In introducing the winners and finalists, the Vice-Chancellor Professor S Bruce Dowton emphasised how Macquarie staff had ‘risen to the occasion’ in responding to the challenges of COVID-19.

“I could not be prouder of each and every one of our colleagues who demonstrate how to collaborate, to share ideas and to support one another during the challenging times we have had.

“On behalf of the entire Macquarie University community, I would like to thank and congratulate all the finalists for their extraordinary efforts and for making Macquarie University such a special place to study and work.”

There were some lovely comments in the chat panel from those watching the ceremony, such as:

“Many warm congratulations to all the winners – you make the whole institution look good!”

“Such amazing talent across the board – truly Macquarie is the home of world-class research and teaching.”

“I’m feeling totally inspired by the incredible researchers we have at MQ. Great job by the judging panels, I don’t know how you did it!”

“Thank you and congratulations to our brilliant professional staff as well. You make all the difference!”

Congratulations to all the winners.

Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Awards

Vice-Chancellor’s Learning & Teaching Student-Nominated Award

• Dr Holly Doel-Mackaway, Faculty of Arts
• Dr Petra Graham, Faculty of Science and Engineering
• Professor Debbie Haski-Leventhal, Macquarie Business School
• Dr Prashan Karunaratne, Macquarie Business School
• Dr John Turchini, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences

Vice-Chancellor’s Learning & Teaching Sessional Staff Award
Dr Amanda Head, Faculty of Arts 

Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Early Career Award
Dr Joel Fuller, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences

Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence
Dr Alissa Beath, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences

Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Learning Innovation
Shamim Joarder, Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching)

Vice-Chancellor’s Educational Leader Award
Professor Leonie Tickle, Macquarie Business School

Research Excellence Awards

Excellence in Higher Degree Research

• Dr Jenny Lee, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences
• Dr Corrine Sullivan, Faculty of Arts

Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision – Supervisor of the Year
Professor Chris Patel, Macquarie Business School

Early Career Researcher of the Year

• Associate Professor Daniel Ghezelbash, Faculty of Arts
• Dr Sidong Liu, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences

Excellence in Research – Five Future-shaping Research Priorities

• Innovative Technologies: Associate Professor Dominic Berry, Faculty of Science and Engineering
• Secure Planet: Professor Neil Saintilan, Faculty of Science and Engineering
• Prosperous Economies: Professor Maroš Servátka, Macquarie Business School
• Healthy People: The team of: Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite, Professor Enrico Coiera, Professor Johanna Westbrook, Associate Professor Yvonne Zurynski, Professor Andrew Georgiou, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences
• Resilient Societies: The team of: Professor Bronwyn Carlson, Professor Sandy O’Sullivan, Dr Tristan Kennedy, Madi Day, Tetei Bakic, Dr Jo Rey, Faculty of Arts

Excellence in Research Innovation, Partnership and Entrepreneurship
The team of: Dr Sourabh Khandelwal, Professor Michael Heimlich, Emeritus Professor Anthony Parker and Professor Simon Mahon, Melissa Gorman, Faculty of Science and Engineering

The Jim Piper Award for Excellence in Research Leadership
Professor Liz Pellicano, Faculty of Arts

Watch the ceremony 

Do you remember the first lecture or tute you taught? Or your jubilation in receiving your very first research grant?

Professor Mariella Herberstein, Interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), does.

“My first teaching experience at Macquarie was BIOL208 Animal Structure and Function – a unit I took over from a very experienced colleague who knew literally everything about animals. As the first lecture approached, I was ready to go. I got to the lecture theatre early, set up, waited… and waited… no students. It then dawned on me that I’d showed up an hour early.”

She may have had a rocky start with timetabling, but one thing was very clear to Mariella from the outset – that teaching in a research-intensive university meant her students were walking out of her classroom a whole lot more inspired than when they went in.

“Bringing exciting research into that unit content was critical for the student experience,” she says. “One of the main outcomes of embedding research into teaching is demonstrating how the knowledge that ends up in textbooks often comes about through chance discoveries. And everyone – including students – can make those discoveries.”

Inspirational teachers also changed the course of the career of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Sakkie Pretorius.

“I started my research journey looking to isolate microbes from cow dung on my father’s farm, with a goal of producing biofuel from waste material,” he recalls. “Two weeks into my PhD, I changed subjects after being completely inspired by the Head of Department who opened my eyes to a world of possibilities in microbiology. He taught with incredible knowledge, passion and drove our hunger to make an impact.”

For Sakkie, the powerful relationship between teaching and research cannot be understated – a sentiment he shared in his recent Research Weather Report.

“Teaching inspires research, and vice versa – they are a dynamic duo,” he asserts. “As a university, we have three functions: to teach, to research and – through those – to serve the wider community with world-changing impact. Our most passionate Macquarie academics are often driven to deliver all three.”

This passion that will be applauded on Tuesday 30 November as Macquarie celebrates our 2021 Academic Staff Awards.

Mariella and Sakkie will be joined at the online event by Vice-Chancellor Professor S Bruce Dowton and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) Professor Dominique Parrish in presenting the Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Awards and the Research Excellence Awards.

“Our educators and researchers have achieved so much this year, particularly in the difficult times we have experienced during COVID,” says Sakkie. “It’s wonderful to be able to take this opportunity to recognise their dedication, and I encourage staff to join us for the ceremony on 30 November.”

The Academic Staff Awards will be held online via Zoom from 3pm to 4.15pm on Tuesday 30 November. Register now.

Meet all the Highly Commended Finalists >>

Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Student–Nominated Award

Recognises staff for their teaching and support of learning that influences, motivates, and inspires students to learn.

Dr Shireen Daft  |  Macquarie Law School

“When we threw hacky sacks at plastic bottles labelled ‘combatants’ and ‘non-combatants’, I had a crisis. Which bottle to target based on only three intelligence questions? When I hit a bottle labelled ‘school’, I tunnel-visioned. It was a game… but now I reflect on what I think was the pinnacle of this unit. That five minutes of panic and remorse is what decision-makers feel as they sit and watch while 300 schoolchildren are killed by an inaccurate missile fired on incomplete intelligence. It was incredibly insightful.”

As Dr Shireen Daft mentors her students to become global citizens and life-long learners, they stand trial in a mock war crimes tribunal and reflect on their decisions made over the course of the semester. It’s an immersive experience that gives them a true appreciation of what laws mean in practice. Shireen believes this has a profound impact on their understanding of the content and the importance of the laws governing armed conflict.

And it resonates with her students: “I have always felt lucky to live in Australia. So many of us can happily live in an ‘ignorance is bliss’ mentality. This unit has spurred my passion and drive to continue to educate myself about what is going on all over the world.”

Dr Holly Doel-Mackaway  |  Macquarie Law School

Dr Holly Doel-Mackaway’s commitment to supporting future generations of lawyers to be critical thinkers, and her pursuit to challenge discrimination and transform established legal norms has been brought to life with her new unit Child Law.

Along with her In Conversation video and podcast series featuring leading child law experts, and authentic ‘real-life’ assessments, her teaching not only increases Indigenous cultural competency among staff and students, but also cultivates deep engagement and new ways of understanding how law operates.

“Holly caused us to think about issues more deeply and to be critical of accepted institutions and systems,” says one student.

