Academic Senate
8 June 2010
Item 10.3
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY
HIGHER DEGREE RESEARCH COMMITTEE
Report of HDRC Meeting 04 June 2010
(1) COMPLETION OF REQUIREMENTS
ALHIHI, MOHAMMAD SALEM ABDALLAH
FOA
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Professor Rafiqul Islam
Associate Supervisor:
Associate Professor Hope Ashiabor
Thesis submitted for examination:
12 March 2010
Thesis title:
Non-tariff barriers to international trade in goods: Their legal and trade restrictive
aspects
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
BAKER, MICHAELA CHRISTINE
FOA
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Associate Professor Nicholas Smith
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Robert Sinnerbrink
Thesis submitted for examination:
15 January 2010
Thesis title:
From phenomenology to ethics: A re-interpretation and defence of the early Sartre
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
BOJICIC, IVAN
FOS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Associate Professor Quentin Parker
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Alan Edward Vaughan
Thesis submitted for examination:
24 December 2009
Thesis title:
A radio continuum study of MASH planetary nebulae
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
BOVE, ULYSSE
FOS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Associate Professor David Raftos
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Sham Nair
Thesis submitted for examination:
29 January 2010
Thesis title:
The effect of environmental stressors on the immune gene expression in the sea
urchin Heliocidaris erythrogramma
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
CHHOUR, KIM LY
FOS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Professor Nicolle Packer
Associate Supervisor:
Professor Helena Nevalainen
Adjunct Supervisor:
Professor Elizabeth Deane
Thesis submitted for examination:
09 November 2009
Thesis title:
Investigations into the microbiome of the Tammar Wallaby (Macropus Eugenii)
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
DESHPANDE, NANDAN PRAKASH
FOS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Professor Nicolle Packer
Associate Supervisor:
Professor Helena Nevalainen
Adjunct Supervisor:
M. Wilkins
Thesis submitted for examination:
17 November 2009
Thesis title:
“SYSTEM”atic integration of glycosylation related processes: A bioinformatics
initiative
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
FALSTER, DANIEL STEIN
FOS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Professor Mark Westoby
Associate Supervisor:
Professor Michael Gillings
Thesis submitted for examination:
05 January 2010
Thesis title:
Towards a genera theory of plant trait diversity
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
FILIPOWSKA, AGATA JOLANTA
FOS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Associate Professor Leszek Maciaszek
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Peter Busch
Thesis submitted for examination:
16 February 2010
Thesis title:
Spatial indexing for creating company profiles
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
FORDHAM, LORAINE ALISON
FOHS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Professor Jennifer Bowes
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Frances Gibson
Adjunct Supervisor:
Lindy McAllister
Thesis submitted for examination:
29 October 2009
Thesis title:
Families’ experiences of family-centred early childhood intervention
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
GRIEVE, LYALL
FOS
MPHIL
Principal Supervisor:
Associate Professor James Kohen
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Adam Stow
Thesis submitted for examination:
18 November 2009
Thesis title:
The potential impact of the Cane toad (Bufo marinus) on the small reptile fauna of the
Kimberley region of Western Australia
Award Recommended:
Master of Philosophy
GUERRY, EVE ELIZABETH
FOA
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Associate Professor Boyo Ockinga
Associate Supervisor:
Professor Naguib Kanawati
Thesis submitted for examination:
19 January 2010
Thesis title:
Terms of transgression: A lexical study of ancient Egyptian words for wrongdoing and
evil.
