The 'right' supervisor, funding and community led to PhD success

Life after graduate research: Dr Oscar T. Serquiña Jr

An unexpected opportunity to complete a PhD at the University of Melbourne became a life-changing event for Dr Oscar T Serquiña Jr.

Just a month after Oscar T Serquiña Jr had completed a masters thesis at the University of the Philippines, he was invited to submit a doctoral research proposal to the University of Melbourne. The invitation, via a colleague, came from Associate Professor Paul Rae, now head of the University of Melbourne’s School of Culture and Communication.

“Paul’s message to my colleague was, ‘Send me your firstborn’. So that was me!” says Dr Serquiña. “It was a big surprise, because I never had my eye on Australia. As a former US colony, we tend to look at American universities first. But I couldn’t resist the Australian offer and I was taken in a direction that I never envisioned.”

Dr Serquiña’s thesis proposal for a PhD in Arts was accepted, and Professor Rae agreed to be his supervisor in 2017.

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He spent the next four years immersed in his doctorate on a groundbreaking topic that hadn’t been studied in the Philippines. He traced the history of how Filipinos were taught to speak and perform English from the turn of the 20th century and the American colonial period up to the present day.

Dr Serquiña received generous funding from the University of Melbourne and various fellowships, including an Asia Study Grant from the National Library of Australia and a library fellowship from the University of Michigan. The funding enabled him to take several international trips to gather research materials and gain knowledge and experience.

His travels included a summer school at the University of Cologne in 2018, and a two-month fellowship the following year at the University of Michigan. During his time in the US, Dr Serquiña also visited the Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and the University of California in Berkeley for archival research.

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Finding a multicultural community at the University of Melbourne

Although Dr Serquiña loved the international travel, his favourite memories are of interacting with people in Melbourne. He recalls many fascinating conversations with Dr Rae and Dr Sarah Balkin (his secondary supervisor). He also loved all the meet-ups at the library and the pub with his cohort of fellow students, who were studying across the School of Culture and Communication.

He had a wide multicultural circle of friends that included Asians, Australians, Americans and Europeans. He says they talked endlessly, not only about their research but about their grievances and their goals, including how to apply for funding, which conferences to pursue and how to establish their professional careers post-graduation.

Starting an international research career with a PhD

After his PhD, Dr Serquiña returned to Manila in 2021 and resumed his teaching position at the University of the Philippines in Dilman. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts.

Looking to the future, Dr Serquiña says he is presently committed to living and working in the Philippines. He’s loving teaching and writing papers. He is working on his first book.

“I’m also sensing this desire, this bubbling brewing desire, to also pursue an international career. In the meantime, I'm still settling down. I am doing what I can to contribute to my field of research, build bridges and beef up my publication profile,” he says.

In May 2023, he was promoted to Chair of his department, giving him an opportunity to bring together all the role models he saw in academia in Australia, Europe and the US.

“In this position, I am a troubleshooter,” he says. “I’m there to put out fires. But I see it as an act of service, because so many people have done so much for me in my career that I now see this as payback time for all the kindness.”

The secrets to success at the University of Melbourne

Dr Serquiña's experience in Melbourne was life-changing, he says, and his main advice for other prospective graduate researchers is to choose their supervisor and thesis topic carefully.

“Number one is to choose supervisors who will back you, who are interested in your work, but also aren’t too familiar with your work. You want guidance from them, but you also want to surprise them, because that’s where you’re going to get new insights, new perspectives from others.”

Dr Serquiña still keeps in touch with many of his colleagues at the University of Melbourne as well as his alum cohort. To enjoy your time at university, he recommends finding your community.

“Sometimes, you enter a new scene and your community is already there. But in my case, I had to create a community. I had to show up and participate actively in the things that my School did. And you must be generous with your ideas, insights, time and resources – and then people will do the same for you.”

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