Meeting other scholars
Becoming a part of the international academic community is important for early career researchers. Making time to go to seminars and conferences as part of candidacy enables students to develop professional connections, and have those informal and inspiring conversations with senior researchers. Conference attendance is an excellent means of meeting the authors of the papers that are important to the thesis, meeting potential examiners, and simply becoming known as part of an exciting group of researchers.
Candidate
Take every opportunity to attend relevant seminars and conferences in order to meet with other scholars. Make sure that you find out when seminars are occurring within the university, and also in others. When scholars visit, make sure that you set up a time for a chat with them – either formally or informally. During the course of your candidacy you will meet your peers, editors of journals, and possibly your research examiners.
Principal supervisor
Becoming part of an academic community is of real importance to students. Encourage them to attend formal and informal academic gatherings and introduce them to visiting scholars.