Ancient shapes for new science: artist Reko Rennie, left, and La Trobe Museum of Art Director Dr Vincent Alessi at the unveiling ceremony of ‘Murri Totems’.

The first large-scale public sculpture commissioned by the University from an Indigenous artist was unveiled on La Trobe’s Melbourne campus in October.

Titled Murri Totems, the sculpture is by Reko Rennie, an interdisciplinary artist whose work on Indigenous culture and identity in modern urban environments has been shown internationally including Paris, New York, Berlin and Shanghai.

Murri Totems graces the forecourt of the new La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS), a $100 million education and research facility opened earlier this year. It comprises four brightly coloured multi-faceted columns combining traditional Aboriginal ceremonial poles with geometric shapes found in nature and science.

A ‘bold and exciting entrance’ to stimulate inquiry and thought

Deeper understanding of top-ranking science

Vice-Chancellor John Dewar said LIMS was a magnificent piece of architecture.

Research at LIMS ‘will deepen our understanding of the science of biochemistry, cell biology and molecular science, and apply it to develop new vaccines, drugs, biotechnology products, sensors and environmental solutions for government and industry,’ Professor Dewar said.

With La Trobe’s Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) ranking last year as equal top university nationally for Biochemistry and Cell Biology and rating  ‘well above world standard’ for these disciplines, Professor Dewar said it was ‘only fitting that we have the best possible facilities for research in these areas.’

Symbolic fusion

‘A building such as this deserves a bold and exciting entrance. We are therefore extremely fortunate that Reko Rennie has created this for us in his Murri Totems.’ Professor Dewar said Murri Totems was highly relevant in the way it symbolically combined Western science and philosophy with Indigenous history and knowledge.

‘Each pole has been designed using the five platonic solids – icosahedron, octahedron, star tetrahedron, hexahedron and dodecahedron – considered to be the building blocks of nature within the canon of Western science and philosophy,’ he said.

‘They have been painted with the Murri design, a traditional Indigenous diamond-shaped pattern, handed down to Reko Rennie by his father and grandfather – hence the work brings together the Western world’s understanding of the building blocks of nature with those of the Indigenous world.’

Celebrating a fantastic art work: Vice-Chancellor Dewar, right, with Mr Rennie.

Wider commitment to art

In celebrating this ‘fantastic artwork’, Professor Dewar said the University also acknowledged its wider commitment to art.

This includes the new La Trobe Institute of Art, based in Bendigo, through which he said the University ‘aspires to be the premier regional art school in Australia, capturing both international thinking and a regional approach to the arts.’

La Trobe is also the Learning Partner for the Melbourne Now exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in November, which also features the work of Reko Rennie.

Acting Executive Dean of Science Technology and Engineering, Dr Elizabeth Johnson, said with its ultra-modern design ‘the LIMS building was constructed to invite people in, to look through the glass windows at science in action.

‘It invites inquiry and thought. And now we have the Murri Totems which also invite discussion and thought by bringing together contemporary and traditional themes. I’m sure they will be a stimulus for creativity amongst the staff and students.’

Amazing collaboration

Mr Rennie said creating the sculpture was an ‘amazing collaborative project’ working with University art staff and architects. He said he began by looking at Plato’s theory and platonic solids and shapes, some of which were diamonds and similar shapes.

For his family and the Kamilaroi people the diamond was one of eight shapes symbolising males and females. It was used to denote kinship systems and marriage, as well as flora and fauna, and represented something akin to a family crest.

‘Traditionally in the Kamilaroi area there was a lot of line work and tree carving,’ he said. So in Murri Totems he ‘re-unfolds’ some of those platonic solids, changes their shapes and formations and combines them with Kamilaroi iconography to create ‘a kind of totem pole, which is what you see here,’ he said.

What would he like viewers to take from the sculpture?

‘I hope it’s a dialogue and shows the diversity of Aboriginal Australia.

‘A lot of times there is this romanticised notion of Aboriginality; someone who is jet-black walking around the desert, uneducated, painting dots and living on the fringes of society when that’s not the case.

‘There are more than 300 different language groups in Australia and only a few of those use dot art forms, so it’s about breaking down romanticised notions of Aboriginality and stereotypes.’

Watch the video, including an interview with Reko Rennie 

Sculpture Park

Murri Totems is also the first major sculptural commission on the Melbourne campus since the mid-1980s, making it an important addition to the University’s Art Collection and Sculpture Park.

Artistic Director of La Trobe’s Museum of Art, Dr Vincent Alessi, says there have been three other major large-scale public artwork commissions in the University’s history – the Allen David glass screen in front of the Library, Inge King’s Dialogue of Circles near the Moat Theatre and Leonard French’s stained glass Four Seasons in front of the David Myers Building.

Learn more about  La Trobe’s Melbourne Campus Sculpture Park and the La Trobe University Museum of Art

Also Listen to Dr Alessi discuss the La Trobe University art collection

Read more: Brushstrokes before bricks  and Van Gogh gold

High-tech science experiments  in a classroom of your choice: FAR Labs being trialled at Penleigh Essendon Grammar.

With its  reputation for innovative and high-tech education, La Trobe University is offering new-generation e-learning opportunities streamed directly into Australian secondary schools.

Called FAR Labs (Freely-Accessible Remote Laboratories) the system enables high school students to control state-of-the-art equipment at La Trobe’s Physics Department and gain access to the Australian Synchrotron.

‘This will benefit kids all over Australia especially those in rural areas,’ said one of the project’s organisers, Dr David Hoxley. ‘All they need is a computer with an internet connection, not an expensive trip to a university.’

FAR Labs was created to increase enrolments in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. By official opening week at least 100 teachers from 50 schools in Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland had registered to use FAR Labs with a dozen workshops held from Bendigo to Townsville to demonstrate the program.

Dr Hoxley: direct student engagement as early as possible.

Catering for different ways of learning

Designed to boost engagement between secondary schools and universities, the system also takes into consideration the different ways children learn.

‘Giving high school students access to next-generation resources and research might just inspire them to engage with these subjects for the long haul,’ Dr Hoxley added.

The brains behind the project are La Trobe academics Dr Brian Abbey, Dr Hoxley and Professor Paul Pigram. It is supported by partner organisations Quantum Victoria, James Cook University and Curtin University.

‘At its heart,’ Dr Hoxley said, ‘science education involves knowledge transfer, communication, engagement and commitment.

‘The internet together with contemporary computing, visualisation and collaboration tools provides a remarkable platform for developing new approaches to science education.’

