The last two days have been incredible. I have recently attended the Critical Criminology Conference http://www.arts.monash.edu/psi/news-and-events/critical-criminology/. I presented a paper entitled Outside the Curriculum. The event was an amazing experience, I met and spoke with some of the leading minds in criminology in Australia - Chris Cuneen, Eileen Baldry, Rob White and so many others, it was truly wonderful to have people around who were interested in my research and so supportive and encouraging. I also met one of my criminology teachers from Charles Sturt University which was great. It was fascinating listening to the research of others and I felt a little awestruck at the incredible research that is going on in the field. Rob White has agreed to be a co-supervisor on my PhD which is fantastic news as he is well connected and well respected by Tasmanian Justice agencies.

The two days also made me realise how isolated and potentially isolating distance learning can be and how you miss out on so much informal learning because of the lack of peers and mentors you have around you to talk to. This is something that is very relevant to my research and also something which I need to be more active in addressing as a student.