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UniSA and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Asia have signed an agreement to develop a suite of global, dual-award degree programs designed to bolster the talent demanded by the expanding aerospace industry around the region. The programs will include education in some of the industry’s rapidly evolving areas such as unmanned vehicles, next generation aircraft, human factors and aviation management.

Courses will be delivered to maximise student accessibility across the globe using Embry-Riddle and UniSA campuses in the United States, Australia and Asia, in addition to Embry-Riddle’s top-ranked online course offerings.  

UniSA celebrated its 150,000th graduate during the April graduation ceremonies. Sally Perrin graduated with a Bachelor of Psychological Science after completing her degree part-time over six years. She is now enrolled in an honours degree in psychology with a clear plan to continue on to Masters or PhD study, and is passionate about supporting vulnerable people through her work.

“I really want to be able to combine research and practice and I want to work to support vulnerable people,” Perrin says. “I think when you see how front line services operate for marginalised people, you realise they are structured on a business model and that’s a long way from the evidence-based science.”

UniSA was named as one of the world’s most international universities, in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings released earlier this year. 

The international outlook indicator considers each institution’s proportion of international staff, international students and proportion of research papers published with at least one co-author from another country.

Listed at 57 in THE’s top 200 of the world’s most international universities, UniSA is a leader in the rankings in Australia and ranked number one in South Australia.

During May, UniSA researchers from the divisions of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment; Health Sciences; and the Future Industries Institute were announced as successful in the latest round of Australian Research Council grants for their projects, totalling more than $1.7m.

Associate Professor John Hayball’s team was awarded $362,000 to work on a multicomponent vaccine system to deliver equal effectiveness against several disease targets in a single administration. Thanks to the ARC grant, Dr Preethi Edli (pictured) will work as research fellow on the project. 

A further $2m was awarded to UniSA researchers to establish a research hub - ARC Research Hub for Integrated Device for End-user Analysis at Low-levels - in partnership with the University of Technology Sydney.

A joint Australia-China Research Centre partnership between UniSA and China’s Central South University has the potential to revolutionise process control in mineral processing, and ensure the continued operability and profitability of Australia’s and China’s mining sectors. The partnership establishes a new Joint Research Centre which will develop powerful sensing platforms for mineral processing, by bringing together experts in mineral processing chemistry, analytical chemistry, and spectroscopy. It is funded under the Australia-China Science and Research Fund. 

The UniSA team working on the project includes David Lancaster, Bill (William) Skinner, David Beattie, Craig Priest and Shahraam Afshar Vahid from the Future Industries Institute.

South Australia is set to become one of the largest research concentrations in Islamic studies with the announcement this month of a new Centre for Islamic Thought and Education (CITE), to be based at UniSA.

The new Centre will be led by one of Australia’s most respected Muslim academic scholars, public intellectual and religious leaders, Professor Mohamad Abdalla (pictured), and will bring together researchers specialising in Islamic psychology, ethics and business, leadership and management, finance and education.

UniSA Vice Chancellor Professor David Lloyd said the opportunities for the new Centre to raise awareness and drive engagement with the wider community were boundless.

UniSA was again part of the action at the WOMADelaide music festival this year. Some of the best minds in the world came together for UniSA’s Planet Talks at WOMADelaide, in a series of conversations discussing sustainable solutions for the environment and our future. The University’s activities included a photo competition; the Planet Talks series featuring UniSA’s Professor Tanya Monro on a panel with Dr Karl Kruszelnicki talking about ‘should we trust scientists?’ while Professor John Boland led an interactive sustainable gardening workshop; and festival-goers could enjoy a bar area equipped with furniture and a solar phone charging station designed and built by industrial design and engineering students. 

Alumni events were held in Beijing and London during April; and then in Melbourne and Sydney in May, to celebrate the University’s 25th birthday. At all the events guests enjoyed birthday cake, wrote birthday messages on cards and heard from leaders at UniSA. The London event was hosted by Alexander Downer, Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. 

To find out more about UniSA’s alumni network visit unisa.edu.au/alumni or connect on Twitter @UniSA-Alumni

Thousands of people celebrated UniSA’s 25th birthday during March with campus parties held at the four metropolitan and two regional campuses (Mount Gambier and Whyalla). Like any good birthday party, staff and students took some time out to enjoy free party food, popcorn, birthday cake and DIY cupcake decorating along with party games and music.

