A Note from the Author

This interim report paints a picture that is similar to many others across Australia right now. It's a picture of disruption and despair. I personally feel a constant sense of anxiety as I consider whether to make the leap back to Tasmania to be with family before things get worse. Doing a PhD can sometimes feel all-consuming; all the other bits and bobs of life fade off in the background. However, this crisis has exposed the fraught lives we live. Reading through the responses of my peers has made me feel sad. But, it has also hardened my resolves to advocate for every graduate researcher to receive the support they rightly deserve. Universities have a duty of care to their staff and students. When this crisis ends, no one will forget which universities were compassionate and empathic, and which universities dismissed their duty of care, and left staff and students to fend for themselves in the midst of a pandemic.

Timothy Kariotis