In fostering a sense of global citizenship, Holly employs a human rights-based approach to her teaching – amplifying her students’ voices and ensuring they feel safe and respected.

“Holly inspires students to see themselves in not only someone else’s shoes, but in someone else’s world to understand legal issues in a unique, cross-cultural, all-encompassing and modern way,” says another student.

Dr Petra Graham  |  Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Statistics, fun? According to Dr Petra Graham, some students “fear statistics when coming from non-quantitative backgrounds”.

So for her students to remark that her unit was “one of the most enjoyable” is testament to her philosophy of student engagement.

Another commented, “Petra has made statistics so accessible and fun. Her lectures are not only clear, but her witty sense of humour has made me remember content.”

Petra uses a “reflective, student-focused constructivist approach to foster student learning”.

She says many students struggle with the relevance of statistics to their degree.

“I actively address this using a knowledge discovery process, creating interactive content that scaffolds their understanding, avoids cognitive overload and enables students to become the researcher using relevant real-world data.”

By drawing on constructivist theory to design formative and summative hurdle quiz assessments and flipped practicals, Petra fosters content mastery through repeated attempts from a huge question bank that provides instant feedback and additional in-class support.

“I absolutely loved this unit,” a student said. “It challenged me in new ways and provided a new sense of confidence in my abilities.”

Dr Gaurav Gupta  |  Department of Computing

Dr Gaurav Gupta goes out his way to instil a culture of self-belief in his students. Whether it’s the flexibility – achieved through his micro-lectures and practice packages – or the quick and unambiguous answers to queries, his students’ interests are at the forefront of his teaching.

“Gaurav was a very kind individual who worked non-business hours to ensure I understood the material,” one student reported.

Gaurav’s encounter with a “female, migrant (refugee), parent” rocking her toddler while finishing an assignment in a lab at 9pm helped shape his policy.

“Since then, I am more mindful of the various challenges our students face, whether it is picking up a shift at work, taking care of a sick child, commuting hours to come to campus, or a lack of confidence when surrounded by students with past experience (common in computer programming),” he says.

So the ability to listen to his YouTube-based micro-lectures while driving or on public transport, and the instant, constructive and detailed feedback from his practice packages are paramount in building self-belief.

“COMP1010 changed my life,” another student said. “The practice packages were my first taste of ‘real’ programming and they, as well as Gaurav’s lectures, were what helped me discover my joy of programming.”

Professor Debbie Haski-Leventhal  |  Department of Management (Corporate Social Responsibility)

In elevating her students to higher levels of consciousness, Professor Debbie Haski-Leventhal is working to create a movement towards responsible management education and purpose-driven universities – that are a “force for good”.

If her student feedback – and global recognition – are anything to go by, she’s well on the way.

But better than feedback, she says, is the implementation of her knowledge. “My biggest reward is the change in people’s lives and careers, and the positive impact these students create.

“I aim to inspire positive change among future business leaders, lead for increased social impact and contribute to Macquarie’s excellence and purpose.”

Debbie brought many inspirational speakers to MQ, turning her Big Friday of Social Entrepreneurship and Women Who Change the World into ‘mega events’ for the entire university. And among her innovative teaching techniques are guided meditation to discuss the future of sustainability; the Failure Circle to build resilience; and shared lunches to generate connectivity.

For her students, the change is palpable, as one of them writes: “I succeeded in pivoting my career towards responsible investment; I’ve just completed a project at AMP to divest their portfolios from tobacco and controversial weapons, and joined Colonial First State to lead their responsible investment efforts. Thank you for arming me with the tools to make this happen!”

Dr Yimin Stephanie Huang  |  Department of Marketing

In cultivating exceptional marketers, Dr Stephanie Huang imparts more than just knowledge and skills.

As one of her students said: “Stephanie is not just a teacher but a mentor and a life-long friend.”

It’s a sentiment that pervades most of her student ratings: “You have taught me countless ways of thinking when it comes to marketing,” said another. “You extended on all of my thoughts and provided a safe place for me to contribute all of my opinions. I hope this is not our last class together, and that I can continue to learn from you.”

For Stephanie, it’s about creating an inclusive environment by using different strategies to motivate students of differing backgrounds, and transforming them from passive to active learners.

“I challenge my students intellectually and teach them how to ask questions before they learn how to get answers – in doing so students develop curiosity for knowledge and become engaged learners,” explains Stephanie.

Making this learning meaningful is imperative. “I do this by integrating intellectual capabilities and practical skills critical to employability,” she says.

This is reflected in her student feedback. “Suddenly all my studies and my business experience makes sense. It’s as if a light has been finally turned on.”

Dr Ian Jamie  |  Department of Molecular Sciences 

“Tell me, I forget; show me, I remember; involve me, I understand.” Dr Ian Jamie’s educational values follow the teaching wisdom of some of the great philosophers – including Confucius.

“Having the opportunity to instil the joy of learning in students and prepare them for their post-study life is a privilege, but also a great responsibility,” says Ian, who endeavours to learn “with his students”.

“I try to put aside my knowledge of the subject matter and see it from the perspective of a student,” he explains. But that doesn’t mean spoon-feeding them – a trait for which his students are thankful.

“Ian cleverly induces thought which enables us to think for ourselves,” one student reported.

His clear expectations and comprehensive feedback combined with activities such as marshmallow vacuum-expansion and molecule-building with potatoes and marshmallows make his topic highly engaging. “This embeds the idea of molecular shape and geometry, and engages the kinaesthetic learners who are often not catered for in traditional science learning environments.”

Ian’s energy and enthusiasm for the subject matter are infectious: “He made you want to try the hard parts,” attests another student. “He made us want to turn up. Through Ian’s interest, he made us all keen and eager.”

Dr Prashan Karunaratne  |  Department of Actuarial Studies and Business Analytics 

Dr Prashan Karunaratne knows how to speak the language of students. This coupled with his ability to engage them in “the how” and “the why” of learning, and draw on their own experiences, makes Prashan so popular, many of his students seek to repeat their experience with him in other units throughout their degree.

By devoting time in each lesson for students to teach and learn from each other, Prashan says they “become partners and co-creators in their learning”. As he builds their confidence, they are able to self-teach themselves new concepts.

As well as launching an initiative for academic and industry speakers to advise students on employability, Prashan has had huge success with Enactus, an international experiential learning platform that empowers students to use entrepreneurial skills to achieve a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal. Following Macquarie’s national champion status in 2020 and top-four finish this year, Prashan was named Most Outstanding Faculty Adviser at the national championship.

This student summed it up: “I have had the pleasure of having you for two of my subjects… you always put in a great level of effort and made your units extremely interesting. It is no wonder Macquarie students have such love for you.”

Dr Ali Lalbakhsh  |  School of Engineering and Macquarie University International College

Dr Ali Lalbakhsh may be in the midst of his own “engineering marvel” with his groundbreaking research, but helping his students believe they can make the world a better place is his “greatest career achievement”. 

“I strive to transform the ‘only-pass-the-unit’ attitude among new pathway students to a ‘change-the-world’ attitude,” says Ali. “I make my students believe they can participate in future engineering marvels.” 