UniSA’s new Learning Centre in Mount Gambier was opened earlier this year. The $12.5m Learning Centre includes the latest in specialist teaching facilities for health and social work; and a 120-seat civic lecture gallery that will also be used by the Mt Gambier community. During the official opening of the Centre in April, UniSA Vice Chancellor Professor David Lloyd, recognised local patrons Bob and Gayle Cowan for their long-term scholarship support of regional students by naming the new auditorium in their honour. Prof Lloyd, and Bob and Gayle Cowan are pictured with Member for Barker, Tony Pasin MP, who helped open the centre.

UniSA and SA Pathology’s Centre for Cancer Biology has announced a partnership with Singapore’s Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology within the Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR). The new program is made possible with $1m in support from the Department of State Development through its South Australian Research Fellowship Program. Under the Fellowship, international expert in the relationship between chronic inflammation and the development of cancers – Professor Vinay Tergaonkar – will lead the new laboratory, undertaking cutting-edge research into inflammation in a variety of cancers and the development of new drug treatments to block inflammation selectively, rather than generically.

Three of UniSA’s previous Chancellors, (Dr Ian Gould AM, David Klingberg AO and the Hon Dr Basil Hetzel AC) along with current Chancellor Jim McDowell and Vice Chancellor Professor David Lloyd, were at City West campus in March for a 25th birthday event. At the event, the Hon Dr Basil Hetzel AC presented his academic papers to the University to be housed at the UniSA library.

Professor Kerry London has joined the Division of Education, Arts and Social Sciences as Dean: Research and Innovation.

Prof London comes to UniSA from RMIT University where she was Director of the Centre for Integrated Project Solutions and Deputy Head: Research in the School of Property, Construction and Project Management.

Prof London is currently coordinating active research programs in areas of collaborative project solutions, supply chain theory and practice in project based industries, internationalisation of megaprojects and organisational citizenship effects on innovation management for project delivery. 

In April, Professor Christopher Saint took up the role of Dean: Research and Innovation in the Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment (ITEE).

Prof Saint was previously Director of UniSA’s Centre for Water Management and Reuse and Research Director in the School of Natural and Built Environments, where he led the initiative to establish a new school wide centre, the Natural & Built Environments Research Centre. 

“Prof Saint is a highly accomplished researcher who has published over 150 scientific papers,” says ITEE Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Simon Beecham.

Professor Rachel Gibson has taken up the role of inaugural Dean: Academic in the Division of Health Sciences.

Prof Gibson comes from the University of Adelaide where she was Associate Professor and Head of the Gut Microbiome Group within the School of Medicine.

In welcoming Prof Gibson to the University, Pro Vice Chancellor: Health Sciences Professor Robert Vink said she was a passionate educator with significant experience in teaching and learning across a number of health disciplines including Nursing and Health Sciences.

UniSA has welcomed the Chief Scientific Adviser for National Security to Her Majesty’s Government, United Kingdom, Professor Anthony Finkelstein, to a special role at the Future Industries Institute (FII) as Adjunct Research Professor. 

Instrumental in forging a landmark research partnership between FII and University College London in his former role, Prof Finkelstein will continue to promote high-level scientific engagement between the two universities. 

Professor Anthony Elliott has been appointed to the newly created Dean: External Engagement.

Prof Elliott, who has been Director of UniSA’s Hawke Research Institute for several years, has a proven track-record of developing productive partnerships, especially overseas, most notably in Japan and Europe, and as an ambassador for UniSA.

UniSA’s Professor Tanya Monro has been appointed to the board of Australia’s leading science research organisation, the CSIRO.

Prof Monro, UniSA’s Deputy Vice Chancellor: Research and Innovation, is a top Australian physicist, a leader in higher education and an advocate for the power of valuable links between research and industry in support of innovation. She was also named in the Australian Chief Scientist’s Knowledge Nation 100 “star” innovators this year.

UniSA student Shamsiya Mohammadi has won one of Australia’s most prestigious scholarships - a 2016 CAS Hawker Scholarship.

Originally from Afghanistan before growing up in the Riverland from nine years of age, Shamsiya is in her second year of a Journalism and Arts (International Relations) degree. 