Chief Scientist Ian Chubb: hoping universities and schools can introduce such projects on a significant scale.

Great start for new inspiration

Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb said he hoped the FAR Labs initiative would inspire more students to study physics.

This follows last year’s report by his office – Mathematics, Engineering, and Science in the National Interest.

‘We identified how the teaching of science and mathematics in an inspiring way might attract more students to them.

‘An initiative like FAR Labs is a great start. I hope universities and secondary schools around the country can introduce projects like this on a significant scale,’ Professor Chubb said.

Dr Hoxley said: ‘The most effective way of increasing student numbers in science and maths is to engage them directly in the university environment – as early as possible.’

He expects the project to have an immediate and measurable impact on secondary education and increase the number of students who choose to study science.

‘Our kids learn in a variety of ways: reading, watching, doing or listening. It is almost impossible for teachers to provide all these mediums in a single class. FAR Labs material can be accessed in all of these formats, enabling the student to choose how he or she best learns,’ he said.

Radiation to environmental science

Initial subjects available include the power of different types of radiation, structural analysis of materials and environmental science issues.

La Trobe’s Hannah Coughlan and Paras Atsikidis in a radiation lab on the Melbourne campus. The lab is controlled remotely by school students to sample materials for levels and types of radiation.

Apart from virtual hands-on lab experiences for students, teaching materials and technical notes can also be downloaded.

This will allow students and teachers to choose a level of engagement appropriate for their needs and abilities.

‘Educational paradigms shift every so often and today we are witness to the e-learning revolution,’ Dr Hoxley concluded.

The initiative is government funded under the Australian Maths and Science Partnership Program (AMSPP). – Stephanie Pradier

See also:

Cool science, a million times brighter than the sun 

The ‘Imax’ of science labs – next generation facilities 

Learning while helping others: Dr Lavery and final year student Daniel Ang

The tiny, remote town of Robinvale in North-west Victoria is a long way from     La Trobe University’s Bendigo-based Dental School.

But for some final year dentistry students it played a significant role in their practical education when they took part in the Royal Flying Doctor Service’s (RFDS) mobile dental care program.

Fifth-year La Trobe University dental student Daniel Ang, spent two days helping in the Aboriginal clinics.

‘I was assisting some volunteer dentists that had flown up from Melbourne and spent two days with the Royal Flying Doctors as well, doing a lot of health promotion, health screening with children and high schools as well. I learnt so much.’

La Trobe volunteers

Experienced volunteer dentists including La Trobe clinical demonstrator Dr Daniel Lavery, travel in the RFDS mobile dental van to isolated townships. The University’s involvement in the initiative allows final year dentistry students like Anthony Ramzy to participate.

‘It was the first time we had done anything like that. It was really fulfilling and tested myself in different situations, rather than just the clinical setting, which we’ve been doing in the course.’

Dr Lavery agrees. He says students see people in a range of situations and from all socio-economic backgrounds, while observing and assisting experienced dentists.

‘You always learn from other people. Not just the clinical skills, but people management skills as well.’

Welcome addition in regions

The mobile dental clinic was launched in August last year and in partnership with the RFDS, the Victorian branch of the Australian Dental Association and Dental Health Service Victoria.

It is a welcome addition to parts of regional Victoria, like Robinvale, says Dr Lavery. Residents there have little access to dentists. The clinic operates one week out of every month.

Student Grace Campbell took part in oral health promotion and examinations on primary students from the town and found it a rewarding experience. She acknowledges there’s a need in the community for more such services.

Dr Lavery: giving dental students a taste of remote rural areas

A win for all

The mobile dental care program is a learning experience on many fronts, says Dr Lavery.

It gives La Trobe students a close look at what it might be like working in remote rural areas, where dentists are sorely needed, allows them practical experience and broadens their horizons.

And for the Robinvale community – being a part of the first-hand training of this next generation of La Trobe University dentists – it may result in some of these soon-to-be-dentists returning to work there and call the town home. – Catherine Garrett

Watch the video

See also:

Giving people a bigger say in rural health care

New dental teaching clinic

Professor Quispel: high-level maths to model critical biological, chemical and physical processes.

La Trobe University has received almost $8 million in new Australian Research Council (ARC) grants from the Federal Government.

The grants are for  studies that  will make a difference in fields ranging from children’s health, medicine and food production to better functioning of stock markets  and our historical appreciation of the mining industry.

Ten key research projects have been funded by more than $3m worth of Discovery Grants – up 25 per cent on last year – and the University has received one of only 17 Outstanding Researcher Awards nationally.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Keith Nugent said: ‘This is clear endorsement of the high calibre and national relevance of work carried out by La Trobe researchers.’

Third in Victoria

The University has also obtained seven prestigious Future Fellowships valued at $4.8 million, ranking it third highest in Victoria. The fellowships are awarded for research of critical national importance to boost Australia’s innovation capacity.

‘Our Future Fellowship applications had a success rate of nearly 37 per cent,’ said Professor Nugent. ‘This is more than double the national average success rate of 16 per cent – and higher than any other university by almost ten percentage points,’ he said.

Outstanding Researcher Award

The successful Discovery Projects are led by Professor Reinout Quispel, Mathematics – who was also one of Australia’s 17 Outstanding Research Award winners – Dr Megan Maher, Biochemistry; Professor Paul Fisher, Microbiology; Professor Susan Paxton, Psychology; Professors Xiangkang Yin and Bala Balachandran, Finance; Drs John Taylor and Nicholas Herriman, Anthropology; Dr Phillip Edwards, Archaeology; and Professor Susan Thomas, English.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Nugent: praise for high calibre work.

Future Fellowships were awarded to Dr Brian Abbey, Materials Science; Drs Begona Heras, Marc Kvansakul, and Belinda Parker, Biochemistry; and Drs Tracey Banivanua Mar, Ingrid Sykes and Clare Wright, History.

La Trobe also received Early Career Researcher Awards worth $0.7m for  studies relating to sleep function and colonial archaeology.  These went  to Dr John Lesku, Zoology, and Dr Penny Crook, Historical Archaeology.

Five La Trobe researchers are also members of successful ARC research teams funded at other institutions. They are Professor Quispel, aged care specialist Professor Jeni Warburton, linguist Dr Adam Schembri, sexuality and relationships specialist Dr Jeffery Grierson, and Professor Nugent, a former Director of the Australian Synchrotron who also continues his research as a physicist.

