Kailey Tonini
9 November 2022: At a ceremony held on campus yesterday, the University of Canberra recognised academic and professional staff for outstanding achievements in activities aligning to the University’s strategic direction and purpose, Galambany.
The combined ceremony included the Teaching Awards and Citations, Research Excellence Awards, and Professional Staff Awards, in a celebration of the University community and their work.
2022 Award Winners
Professional Awards
The Professional Awards recognise outstanding achievements of professional staff at the University and celebrate their contribution to culture, strategic direction, business operations and community. All category winners have been nominated for the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards in December.
Mana-Mangi Djara ‘Industrious Star’ Award
Winner: Jourlie Campbell, Tavata Riches and Christine Denoon (Procurement and Contracts, Finance) for their work in implementing the University’s Indigenous Procurement Strategy and Policy, helping deliver the University’s Reconciliation Action Plan.
Distinctive Award
Highly Commended:
- Finance Operations, Financial Reporting Teams, and Wipro colleagues
- Data, Analytics & Insights, Student Connect, Global Student Recruitment (GSR), Corporate Systems Group (CSG), GRO, Digital Information Technology Management (DITM) teams
Winner: Gabrielle Shield (Careers UC) for her work in linking job-ready graduates to the world of work, and as part of the Distinctive by Design strategy (which was recently replaced with the Connected strategy).
Diversity Award
Winner: Tom Arthur (Inclusion UC) for his contributions to achieving the outcomes of Let’s Dance, the University’s equity, diversity and inclusion pillar of the Distinctive by Design strategy, through International Day of People with a Disability celebrations.
Professional Excellence Award
Winner: Glenn Mowbray (Operations) (pictured) for outstanding contributions to industry development.
Values Award
Winner: Caroline Thompson (Service Improvement) for personifying the value, Dare to be Curious, in her work in the UniForum program to improve the services available for staff.
Teaching Awards and Citations
The UC Teaching Awards and Citations recognises quality teaching practice and outstanding contributions to student learning and encourages knowledge sharing and dissemination across the institution and beyond.
Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning
Winners:
- Dr Siewimm Tan (Faculty of Education) for her approach to curriculum development and teaching, in teaching English as a second language.
- Dr Irmina Nahon (Faculty of Health) for her innovative approach to incorporating telehealth consultations in student learning and helping ensure Physiotherapy students could successfully complete their degrees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Programs that Enhance Learning and Teaching
Highly commended:
- Students as Partners in Initial Teacher Education.
Winners:
- Design and Evaluation of Indigenisation of the IT curriculum, a multidisciplinary team that collaborated with First Nations people and non-Indigenous members to Indigenise their curricula.
- Faculty of Health Work Integrated Learning (WIL) Team for providing WIL opportunities for students, resulting in 95 per cent of students securing an internship by Week Three of the teaching period, and 10-15 per cent of students being offered paid employment with their internship host organisation.
Teaching Excellence
Highly commended: Prue Robson (Faculty of Arts and Design)
Winners:
- Assistant Professor Annie McCarthy (Faculty of Arts and Design) for her teaching practices that allow students to engage with complex global problems and scholarly materials in ways that are enjoyable, accessible, and inspire further learning and engaged global citizenship.
- Associate Professor John Williams (Faculty of Education) for the introduction of a unique program that supports authentic learning through a podcast series called Voices of the Profession, and working closely with schools to enhance Health and Physical Education teaching.
- Clinical Assistant Professor Mary Bushell (Faculty of Health) (pictured) for using real-time interactive apps, anatomical models, and visual aids in her teaching, which included TikTok videos explaining how the most frequently prescribed medications in Australia work
Research Excellence Awards
Outstanding Team Achievement in Research or Innovation
Winner: UCRISE Defence Science Technology (DST) Human Performance Research Network, including Associate Professor Richard Keegan, Professor Ben Rattray, Assistant Professor Kristy Martin, Dr Andrew Flood, Professor David Pyne, Research Professor Julien Periard, Associate Professor Andrew McKune, Research Fellow Joshua Adie, Assistant Professor Joe Northey, Amanda Scott, Keely McDicken, and Dr Simon Summers for their six-year project with the DST Group looking at human factors supporting defence capability.
Excellence in Supervision of Higher Degree by Research Students
Highly commended:
- Dr Andrew Flood
- Professor Fiona Dyer
Winner: Associate Professor Eleni Petraki (Faculty of Education) for her passion for supervision and supporting the development of research students through co-presenting and co-publishing research, providing networking opportunities, and building their confidence.
Distinction in Engagement and Impact
Winner: Associate Professor Sam Kosari (Faculty of Health) and his team for their work as part of the Health Research Institute in piloting the first on-site pharmacist study in residential aged care facilities in 2017, which was implemented in 2019 to 2022 and improved overall quality of medication management for residents, and will be implemented nationally.
Early Career Researcher Excellence
Winner: Assistant Professor Jonathan Pickering (Faculty of Business, Government and Law) for his publishing excellence in the School of Politics, Economics and Society and Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance, and for his impact as a researcher, supervisor, and mentor.
Research Excellence
Winner: Professor Kerry McCallum (Faculty of Arts and Design) (pictured) for her outstanding contributions through her research leadership, mentorship, supervision and impact within the News and Media Research Centre (N&MRC), especially her leadership on the ‘Breaking Silences: Media and the Child Abuse Royal Commission’ ARC Discovery project.
The University congratulates this year’s winners and nominees for outstanding contributions to the University and the broader community.
The Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence Awards will be held in early December 2022 and will celebrate the University’s Educator of the Year, Researcher of the Year, and Professional of the Year.
