Associate Professor Ben Milbourn from Curtin University reflects on the experience and value of the Principal Fellow Support Program, and of gaining his Principal Fellowship.
For many academics, Principal Fellowship may be seen as the Everest of challenges. Having previously survived what felt like the gauntlet of my Senior Fellow application, I was not convinced in my own abilities working at the level required for Principal Fellow status. However, the Fellowship Category Tool on the Advance HE website was exceptionally helpful, providing me with the encouragement and courage to apply.
It’s all in the timing
I enrolled on Advance HE’s November-February Principal Fellowship Support Program (Asia Pacific) and was grateful for the time and resources provided by my university to participate in the program.
This was a great time for me to undertake the program as it meant I was free from my face-to-face teaching commitments and could allocate time to writing. The program lead was based in Queensland and as a result of the time differences in Australian states, many of the meetings started early morning which was really good as it gave me time to focus on the writing activities before doing school drop off for my son.
Support
Deanne Gannaway, an Associate Professor and a facilitator of the Asia-Pacific Principal Fellowship Support Program, was amazing, nurturing the group members’ self-belief as well as supporting us to develop our confidence to shape our Principal Fellow applications.
I am someone who likes to work towards a deadline and I found the program, and Deanne as lead, fantastic as I was able to set realistic deadlines for drafts of my case studies and reflections in plenty of time to get constructive feedback that helped to build a strong application.
I really liked how she encouraged me to develop multiple case studies which I was then able to use to develop the narrative of the application. I also found a great writing buddy on the program, and we encouraged each other to keep going (especially during the summer holidays).
The resources such as a dedicated Principal Fellow group on Advance HE Connect, time, knowledge and expertise provided by Advance HE and our program lead were incredible. I would wholeheartedly recommend the Principal Fellowship Support Program to academics looking to take the next step in their careers.
Top Tips
- Write 500 words a day, if you can’t write then use the microphone on your phone and record ideas as you go through the day.
- Don’t be shy to share ideas with colleagues and ask for constructive feedback on what you are doing.
- Find a writing buddy, someone who you can bounce ideas off. It really helps in setting deadlines.
- It’s not about the destination, it’s all about the journey. Be kind to yourselves and take the opportunity to learn more about who you are and what you are doing in the higher education sector. Chances are you are already working at Principal Fellow but have not had the time, support or encouragement to seek recognition for what you are doing.
Ben Milbourn is Associate Professor and a Principal Fellow at Curtin University, Australia.