From medicine to mining

The research supported includes

Dr Clare Wtright: ‘Red Dirt Dreaming’

• Developing new super-sensitive X-ray techniques for studying protein molecules in cell membranes to help design highly targeted pharmaceutical drugs

• Probing the biochemistry of host-pathogen interaction to help fight infectious disease, cancer and boost plant production

• Identifying disturbances in signals passing between cells to seek new treatments for serious mitochondrial and degenerative brain diseases

• Assessing child health issues relating to body image and dieting during their first year at school to support the efforts of parents and teachers

• Devising new ways of solving differential equations in high-level maths to model critical biological, chemical and physical processes

Professor Susan Paxton: children’s body image and health

• Identifying ‘cross-talk’ between breast cancer cells and nearby tissue, how this leads to their spread and finding new markers on cancer cells to stop such spread

• Investigating bacterial virulence in salmonella and e-coli to enable the development of new anti-microbial drugs

• Improving ways to analyse information-based securities trading in risky assets and detecting false rumours for a more efficiently functioning market, and

• ‘Red Dirt Dreaming’ – writing the first detailed national history in about half a century of Australian mining which underpins much of our progress.

Professor Cumming: dispelling the illusion of certainty

The world’s largest scientific psychology organisation from next year will encourage authors in its highly influential global scientific journal Psychological Science to use what for them will be a radically different statistical method to report their research findings.

The move by the Washington-based Association for Psychological Science (APS) to embrace the ‘New Statistics’ follows the work of La Trobe University Emeritus Professor Geoff Cumming.

The APS said it was undertaking this important step to help boost the ‘replicability of scientific studies’ and promote ‘robust research practices’ across all areas of the discipline.

The Association is making available freely on line an extended tutorial The New Statistics: Why and How developed by Professor Cumming for its more than 20,000 members and anyone else who wishes to submit their research to the top APS journal.

When significance is not significant

Head of La Trobe’s Statistical Cognition Laboratory, Professor Cumming is author of Understanding The New Statistics, published by Routledge in the US in 2012.

He said most psychologists – as well as many researchers in biomedical science and other disciplines – have traditionally relied on a statistical technique called ‘null-hypothesis significance testing’. This requires their results to reach an arbitrary ‘.05 p value’ before the research outcome can be described as ‘significant’.

He explained that significance testing gives an illusion of certainty, but is actually extremely unreliable. ‘It uses weird backward logic and bamboozles countless students every year in their introduction to statistics.’

Instead the ‘New Statistics’, for which Professor Cumming has been a long-time campaigner, involves the use of effect sizes, estimation, and meta-analysis.

On its website the APS said the changes will help ‘strengthen the overall integrity of scientific research, conveying benefits not only (for) the scientific community but also for the general public.’

Matter of life and death

So why is this important? ‘It’s important because statistics and the way we understand and act upon them can be a matter of life and death,’ Professor Cumming said.

‘For example, in the 1970s parents were advised to put new babies to sleep face-down on a sheepskin, even while evidence was gradually accumulating that back sleeping is much safer, and greatly reduces the risk of SIDS (cot death).

‘Meta-analysis was, however, not available then to integrate the scattered evidence, so the dangerous advice for face-down sleeping persisted,’ he said.

‘It’s estimated that if meta-analysis had been available and used, and the resulting recommendation for back sleeping had been made, as many as 50,000 infant deaths in the developed world could have been prevented.

Distortion of published research

Professor Cumming said while new to most researchers in psychology and biomedical science, estimation has been widely used by physical scientists and engineers. ‘It’s a much more informative technique, and avoids the worst problems of significance testing.

‘Meta-analysis, a vital component of the New Statistics, allows researchers to integrate findings over a number of related studies. But meta-analysis can only give reliable results if all studies on a topic are available.

‘However, significance testing distorts the published research record,’ Professor Cumming explained. ‘Scientific journals are more likely to publish a significant result. So studies that fail to obtain “significance” tend not to see the light of day and therefore escape the attention of anyone conducting meta-analysis.’

Clearer conclusions

‘Meta-analysis is based on estimation and makes statistical significance virtually irrelevant. And it can allow clear conclusions to be drawn from messy research literature’, Professor Cumming said.

Why has it taken so long to achieve change? ‘I suspect one reason is that declaring a result “significant” strongly suggests certainty and that the result is large and important – even though statistical significance does not imply that.’

‘Now it is up to researchers to change their deeply-entrenched habit of using statistical significance, and move forward to the much more informative New Statistics,’ he concluded.

Read the APS announcement

Why we need ‘The New Statistics’

How significant are p values, really?

Tutorial on ‘The New Statistics: Why and How’

Listen the podcast on Ockham’s Razor, ABC Radio National

Survey based on data from more than 4,300 employers: Professor Di Iorio at the launch of the University’s City Campus in Collins St answering audience questions with Executive Dean of Business, Economics and Law, Professor Leigh Drake.

More than 94 per cent of La Trobe MBA graduates find work just three months after completing their studies.  And they earn one of the highest starting salaries in the Asia Pacific region – an average of nearly $120,500 on completion of their course.

These achievements are revealed in the latest QS Global 200 Business Schools Report. The report ranks the La Trobe MBA 23rd among the region’s Elite Regional Schools category.

‘That’s a fantastic leap of nine places – up from 32nd spot last year,’ says Professor Paul Mather, Head of La Trobe Business School.

The survey also highlighted that La Trobe’s Business School has one of the smallest class sizes and lowest tuition fees among MBA programs in the Asia-Pacific region.

Professor Paul Mather: fantastic leap – nine places up the rankings.

Views of employers

Professor Amalia Di Iorio, Director of the La Trobe MBA, says the QS ranking, released on their topMBA.com website, derives its data from more than 4,300 employers who recruit MBA graduates in a variety of professional fields.

‘Students of the La Trobe MBA come from many different walks of life, and there is a good gender balance in our classrooms.

‘From executives in large multinational organisations to CEOs of family businesses, our students develop business skills and capabilities that lead to effective decision-making in their professional lives,’ she says.

‘Employer ranking is very important to prospective MBA students. Although our students require a minimum of three years managerial experience, most have already completed an average of six before they start their degree.’

Professor Di Iorio says the core concepts behind La Trobe’s successful MBA are built on ‘three solid curriculum pillars – business knowledge and decision-making, personal and professional skills development, and responsible leadership’.

Professor Di Iorio, right, with Head of Management, Professor Tim Marjoribanks, and Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, Mr Mick Malthouse, left.

‘As a result, the program has been garnering attention across the globe since its redesign last year.’

The course is taught in new inner-city campus facilities in Collins Street Melbourne, which were officially opened in May this year. From next year it will also be available at all regional campuses.