He sees WENG1000 as a once-in-lifetime opportunity: “I can contribute to establishing young students’ careers, as most are still in a dilemma when enrolling in this entry unit. This attitude makes me effortlessly inspirational in teaching.” 

Ali’s caring yet professional relationship with his students “supercharges their motivation”, with some continuing to work with him on high-quality journal articles six months after finishing the unit. 

“The lessons you taught were eye-opening, not just into the world of engineering, but into how people learn and how different we all are,” said one student. “The biggest confidence boost was when you asked if I wanted to take my assignment paper further and try and get it published.” 

Another said: “Your guidance has helped shape me into the type of person I would like to become at uni.” 

Mr Daniel Lombardo  |  Macquarie University International College

From early in their study journey, Daniel Lombardo inspires and guides his students – beyond the diploma he teaches, and into their degree and future employment.

“I have Daniel to thank for encouraging me to follow my passion, leading me to where I am today,” said graduate software developer Christopher Stedman. “His mentorship was particularly valuable over the past semester as I completed my capstone project and applied for graduate positions. Daniel is not only focused on providing an excellent education, but also on making sure students feel supported, and ensuring they succeed throughout university and into the future.”

Daniel works to “shift student perceptions – helping them realise computer science is not difficult and that they have the world at their fingertips”. He does this by analysing each student’s understanding and individually addressing misconceptions with real life examples.

“I identify the very subtle misconceptions formed in their initial phase of learning through individualised engagement with each student.”

Daniel has encouraged Macquarie University International College to facilitate extra lessons so he can teach students real-life cyber security skills and motivate them to continue their study in the field.

“After constant exposure to real-world scenarios, students begin to ask for degree and career advice.”

It’s the third year running Daniel’s students have nominated him for the award.

Miss Christine Mikhael  |  Macquarie Law School

“No question is a silly question.”

It’s a simple proposition, but that’s the beauty of Christine Mikhael’s teaching philosophy. She reminds students to leave hesitation, intimidation and reluctance behind them – because no question could be a silly one, particularly when tackling complex legal problems. Christine strives to unpack and conquer complex legal problems with her students, by explaining them in a logical and simplified manner.

Christine, who describes teaching at Macquarie as “food for her soul”, has a way with making difficult concepts not only easy to understand, but also highly engaging. Which is why so many of her students have transformed their perspective of challenging law units and leave her classes inspired to conquer other units.

One student says: “It is rare you find a tutor as passionate, driven and dedicated as Christine. Thank you for inspiring me in an area of the law that I otherwise thought at the start of the semester as boring and dry.”

“I firmly believe a transformative learning experience requires an inspiring and motivating tutor that is approachable and respectful,” says Christine. “I always aim to use plain English to explain complex legal concepts and guide students with practical- real life examples”

A former student testified that “she oozes a passion for Constitutional law, which is infectious.” Another student went on to state that “having Christine as a tutor has helped me to become a better student and also re-adjust my perception of Constitutional law and my degree.”

Dr Melissa Norberg  |  Department of Psychology

While Dr Melissa Norberg’s passion is to foster scientific thinking, she also places great emphasis on guiding her students to take care of their own mental health before helping others.

“My iLearn communications provide an important social and emotional presence that demonstrates the real-life applicability of unit content and cultivates togetherness,” she says.

In focusing on psychopathology, the scientific study of mental disorders, Melissa is working to steer psychology students away from ‘pseudoscience’ and towards effective treatment.

“The challenge of closing this gap is compounded by disengagement from online learning,” she says. “I transform my students into critical thinkers. I challenge their worldview by teaching them to independently evaluate theory and research rather than rely upon expert opinion.”

And her students are reaping the rewards: “This was one of the most challenging and influential units I have completed,” one said. “It really raised the bar regarding critical analytical skills and how I justify the clinical decisions I will soon be making.”

Another student said: “This unit was incredibly eye-opening and allowed me to understand disorders and associated stigma in a way I have not experienced. It challenged misconceptions and even altered the way I speak of and about disorders.”

Dr Joshua Penney  |  Department of Linguistics

Dr Joshua Penney believes all students can succeed if even the most complex information is presented well – and by a teacher who is passionate about the importance of the unit. 

Josh often teaches phonetics and phonology – technical, theoretical subject matter perceived by students as difficult prerequisites for speech training.  

“I see it as a privilege to instil in students an understanding of the importance of the curriculum and its relevance for their future careers while demystifying complex ideas,” he says.  

This is reflected in his students’ comments, which often describe him as the “best tutor ever”. One said: “Whether your hand was up or not, he would come around and check on you.” 

Another said: “He’s the most helpful teacher I’ve had, kind to every student, and always gives the clearest and most helpful tips.” 

Josh says providing a relatable access point in an enjoyable learning environment is the key.  

“I engage students with theoretical concepts by incorporating humour and relating concepts to authentic real-world examples,” he says. 

As one student said, it can end up being fun: “I actually enjoyed learning phonetics and phonology. Thank you for making such a difficult topic understandable and even (dare I say) fun!” 

Dr John Turchini  |  Department of Clinical Medicine

As he works to reverse the worldwide shortage of pathologists, Dr John Turchini is also producing higher quality medical graduates as they become more engaged in his anatomy, histology and pathology units. 

“Medical students often do not initially appreciate the value of these units and the relevance of their application in the clinical environment,” he says. “As pathology is the basis of disease, a sound understanding is necessary for the safe and accurate practice of medicine. My goal is to transform a dry subject into an interesting, engaging and memorable topic.” 

According to student feedback, he’s on track: “I am sure there will be plenty more students from MQ MD who are interested in becoming a pathologist because of John’s enthusiastic influence.” 

Another said: “Dr Turchini’s teaching in the lab is simply unparalleled. He goes straight to the point and manages to make it interesting by showing you the clinical application.”  

Through gamification and clinically relevant scenarios, John fulfils his philosophy of making learning enjoyable. Particularly popular is his game show strategy, summed up by another student: “I have never been this excited and engaged in a prac… you will be amazed how much you learn because of its engaging delivery.”  

Missed our earlier finalist profiles? Find them here

Register to attend the Awards ceremony on 30 November and help us celebrate our best.

Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Sessional Staff Award

Recognises staff for their approaches to teaching and support of learning that influences, motivates, and inspires students to learn.

Mr Joshua Fitzgerald  |  Department of Chiropractic

That chiropractor Josh Fitzgerald is engaging is an understatement.

In facilitating lightbulb moments, Josh takes great care to cultivate a safe and encouraging learning environment for every personality in his diverse cohort through positive reinforcement, “abundant enthusiasm and terrible jokes”.

Despite the complex subject matter, his grounded, human-centred approach is reflected in his students’ perception of him as a “super tutor” with more energy and drive than your average teacher. Importantly, he also succeeds in making the subject matter ‘stick’ and in developing the skills to excel in course work, clinical placement and a future career. Every student in three of his units in 2020 agreed he “created a good environment for learning” with 99 per cent saying he “engaged them in active learning”.

“I am in the privileged position of teaching widely across the undergraduate and postgraduate chiropractic degrees,” says Josh. “This affords me the opportunity to build bridges for students, highlighting the interconnection between units and how they work together towards the end goal of becoming a safe and effective clinician.