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
HAWLEY NAGATOMO, DIANE
FOHS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Dr Stephen Moore
Associate Supervisor:
Professor Anne Burns
Thesis submitted for examination:
22 December 2009
Thesis title:
An investigation of the professional identity of Japanese teachers of English in
Japanese higher education
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
HOWARTH, JAMES
FOS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Professor Anthony Parker
Associate Supervisor:
Adjunct Supervisor:
L. Davis, N. Weste, J. Harrison
Thesis submitted for examination:
06 October 2009
Thesis title:
Mm-wave silicon receiver design
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
HUMBURG, PETER
FOS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Dr David Bulger
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Jun Ma
Thesis submitted for examination:
04 November 2009
Thesis title:
Statistical methods for the genome-wide analysis of protein-DNA interactions
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
ISLAM, MD. TAWHIDUL
FOS
MPHIL
Principal Supervisor:
Professor Shoba Ranganathan
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Abhaya Nayak
Thesis submitted for examination:
01 April 2010
Thesis title:
Biomarker discovery using bioinformatics methods
Award Recommended:
Master of Philosophy
LI, LING
FOS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Dr Jun Ma
Associate Supervisor:
Associate Professor Julian Leslie
Adjunct Supervisor:
D. Hewson
Thesis submitted for examination:
03 December 2009
Thesis title:
Aggregation in multilevel structured data and modelling
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
MANALIL, NIRUPAMA SHOBY
FOS
Principal Supervisor:
Professor Helena Nevalainen
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Valentino Te’o
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PHD
Thesis submitted for examination:
05 November 2009
Thesis title:
Enhanced biocontrol options for the Australian sugar industry: A proteomic approach
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
NAPTON, DANIELLA
FOA
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Professor Tony Cousins
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Rosemary Colmer
Thesis submitted for examination:
03 February 2010
Thesis title:
Revolution, restoration, riot and rebellion: A counter-revolutionary continuum of
politics and place in Scott
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
PARKER WILLIAMS, VICKI
FOHS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Associate Professor Julie Fitness
Associate Supervisor:
Associate Professor Judy Homewood
Thesis submitted for examination:
23 November 2009
Thesis title:
The cost of an engaged life: Examining the moderating influence of attachment
anxiety and effortful control on the relationship between positive emotions and physiological impact of
stress
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
QUINTERO NADER, FERNANDO JOSE
FOA
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Dr Erika Techera
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Shawkat Alam
Thesis submitted for examination:
01 December 2009
Thesis title:
A legal insight on environmental regulation: Regulatory mechanisms for the
protection of water resources within the Mexican water legal framework
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
RAMLI, ROSIATI
FOBE
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Associate Professor Hope Ashiabor
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Ruwanthi Selvadurai
Thesis submitted for examination:
04 February 2010
Thesis title:
The challenge of sustainable transportation: An international comparative perspective
with particular reference to the Southeast Asian experience
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
REEVE, REBECCA
FOBE
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Dr Wylie Bradford
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Daehoon Nahm
Thesis submitted for examination:
04 November 2009
Thesis title:
Indigenous poverty and policy approaches in urban NSW
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
REYNOLDS, MEREE
FOHS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Professor Kevin Wheldall
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Alison Madelaine
Thesis submitted for examination:
22 February 2010
Thesis title:
Effective literacy intervention for young struggling readers
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
STAHL, TITUS
FOA
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Associate Professor Nicholas Smith
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Jean-Philippe Deranty
Thesis submitted for examination:
1 February 2010
Thesis title:
A critical theory of social practices: On the social ontological foundations of immanent
critique
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
SULIKOWSKI, DANIELLE REBECCA
FOS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Dr Andrew Barron
Associate Supervisor:
Professor Ken Cheng
Thesis submitted for examination:
18 March 2010
Thesis title:
Adaptations of spatial cognition to foraging ecology: Exploring the effects of resource
distribution
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
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SWINTON, JOYCE
FOA
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Professor Naguib Kanawati
Associate Supervisor:
Associate Professor Boyo Ockinga
Thesis submitted for examination:
15 December 2009
Thesis title:
Egyptian resources and their management as shown in Tomb Scenes and
inscriptions in the Old Kingdom
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
TOPPER, TIMOTHY
FOS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Dr Glenn A. Brock
Co-Supervisor:
Mr. James Valentine
Thesis submitted for examination:
22 February 2010
Thesis title:
Early Cambrian skeletal faunas from the Flinders Rangers, South Australia:
Paleobiology, biostratigraphy and biogeography
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
TROFIMOV, IVAN
FOBE
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Associate Professor Melanie Beresford
Associate Supervisor:
Professor John Matthews
Thesis submitted for examination:
16 December 2009
Thesis title:
Political economy of agricultural protectionism and liberalization: Policy
entrepreneurship perspective
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
VIDDI, FRANCISCO
FOS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Professor Robert Harcourt
Associate Supervisor:
Adjunct Supervisor:
Iain Field
Thesis submitted for examination:
22 December 2009
Thesis title:
Behavioural ecology of small cetaceans in the Northern Patagonian fjords, Chile
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
WALKER, MARY JEAN
FOA
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Associate Professor Catriona Mackenzie
Associate Supervisor:
Professor Peter Menzies
Thesis submitted for examination:
07 January 2010
Thesis title:
Personal continuation: Psychological continuity and narrative theories of identity
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
WAN, STEPHEN SI EN
FOS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Professor Robert Dale
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Mark Dras
Thesis submitted for examination:
08 December 2009
Thesis title:
Sentence augmentation: A text-to-text generation component for summarisation
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
WILLIS, MEGAN LOUISE
FOHS
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Professor Max Coltheart
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Genevieve McArthur
Thesis submitted for examination:
07 January 2010
Thesis title:
The cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying facial expression recognition and
social decision making
Award Recommended:
Doctor of Philosophy
RECOMMENDED
That the students included in the report have satisfied the requirements for the awards stated.