Domestic and global endorsement

The strong QS ranking are just the latest in a series of endorsement for the new La Trobe MBA. Others place La Trobe among the

• top two institutions in Victoria in The Australian Financial Review’s BOSS 2013 MBA Rankings,

• top ten small Business Schools worldwide – and the only one in Australia – for promotion of responsible management in the Corporate Knights 2013 Global Green MBA survey,

• one of only four  in Australia to receive EPAS accreditation from the European Foundation for Management Development, in recognition of the programs international approach to learning, and

The La Trobe MBA  also received a Five Star rating for three consecutive years (2011 – 2013) from the Graduate Management Association of Australia (GMAA). - Andrew Farina

Related material

Video: Paul Mather on women-on-corporate-boards

Read: Australia’s approach to Chinese investment is unsustainable

Roberta Holmes at the launch of the Judith Lumley Centre: a vitally important yet undervalued role.

La Trobe University has received a philanthropic gift of $3.2 million dollars over five years to fund an innovative new research program on the challenges of modern day parenting.

The program was launched in November by Natasha Stott Despoja, Deputy Chair, beyondblue and Chair of the Foundation to Prevent Violence Against Women and Children.

The  gift is from private donor Mrs Roberta Holmes to establish a professorial chair. The new chair will be under the auspices of La Trobe’s newly renamed Judith Lumley Centre – previously known as Mother and Child Health Research Centre. Emerita Professor Judith Lumley was its founding director.

The Centre is a leader in public health research in the fields of mother and infant health, sexual and reproductive health, family services, reducing violence against women and the transition to contemporary parenthood.

From left, Natasha Stott Despoja, Mrs Holmes, Judith Lumley Centre Director, Professor Rhonda Small and Principal Research Fellow, Associate Professor Angela Taft.

The new research program will  provide better preparation and resources for today’s parents who face new challenges and pressures.

First-hand experience

Mrs Holmes’ philanthropic interest in parenting is a personal one. Having raised her own family, she knows first-hand some of its challenges.

‘Through my own personal experiences as a parent, I came to recognise how vitally important the role is and how undervalued and under recognised it is. Because of this deficiency, there is little if any preparation for it,’ she said.

‘I also believe that the challenges parents face in an increasingly complex society require urgent, contemporary research and resources which will assist parents in raising healthy, happy children, capable of confidently navigating the demands of a globalised world.’

La Trobe University Vice-Chancellor Professor John Dewar welcomed the major gift.

Mrs Holmes with her daughter, La Trobe historian, Professor Katie Holmes.

Treacherous waters of parenthood

‘La Trobe University is most grateful for this generous gift from Roberta Holmes. Thanks to Roberta’s passion and generosity, La Trobe can lead critical research into addressing the challenges faced by couples as they navigate the often treacherous waters of modern parenthood,’ Professor Dewar said.

‘The University is also pleased to be able to recognise the distinguished contribution of Judith Lumley to research into perinatal and maternity services world-wide by renaming its Mother and Child Health Research Centre in her name.

‘La Trobe has a rich history in leading relevant research that responds to societal issues. Roberta’s significant gift will boost our Research Focus Area efforts to build healthier communities that optimise well-being and quality of life,’ said Professor Dewar.

Dr Barbaro at work: accurate set of ‘red flag’ markers for autism

In a breakthrough technique  embraced across the world, La Trobe psychologist Dr Josephine Barbaro has determined a way to diagnose autism in babies as young as 12 months.

She has developed an accurate set of ‘red flag’ markers of the condition, which include a failure by babies to make consistent eye contact, to smile, show their toys to others, to play social games, point and respond when their name is called.

Swift diagnosis and intervention is  critical because it maximised the developmental outcomes of children with autism by taking advantage of early brain plasticity.

Dr Barbaro, from the University’s Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, is now training medical experts around the world in the use of her diagnostic method on children under two years of age.

Embraced by Chinese health authorities

She has just returned from working with Chinese health authorities and said it was exciting that early diagnosis criteria were making a difference.

‘All typically developing babies are pre-wired to be social, look at other people’s faces, learn from them and copy what they’re doing.  Children with autism are not doing this – and we can now accurately identify this at a much younger age and take action,’ Dr Barbaro said.

Her work is helping educate maternal and child health nurses to use these criteria during regular health checks of all babies. Early detection is the key to intervention and often a better long-term outcome for children.

Dr Barbaro being interviewed on ABC News 24 television after her return from China

‘It can also help the family as a whole, decreasing their stress and helping them begin the adjustment period that follows the diagnosis,’ she said.

Dr Barbaro and her team are training doctors in Melbourne’s sister city Tianjin in China, as part of an Australia-China Science and Research Fund Group Mission.

They have helped train 300 doctors to monitor children’s development using the early autism identification program. So far 10,000 babies aged from 12 to 24 months have been checked. The majority of babies referred for follow-up via her test have been diagnosed as on the spectrum.

Seven-year surveillance trial

Based on these preliminary findings, the Tianjin government has agreed to conduct autism surveillance using Dr Barbaro’s program for every child born in the city for the next seven years.

The team is also training healthcare workers in Poland, Korea, Japan and Bangladesh. ‘So it’s something that can be used in developing as well as developed countries,’ Dr Barbaro said.

She is also continuing to work with maternal health nurses and clinicians to roll out the development of surveillance training across Australia in the coming year.

An estimated one in 100 children have an autism spectrum disorder. The lifelong developmental disability is characterised by difficulties with social interaction, verbal and no-verbal communication, restricted interests and repetitive behaviour. - Catherine Garrett

Also:

Key role for La Trobe  in new national autism centre

Watch the interview with Dr Barbaro on ABC News 24

La Trobe video: Dr Barbaro talks about identification and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders 

‘A radically secular culture, so materialist, that to talk about the transcendent is almost un-Australian.’

Australians find it hard to talk about spiritual matters because ‘they fear being stigmatised or categorised as a a lunatic fringe,’ says La Trobe University author and specialist in religious and literary studies, David Tacey.

‘We are such a radically secular culture, so materialist, that to talk about the transcendent is almost un-Australian,’ says Professor Tacey. He was commenting on the ‘Quest for the Divine’ in a special pre-Christmas feature by Fairfax Religion Writer, Barney Zwartz.

In the article Professor Tacey said ‘a spiritual snapshot of Australia depends on where one looks’. ‘There is a decline in religious participation, which can be very disturbing for religious people – or there is the quest for transcendence, which can be very heartening and can lead to the opposite conclusion.’