“I thoroughly enjoy bridging this disconnect to improve students’ motivation, engagement and understanding with reference to both their current studies and long-term career path.”

Dr Amanda Head  |  Macquarie Law School

Dr Amanda Head’s former students regularly ask her to mentor and provide advice beyond graduation, reflecting the positive connections she builds in her classes.

Her empathy stimulates a sense of belonging as she draws on her passion for the law to inspire and guide her students.

“Although teaching is perhaps my fourth career, it is, without doubt, the most rewarding,” says Amanda, who’s developed innovative programs to further engage and motivate her students.

“I identified a need for mature-age Bachelor of Laws students, who, when arriving at university, can feel disenfranchised in a cohort of mainly 18-year-olds. In response, I facilitated a new support group, including a dedicated MULS Facebook group, to guide and motivate students and to help develop their sense of connection.”

Amanda positions students as advisers and teachers to increase confidence and their connection within the legal research space.

“My collaborative brainstorming workshop encourages creativity and free-thinking,” she explains. “Secondly, I designed a novel peer-review workshop to enhance students’ meaningful early engagement with their major assessment.”

She has also brought literature to life by recording interviews with academics on their specific research methodologies: “These bite-size clips encourage students to engage with the concepts and the underlying literature.”

Mr Damian Jurd  |  Department of Computing

Damian Jurd’s model of ‘continuous assessment’ continues to benefit Macquarie and its students – across many facets of the computing curriculum.

Since developing the Data Communications unit to be built around this technique in 2018, failure rates have dropped, overall grades improved, and it’s been applied to other units under Damian’s influence.

In his Offensive Security unit, which he launched in 2019, students learning the art of penetration testing – a skill highly sought by employers – are assessed continuously through gamification. It paid off last year, when in their second intervarsity competition under Damian’s mentorship, the team placed first in Australia and 30th globally.

“Many of these students have since gone on to careers as penetration testers with well-known global firms,” says Damian.

His cutting-edge teaching continues to evolve. In Comp2000, Damian takes students beyond the basic elements of programming and leads them through the process of structuring a full application program.

“Instead of using PowerPoint, I developed elements of an application interactively during the lecture. During weekly workshops, students provided a verbal explanation of their solution to a weekly programming exercise to their tutor. In keeping with this approach, this semester we will ask students to perform weekly code reviews, as is normal industry practice.”

Mr Dylan Thompson  |  Department of Economics 

When Dylan Thompson became a tutor, he vowed to make his lessons inspiring. He wanted his students to want to attend class – and be able to make friends in the process. Unlike his own experience as a student.

“As an undergraduate, I struggled to find the motivation to attend tutorials. Tutors were often uninspiring and preoccupied with making sure the class finished on time.”

Dylan says new students often struggle with the abstract concepts of economics – “made worse by the traditional ‘chalk and talk’ approach”.

So, this year he redesigned the tutorials for Principles of Economics 1 using non-traditional resources such as pop cultural references, YouTube videos, social media sources and data journalism sites.

He also structured tutorials to focus on how economists actually work, by beginning each tutorial with a real-world problem before introducing a relevant economic model with which to analyse it.

Dylan believes group work and the ability to make friends is important in maintaining motivation.

“Each class I aim to present myself in a friendly, relatable and approachable manner, which I believe helps encourage students to participate in tutorials and feel comfortable asking questions. I find this particularly important as I often did not feel comfortable asking questions in class as an undergraduate.”

Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence

This award recognises staff for their excellence in teaching and support of learning and the impact they have on influencing, motivating and inspiring students to learn.

Dr Alissa Beath  |  Department of Psychology 

Dr Alissa Beath’s dedication to supporting all of her students – regardless of demographic or academic background – is now reflected across the Bachelor of Psychology.

In leading their “first exposure” to the science of psychology, Alissa uses engaging resources and humour to empower her students to overcome the anxiety associated with difficult aspects of the course.

With 80 per cent of Psychology students experiencing ‘statistics anxiety’, Alissa says for those who have undertaken the course to “help people”, research methods and statistics are a barrier.

“I proactively address this anxiety by presenting evidence that it can be beneficial, and encouraging students to reframe their negative attitudes into a growth mindset,” she says.

As Undergraduate Director of Psychology, Alissa coordinates offerings for more than 5000 students, and her leadership has created a pathway to high-quality education for students who would otherwise be unable to access it.

“Open Universities Australia students have a different demographic profile to traditional undergraduates, and this necessitates a strategic approach,” she says.

As well as reviewing the roll-out of an award-winning peer review program, Alissa has rewritten both the statistics and research methods curriculums and shown decisive leadership in transitioning Psychology to mass online delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Frances Chang  |  Department of Management

An experiential approach to learning and teaching means students get to experience real-world business challenges. It starts with students getting to know each other in a fun, speed-dating way. “It creates a positive, friendly atmosphere, conducive to engaging with peers and building teamwork” says Dr Frances Chang.

Throughout the session, students continue to experience real-world challenges by taking part in competitive Shark Tank-style series of pitch presentations and Simulation Games. Students get to apply theoretical concepts to analyse carefully selected case studies that address real-world business challenges. Frances feels that “Students get a feel of the difficulties of obtaining venture funds and learn to make decisions in difficult business situations”

“Our diverse student cohort enjoys guest speakers and relate particularly well with young entrepreneurs whom students find relatable and inspiring. I work with each guest speaker, so their talks underpin theory to practical real-world experiences,” says Frances.

Frances enjoys working with her team of tutors, “I take pains to explain in-class activities with them, alerting them to pressure points such as disinterest or hesitancy to participate, ensuring every student is given a voice, regardless of their different backgrounds.”

Frances has written new units and redeveloped existing units, always mindful of embedding an experiential approach to encourage ‘fun learning’.

Professor Iain Collings  |  School of Engineering

The unsolicited and passionate comments posted daily to Professor Iain Collings’ YouTube channel demonstrate the global impact of his teaching.

With almost three quarters of a million views and a daily audience average of 2500, the influence of his videos goes far beyond his coursework students.

Yet, by linking fundamental transformational concepts to real-world engineering systems, his students are unquestionably reaping the rewards of his “what, why and how approach” to engineering challenges.

“By approaching these questions from a student perspective, and contextualising complex mathematical concepts from practical perspectives, I aim to stimulate curiosity,” says Iain.

The increase in student Distinctions or High Distinctions from 11 per cent in 2019 to 34 per cent in 2021 attests to the success of his 150+ focused videos, which are presented in three modes: as components of a unit; as on-demand, searchable answers; and as browse-able content.

“I no longer present lectures, and instead flip the classroom and challenge students in practical sessions with projects linked to industrial applications,” he says. “The material draws on mathematics that is often challenging for engineering students. Not only do the videos address the demands of future online delivery methods, but also a long-held challenge of student learning in this area of engineering.”

Ms Linda Kelly |  School of Social Sciences

Linda Kelly’s students enhance their employability by “doing”. They better understand how real-world planning situations evolve – and they make connections with industry and stakeholders.

In transforming urban planning at Macquarie, Linda has drawn on extensive industry experience and embedded “doing” into her student-centred approach. This might involve engaging students with the tactile nature of LEGO and interactive 3D models to develop understanding of a difficult concept.

