Welcome to Volume 13 of the world’s only international peer-reviewed debating journal, the Monash Debating Review (MDR).
Joining me on the editorial team are Associate Editors Tasneem Elias, Ruairidh Macintosh, Victor Baguilat Jr., Michelle Groenawald, Yarn Shih & Ary Ferreira da Cunha. After months of reviewing & writing, we are pleased to bring to you this year’s edition of the Monash Debating Review which features opinion articles and research pieces which will hopefully improve the overall quality of the global debate circuit.
This year’s volume includes 6 well-researched articles on a variety of issues which impact the contemporary debate community. Michelle Groenewald, one of our Associate Editors, has written an opinion piece on the need to recalibrate the structures of adjudicator training, and on the incentives to improve the quality of global adjudication. Jonathan Kay and Claudia Hyde have co-authored an article on the experience-gap in debating playing a role in the widening of the gender gap. This article is filled with data collected from past tournaments and an elaborate question scheme.
Vincent Chiang discusses the viability of setting hypothetical debate motions, and suggests a number of standards which could potentially be used to judge said motions. Virendhren Naidoo has written an article on fusing inclusivity in the construction of debate motions. He touches on and analyses the trend of controversial motions being used in multiple debate circuits.
Chuan-Zheng Lee and Philip Belesky, our tab experts, have co-authored an article on the need to standardise tab archive format to improve data collection on past, present and future tabs. They explore the benefits of this archive for debate communities across the world, especially when it comes to utilising accurate data collected from multiple tab software.
Finally, we have Lucian Tan and Patricia Johnson-Castle, who have co-authored an article on ways to improve our equity policies. This article not only addresses the complexities of contemporary equity concerns but also outlines a possible standardised method on dealing with such problems.
I genuinely hope that all of the readers benefit from these invaluable articles written by concerned members of our community. It was a privilege working on this editorial team. I would like to thank my team for helping me out throughout the process of the production of this journal.
Best Regards,
Syed Saddiq