June 2016

UON’s Dean of Architecture, Professor Michael Ostwald, has been awarded the Neville Quarry Medal for services to Architectural Education at the annual Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) recognition ceremony in Adelaide in May.

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.

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.