#PhDLIFE: Reflections of Women in Graduate School

WAN NORBANI WAN NOORDIN is the former Director of Transnational Education (TNE) for the Institute of Continuing Education and Professional Studies (iCEPS), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) where she manages and promotes the TNE agenda of the university. She is currently the Head of Centre of Strategic Communication and also a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, UiTM and her research interest is in communication technologies, their development and impact on academic and practice especially on deciphering reputation strategies and tactics.

Wan holds a PhD in Communication from the Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. She is also working on some new projects focusing on international communication, public diplomacy and relationships, besides being an affiliate researcher for the TOROA Centre for Communication Research in Auckland, New Zealand. She is a member of the Malaysian Institute of Public Relations and a couple of international associations, while also serves as a reviewer for journals in the field of communication and master's degree external reviewer for international universities. During her free time, Wan practices Iyengar yoga, bush walks and hikes. She loves spending time and learning new trends from her daughters. A fan of DC and Marvel comics.

TENGKU ELENA TENGKU MAHAMAD is currently the Deputy Dean of Research and Industrial Linkages and Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies in Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). She completed her master’s degree in Organisational Communication at the University of Queensland, Australia and her PhD at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Post-PhD, life took an enchanting turn when she welcomed a delightful baby girl into the world.

Amidst the joys of motherhood, she seamlessly continued her passion for teaching, shaping minds in both undergraduate and postgraduate courses at UiTM where she teaches Knowledge Management, Work and Organisational Psychology, and Strategic Communication. Having been nurtured by exceptional mentors throughout her academic journey, she has embraced the role of a supervisor, guiding, and supporting her own cohort of master's and PhD students. The firsthand experience has instilled in her a deep understanding of the dynamics of supervision and the importance of being a hands-on mentor. Her research endeavours remain dedicated to unravelling the nuances of emotional labour and its interconnected topics. Beyond the academic world, you will find her cherishing moments at the neighbourhood playground with her husband and their two adorable girls. Despite their bustling schedules, they make it a priority to be there for their kids, picking them up from school and nursery whenever possible. Now they also have a
son, adding an extra dose of joy to their family adventures. Life is an exciting blend of academic, family, and a dash of personal pursuits.

PETRA THEUNISSEN is an Associate Professor of Communication (Public Relations) at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), New Zealand, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Public Relations and Communication. She supervises postgraduate dissertations and theses, and has a particular interest in dialogue, relationship-building, and technologies, including social media.

Born in the Netherlands, Petra has lived in Germany and South Africa before settling in New Zealand. She holds a PhD in Communication Management from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and an MA (Communication) with distinction from the Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg), South Africa. Prior to joining AUT, Petra worked in public relations, management, consulting and education, and she worked full-time while completing her PhD thesis.

Currently, she is a leadership and research mentor as well as a mentor for supervisors. Petra is a published author, and has written and co-edited books, book chapters and peer reviewed journal articles. Over the years, she has delivered conference papers and has been invited to speak to local and international audiences. She serves on several Editorial Review Boards, is an Accredited Member of the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ, APR), a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) Ako Aronui Pathway and a founding director of the Toroa Communication Research Group. She regards herself as a pragmatist and a generalist, and values life-long learning.

KAREN NIVEN is a Professor of Organisational Psychology at The University of Sheffield, UK. Prior to this, she was a Professor and Head of the Organisational Psychology Group at Alliance Manchester Business School. She completed her PhD in Psychology at the University of Sheffield, UK, with her thesis focusing on understanding how people try to shape the feelings of those around them and the impact of their efforts to do so within a high-security prison.

After her PhD, she spent just shy of four years doing post doctoral work at Sheffield, first on a project about bullying in the workplace and then on a project about emotion regulation. She began work in her former institution, University of Manchester, in the Alliance Manchester Business School as it is now called, four years after completing her PhD, taking on the tenured role of Lecturer (equivalent to Assistant Professor), and working up to her present role eight years on as Chair (equivalent to Full Professor). Her research has continued to focus on the two key streams that she worked on during her PhD and postdoctoral work: the management of others’ emotions and workplace bullying. These streams are connected through her fundamental interest in social relationships and the small, sometimes barely visible behaviours that people engage within those relationships that can deeply affect how we feel and relate to others. She has edited two popular science books on these topics and authored almost 40 peer-reviewed journal articles.

She is currently an Associate Editor at Organisational Psychology Review and serves on the Editorial Review Boards of Journal of Management, Journal of Organisational Behaviour, Human Relations, European Journal of Work and Organisational Psychology, and Journal of Applied Social Psychology. She is enormously grateful for the guidance, encouragement and support she received from those who supervised her through her PhD and postdocs, and to the students who she in turn has supervised, who inspire her and reignite herb passion for research through their work together.

KARA NG is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) of Organisational Psychology at Alliance Manchester Business School at the University of Manchester in the UK. She was born in Hong Kong and lived in several countries before settling in the UK over 10 years ago. She completed her PhD in 2019 at the University of Manchester and took on a postdoctoral position at the Institute of Work Psychology, at the University of Sheffield, before returning to Manchester.

Kara's research focuses mostly on understanding 'bad' experience at work: Why do people treat each other badly? Why, and in what situations, do people misbehave at work? What happens when other people (i.e., bystanders) witness these negative acts? Kara is also interested in workplace safety, team behaviour, and intervention evaluation. In her spare time, Kara is a giant foodie, enjoys baking, exercising, crafts, and playing with her cat, Koko.

SHAMSUL KAMARIAH ABDULLAH, To be the best teacher was always a childhood dream for Shamsul Kamariah, a dream that lasted a lifetime. A teaching award had often been the symbol of the highest achievement. Shamsul Kamariah put in a lifelong dedication, focus and perseverance to earn the awards she deserved. She was often associated with
many names: master of the class, role model, mentor, an inspiration, and a teacher. Her inspiration to excel and master these roles earned her the well-deserved Australian Excellence in Teaching Awards (EIT) in 2005 and 2007, and Students’ Choice Award in
2006, 2007 and 2015.

Using technology in the classroom by distributing classes across campuses was a new development that she demonstrated in her teaching career, and these initiatives were acknowledged by the university through two awards for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (2016, 2017). She was also nominated as a team nominee for the Australian Award for University Teaching - AAUT (2019/2020). She served as the Senior Fellow for the Higher Education Academy UK (SFHEA), teaching marketing units for the first-year students and the third-year students. Shamsul Kamariah never turned away from giving her best shot at greatness in her classes as she believed every student deserved her best. She recalled that real success was hard to earn. Nevertheless, her passion, perseverance, and patience earned her the accolades she very much wanted as a child, and something her mother would have been very proud of.

(Dr. Shamsul passed away on the 6th of April 2024.)