June 2016

UON recently hosted delegates from Croatia with a visit to the Newcastle Robotics Laboratory. Dr. Damir Kusen (Ambassador of Republic of Croatia H.E) and Mr. Hrvoje Petrusic (Consulate General of the Republic of Croatia) had made a special request to tour the lab.

UON’s 2014 Annual Report won a silver medal in the prestigious Australasian Reporting Awards (ARA) held in Sydney recently.

Professor John Aitken, Pro-Vice Chancellor Health and Medicine has been reappointed as a UON Laureate Professor, with the unanimous endorsement of the University Award Committee. The appointment, for a further five years, recognises his outstanding research and innovation achievements, his contributions to reproductive research and his leadership, particularly as Pro Vice-Chancellor for UON’s Faculty of Health and Medicine.

University of Newcastle/HMRI researchers have received almost $1.65 million to support four ground-breaking cancer projects, as part of a $39 million funding package announced by the NSW Government this week.

Newcastle Business School has received a $200,000 grant for research focusing on developing strategies to improve Indigenous participation and success in business.

Professor Jenny Gore of the School of Education has been selected to deliver the prestigious Radford Lecture at this year's Australian Association for Research in Education Conference in Melbourne. Professor Gore will join a long list of celebrated figures who have been invited to present the lecture since it's inception in 1984.

The 2016 Hunter Innovation Festival aims to challenge, inspire and dare you to do things a little differently - upset the status quo (just a little...) and think outside the box. The not-for-profit event, to be held from 10 to 17 June, is proudly sponsored by the University of Newcastle.

The University of Newcastle 2015 Annual Report was released to the NSW Parliament on 2 June 2016. It is a comprehensive record of our many achievements over the year, and a snapshot of the significant milestone that was our 50th anniversary year.

In a brain cancer breakthrough, an international phase III clinical trial TROG 08.02 (GBM in elderly patients), which included Australian and New Zealand researchers and patients, has found that adding temozolomide chemotherapy during short-course radiation therapy, followed by monthly maintenance doses of temozolomide, significantly improved survival of elderly patients with glioblastoma (GBM), reducing the risk of death by 33%.

The School of Nursing and Midwifery has again raised additional funds for the Fairy Garden project at Lampang Hospital in Thailand, a project they helped open in 2012.

Electronic cigarettes containing nicotine will be trialled by University of Newcastle (UON) researchers in a Victorian pilot study aimed at helping drug and alcohol treatment patients to quit smoking.

Professor John Maynard has been selected as one of the new 2016-18 Fulbright Ambassadors.