Author of many books and long-time writer and researcher on religion and young people, he told The Age newspaper: ‘People are hungrier than ever for the transcendent – an experience beyond themselves, beyond the material – but because they are not finding traditional religion, a lot of the searching doesn’t get noticed.’

‘People are hungrier than ever for the transcendent – an experience beyond themselves, beyond the material – but because they are not finding traditional religion, a lot of the searching doesn’t get noticed.’

Hunger for experience, not talk

Professor Tacey: people hungrier than ever for the transcendent

‘We are definitely in a transitional period as a society. When the formal traditions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam understand that the hunger is for spiritual experience of God and not simply talk about God, they may find young people are getting attracted to the traditions.

‘I don’t say attracted again, because most people have not been inducted into church traditions in the first place. Many have not only atheist parents but grandparents – we are suffering from religious amnesia.’

Professor Tacey said that many people are turning to the East for answers, and many are doing a lot of reading. At one of Melbourne’s biggest bookshops, Readings, mystical literature was the most popular after cook books and travel guides, he was told.

‘This is true of my students – 70 per cent of them read mystical books, such as Hildegard of Bingen, or Thomas Merton. It’s a doorway into the experience of God rather than God-talk.’

He warns that, alongside spiritual hunger, the decline of mainstream religion has brought a second effect. ‘It makes people more gullible to cults and sects and various new-age groups who are often asking people to pay big money.’

Professor Tacey told The Age he often talks to members of Catholic religious orders in steep decline, and their tone is great despair and bewilderment.

‘But I don’t go along with all that pessimism. I’m pessimistic about a lot of mainstream churches, but I’m not pessimistic about God. We need a better understanding about what God is, and a lot less cliches and platitudes.’

Read the full article here 

Top image credit: Terry Johnston 

All images copyright of Daniel Quinlan

Rarely will an assignment described as A Load of Rubbish by the person who submits it go on to win accolades in a national competition. Yet a photo essay by Trobe University student Daniel Quinlan dealing with people who live and work in a Thai rubbish dump has done just that.

It has been ‘highly commended’ in the Best Photojournalism category of the latest Ossie Awards by the Journalism Education Association of Australia. The awards commemorate Australian journalist, war correspondent and writer Osmar White who died in 1991.

Mr Quinlan lives in Phnom Penh and studies La Trobe’s Online Photojournalism course. His photographic essay captured daily life in a rubbish dump in Mae Sot, a Western Thailand town near the border with Burma.

Hat trick of awards

Senior lecturer in photojournalism Julie Millowick said this was the third year in a row that a La Trobe Online Photojournalism student has been recognised at the Ossie Awards.

The course enables students to ‘speak’ with their own voice, she said, giving them the technical skills to do so.

‘Their work shows that they embrace our teaching with passion and commitment,’ she added.

Mr Quinlan said Mae Sot, on the Asia Highway, is an historic and important trading point. ‘As Burma opens up, Mae Sot is experiencing an increase in trade and investment, and looks set to fulfil its geographical potential as the cross roads of Asia.’

Yet the people shown in his work are trying to survive in desperate conditions.

Incredibly efficient recycling

Mr Quinlan said booming Asian economies have led to increasing problems with consumption, waste and rubbish.

‘My work was not only about that waste, but also an incredibly efficient recycling system and the people, often unseen, who survive and build a life around rubbish.

‘These people are doing the best they can while providing a service more valuable to society than is reflected by the meagre money they are paid.

‘It is about the people who, in this world-wide era of sustainability and “green values”, do the dirty work, reclaiming and recycling the rubbish of those further up the socio economic scale.’

Mr Quinlan, who has always loved photography, moved to the Thai-Burma border two years ago after his girlfriend got a job in the area.

Honed thinking and practical skills

‘I decided to improve my photographic skills and learn how to use photography to tell stories or communicate ideas,’ he said.

After seeking advice on the internet and from other photographers, he heard about  La Trobe’s online course and decided to enroll.

‘I wanted to learn in a more systematic and structured environment and to get my work critiqued in a constructive way,’ he said.

‘The course has connected me with the history of photojournalism, which I found both interesting and useful (and) helped hone both my technical skills, my thinking and approach to photography.’

See more of Daniel’s work on Flickr

La Trobe ‘s previous Online Photojournalism winners were Paige Hortin who took out the inaugural 2011 for a work titled Our beautiful gift was wrapped in ugly paper and Anette Moen who followed in 2012 with images of Burlesque.

Fewer than three per cent of infants reach the optimal breastfeeding goal of two years.

There has been little progress for women initiating breast-feeding during the past six decades, a new study by La Trobe University has found.

Researchers Miranda Buck and Lisa Amir say their results reveal ‘a great need to help Australia’s breastfeeding women – and in doing so, invest in the health of the next generation’.

More research and policy implementation is needed to achieve that goal, they add.

Ms Buck is a doctoral researcher, registered neonatal nurse and lactation consultant and Dr Amir an Associate Professor in La Trobe’s Judith Lumley Centre for mothers and infants’ health.

They say studies of breastfeeding problems in new mothers in America in the 1950s found 80 per cent of women experienced sore nipples, ‘which doesn’t seem surprising when it was common practice to rub alcohol on nipples’.

Writing about their research on The Age Daily Life website  this year the researchers say:

‘Sixty years later we are less liberal with alcohol (but) in a brand new “Baby-friendly” public hospital and equally well-equipped private hospital in Melbourne, our study found’ … wait for it! … ‘almost 80 per cent of first time mothers experienced nipple pain and 58 per cent nipple damage.’

Reduced milk production

Dr Amir, left, and Ms Buck with new parents Rosie and Ron and their son Otis Mullan at the Women’s Hospital. Image: Courtesy The Women’s

‘Previous studies have found that although the most common reason given by women for stopping breastfeeding before they had planned was “not enough milk”, nipple pain was frequently a contributing factor.

‘It is also a leading cause of formula supplementation, which in turn can lead to reduced milk production.

‘Some women refuse to even begin to breastfeed because of the fear and expectation of pain.’

The researchers tracked 360 first-time mothers from the Royal Women’s Hospital and Frances Perry House for eight weeks after birth.

All were well-placed to achieve optimal breastfeeding – educated, motivated, and supported to breastfeed with many recruited from hospital breastfeeding classes. All intended to breastfeed for at least eight weeks; most for six months or a year.

Significant challenges

Yet the challenges faced by these women were significant.Of the nearly 80 per cent who experienced nipple pain in the first week after birth, 20 per cent still experienced significant pain after eight weeks – and 10 per cent still had damaged nipples.

