The Department of Curriculum and Instruction (C&I) hosted an interactive research workshop, “Dealing with Comments on Research Proposals and Papers: Strengthening ECS/GRF Proposal Development,” on 29 September 2026. Delivered by Professor David Boud, Deakin Distinguished Professor and Co-Director of the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning at Deakin University, and chaired by Dr. Lan Yang (Joy) of C&I, the workshop brought together C&I academic staff.
Drawing on his extensive experience in research and proposal development, Professor Boud encouraged participants to look beyond reviewer comments as isolated instructions and consider what they reveal about how a proposal is being read and understood. He highlighted that strong proposals address an important problem, make a meaningful contribution, develop a coherent argument and evidential base, align methodology with the research questions, and lead to justifiable and compelling outcomes.
A key insight was the distinction between identifying a research gap and establishing the significance of a research problem. Professor Boud stressed that an under-researched topic is not, by itself, sufficient justification for funding; the proposal must demonstrate why the problem is significant, interesting, and pressing. 
The workshop adopted an interactive, case-based approach. Using anonymized reviewer comments contributed by C&I colleagues, participants examined puzzling, ambiguous and contradictory feedback and considered the substantive concerns that might lie behind reviewers’ wording. Professor Boud noted that contradictory comments can themselves be informative, revealing how different readers interpret the same argument. 
The workshop provided a valuable forum for collective reflection and peer learning, helping participants develop a more nuanced approach to reviewer feedback and strengthen how the significance, argument, methodology and contribution of ECS/GRF proposals and scholarly papers are communicated.