2019 MGA Supervisor of the Year Award

Associate Professor Rebecca Wickes with one of her nominating students, Prabhapriya Arachchige.

The Supervisor of the Year Award was announced at a special ceremony on Wednesday, 27 November 2019.

Drumroll…

The winner of the MGA 2019 Supervisor of the Year is Associate Professor Rebecca Wickes!

Associate Professor Rebecca Wickes is a Criminology researcher and the Director for the Monash Migration and Inclusion Centre at the School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts.

At the ceremony on Clayton campus last Wednesday, she was welcomed by Professor Sharon Ricardo and the nominating students. Present in the audience were MGA committee members and staff, along with all the other students and supervisors who were in the running for the award. MGA President Robyn Oxley awarded Associate Professor Rebecca Wickes with a certificate to commemorate the occasion.

PhD students Prabhapriya Bogoda Arachchige, Chloe Keel, Wing Hsieh, Luke Lakeman and John van Kooy were responsible for nominating their favourite supervisor. Here are some of the reasons they gave:

She is a wonderful academic and human being!

Rebecca is absolutely committed to seeing her students achieve great career outcomes, regardless of whether those goals are in academia or elsewhere. I’ve very much appreciated her perfect mix of encouragement, support, advice and “you’ve just got to do this” – all the while, allowing me to very much be in the driver’s seat.

I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to work with her.  

The MGA Supervisor of the Year award was created in 1992 to acknowledge and celebrate excellence in research supervision practice. It celebrates the day-to-day relationships that graduate students have with their supervisors. The award also acknowledges the importance of good supervision in fostering the next generation of graduates.

It provides graduate students with an opportunity to reflect on the relationship with their supervisor, and to let them know how much they are appreciated. The MGA would like to give a big shout-out to all the graduate students who took the time to nominate their fantastic supervisors.

A big congratulations to Associate Professor Rebecca Wickes and many thanks to her students for their nominations!

Check out the MGA’s Supervisor of the Year Award Hall of Fame