27-10-2023

Dear friends,

We are in the starter blocks for the announcement of the 2024 John Monash Scholars. We can’t give anything away today, apart from saying that it is another stellar cohort, with a wonderful spread of fields of study, ranging from health and medicine to biomedical engineering, music, film, law, mathematics, climate transition and more.
 

Stay tuned for the announcement next week!

Throughout this year, Madison Smith (2023 Bob Hawke John Monash Scholar) has been volunteering with the New Zealand Response Team, 1 Canterbury, also known as the Rescue and Technical Support Team (RATS). The RATS team provides urban search and rescue, flood and storm assistance, evacuations, public notifications, emergency management, pre-hospital emergency care and high-angle rope rescue. 

“My journey with this team has involved practical and theoretical weekly training sessions that have ranged from being blasted by hail during a mountain rescue exercise to abseiling from the training building warehouse ceiling,” said Madison. “It has been such a great learning experience, practising high-angle rescues with ropes, mass search and rescue at huge building sites and swift water rescue – very different from SES back home.”

Madison tells us that a highlight of this experience has been a particularly large regional South Island exercise, ‘Exercise Tempest’.

“Exercise Tempest – a super-storm recovery event – was held over a warm, clear September weekend with nine South Island response teams. Those in Christchurch received a 4am wakeup call on the Saturday to start setting up base camp at the local showgrounds. This marked the beginning of the 36-hour exercise. Over the weekend, 109 volunteers took part in numerous scenarios that involved locating and rescuing more than 180 volunteer victims.”

Madison is completing her thesis at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Her research aims to help develop a national framework for the rapid delivery of water, sanitation and hygiene to post-disaster sites. Her practical volunteering experiences complement this work by enhancing her understanding of hands-on response implementation. 

“Volunteering in RATS has been an invaluable experience, and complementary to the Master of Disaster Risk and Resilience I am undertaking at the University of Canterbury. This hands-on experience has helped me better understand how response teams fit into New Zealand’s disaster-management framework and has allowed me to identify key differences between Australia’s and New Zealand’s emergency operations.”

A Collaborative Grant project run by Dr Johnathon Ehsani (2008 John Monash Scholar) and Dr Brett Shannon (2021 Australian Universities' John Monash Scholar) has been accepted for publication in the National Safety Council’s Journal of Safety Research. 

Collaborative Grants are offered by the John Monash Leadership Academy to fund Scholar-led cross-disciplinary projects that benefit the community. As grant recipients, Johnathon and Brett aim to support the development of multi-level health and safety interventions that improve the health of rideshare drivers and other precarious work groups in Australia. To do this, the pair have developed effective survey tools that, combined with feasible administration methods, collect data for improved occupational health and safety policy design and identification of areas for intervention. 

Click here to read more about collaborative grants and the diverse projects underway by Scholars.

A number of US-based Scholars came together on the 6th of October for a dinner with a friend of the Foundation, Chris Erickson, followed by a professional-development workshop the following day with Sarah Lux-Lee (2014 Chairman's Circle John Monash Scholar).

Chris is a former executive with Exxon Mobile who now works as a consultant in Australia and internationally. Sarah is the Chief Executive Officer of Mindr, an enterprise that supports employee connection in the workplace, and has spoken at the United Nations, TEDx, NASA and the World Economic Forum as a recognised thought leader in employee wellbeing.

Scholars travelled from Boston and New York to meet for the occasion, including Michael Grebla (2016 Zelman Cowen John Monash Scholar), Jessica Cong (2023 Roden Cutler NSW John Monash Scholar), Hugo Rourke (2023 Commonwealth Bank John Monash Scholar), Sophie Rose (2022 Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO John Monash Scholar), William Witheridge (2018 Commonwealth Bank John Monash Scholar) and Dr Ben Mylius (2014 Murray-Darling Basin Authority John Monash Scholar).

“Sarah’s session prompted us to reflect on the different dimensions of our leadership lenses – some of which are visible which we choose to share, and others that are invisible and rooted in personal experiences,” said Jess. “I found it interesting to discuss some of the commonalities across the scholars, including the importance of family, Australia, and shared experiences of living overseas. We also discussed how the broader diversity of personal experiences that we each bring to our leadership lenses can draw us together as a Scholar community. It was lovely to come together in an informal setting and get to know Scholars in the US John Monash community.”

Michael, who helped organise the event, felt it was a fantastic way for Scholars to reconnect and support one another.

“It was invaluable community building, valuable for Scholars to discuss their views and relationship with the foundation, how they can better be involved, and how the foundation can help them,” he said.

A group of Scholars met in Cambridge last week for an informal get-together, including Dr Ashray Gunjur (2021 Helen and Michael Gannon John Monash Scholar), Henry Marshall (2023 Chairman’s Circle John Monash Scholar), Hugh Utting (2019 Ian Potter Foundation John Monash Scholar), Ryan Parker (2020 Chairman’s Circle John Monash Scholar), Dustin Barter (2019 Australian Universities’ John Monash Scholar) Dr Heather Muir (2018 ANZAC Centenary John Monash Scholar) and Dr Arlie McCarthy (2017 David Turner John Monash Scholar).

“We just had a great informal catch-up of Scholars in Cambridge”, said Ashray. “Our excitement for the symposium definitely came up. We cannot wait!”

More than 100 Scholars will be in attendance at the 2023 Sydney Symposium, which will run over two days, 11th – 12th of December, at St John’s College, University of Sydney. Hugh, who is Chair of the Scholar-led Symposium Design Committee, has played a pivotal role in this year's event planning.

If you would like to hear more about the Symposium, please reach out to Alexandra Coelli at alexandra.coelli@JOHNMONASH.COM

Amy Burton (2018 Zelman Cowen John Monash Scholar) will be one of the keynote speakers at the 2023 Monash Commemorative Service in Sydney on November 3.
Run by the Spirit of Australia Foundation and hosted by the Ravenswood School, the event will focus on providing an opportunity for local high school students and attendees to commemorate and reflect on the example of John Monash’s leadership and legacy. 

Amy is the Head of Pro Bono at Mills Oakley and the Managing Lawyer at Everyday Justice.

If you are interested in attending, or for further details, please reach out to community@ravenswood.nsw.edu.au