25 - 02 - 2022

Join us for this week's roundup of inspiring Scholar news...

Congratulations Andrew Hudson 

Congratulations to Andrew Hudson, 2005 John Monas Scholar, who has been appointed as Acting CEO at The Centre for Policy Development (CPD), commencing March 31. Andrew joined CPD as International Director on his return from the US where he was CEO of Crisis Action, based in New York. 

Congratulations Katherine Daniel

Congratulations Katherine Daniell on being awarded the French National Order of Merit, a highly prestigious award for distinguished civil or military achievements. Katherine Daniell is a 2005 John Monash Scholar and Professor at the 3A Institute, Australian National University. She has extensive experience working in Europe and the Asia-Pacific, on projects related to science and technology cooperation. Katherine is also President of the Australian-French Association for Research and Innovation (AFRAN) Inc.

Intimate partner violence 

Dr Sarah Meyer, 2009 John Monash Scholar is Assistant Professor in Clinical Population and Family Health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health/ World Health Organisation. She has co-authored research that was recently published by The Lancet entitled: Global, regional, and national prevalence estimates of physical or sexual, or both, intimate partner violence against women in 2018. This research reveals that intimate partner violence against women was already high before the COVID-19 pandemic and that governments are not on track to meet the WHO’s Sustainable Development Goals target 5.2. 

The spacecraft graveyard

Physicist Heather Muir, the 2018 ANZAC Centenary John Monash Scholar, has published an article in The Conversation about the complex process for decommissioning NASA's International Space Station (ISS). ISS is a monumental structure the size of a football field and the largest human-made object in space. She describes NASA's de-orbit operation as one giant leap, requiring five different space agencies to come together to ensure a safe descent back to earth. The operation will culminate in a fiery plunge to the middle of the Pacific Ocean in Point Nemo, known as the ‘spacecraft graveyard,’ it is the furthest point from civilisation. 

SA grant awarded to commercialise Australian glaucoma test

The South Australian government has awarded Seonix Bio a $304,000 Seed-Start grant for world-leading glaucoma research to be rolled out in clinical settings. Dr Owen Siggs, 2007 John Monash Scholar, is working on this pioneering research at Flinders University. This grant will allow Seonix Bio to start offering PRS (polygenic risk score) tests using a blood or saliva sample, to determine which glaucoma patients will develop severe vision loss, so they can be prioritised in ophthalmology waiting lists and receive informed clinical care sooner. 

Science, medicine and the human experience

Dr Xin Zhang, the 2022 Susan and Isaac Wakil John Monash Scholar has spoken with Echo Chamber about being an Australian-Chinese doctor in Australia. Xin shares her early experiences of racism in Australia which have since enriched her empathy towards her patients, who come from all backgrounds. Xin specialises in cognitive neurology and will be undertaking a PhD in Neurology at University College London. She intends to complete a research project that will bridge the gap between science, medicine and the human experience, to advance the development of dementia treatments. 

First allied health John Monash Scholar

SARRAH (Services for Australian Rural & Remote Allied Health) run a weekly podcast entitled Talking For Purpose. Rebecca Keeley, Speech Pathologist and the 2022 Tim Fischer John Monash Scholar, featured in their latest episode where she spoke about being the first allied health professional to be awarded a John Monash Scholarship. Rebecca will be completing a Master of Business at The University of Oxford. Her long-term goal is to harness the power of technology, to improve allied health services across Australia’s rural and remote regions. Listen to her engaging podcast episode here. 

Culturally unsafe workplaces

The Australian and New Zealand Society of Occupational Medicine Inc (ANZSOM) is holding its Annual Scientific Meeting in Brisbane this March. Dr Brett Shannon, the 2021 Australian Universities’ John Monash Scholar, will be presenting at the conference about the growing body of research that examines the implications of racism and culturally unsafe workplaces for First Nations people. Register for this event here. 

Review to boost women in the workforce 

Empowering women and improving their economic opportunities is the focus of the NSW Government’s landmark Women’s Economic Opportunities Review. The Review will be conducted by the NSW government and supported by an Expert Reference Panel which includes Jillian Kilby, the 2013 BHP John Monash Scholar and CEO/founder of the Infrastructure Collaborative and The Exchange. The Review will develop recommendations to improve gender pay gaps, childcare and early childhood education for families. 

Media, culture and technology 

Jessie Hughes is the 2020 Lee Liberman John Monash Scholar and a Creative Technologist at Josephmark. This week she joined the Download This Show ABC podcast hosted by Marc Fennell. In this episode, Jessie provided her thoughts on NFTs (non-fungible tokens), the metaverse (Web 3.0), bionic body parts and Wordle (a web-based word game). 

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