University of Newcastle successful recipients of four prestigious Australia Awards Fellowships

Tuesday, 1 August 2023

From inclusive education in Vanuatu to cyber security training in Samoa, four research teams at the University of Newcastle have been successful recipients of the highly competitive and prestigious Australia Awards Fellowships.

Left to right: Angelinah Eldads Vira, Ministry of Education and Training, Sherol George, Vanuatu Skills Partnership, Dr Angela Page, School of Education, Kathleen Arthur, Vanuatu National University, Sonia Wasi, Vanuatu Education Support Program

Funded by the Australian Government, the Fellowships will allow the University of Newcastle to build capacity and strengthen partnerships with countries in our region in support of key development and foreign affairs priorities as outlined at Australia Awards Fellowships.

The University of Newcastle’s successful Australia Awards Fellowships recipients include:

'Women in Leadership: Developing capacity within disability inclusive education in Vanuatu' by Dr Angela Page and Professor Susan Ledger from the University’s School of Education.

A partnership with Vanuatu's Ministry of Education to upskill four visiting Fellows in inclusive education and policy making.

This Fellowship seeks to up-skill women in early to mid-career leadership roles within Vanuatu's inclusive education sector to enable them to develop effective policies to transform inclusive education and mitigate against disability discrimination in schools in Vanuatu. (Fellows pictured above).

‘Building capacity for effective governance in public service management and sustainable development’ by Dr Patricia Johnson and Dr Janet Dzator from the Newcastle Business School.

In partnership with the Public Service Commissions of Kenya and Botswana, public servants will visit Canberra and Sydney for workshops that aim to strengthen capacity of leaders in the public service commission for strengthened governance frameworks.

The 2023 program is dedicated to strengthening key institutional connections between Australia and Kenya and seeks to revive the University of Newcastle’s connections with the Botswana Directorate of Public Service Management, reinforcing strategic public service management and delivery.

'Master-Reach-Teach: Short Course for Field Epidemiologists' by Dr James Flint and Melinda Phillips from the School of Medicine and Public Health.

Co-funded by Hunter New England Health, partnering with Papua New Guinea’s National Department of Health, 15 field epidemiology training fellows will come to Newcastle representing all levels of government (local, provincial, and national) to undertake a two-week intensive field epidemiology training program.

The University of Newcastle's Field Epidemiology in Action (FEiA) program has been supporting high impact field epidemiology and rapid response team training in the Pacific since 2013. Additional professional development opportunities are urgently needed as national field epidemiology training programs move toward institutionalisation and sustainability.

'Secure Cyber Operations Analyst (SOCA)' – A partnership with Samoa's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) by Professor Vijay Varadharajan, Dr Uday Tupakula and Dr Kallol Krishna Karmakar from the School of Information and Physical Sciences and the Advanced Cyber Security Engineering Research Centre (ACSRC).

Ten fellows from Samoa will visit the University of Newcastle to undertake short-course training in cyber security and visit Cyber Security Operations in Sydney. University of Newcastle academics will travel to Samoa to deliver a 5-day training in November.

With three out of four projects built on partnerships in the Pacific Islands region, these Fellowships support our commitment to the University’s Looking Ahead Asia Pacific Focus, supported by the Pacific Node and Office of Global Engagement and Partnerships.

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