The researchers say Australian women, generally, want to breastfeed their babies: 96 per cent of new mothers begin breastfeeding but only 30 per cent of infants are breastfed for a full year.

‘Fewer than three per cent of infants reach the optimal breastfeeding goal of two years, which would ensure the strongest start for babies and the least risk for mothers’ long-term health.’

‘What is clear from the results of our study,’ the researchers conclude, ‘is that even in a maternity system fully geared towards support breastfeeding, many women continue to have an extraordinarily difficult time – despite being highly motivated to do so.’

Read the full article

Related topics:

Video: Dr  Amir discusses her research in nipple and breast thrush

Umbilical cord at birth: are we clamping at the right time? 

Dr Fletcher: many sports clubs are not inherently inclusive.

With Australians’ love of all things sport, it’s an activity that can be a great leveller or agent for social change.

But this is not always how things play out. Sexism, racism and bullying can occur in any number of sporting codes and change rooms.

One area of discrimination that tends to receive less attention is the experience of gay, lesbian, bisexual and heterosexual sports people.

La Trobe University Researcher Dr Gillian Fletcher, from the Australian Centre for Sex, Health and Society, is attempting to redress this.

Sport and inclusion

Her study focus is sport and inclusion, whatever a participant’s sexual orientation.

Working with VicHealth, Dr Fletcher is looking at whether sport should be promoting programs that encourage participation and inclusion of people of all sexualities, and asking the question: do gay, lesbian and bisexual people pay a price for participating in mainstream sports clubs?

Her research says yes. ‘Many sports clubs are not inherently inclusive, regardless of whether someone is straight, gay, lesbian or bisexual,’ she says.

Dr Fletcher is also lead evaluator for the Victorian Equal Opportunities and Human Rights Commission’s Fair go, sport! project supported by out gay Australian Rules footballer Jason Ball.  A big contingent of sports players are expected to turn out in support of Fair go, Sport! at the Midsumma Pride March, this Sunday (February 2, 2014).

Popular image challenged

Dr Fletcher argues while there is a popular image of sport as an activity where everyone is equal – her data uncovers the opposite attitude.

Handballed into the ‘too hard’ basket: ‘if it goes further than this, then come back and see us…’

‘It shows that for gay, lesbian and bisexual people, sport is complicated by widespread assumptions of heterosexuality in mainstream clubs.

‘Gay male interviewees who conformed to a “normative” presentation of masculinity found a type of acceptance, but it was mainly dependent on not making waves,’ she says.

The research shows that for gay, lesbian and bisexual people in mainstream sport there are often strings attached.

Many fear disharmony and rocking the boat by ‘coming out’. For those who do – like ‘Ben’, a 25-year-old Rugby Union player interviewed by Dr Fletcher for her research – the fallout can be complicated.

Just ignore it?

While most of Ben’s team mates accept him and see his sexuality as just part of who he is, he says, there is one who persists in abusing him during training, making comments under his breath.

‘(Comments) along the lines of you’re a faggot or poof or whatever,’ Ben says. ‘I have brought it up with a couple of other people at the club and they’ve sort of said not to worry about it, he’s just got a chip on his shoulder … there’s eighteen other people here, if you have any other problems or anything, if it goes further than this, then come back and see us. But at this point we’ll keep an eye out and just, and try to, you know, ignore it and just do your own thing.’

Ben does so. However, he admitted that, at training, this same team mate ‘likes to try and knock me round a little bit … like when we’ve got the tackling pads … he’ll hold the pad for everyone but when I come, every now and then he likes to drop the pad and put his elbow out.’

Progress to genuine inclusion

Gillian Fletcher is hoping to make inroads into genuine sport inclusion and education around the issue.

She leads a steering committee that brings together representatives from VicHealth, VicSport, Sport and Recreation Victoria, the AFL, Hockey Victoria and the Victorian Equal Opportunities and Human Rights Commission.

Former elite field hockey goalkeeper Gus Johnston shares his experiences on the ‘Fair go, sport!’ website – and explains the ‘harsh reality and consequence of sport’s ingrained passiveness, and at times active, discriminative homophobic behaviour’.

The group will use her research findings to try to make inclusive changes and offer better education at both a sports playing level, through to sports managers, administrators and club presidents.

The last word to Dr Fletcher: ‘What this shows is that a love of sport is not enough to make a team, or club, inclusive.

‘More work needs to be done on people’s attitudes to difference – difference in terms of sexuality, but also in terms of ability, race, religion – and to promoting the reality that diversity within a club is a strength not a threat.’ – Catherine Garrett

Watch Gus Johnston on ‘The reality of homophobia in sport’

Iris Manton at the University last year with, from left, Vice-Chancellor Dewar, grandson Lucas Wheeler, inaugural Manton scholarship winner Ms Alamare, daughter Joe Manton and son-in-law, Michael Wheeler.

The 1970s were a formative decade at La Trobe University – a new era of educational opportunity and belief that student activism could create a better world.

Into that heady mix stepped Iris Manton. She was a ‘real seventies’ student: a grandmother IN her seventies. Iris Manton was also one of La Trobe’s earliest mature-aged students and went on to become a life-long friend of the University and generous foundation benefactor.

Mrs Manton – who died in January this year aged 96 – started her Bachelor of Science degree in Geology in the late 1970s, initially part time, graduating with BSc (Hons) in 1986.

Enthusiastic student: Mrs Manton working on rock samples in the University’s Geology laboratory .

It was a demanding course with its share of physical challenges: field work, surveying and carrying bags of rock samples.

Deep university experience

Michael Torney, then Student Union Manager and recently retired Director of Student Services, said ‘Iris really loved her time at La Trobe’.

‘She fitted in wonderfully with all the young students, went on all the field trips and thoroughly enjoyed the whole university experience.’

So much so that she gifted her home at Tolmie, near Mansfield in the Victorian Alps, to the University.

La Trobe’s Alumni News, in a tribute to Mrs Manton, noted that ‘mature age students often have a deeper university experience than school leavers’.

This was certainly true for Iris Manton. A former deputy school principal, she ‘reveled in her study experience at La Trobe’ which she undertook primarily as an intellectual exercise.

‘When you retire you need physical, social and mental activity’, Mrs Manton said at the time.

With Vice-Chancellor John Scott on her Graduation Day in 1986.

Passion for education

Sadly, when her husband died a few years after her graduation, the couple’s plans for a long retirement together in the country were derailed.

In an act of altruism befitting a woman passionate about education, Iris Manton gifted their eight hectares bushland property at Tolmie to La Trobe.

