14 MSALT students presented their masters research thesis proposals on a diverse range of topics to an audience of academics from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, (UMP) HCMC, Dr Ben Pham from the National University of Education in Hanoi, peers and academics from Australia (A/Prof Sally Hewat and Prof Lindy McAllister).

Students had 15 minutes to present their proposal and 30 minutes to answer questions from the assessment panel. Thanks to prior preparation with their Australian co-supervisors, the students were well prepared to present and defend their thesis.

Topics included:

•  norming speech assessments and language assessments for Vietnamese children
• validating the Aphasia United best-practice recommendations for aphasia in Vietnam
• self-help and help-seeking by Vietnamese families with children with communication disorders
• knowledge, experiences and training needs of Vietnamese community-based rehabilitation workers serving people with communication and swallowing disabilities
• the experiences of Vietnamese people who stutter
• validating tools for evaluation of stuttering in Vietnam.

As well as being co-supervised by non-SLT academics at UMP, our thanks goes to international supervisors in SALT who have volunteered their time: Dr Marie Atherton, A/Prof Sally Hewat, Dr Laura Hoffman, Prof Lindy McAllister, Prof Sharynne McLeod, Dr Ben Pham (who also interprets for all the meetings between students and Australian co-supervisors), Dr Rachel Unicombe, Dr Sarah Verdon, Dr Sarah Wallace, Dr Karen Wylie.