Shamsiya says she is humbled by the acknowledgement the scholarship places on her. Having gone through the refugee experience herself at a young age, Shamisya is passionate about helping other refugees and wants to work as a foreign correspondent to be a voice for the voiceless.

Arts honours graduate from the University of Melbourne, James de Jesus Correia, has been announced as the first recipient of the Sir Terry Pratchett Scholarship established at UniSA in 2015.

In April, child protection leader, UniSA’s Emeritus Professor Freda Briggs, AO, passed away suddenly.

Prof Briggs, through her roles as educator, author, scholar and ambassador, ceaselessly and passionately worked towards her vision to provide a safer and more caring world for children.

To honour her remarkable contribution, UniSA has established the Emeritus Professor Freda Briggs AO Memorial Fund to continue her legacy by supporting higher degree scholarships for child protection in law, education or social work.

To find out more about the scholarship, including how to donate to the fund, see giving.unisa.edu.au/causes/emeritus-professor-freda-briggs-ao-memorial-fund/

Jack Manning Bancroft was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in recognition of his highly successful national program – the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) – that improves educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth.

A graduate of Sydney and Stanford Universities, Manning Bancroft was a 19 year-old student when he founded AIME as a tiny ‘start-up’ based on the principle that if Aboriginal students had the support of a peer mentor – someone just a little bit older who was on their side, someone who believed in them – they would have a better chance of success.

Now 30 years old, Manning Bancroft is the youngest recipient of an Honorary Doctorate in Australia.

“Universities usually recognise people at the very end of their careers with these sorts of awards, but I believe, when young people like Jack show how rapidly they can make such a big difference in the world, the achievement should be celebrated and recognised,” UniSA Vice Chancellor Professor David Lloyd said.

“In 2005, when he founded AIME, Jack had just 25 university mentors and 25 high school students, but he had a driving passion to succeed.

“Today AIME is working with 6000 mentees and 1800 mentors across 37 locations and in partnership with 18 Australian universities including UniSA.”

UniSA recognised Professor Gary Banks AO for his lifetime contribution to a broad range of public policy areas.

Prof Lloyd said the leadership and dedication to good governance from Prof Banks, underpinned by good policy has been exemplary, not only in the Australian context but also on the international stage.

Chief Executive and Dean of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, Prof Banks has contributed through his leadership of the Productivity Commission, the Centre for International Economics and as Chair of the Council of Australian Governments Steering Committee. 

“In his capacity at the Centre for International Economics he consulted to the OECD, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation and earlier in his career he was a senior economist with the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade Secretariat in Geneva,” Prof Lloyd says.

“It was this wealth of experience that saw him appointed as Chairman of the Productivity Commission in 1998 a position he held for 14 years, developing its profile as Australia’s most respected source of independent advice to government.”

Over many decades, Maggie Beer has taken her ideas about healthy eating far beyond her family kitchen into the world of television, the wider community and to aged care facilities to raise the profile of eating well.

Her Honorary Doctorate recognises enormous contribution to the promotion of South Australia’s food and tourism industries and her contribution to well-being in the community.

Prof Lloyd said Beer was the perfect role model to promote South Australia’s culture of great food and highlight the importance of partnerships between philanthropic organisations and community groups in building strong, vibrant communities. 

“With a career that has included farming, running a restaurant, food production and export, food writing and starring on television, Maggie has committed her life to supporting and promoting Australia’s now globally recognised clean, seasonal produce and innovative food culture,” Prof Lloyd said. 

“We acknowledge her continuing contribution to South Australia – her enormous energy, positivity and ‘can do’ nature - which has helped boost the State brand, created invaluable business and philanthropic networks and strengthened our sense of community.”

In 2014 she established the Maggie Beer Foundation, to highlight the need to provide the pleasure of a good food life for everyone, regardless of age or health restrictions.

Marie Coleman was awarded the Honorary Doctorate for making a significant impact on Australia through advocating and providing a positive outlook for women during a period of massive social change.

Prof Lloyd said Coleman has been a pioneering advocate for women.

“She became the first woman in Australia to head a government agency and that appointment followed an illustrious career in which she advocated and advanced the cause for women across a range of professional roles and personal commitments,” Prof Lloyd said.

Coleman is a retired Commonwealth public servant who headed the Australian Social Welfare Commission during the Whitlam era of government, and was the founding Secretary of the National Foundation for Australian Women.