For nearly three decades, University staff and students enjoyed the three-bedroom ‘Manton’ house for field trips, retreats and seminars and environmental research assignments.

In 2011, and with Mrs Manton’s blessing, the property was sold for $275,000 with the proceeds going towards a perpetual scholarship for disadvantaged female students.

‘I hope the scholarship will be able to assist a student who would otherwise be denied the opportunity of a tertiary education due to lack of finances,’ Mrs Manton said.

Three generations of graduates

Last year she visited the University with her family – which now comprises three generations of La Trobe graduates – to meet the first Manton Scholarship recipient, Rosol Alamare.

And with former La Trobe Chancellor (later Governor of Victoria) The Hon Mr Justice Richard McGarvie handing over to the University the title of her Tolmie property.

Ms Alamare, who arrived in Australia from Iraq in 2007 without even basic English, said she was grateful for the chance to meet Iris Manton and thank her personally.

Now an Electronic Engineering student at La Trobe, thanks to Mrs Manton’s scholarship support, Rosol Alamare faces a much brighter future.

Vice-Chancellor Professor John Dewar hosted the scholarship function. He said it had been an honour and privilege to meet Mrs Manton, to hear about her experience at the University, and to thank her for her generosity and support.

‘For a great woman who was passionate about the life-changing benefits of education, there could be a no more fitting legacy than to help other people,’ he said.

Pets galore: study recommends multidisciplinary task force, including mental health agencies, to combat animal hoarding. Image: iStock

Animal hoarding in Australia is a tragedy for the animals involved, with more than 70 per cent of rescued animals having to be euthanised. It is also a significant welfare issue for hoarders, many of whom have serious mental health problems – and can impact on neighbours and the wider community.

A new study, the first of its kind in Australia, reports that a lot of these conditions can, and should be prevented.

Emma Ockenden, a veterinary nurse, carried out the research as an honours student in La Trobe University’s Department of Agricultural Sciences. She said the results of the study could help identify groups at risk to improve prevention of, and intervention in, animal hoarding cases.

Need for better records and service integration

Its also also called for systematic recording of animal hoarding, with a more integrated approach by all agencies. This should include the involvement of health care professional and animal welfare organisations, she said.

Emma Ockenden and patient: we only scratched the surface of the problem

‘We only scratched the surface of the problem, as we identified many other cases but we couldn’t include them due to lack of recorded information.’

Miss Ockenden said Australian laws also made dealing with animal hoarders difficult. ‘No criminal conviction can be made where mental impairment is involved – therefore no banning orders.’

The report of the study has just been published in the latest edition of Anthrozoos, a multidisciplinary peer-reviewed scientific journal that deals with research into interactions between people and animals.

‘Very little is known about animal hoarding in Australia,’ Miss Ockenden said. ‘Our study examined 22 recent cases. All agencies spoken to called for greater involvement and support from human mental health services to ‘address the root of the problem.’

She said the study found animals subject to hoarding suffered severe behavioural problems, parasite infection, disease and injury. Most were unable to be rehomed after they were seized and had to be destroyed.

Pathological self neglect 

Hoarders often lived in destitute conditions, frequently without electricity and plumbing, due to pathological self-neglect. ‘Their living conditions were so poor in most instances that case workers were only able to enter the premises for a few minutes at a time due to dangerously high levels of ammonia.’

While hoarders seemed oblivious to the detrimental conditions imposed on the animals, it also harmed them, she said – with one suffering from a collapsed lung.

Hoarding also carried risks of fire danger and offensive smells for neighbours. Clean-up costs and subsequent animal care can run into thousands of dollars.

Miss Ockenden said in one case more than 150 cats were seized and euthanised. Another case involved a non-practising vet who had hoarded a large number of  horses while in a third the hoarder was wealthy enough to pay thousands of dollars to hide their favourite cats in cat boarding facilities so they would not be seized.

‘While seizing the animals does eliminate the problem temporarily, it is not dealing with the underlying cause of the issue and so the hoarders tend to repeat their behaviours,’ she said.

Profile of hoarders ­– and the hoarded

The study found that the most commonly hoarded species were cats, in about 50 per cent of cases, followed by dogs, almost 23 per cent.

The ‘average’ hoarder was a middle-aged to elderly woman

Other species included rabbits, guinea pigs, native wildlife, farm animals, reptiles, birds, horses, ponies, donkeys – even monkeys. Most of these cases were in rural areas, the largest involving 170 animals.

The most common way animals were obtained was through uncontrolled breeding, followed by collecting strays; sourcing them from internet sites and newspaper ads; or even buying them.

According to the study, the ‘average’ hoarder in Victoria was a middle-aged to elderly woman: 45 per cent were in their fifties and 63 per cent were female.

While the history of most hoarders was unknown, the practice could stem from traumatic life events such as divorce, empty-nest syndrome, retirement, or job loss.

‘Despite serious animal and human welfare implications,’ she said, ‘the issue has received surprisingly little research attention worldwide, with the exception of some work in the US. The incidence of animal hoarding in Australia is unknown.’

Lack of mental health support

Miss Ockenden said the study revealed ‘obvious frustration’ among both local councils and animal welfare agencies with the lack of support available from human mental health services.

‘Animal welfare agencies are not qualified to deal with vulnerable people suffering from perceived mental health issues.’

However, the study concluded that as local council or RSPCA caseworkers usually make the initial contact with hoarders, forming a trust that best positions them for long-term monitoring and prevention of problems.

‘For example, in New York the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals recently advertised for a Cruelty Intervention Advocacy social worker,’ Miss Ockenden said.

‘Community hoarding task forces formed in the USA in the last two decades include a variety of human service providers such as mental health, fire, police, nursing, legal, public health and housing, and animal control.

‘It is clear from our study that a similar multidisciplinary task force is needed in Victoria, and it should ideally include mental health agencies.’ Miss Ockenden said.

The research project was supervised by Dr Bert De Groef (Department of Agricultural Sciences and AgriBio, La Trobe University) and Dr Linda Marston (Animal Welfare Science Centre, School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University).

Read the full report here

The many faces of Australia’s war memorials: fine sculpture in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern and a cairn built by school children high in South Australia’s Flinders Rangers. Images by Chris Atkins, left, and Julie Millowick.

There are more than 12,000 war memorials across the length and breadth of Australia – and La Trobe University photojournalists are documenting stories about 100 of these, from cities to outback towns, in every state and territory.

The ambitious project is for a book to be published around Remembrance Day, as part of this year’s centenary of the Great War and the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli.

