Post-postgraduate life

I recently submitted my final assessment for the Master of Public Policy and Management at the University of Melbourne. I promised in a previous post to do a quick summary of what that entailed. I was enrolled in the programme in a part-time capacity for a year and then due to Covid-19 I decided to go full-time and finish it off. Of course, this meant that the last few units were done online. It was not ideal, but I do appreciate all the effort that professors put into adapting to the changing circumstances.

I believe that I picked courses which didn’t have anything to do with each other. However, looking back, I realise that the specific issues I chose to explore in assessments could be sorted into groups. I would approach some topics more than once from a different angle.

As for what’s next, things are up in the air. Along with the job hunt there are creative endeavours to restart and writing and photography are at the top my priority list.

Regardless, without further ado, the following are a list of topics I studied extensively through research and writing:

• Sustainability
  • The role of habits and practices in behavioural change
  • Solving the Victorian recycling crisis through community engagement and governance reform
• Human rights and social justice
  • Uyghurs in China and an Australian response
  • Yemeni civil war and an Australian response
  • Cognitive disability in the Victorian criminal justice system
• Science and public policy
  • Neonicotinoids and bee health in Australia
  • Controlling opioid dispensing in Victoria
  • Regulating psychedelics in Australia
• Public administration and politics
  • Role of public servants in the 21st century
  • Use of social media in public administration
  • Cultural diversity and accommodation in the public service
  • Addressing fake news through K-12 education
• Indigenous governance
  • Suggestions for the Victorian Treaty Process
  • Lessons from the Aoteora/New Zealand Te Tiriti O Waitangi/Waitangi Treaty
  • Constitutional change for Chilean Mapuche and Bolivian indigenous peoples