Outside the classroom, she simulates projects undertaken in the workplace, with students taking the lead in how to approach the project, with site visits and briefings by real planners.

Yet more real-world experience and the ability to hone collaborative problem solving is available in planning studios, which Linda has embedded across the entire Bachelor of Planning.

“It is especially important for students’ skills to meet expectations of professional practice,” she says. “Planning students needed more opportunities for critical thinking and problem solving so I developed an approach where students lead a four-week workshop on a quasi real-world issue. They develop skills that build towards preparing a design for a courtyard space on campus.

“The planning studio provides the opportunity for students and teacher to learn by doing and reflecting, while having fun in the process.”

Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision – Supervisor of the Year

This award recognises our outstanding Higher Degree Research (HDR) supervisors who enable our HDR candidates to achieve their highest potential.

Professor Chris Patel  |  Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance

As Professor Chris Patel continues to build a legacy of research excellence around the world, he and his graduates are also pioneering international accounting on a global scale.

Of his 15 PhD and two Master of Research graduates to date, the four who remain at Macquarie have gone on to supervise 27 Higher Degree Research students to completion.

Part of this success is down to the high-calibre research students he attracts through Macquarie’s renowned International Accounting and Business Network.

“My students have gone on to have their own distinguished careers. They’ve improved the quality of research and teaching at their universities, and made valuable contributions to society both nationally and globally,” says Chris.

While his supervision philosophy centres on mentoring and working closely with his students towards “the unrelenting pursuit of excellence”, Chris is also firmly focused on building supervision capacity around the world.

He achieves this through workshops for supervisors and their students to improve international accounting research.

“Over the past five years, more than 600 supervisors and research students, mainly from emerging countries, have participated in our workshops,” he says. “My students contribute to these
workshops, and in return, they enlarge their network and receive useful feedback on their papers.”

Professor Anina Rich  |  Department of Psychology

As well as her groundbreaking research in cognitive neuroscience, Professor Anina Rich is dedicated to cultivating outstanding researchers of the future.

Her work attracts outstanding students from around the world, but it’s her supervision that inspires many to stay on and pursue a PhD with her. It is then that she works to develop the skills required to be a successful independent researcher.

“I mentor my students to write their research for publication so they graduate with experience in submitting and responding to reviews, and a record of high-quality papers,” she says. With an emphasis on high-quality research, excellent communication and timely completion, Anina’s students graduate with confidence in their abilities to conduct a successful research career.

Anina has supervised 13 PhD, five masters by research and two Honours students to completion, with seven PhD theses judged in the top five per cent by at least one examiner and all of her primary supervisions in the top 10 per cent. She continues to communicate and collaborate with many of her ex-students.

“Anina encouraged me to strive for the highest standard and provided connections to facilitate my growth within my research field,” says Dr Ann Carrigan.

“She created the perfect learning atmosphere, allowing every question to be asked and treating me with so much respect at all times,” says Dr Lina Teichmann.

Missed our earlier finalists profiles? Find them all here.

Register to attend the Awards ceremony on 30 November and help us celebrate our best.

Excellence in Research – Five Future-shaping Research Priorities

These awards celebrate Macquarie’s Five Future-shaping Research Priorities, demonstrating the real-world impact of university research that has the potential to deliver significant benefits to Australian and international communities.

Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite, Professor Enrico Coiera, Professor Johanna Westbrook, Associate Professor Yvonne Zurynski, Professor Andrew Georgiou  |  Australian Institute of Health Innovation

Meet the five Macquarie experts leading research for the NHMRC Partnership Centre for Health System Sustainability (PCHSS). They are among 17 researchers, including health economists, scientists and clinician researchers, across seven universities and five funding partners, working to provide innovative solutions to the challenges facing healthcare systems worldwide. 

Led by Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite, the unique structure of the five-year grant embeds the researchers within the health system to work directly with health organisations. This ensures timely and sustainable improvements to the Australian healthcare system which, to date, include informing the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety; the development of national healthcare policies; designing innovative models of care; and the evaluation of health system programs. 

“Even before this pandemic, healthcare systems were being challenged by threats to their capacity to deliver high-quality care,” says Jeffrey. “These threats include ageing populations, increasing rates of chronic and complex diseases, growing cost pressures from new technologies and medicines, fragmented services, wasteful spending on low-value care and limited use of data and evidence to support health system changes.” 

PCHSS researchers have published more than 460 peer-reviewed papers, books, book chapters and reports since 2017, and been featured in more than 800 media stories. They have convened 465 stakeholder meetings, webinars and master classes. 

Dr Miriam Forbes  |  Department of Psychology

With advanced statistics at its core, Dr Miriam (Miri) Forbes’ innovative program of research will fundamentally change the way in which mental illness is diagnosed and classified.

In leading a multidisciplinary international research team to analyse hundreds of symptoms of common and uncommon mental disorders, Miri has examined the most comprehensive symptom-level data ever in the field.

This critical work launches the next step of research by the international Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) consortium of clinicians and scientists. The HiTOP framework has been developed as a rigorous evidence-based solution to the limitations of traditional diagnostic categories.

“Traditional diagnostic categories are misaligned with key mechanisms in neuroscience, molecular genetics, biological psychiatry and clinical psychology, and this hinders our efforts to identify the causes of mental illness,” explains Miri.

“My work has extended a robust and empirically based model of psychopathology to include the detail that is necessary to support the field’s shift away from the traditional diagnostic categories used in clinical research, and towards developing targeted interventions that are more effective for more people.”

Professor Catherine McMahon, Dr Kylie Gwynne, Professor Liz Pellicano (Department of Linguistics) and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Strategy) Dr Leanne Holt

In a country with one of the worst rates of ear disease among the Aboriginal population, this team of researchers is ramping up accessibility to culturally safe speech and language programs.

In New South Wales, nearly one in two Aboriginal children aged zero to three is affected by otitis media (OM), a middle ear infection which, for Aboriginal children, often results in hearing loss.

In a research first, Professor Catherine McMahon, Dr Kylie Gwynne, Pro Vice-Chancellor Dr Leanne Holt and Professor Liz Pellicano have taken a collaborative, community-led approach with Aboriginal leadership at its core.

“Australia has many elements required to end avoidable deafness in Aboriginal children. To date, however, these approaches have not been successful in reducing disparities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children,” says Catherine.

“By taking a strengths-based approach (rather than the more common deficit-based approach) to Aboriginal health during community partnership meetings, we have focused on the positive and proactive ways that communities and systems address ear and hearing health, and identified opportunities for how these might be strengthened.

“Our research will provide important support and an evidence-base for Aboriginal children with OM and their families to access services to improve listening and hearing which will impact developmental milestones.”

Professor Sheila Degotardi  |  School of Education

So pioneering is Professor Sheila Degotardi’s work in early language learning in early childhood education (ECE) centres, that it has cemented Macquarie University and Australia as research leaders in the field.

Sheila’s MQTaLK (Talk-Learn-Know) programs – funded continuously since 2014 – are providing world-first insights into the hypothesis that certain forms of talk act as “tools for learning” for infants and toddlers. The research program will also provide the first empirical longitudinal evidence of how learning-oriented talk develops and is used by toddlers from socially and culturally diverse backgrounds.

