" for examination.

The goal of Gavin’s project is to create a rich description of the learning interactions within the doctorate/supervision process specifically, and situated learning more generally. By drawing on existing models in the field of personal epistemology and cognition this approach provides a "general" mechanism for investigating a number of problematic domains involved in our current conceptualisation of how we learn and the role of "knowledge" in this process.

Gavin is a graduate of the University of Newcastle, the current Vice President of Newcastle University Postgraduate Student Association, National Secretary of CAPA, Member of the University Council, postgraduate student (research) representative on the Board of Faculty of Education and Arts.

For the last nine years Gavin has also worked as a lecturer, tutor, supervisor and research assistant at the University of Newcastle (Callaghan and Ourimbah campuses).