May 2020

The Centre for African Research, Engagement and Partnerships (CARE-P) was a lead agency in partnership with the Mental Health and Wellbeing Foundation of Ghana in securing DFAT funding to redesign/refurbish the VIP ward and to also construct a 10 seater toilet block at the Cured Leper’s Village, Godokpe-Ho in the Volta Region of Ghana.

Coordinating the national response to COVID-19 has been led by an unfamiliar piece of political machinery, the National Cabinet. Prof. Jim Jose looks at a democratic reset or back to the future.

Amid a competitive pool of applicants, Dr Khay Fong from the School of Environmental and Life Sciences has been announced as the 2020 recipient of the Australasian Colloid and Interface Society (ACIS) Lectureship.

After spending time in Botswana conducting research on leopards, Associate Professor Matthew Hayward has revealed that humanity is at a critical point when it comes to the global biodiversity crisis.

Recognised by a prestigious award from The Royal Society of NSW, PhD student Emma Austin, alongside the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health and the Centre for Water, Climate and Land, researches the relationship between drought and wellbeing in rural communities – an issue of increasing importance as the climate crisis worsens.

When COVID-19 restrictions meant the Renaissance Society of America (RSA) conference in April was cancelled, members of the Electronic Textual Cultures Lab (ETCL) at the University of Victoria, Canada, created a virtual conference instead so that papers could still be presented and discussed.

A discussion of privacy and security issues around the COVIDSafe contact tracing app.

As an inaugural recipient of a DVC(A) Merit List Award for Teaching and Learning Excellence, Lecturer in the School of Education, Dr Emma Shaw, shares how she uses modern teaching techniques to shape her students’ learning experience.

The award of the 2020-2021 Global Chair role to Professor Penny Jane Burke will support ongoing research collaboration with the University of Bath. Professor Burke will provide mentorship to colleagues in the UK and co-develop research projects and online courses.

Each year the University watches with pride as our talented graduates trade the campus for new workplaces, set to make their mark on the world and in their communities. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of almost 30 Hunter-based alumni and staff have done just that – developing one of two successful ventilator prototypes selected by the State government for pre-production.

Criminologist from the University of Newcastle, Dr Justin Ellis has recently published a co-authored journal article into the level of fear of crime in inner city Sydney, with Professor Murray Lee at the Sydney Law School and Professor Jonathan Jackson at the London School of Economics.

To mark World Ovarian Cancer Day, the Australian Government has announced a $16.2 million investment in eight research projects to beat the disease.