“Nearly 20 per cent of Australian children start school developmentally vulnerable or at risk in the area of language and communication development, so the MQTaLK program is providing much needed Australian data on how ECE infant-toddler programs can reverse early educational disadvantage,” says Sheila.

“Until now, research has largely focused on pre-school aged children. MQTaLK is filling a significant gap in the research on early language learning by focusing on the language environment in infant-toddler ECE centres.”

Sheila’s research is widely published, with MQTaLK publications comprising almost 50 per cent of the existing published infant-toddler ECE research on the topic. As a result she’s in demand as a keynote speaker on the world stage.

Professor Bronwyn Carlson, Professor Sandy O’Sullivan, Associate Professor Tristan Kennedy, Madi Day, Tetei Bakic, Dr Jo Rey  |  Department of Indigenous Studies

As Australia’s most distinguished academics on Indigenous peoples, the team at the Centre for Global Indigenous Futures is pioneering a new way of conducting research.

Instead of ‘closing the gap’ and focusing on Indigenous peoples as ‘problems’, their groundbreaking research is undertaken by – and for – Indigenous peoples.

“It’s not just about Indigenous peoples,” says Professor Bronwyn Carlson. “We are responding to a gap in research by addressing the question of Indigenous future and believe strongly in the idea of ‘growing our own’.

Indigenous leadership and researcher development are a key focus for the Centre, which offers an internship program developed by Associate Professor Tristan Kennedy to support future Indigenous scholars.

“Our research reimagines what future life will look like with – and for – Indigenous peoples,” Professor Bronwyn Carlson says.

The team has an outstanding record of industry and academic funding, publications and recognition – and their impact is profound. As well as mapping the complex histories and potential futures of queer Indigenous peoples across the globe; producing new knowledge on Indigenous peoples’ engagements on and with social media; and revealing how hate speech is identified by Indigenous peoples, reinvigorating traditional ways of caring for Country, the team has prompted the creation of Indigenous positions and internships, and influenced the policies of industry partners including ReachOut Australia and Facebook.

Professor Maroš Servátka  |  Department of Economics

Innovative trading rules developed by Professor Maroš Servátka and co-authors from the University of Alabama and the University of Waikato could protect investors from losing trillions of dollars when markets bubble then crash.

In a world-first, their research shows it is possible to eliminate bubbles solely by changing the way trading is conducted.

As well as impacting the trading process, their results also challenge existing thought on how bubbles emerge and how they can be tamed.

“We posit that a crucial factor contributing to bubbles is the presence of a trading institution that encourages traders to misrepresent their willingness to trade,” explains Maroš. “Eliminating incentives to misrepresent demand or supply weakens the speculative motives and causes prices to follow the fundamental value of the underlying asset.”

He says understanding the psychological and economic underpinnings of bubbles is crucial in preventing market crashes from reoccurring.

So the team of experimental economists created economies in the laboratory with real people and real money, and discovered a practical market design in which an institution that curbs incentives to misrepresent willingness to trade can eliminate bubbles.

Their groundbreaking results were accepted by the holy grail of economists, the American Economic Review: Insights, which described the research as a “crucial discovery”.

Professor Neil Saintilan  |  Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Could rises in sea level be an opportunity rather than a risk? By exploring carbon sequestration – the capture and storage of atmospheric carbon – across sea-level histories up to 8000 years old, Professor Neil Saintilan is pioneering research into the possibility that wetlands could be reliable sites for future carbon capture.

“We answered the long-standing question of how coastal wetlands will respond to accelerating sea-level rise by placing them in a context of global sea-level history through the innovative use of historic analogues,” explains Neil. “Our analysis of global carbon storage in mangrove and saltmarshes, published recently in Nature and Science, shows for the first time that sea-level history has played a major role in determining the concentration of organic carbon in these environments.”

It demonstrates that Southern Hemisphere wetlands have the potential to sequester an additional 5 million tonnes of atmospheric carbon per year if the rate of sea-level rise were to double.

“This acceleration in carbon sequestration also helps wetlands adjust to sea-level rise.”

Neil’s award-winning research has provided a powerful incentive for mangrove and saltmarsh conservation and restoration in Australia and around the globe. In April, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a $30 million investment in Blue Carbon ecosystems in Australia and the Pacific.

Associate Professor Dominic Berry  |  Department of Physics and Astronomy

Quantum computers are the most advanced technology ever proposed – with the promise to provide exponential speedups in the power to solve problems.

With IBM and Google expecting to produce them by 2030, Associate Professor Dominic Berry is leading the way in developing the algorithms these computers will need to solve real-world problems.

Unlike most quantum algorithms which are focused on abstract mathematical problems with no real-world application, Dominic’s work opens up entirely new areas of quantum algorithms, with the potential to solve virtually all computational physics and engineering. In the field of chemistry, it could potentially reduce world CO2 emissions by one to two per cent, helping ensure food security for billions of people.

Nitrogen fixing is needed to produce fertiliser – essential for the world’s food supply. “The current industrial process is inefficient, consuming one to two per cent of energy globally,” he explains. “While the biological process is far more efficient, it’s based on a complicated group of atoms called FeMoco, which has so far resisted industrialisation.

“My algorithms provide speedups thousands of times greater than prior work. For FeMoco, the speedup is a factor of 10,000, making it practical to perform on quantum computers in days rather than decades. We hope this will lead to a greatly improved industrial process.”

Dr Hazer Inaltekin |  School of Engineering

In a country as isolated and unforgiving as Australia, Dr Hazer Inaltekin’s flying and edge computing base stations have the potential to connect remote regions with game-changing technology.

“The ability and agility to move the base stations to wherever and whenever they are needed will offer benefits in many application areas such as remote farming, transport vehicles, mining, environmental monitoring, offshore platforms and bushfire response,” he explains. “The Internet of Things (IoT) – connecting physical objects to the internet – can streamline business processes by decreasing human error and reducing costs by up to 20 per cent through remote monitoring, control and predictive maintenance of critical business assets.”

Hazer is developing a Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite IoT platform and a suite of novel edge computing algorithms that promise a reliable service where there is no mobile coverage. He’s also working on the integration of terrestrial and space communications networks to vastly increase data rates and speeds for remote telecommunications.

And he’s embedded networking and computing aspects of much of this research into the novel – and unconventional – postgraduate unit, Cloud Networks.

“I was tasked by the School of Engineering with developing this unit from scratch based on my research expertise. All content was developed from published research papers – we don’t use textbooks.”

Excellence in Research Innovation, Partnership and Entrepreneurship Award

The inaugural Research Innovation, Partnership and Entrepreneurship award is to recognise and reward excellence in research innovation, partnership, commercialisation, translation, and entrepreneurship at Macquarie University. 

Dr Julian Droogan, Dr Brian Ballsun-Stanton, Lise Waldek  |  Department of Security Studies and Criminology

Policy makers, law enforcement and tech companies around the world are adopting the groundbreaking research conducted by our team of experts on violent extremism online.

Dr Julian Droogan, Dr Brian Ballsun-Stanton and Lise Waldek were approached by the NSW Government following the 2019 Christchurch attack to guide its response to right-wing extremism and terrorism.

“We developed new best practice technologies and methods for mapping and analysing violent extremism online,” says Julian. “The results have attracted the attention of governments in Australia, the European Union and the United States, and some of the most influential social media companies.