It’s a year in which the memory of everyone involved in that historic conflict – whether a name on a plaque or chiseled in stone – will be of added poignancy not only for their families, but collectively for the whole nation.

Julie Millowick at work in Dangarsleigh, near Armidale NSW.

Human side of conflict

The book will tell the tale of one person from each memorial, illustrating for new generations the human side of the conflict and the impact the war had on local communities.

It features accounts of large city monuments to a solitary highland cairn built by school children from rough rocks in the Flinders Ranges. And all manner of structures in between.

An initiative of the University’s Bendigo Campus-based online photojournalism course, the project is led by head of photojournalism, photographer Julie Millowick and colleague Chris Atkins, and Geoff Hocking who is designing and writing the book.

Also involved are students and graduates of the popular course who live in various parts of Australia.

Legacy of a new nation

Ms Millowick says ‘The book will explore the enduring legacy of the service and the sacrifice of young Australians who answered the call of a newly federated nation. We are doing this through a combination of local stories, historical material and modern photographs to link today’s readers with a serviceman or servicewoman named on a war memorial.’

She says the project is also professionally relevant. Graphic design, photography and photojournalism are taught at La Trobe as part of the Visual Arts Degree, which enrols more than 120 students every semester.

Daunting logistics

‘The logistics of the exercise have been daunting. Most of the work was carried out over the summer holidays, visiting 100 locations – the majority in regional Australia – for photo shoots and interviews.

Some media reports of an inspiring work in progress.

Ms Millowick photographed 41 memorials for the main section of the book and 66 for an appendix which will feature another 150 images of memorial gates, arches, gardens and soldiers on plinths.

She travelled from Albany to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia,  across the Nullabor to Eyre Peninsula down to Mt Gambier and Central Victoria to Sydney, Northern NSW, Far North Queensland and remote South Australia. Selected graduates  helped cover other remote regions and the outback.

Student involvement

One graduate visited memorials in a sweep through towns along the Darling River, from Brisbane to Adelaide, while another ventured cross-country from Southeast Queensland to the top of Western Australia. An honours’ student who is about to enrol in a Masters course covered five locations in Tasmania.

The project has already generated wide interest in towns where photo shoots took place. For example in Mt Gambier, Ms Millowick’s visit coincided with an RSL wreath laying ceremony on National Servicemen’s Day in February.

There she interviewed and photographed Eddie Heaver, the  90 year old son of a WWI soldier. At night in a local park, she photographed a captured German Krupp Field Gun that was restored by the local vintage car club.

A tree of memories

Joan Matthews with her father’s tree – and the wallet that helped save his life.

Another captivating chapter comes from Chewton, Central Victoria.

Here Joan Matthews, the energetic 86 year daughter of soldier Robert Archer, was photographed embracing the trunk of giant tree planted by her father – much as she saw him do from time to time so he could gauge how much it had grown. Why did he do this?

The book tells us Private Archer enlisted two days after he turned eighteen. During fighting in Belgium, shrapnel tore into his temple, leg and arm. Critically, a piece stopped just short of his heart, after penetrating his wallet and a family photo.

‘He was left untended on the battlefield for two days before some of his mates went out to find him, but they were too late to save his sight. He was completely blind. Both eyes were removed.’

He was eventually taught how to be a chicken farmer and how to repair shoes and given a braille-watch. His chapter concludes:

‘Robert Archer acted as Secretary of the Victorian Branch of the Blinded Soldiers Association for almost 36 years. He was awarded the MBE in April 1955 for his service to blind ex-servicemen.’

Ms Millowick says the book will illustrate many such iconic tales, links between the war service of people like Robert Archer and the memories that remain in the hearts and minds of their families today.

‘As we reflect on the Great War and the birth of the ANZAC tradition this year, the book will remind us that the glory of a national victory rests on the shoulders of those who served.’ – Ernest Raetz

Mt Gambier: ninety year old Mr Heaver with a photo of his WWI soldier Dad and a captured German Krupp Field Gun. Images: Julie Millowick

Also of interest: Award-winning images of developing world’s rubbish

La Trobe University has launched its unique ‘Hallmark Program’ for high achieving students – with the foundation cohort of 23  arriving on campus in February – as well as a special on-line introductory Indigenous studies module aimed at all students.

The Hallmark Program is designed to help students extend their thinking on key global issues and to learn how to make a contribution to the future.

The students come from a wide range of suburbs, with high representation from Melbourne’s north. From the regions, two are studying at the Bendigo Campus while another two are from interstate, the Northern Territory and Queensland.

They will have special access to mentoring by leading researchers from La Trobe’s Research Focus Areas. Their year began with a two-day residential program on the Melbourne campus, getting to know each other and finding out more about the opportunities the program offers.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Jane Long, said the program emphasises undergraduate research, provides a generous scholarship and a guaranteed Honours year.

‘The group will also do an international study tour and focus on opportunities for cross-disciplinary work. All will take a subject together each semester, to foster this approach to learning,’ she said.

Mr Corless – an interest in human rights

Special appeal

The collaborative learning element appealed to participant Tynan Corless from Bundoora. The 18 year old with an interest in human rights and ethics has chosen to do Legal Studies.

He said ‘The Hallmark Program means I’m working alongside other like-minded students who want to make a difference in the world. Getting the chance to travel overseas and do real work placements is exciting. It means I can hopefully see a bit of my research take shape.’

Each student receives a $10,500 scholarship paid over four years, including Honours. They get $2,000 upfront, and negotiate the remainder over the course of their studies to support  learning through travel and work or research experience placements.

The Hallmark program is an initiative of the University’s new Future Ready Strategy. Vice-Chancellor Professor John Dewar welcomed the group to the  University for their ‘induction into this exciting and innovative new program’.

Professor Dewar – richness of Indigenous culture

New Indigenous Studies module

Professor Dewar – who has just taken over as Chair of Australia’s Innovative Research Universities, a national network of seven universities which is about to announce its new national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy – said La Trobe this year also starts an on-line Indigenous Studies module.

‘The aim is to introduce all our students to Indigenous knowledge and values and engage them with the richness of Indigenous perspectives and culture.’

Expansion of Indigenous education is a significant part of La Trobe’s Future Ready Strategy, with plans to double the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students over the next five years.

The University has a heritage of significant engagement with Indigenous communities. With about 170 Indigenous students and 30 staff, it carries out multi-disciplinary teaching and research in Aboriginal and  Indigenous Australian studies across all faculties and campuses.

Last year it appointed Aboriginal educationist Professor Mark Rose, who also has close relationship with Bachelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, as Executive Director of Indigenous Strategy and Education.