9- 06-2023

Welcome to our first winter edition of MonashMinds – our bi-monthly bulletin. Whilst in Australia we near our winter solstice, overseas the Summer has welcomed many of our Scholars to graduation season. All of us at the Foundation celebrate their success with them.  

In this week's edition, we celebrate this milestone for many John Monash Scholars and recognise the contributions of our alumni in their respective fields. We hope you enjoy sharing their exciting journeys with us.

Earlier this month Tess Kelly, 2020 Zelman Cowen John Monash Scholar, graduated with a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. Following her graduation, Tess will be working at the Correctional Association of New York where she will focus on prison health and safeguarding the human and civil rights of incarcerated people. 

“I am beyond grateful for the skills gained, lessons learned and lasting relationships I’ve formed these past two years. It has been an unforgettable experience, for which I will be forever grateful.” 

Last week Bronte Gosper, 2021 Gandel Foundation John Monash Scholar (Arts) graduated with a Master of Arts (Oral History) at Columbia University. Her thesis documentary ‘Collapsing time: Indigenous storytellers and the Everywhere’ explored Indigenous conceptions of time, through personal narratives.  

“Indigenous testimonies are repeatedly over mystified and romanticised by settler listeners who seek to say something about themselves by analysing Indigenous peoples as a monolithic ‘spiritual’ people. My narrators rejected colonial time, instead asserting an Indigenous temporality, and in turn an Indigenous sovereignty. My documentary sought to move away from dominant narratives to create a ‘collapsed temporality’ in which Aboriginal stories were heard on their own terms, outside the exoticising gaze of settler questioning.”  

Scholar graciously thanks John Monash and Rotary Scholarship for their support for her mental health research

Dr Isabel Hanson, 2022 BHP John Monash Scholar, is a General Practitioner and clinical lecturer working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities spanning from Cape York to Kununarra and Sydney to Broken Hill. Pursuing a DPhil in Primary Care at the University of Oxford, she aims to bridge the health gap in youth mental health policy and practice by collaborating with young people and primary care providers. Using an 'appreciative inquiry' methodology, she investigates successful strategies across Australia, and showcases this knowledge to enhance the development of the Australian and UK youth mental healthcare systems. Isabel's ground-breaking research is supervised by Professor Trish Greenhalgh, an internationally renowned expert in public health and primary care research impact. 

Isabel wholeheartedly expresses her profound gratitude to the General Sir John Monash Foundation and Turramurra Rotary Club for their exceptional support, as their generosity enables her to make a lasting impact as an early career researcher and emerging leader in primary care. She firmly believes in the power of reciprocity and is committed to utilising these scholarship funds to enhance the mental health and overall well-being of young people across Australia and the UK. 

Tomas takes on Oxford 

Holding a Bachelor of Medical Science, a Master of Public Health and a Master of Philosophy-Medicine, Tomas Robertson aims to further his knowledge at the University of Oxford as the 2023 Tim Fischer John Monash Scholar. Tom is looking to combine clinical and public health work in regional Australia to improve health outcomes for regional Australians.  

We wish him the best of luck during his time at Oxford. Learn more about Tom’s career and future endeavours here.

Key priorities for Indigenous women