“The impacts of the research will continue for years to come as it is used by the state government to coordinate policy.”

The team has been busy with subsequent government-funded research to examine the impact of COVID-19 on right-wing extremism, and a public testimony at the federal Inquiry into Extremist Movements and Radicalism in Australia. They are currently undertaking research for the United States Institute for Peace on how social media ecosystems are used by the right-wing extremists to spread propaganda and hate, and how policy makers can better provide interventions in this space.

They were also recently approached by former Prime Minister The Hon Kevin Rudd for advice on countering online violent extremism.

Dr Sourabh Khandelwal, Professor Michael Heimlich, Emeritus Professor Anthony Parker, Professor Simon Mahon  |  School of Engineering 

The ‘wireless wizardry’ of this team of eminent radio-frequency (RF) experts has cemented them as a global authority – in demand by the world’s leading high-tech companies.

Thanks to Dr Sourabh Khandelwal, Professor Michael Heimlich, Emeritus Professor Anthony Parker and Professor Simon Mahon, the High Performance Integrated Circuit group (HPIC) within the School of Engineering is home to two transistor simulation models used all over the world – and is considered the premier group to leverage the transistors into innovative circuits.

Companies including Defence, Science and Technology group (DST), US Air Force, Cree, Ericsson and Analog Devices rely on Macquarie and its diverse team of researchers as leaders in RF research and microwave technology as they prepare the next generation of IC engineers.

Of HIPC’s many partnerships, the Macquarie Analog Devices (MAD) Lab project with Analog Devices is the biggest. The goal: to solve the ‘holy grail’ of RF IC design – a transistor model with near-perfect accuracy that could scale to any transistor size or type of IC.

“The result has been a critical mass of vertically integrated capability and validation,” says Sourabh.

“All of our partners are benefiting from this burgeoning research-HDR-learning and teaching ecosystem through accelerated results and continual improvement, and by cross-fertilisation underpinning technology through a common collaborator, HPIC.”

Distinguished Professor Phil Taylor  |  Applied Biosciences

In leading the charge against Australia’s biggest pest threat to its $14.5 billion horticultural industry, Professor Phil Taylor maintains a large, diverse and highly innovative research program.

It’s Macquarie’s most substantial externally funded program – currently at $40 million, including an ARC Centre – with a focus on deep partnership with diverse stakeholders to develop and improve sustainable solutions for the management of pest fruit flies.

Phil’s impact is wide-ranging,and includes the development of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) for the management of pest fruit flies. “My team’s rearing protocols have massively improved the quality of the sterile insects released to induce infertility in pest populations, and our holding and release protocols have resulted in a six- to eight-fold increase in field survivorship and maturation.”

So significant are his partnerships, they warranted the establishment of Applied BioSciences as a Research Department, which expands Macquarie’s scope to capitalise on his drive for effective engagement with industry, governments, and communities.

Through Applied BioSciences, Phil has developed a vehicle for translation of biological knowledge into impactful innovations through collaboration and strategic partnerships. This has led to significant investment and shared endeavour with partners, particularly through the establishment of co-funded research appointments and co-location of researchers from partner organisations.

Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Learning Innovation

This award recognises the development and implementation of innovations that improve learning, teaching or assessment to enable, motivate, support, and inspire students to learn.

Agnes Bodis, Melissa Reed, Yulia Kharchenko  |  Department of Linguistics

In their bid to provide an inclusive education, this team of pioneering teachers has designed an innovative program that allows students to undertake practical elements of their unit online – and it has the potential to be applied across many courses.

When external online students for Language Teaching Methodologies jumped from 26 per cent in 2019 to 60 per cent a year later, Agnes Bodis, Melissa Reed and Yulia Kharchenko adapted quickly to ensure their students could still undertake the small group peer teaching practice (microteaching) they needed to pass the unit.

“We designed a series of teaching tasks using VoiceThread, an online platform enabling multimodal communication,” explains Agnes. “So all students, regardless of their enrolment mode, have ample practice teaching and observing others – in their own time.”

An added bonus is that the continual support afforded to students through the new technique results in improved assessment performance – and higher grades.

Improvements to the unit have been widely supported, with students reporting that online microteaching is “a fantastic precursor to the practicum unit” by addressing shortfalls before teaching in the classroom.

The online peer-evaluated microteaching has been incorporated into the unit’s core curriculum and is now an assessed participation task.

Professor Panos Vlachopoulos (Deputy Dean, Education and Employability), Associate Professor Andrew McGregor, Michael Rampe | Faculty of Arts

With an ever-increasing need for transferrable workplace skills and a growing student-to-lecturer ratio, innovation is becoming essential to meet the needs of students – and their future employers.

The Faculty of Arts team of Professor Panos Vlachopoulos, Associate Professor Andrew McGregor and Michael Rampe has successfully rolled out a new collaborative learning tool that is just that.

By integrating Team-Based Learning (TBL) into their classes and online teaching (believed to be a first for online TBL), the team is transforming the student learning experience with highly engaging content and discussion that sharpens critical thinking and communication skills.

“TBL centres on students applying their knowledge to real-world problems,” says Andrew. “It adopts a flipped classroom approach, where students individually learn content before class and apply this knowledge in individual and group activities.

“A dynamic learning environment is created that tests knowledge, encourages peer-to-peer collaboration, communication and influencing skills, requires quick thinking and responses, and promotes group problem-solving. For in-class TBL activities, passive lecture time is transformed into an enjoyable and intense learning event where the atmosphere is engaged and interactive.” 

Dr Christian Schwab, Associate Professor Richard McDermid, Jacob Pember  |  Department of Physics and Astronomy

Physics and astronomy students are finally out of the classroom and experiencing a unique new way of learning, thanks to a state-of-the-art observatory developed by Macquarie’s very own team of experts.

The pioneering facility – located on campus – was developed over three years using multiple grants by Dr Christian Schwab, Associate Professor Richard McDermid and Jacob Pember, with the direct involvement of undergraduate students. With a professional-grade spectrometer, also built by the team, and the addition of a robotic telescope, it’s now dedicated to undergraduate teaching, research development and public outreach.

“By embedding practical experience in our third-year unit, we not only attract students to further study, but also give them a competitive edge beyond graduation,” says Christian. “We provide important training for employment as an astronomer in academia or observatory staff. But these skills are transferrable to a much broader range of industries, from the $4 billion-a-year optical spectroscopy market to earth exploration, pharmacy and food science.”

The authentic research experience ASTR3010 students now gain not only allows them to observe and analyse their own stars using tools and instruments used by professional astronomers, it’s resulting in higher engagement and bringing together the previous three years of study.

Dr Jennifer Ruskin  |  Co-op and internships, Macquarie Business School

Dr Jennifer Ruskin has taken ‘students as partners in learning’ to a whole new level.

While students have been involved in the co-creation of courses for some time, Jennifer has innovated a sustainable new way to design curriculum.

By transforming contributions by students and industry partners into teaching resources, she enhances the range of perspectives and choice for students, and better prepares them for subsequent industry placements.

In driving their own learning, students contribute to ongoing unit development through self-assessments and by facilitating seminars that help their peers explore and develop an identified skill.