During her career, Coleman has been significant in her contributions from spearheading the campaign that led to a Productivity Commission Inquiry into a national paid maternity, paternity and parental leave scheme, to playing a leadership role for national women’s organisations in examining the impacts of the former WorkChoices and Welfare to Work policies on women. 

Tennis champion Evonne Goolagong Cawley was awarded for her enormous contribution to Australian tennis on the international stage and her promotion of better education and health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

The first Aboriginal Australian to succeed in tennis at an international level, Goolagong Cawley was ranked world number one from 1971-1976, won 92 pro tournaments, was a finalist at 18 Grand Slam events, won the French and Italian Opens, won the Australian Open four times and, in 1980 was the first mother to win Wimbledon in 66 years.

“From her position of success, she has used her immense talent and high profile to promote the sport of tennis, and through tennis, to support education, health and well-being initiatives for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.” Prof Lloyd said.

“Dream, believe, learn, achieve are the words Evonne has lived by and they are the motto of her foundation, which has already done so much for so many.

“Her Goolagong National Development Camp has awarded more than 50 school scholarships, supported and encouraged students to attend and graduate from university, become tennis players coaches and sports administrators.”

The Evonne Goolagong Foundation, which was established in 2012, is dedicated to improving the lives of Indigenous children. 

UniSA graduate Barry Pearce was recognised for his invaluable contribution to Australian art and to his alma mater.

Prof Lloyd said Pearce has been one of the most enthusiastic and knowledgeable ambassadors for Australian art at home and abroad.

“Barry’s passion for Australian art is palpable,” Prof Lloyd said. 

“We are extremely proud to count him as one of our alumni and to honour the extraordinary contribution he has made to our knowledge and appreciation of Australian art.”

Pearce graduated with a Diploma of Art (Teaching) from UniSA antecedent Western Teacher’s College and has built an internationally respected career in art curation, research and education.

An author of more than 35 books and exhibition catalogues and 50 journal articles and curator of more than 40 exhibitions, he started out at the South Australian Art Gallery as an education officer before quickly advancing to a curatorial role.

His gallery career has taken him to London’s British Museum and then back to work in important roles at the state art galleries in SA, WA and NSW.

Professor Lord Anthony Giddens was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in London during April in recognition of his international contribution to social theory and his guidance for UniSA’s Hawke Research Institute.

Prof Lloyd says Lord Giddens is one of the most cited and influential social scientists in the world, credited with developing the first major sociological theory of globalisation. 

“Unlike many discipline-bound experts, Lord Giddens is renowned for his interdisciplinary approach, applying his knowledge and commentary to developments in sociology, anthropology, archaeology, psychology, philosophy, history, linguistics, economics, social work and most recently, political science,” Prof Lloyd said. 

“His breadth of range has been especially helpful to the leadership of the Hawke Research Institute which also has a wide remit in the social sciences.” 

Prof Lloyd said the impact of such an academic goes well beyond a list of career achievements. 

“Lord Giddens has changed the way we understand social theory and teach social science and in doing so, he has influenced the education of students around the world,” Prof Lloyd said.

“At UniSA we’re grateful for that contribution in the broadest sense, but also in what his work has contributed to shaping the Hawke Research Institute.”

International comedy icon, Barry Humphries AO, CBE, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from UniSA during May at a special event.

Prof Lloyd said Humphries had been one of Australia’s greatest global arts ambassadors over his long, diverse and brilliant career.

“There are not many artists or performers who manage to continue to contribute to the arts in such broad scope and at such a level of excellence for so many decades – Barry Humphries is that rare talent,” Prof Lloyd said.

“Through his wonderful satirical characters – the globetrotting housewife, Dame Edna Everage and the infamous cultural attaché, Sir Les Patterson, among others – he introduced the world to Australian life, its warmth, its unique personality and its evolution over the decades.

“Despite having built a body of work to be enormously proud of, Barry Humphries never stops looking for new challenges, such as his recent role as Artistic Director of the 2015 Adelaide Cabaret Festival.”

Born and raised in Melbourne, Humphries was educated at the University of Melbourne where he studied law, philosophy and fine arts. 

“I have received a number of accolades in my life – a punishment for living a long time – but this one from South Australia is important to me,” Humphries said. “I am deeply honoured to accept an Honorary Doctorate from the University of South Australia.”