Sharp Words
Consulting–Editing–Writing
Rob Sheehan collaborates with you to get the job done right
Scope of Rob’s Work
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Rob holds: a Certificate IV in Professional Writing & Editing (Box Hill Institute of TAFE), an Arts degree (Monash University); a Diploma of Education (State College of Victoria Rusden); a Postgraduate Certificate in Arts (Editing & Communications) (The University of Melbourne).
From 2013-20, Rob was a member of RMIT University’s Program Advisory Committee on VET Trainer and Teacher Education. From 2005-10 he served on the National Committee of the Australasian Association for Institutional Research, and is a continuing member. From 2014 to 2023 Rob was a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
A full member of Editors Victoria (EV), Rob led an EV Working Party revising aspects of the Australian standards of editing practice (2012). He served as EV member on the national Institute for Professional Editors (6 months as Chair) as the Institute readied for a strategic review of scope.
Rob is a volunteer in the Community Visitor Program conducted through Victoria’s Office of the Public Advocate. He has a longstanding engagement in a mentoring program for university students from under-represented backgrounds. In 2021-2022 he wrote fortnightly articles for a newsletter published during the COVID pandemic’s early stages and distributed to residents of aged care homes.
For more than 20 years, Sharp Words has project managed and/or written content for annual reports, case studies, blogs, consulting reports, and quality assessment frameworks.
For clients from higher, vocational and school education, the not-for-profit sector, and government agencies, Rob has contributed to projects traversing organisational design and development, workforce development, designing models for education and service delivery, and strategic planning.
Rob’s editing encompasses books, theses, journal articles, grant proposals, commissioned reports, and teacher manuals on best practice learning and teaching strategies.
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Rob has edited in many disciplines, from art, landscape architecture, and marketing, to higher education leadership, workplace safety, school and early childhood education, and media and communications.
He works with researchers to publish research outcomes. Rob has edited more than 90 theses, 17 of those since 2018.
Sharp Words’ consulting has included gathering and analysing industry and student views about teaching program design. Rob has facilitated staff workshops on academic promotion processes, research practice, and matching teaching, research and service delivery with student and client needs.
Rob assists academic applicants to craft submissions for teaching awards, state and national training awards, fellowships, scholarships and new roles.
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For more than 20 years, Rob has worked as a consultant, editor and writer for non-government and government agencies.
Recent work has included: editing and publication planning for reports and best practice manuals for government and non-government clients; editing research reports prior to submission to government and industry bodies.
Rob’s understanding of professional practice and industry perspectives are central to his productive collaborations.
Services
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Consulting
Supporting you to shape innovative, practical, coherent responses to demanding challenges, problems, opportunities. I engage staff and stakeholders purposefully, respectfully, honestly.
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Editing
Editing is all about working with you and your text to ensure it meets both your expectations and your readers’ expectations. Editing brings clarity, removes distractions, and improves readability.
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Writing
Sharp Words helps you write about the ideas you want to convey to your audiences. We refine a brief together, then I start writing sentences that reach your readers – clearly and directly.