Community and Alumni

Dr Michelle Bovill on her unintentional research career.

A unique bond between kindy kids and aged care residents in the NSW Hunter region has culminated in a heart-warming musical meeting after months of written letters back and forth during the COVID-19 lockdown.

out(fit), the volunteer collective from the University of Newcastle School of Architecture and Built Environment has been awarded a Landscape Architecture Award for Community Contribution and a Regional Achievement Award in the 2020 Australian Institute of Landscape Architects NSW Awards.

A new scholarship to help Indigenous students realise their ambition to study law has been launched thanks to the generous support of the Newcastle Bar Association.

Proud Gadigal Guringai man Luka Bungaree is in his second year of a Bachelor of Social Science majoring in Criminology and is the first recipient of the LGBTQIA+ Shaping Futures Scholarship which aims to improve access to higher education for disadvantaged students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and/or queer, plus other diverse orientations and gender identities. We are very grateful to all the generous staff, students and community members who have helped launch this scholarship.

The University of Newcastle’s Faculty of Business and Law has partnered with more than 10 leading Hunter organisations to offer the Women in MBA (WiMBA) scholarship for aspirational and high-achieving women.

Janet Copley was a tireless political activist and campaigner for social justice in Newcastle and her legacy lives on through the University. She left a generous bequest to support women studying the Arts to attend University, and this has been used in part to establish a doctoral scholarship in her honour. The Janet Copley Doctoral Scholarship is to be awarded preferentially to women applicants who submit a proposal for a high quality project in areas related to: history; autobiography and biography; memoir and historical fiction; labour relations and labour histories; or aspects of Newcastle’s history, society and culture.

When alumnus Lachlan King (Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical), 2004) attended a scholarship ceremony at the University for a close friend, a seed was planted: the idea that 'giving somebody else the opportunity to continue their education path’ was within his reach.

We are very grateful to all our generous donors who choose to support women to reach their full potential.

The Isabella and Marcus Foundation passionately and tirelessly raises funds to support research into one of the most aggressive childhood cancers. Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) is a devastating paediatric brain tumour that kills more children than any other disease. Only 10% of children with DIPG survive for 2 years following their diagnosis, and less that 1% survive for 5 years. For promising young University of Newcastle researcher Evie Jackson the hope to change that is what drives her forward every day.

It has been an extremely challenging year: drought, bushfires and now COVID-19. But through it all, our community has come together to help those in need and show support for causes we care about. Head of Philanthropic Programs, Brad Holmes, reflects on the remarkable generosity you have shown over the past six months.

As our world continues to face uncertainty, your help provides a student with stability, financial assistance and reassurance that their dreams are not lost. These students will give back to our communities in the future in so many ways – thank you