(2)
VICE-CHANCELLOR’S COMMENDATION
STAHL, TITUS
FOA
PHD
Principal Supervisor:
Associate Professor Nicholas Smith
Associate Supervisor:
Dr Jean-Philippe Deranty
Thesis submitted for examination:
1 February 2010
Thesis title:
A critical theory of social practices: On the social ontological foundations of immanent
critique
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On 04 June 2010, the Higher Degree Research Committee recommended that Titus Stahl’s PhD thesis
be awarded.
The following comments were received from the examiners:
“The basic thesis of this dissertation is that the theory of recognition as developed recently by Axel
Honneth forms the necessary foundation for a serious and radical criticism of our society. One of the
strengths of this work is its emphasis on the need for a potentially critical theory also to provide a full
‘understanding’ of the various normative disputes that divide human societies, as it were, from the inside.
Although previous writers have often paid lip-service to this ideal, one gets a much fuller account of this
hermeneutic dimension in this dissertation than in most previous treatments. The discussion of MacIntyre
in Chapter 3 is especially incisive. I was also very positively impressed with the very interesting
discussion of ‘authority’ at the end of Chapter 6 and of the role appeals to ‘standard authorities’ are
shown to play in social interaction (Chapter 7). This dissertation contains probably the clearest, most
comprehensive, best argued, and overall most persuasive presentation and defence of the general
approach to social criticism through the concept of ‘recognition’ that I have seen. So I have no hesitation
whatever in recommending that it be accepted as it stands without any amendment, and that the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy be awarded.”
“…this is an excellent dissertation. It is an extremely comprehensive attempt to survey and improve upon
the efforts of past thinkers in their attempts to solve an important normative problem central to critical
theory: giving an account of what immanent social critique should look like such that it can both avoid
relying on "external" criteria for a good society and have genuine (i.e., more than context-specific)
normative force. This is an extremely ambitious undertaking, and the dissertation's basic philosophical
idea--that such normative force can be found in social ontology, and in the relations of mutual recognition
that any social "acting together" imply--is both bold and plausible enough to incline one to take it very
seriously. … there is enough here to make me take this basic philosophical idea very seriously and to
want to think about it more carefully in my future work. This by itself represents a very significant
achievement of the dissertation. The dissertation also does an excellent job of setting out the problem it
addresses in philosophical (and not merely historical) terms. In doing so, it displays a high level of
philosophical sophistication that compares very favorably with other works on this general theme. It
aspires to make a genuinely philosophical contribution to a debate that has a very long and complicated
history; this requires both analytic and interpretive skills, and the author shows himself to be adept in both
of these areas (a combination that is quite rare, in fact). It displays a remarkable and very thorough
philosophical understanding of the classical historical texts relevant to its specific topic (e.g., Hegel, Marx,
Lukacs, Habermas, etc.). It does a superb job of drawing on thinkers from the Anglo-American tradition
and bringing their ideas to bear on a topic that has its home in the Continental tradition. (The discussion
and extension of Gilbert's views on social agency I found very enlightening). It convincingly interprets
Habermas's project in The Theory of Communicative Action as still belonging to the tradition of immanent
critique. I had never thought of that project in this light, but it's a very compelling idea. It provides a
convincing discussion of the concept of recognition that makes clearer than anything else I have read
why recognition is (might be) normatively relevant. This is a contribution that will inform my future
readings of the basis of normativity in my own work (on both Rousseau and Hegel). It provides a clear
and welcome articulation of the differences among external, internal, and immanent forms of social
critique.”
“This thesis is an outstanding piece of philosophical investigation. It exceeds expectations in more than
one respect. A major contribution to the philosophical foundations of critical theory it will at the same
time certainly play an important role within the highly innovative debates in the field of social ontology.”
Taking into account the examiners reports and the above comments, the committee noted that the thesis
was of exceptional merit.
RECOMMENDED
That Titus Stahl’s PhD thesis entitled “A critical theory of social practices. On the social ontological
foundations of immanent critique” be awarded a Vice-Chancellor’s Commendation.
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