EASS Research Week Keynote Lecture

Engage with the University of South Australia’s innovative research in the areas of Education, Arts and Social Sciences (EASS) during EASS Research Week, 18-22 September. The Division's wide span of research capabilities allows us to cover topics ranging from creative industries, design, digital arts and humanities, media and communication, urban sciences and informatics, social care and social innovation, Aboriginal Studies and Indigenous Affairs, brain sciences, learning analytics and language development.

Throughout this week of events you can gain a real insight into what it is like to work with EASS, as they open their doors to showcase their diverse research, world-class facilities, and connect with their research leaders and end-users.

The EASS Research Week Keynote Lecture will be delivered by one of Australia’s best known culinary icons, and UniSA Honorary Doctorate, Maggie Beer AM. Maggie will be in-conversation with UniSA's Professor Denise Meredyth, discussing the Maggie Beer Foundation, EASS's involvement in this important initiative, and the research that supports the Foundation's work.

Maggie Beer AM

A respected mentor to many, Maggie Beer is celebrated for her entrepreneurial skills and natural leadership abilities in the gourmet food arena. Maggie’s fame has been built on a career that spans farming, food production, exporting, food writing and television presenting.

With an impressive list of achievements, adding an extra string to her bow, in 2014 Maggie established her own foundation; Maggie Beer Foundation, to 'create an appetite for life', regardless of age or health restrictions.  The welfare of those in aged care homes has been an ongoing concern of Maggie’s for a long time and she is so happy to finally have found the time and people to support her passion. In fellowship with her board of industry leaders, professors and health advisors, Maggie has made it her personal mission to link the latest research of nutrition’s impact on brain health and general wellbeing, with her innate knowledge of what good food can do for everyone’s state of mind; a truly nourishing mix, so much greater than the sum of its parts.

Maggie’s hope to ‘create an appetite for life’ leads her to work on many levels, with the hope of encouraging everyone (young, old and in between!) to enjoy quality, seasonal cooking every day.

Professor Denise Meredyth

Denise Meredyth is the Pro Vice Chancellor for the Division of EASS. She comes to UniSA from a background in applied and problem-focused research in cultural, educational and social policy. She has led team-based projects, with multiple industry, government and community partners. These projects have investigated questions as diverse as the social and cultural role of the humanities, the relationship between civic education and core values in multiethnic societies, the role of schools, libraries and museums in information literacy, the cultural complexities of community policing and the prospects of social partnership as a solution to long-standing problems of liberal government. Her current projects include a study of new ways to share public resources such as school buildings, libraries and digital platforms, through community and public-private partnerships. She is also working with an international team exploring co-operative investments in public wifi.