“Students become agents in their learning,” says Jennifer. “They have a choice in the skills that are assessed, develop evaluative judgment and practise digital skills.”

In leveraging her relationship with industry partners, Jennifer is able to turn a 45-minute interview into up to eight clips that can be used across units. Embedded on iLearn, these clips provide a foundation for student reflection and offer insights into issues students may encounter during a placement.

Jennifer says, “Students describe the intrinsic motivation linked to feeling included and that their opinion matters, and the deep learning that comes from feeling supported and having a class that is catered to them.”

Shamim Joarder  |  Learning Enhancement and Student Engagement, Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching)

With just three clicks of the mouse, academic staff can almost instantly re-engage students who might have otherwise dropped off the radar.

Shamim Joarder’s iLearn Insights – developed at Macquarie – is the learning analytics tool now used by academic staff to give their students a tailored and engaging learning experience.

While Shamim developed the program before COVID-19, the impact since online learning took hold has been profound.

“It addresses the challenge of engaging and supporting students, allowing academics to identify students who are engaging or otherwise with the Learning Management System content, thus allowing early intervention, and ultimately improved retention with targeted support,” explains Shamim. “Of the students who had not logged into a unit’s iLearn site within last seven days, 82 per cent were re-engaged within 48 hours of receiving a personalised email intervention.”

Macquarie Business School’s Dr Prashan Karunaratne is one of many impressed users: “This was the single tool that saved my engagement with my students during COVID. Where I would usually get a snapshot in my face-to-face interactions in class, now I got these same snapshots, and more, via iLearn Insights.”

This year, more than 670 staff across 40 departments have sent almost a quarter of a million targeted emails to students though iLearn Insights.

Missed our earlier finalists profiles? Find them all here.

Register to attend the Awards ceremony on 30 November and help us celebrate our best.

Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Early Career Award

This award recognises staff for their quality teaching and support of learning and the impact they have on influencing, motivating and inspiring students to learn. 

Dr Wesley Robertson  |  Faculty of Arts

Student equity was among Dr Wesley Robertson’s priorities as he made extensive reforms to the University’s introductory Japanese units. As he transformed them into sustainable, world-quality courses, he also made them accessible and user-friendly by developing many resources, including a free textbook.  

“It ensures the course content matches the needs of the Macquarie context while removing financial barriers to language learning,” explains Wesley.  

Japanese 1010 has since become one of Open University Australia’s best-ranked language courses, as Wesley’s course revisions have made assessment equitable and effective across all cohorts. 

“Rather than submit documents for marking, students now attempt workbooks, check their answers against a model, and then note the source of any mistakes,” he says.   

“This develops self-reflection and both active and reflexive language skills. Likewise, tests and quizzes are now fully online, open-book assessments, which allows immediate and equal feedback as all students can directly note areas they need to review.” 

Dr Joel Fuller  |  Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences

Dr Joel Fuller’s student-centred approach to teaching ensures his charges are equipped to succeed in an ever-changing clinical landscape.  

It’s a holistic philosophy where first, the physiotherapist and sports scientist works to diminish the overwhelm and fear experienced by first-year postgraduate students. His mirroring of real-world scenarios helps students develop realist expectations of health disorders, and ongoing assessments build confidence in clinical performance – “de-threatening the prospects of being examined in a clinical environment”. 

“I have wholeheartedly embraced these challenges, particularly in COVID times, where I have reconceptualised how I motivate and support my students in an interactive online environment,” says Joel. “I encourage my students to adopt a growth mindset and support the cultivation of their expertise through ongoing practical application.” 

Joel’s success is reflected in consistently positive student feedback, including 2017–2020 Learner Experience of Teaching and Unit results showing 92–94 per cent of first-year students believed his teaching motivated, supported and inspired. 

“I feel privileged to be a grounded presence for my students, helping them to develop the foundational skills necessary to excel in their second-year clinical placement and future career.” 

Dr Zhu Sun  |  Faculty of Science and Engineering

Dr Zhu Sun’s students are on a “happy journey” with her balanced and supportive teaching. 

“Learning is a happy journey to continuously improve ourselves,” she says. “I am always trying my best to make my teaching interesting, attractive, inspiring and easy to understand.” 

She does this by “delicately designing” her program to cater to each learning stage of her students. 

And it’s paying off with outstanding student feedback and a reputation as a “kind and nurturing” teacher who encourages participation and is able to explain difficult concepts clearly.  

“I always try my best to create a good engaging learning environment; my easy-going and approachable nature makes students feel comfortable to ask questions,” she says. “I encourage less-confident students by sharing my experience.”  

Zhu’s philosophy is interest-driven for first-year students, efficiency-driven for second years, and job-driven for third-year students. And by smoothly integrating her research topic, recommender systems (RSs), into the web development component, she allows students to hone their skills on the popular platform. “It has been widely applied in industry, and the huge demand on RSs could provide more chances for students who master it to easily find a job.” 

Dr Helen Siuki  |  Macquarie Business School 

In less than three years since she began at Macquarie, Dr Helen Siuki has developed and taught three under- and postgraduate units, incorporating innovative programs and high-profile industry experts. 

To hone employability, Helen secured the marketing managers of LEGO, Pinterest and Microsoft as the first three brands to mentor her students through the development of a marketing campaign.   

“I believe in innovative teaching that extends learning to include critical thinking and problem-solving in today’s world,” says Helen. “I use design-thinking, technology integration and learning by doing”.  

It’s an approach that gains positive feedback from her students – and her student mentors. LEGO marketing manager Adrian Di Francesco said, “The students were very motivated and passionate, going above and beyond to design and deliver a great campaign. The calibre of work was at a professional standard. I loved the positive class atmosphere. Helen is a dedicated, approachable and inclusive teacher, who values real-world learning.”  

In using blended, activity-based learning for her diverse cohort, Helen also encourages novel ideas. “While business and marketing topics are mainly commercial by nature, I encourage my students to choose topics inspired by ‘higher purpose’ values, empowerment and sustainability, equipping them with sought-after graduate capabilities and skills.” 

Excellence in Higher Degree Research Awards

These awards will be presented for outstanding research undertaken by a current or former higher degree research candidate.

HASS

Jarrod Hore  |  Faculty of Arts

It’s been an eventful six years since the start of Dr Jarrod Hore’s research project Visions of Nature, with a master’s thesis, doctoral dissertation, highly original journal articles and more than 20 presentations and lectures piecing together “the puzzle of wilderness in a settler colony”.

His unique comparative history of settler environmental image making and nature writing across North America, Australia and New Zealand will culminate early next year with the publication of his monograph by the prestigious University of California Press.

“In history, the ultimate test of academic rigour is a peer-reviewed monograph,” says Jarrod. “UC Press is in the very top tier of publishers of academic history books and is the pre-eminent publisher of books about California and the American West. Presenting a new environmental history of settler colonialism in these places and in Australia and New Zealand, Visions of Nature will be part of the October 2021 catalogue.

The study reveals several breakthroughs including the radical viewpoint that settlers from Hobart in Tasmania to the Bay Area in California pictured their environments in almost identical visual modes. Instead of thinking of these different places as unique, settlers understood them comparatively, resulting in the development of matching cultures of environmental consciousness.

Such an expansive and surprising history is of significance at a time when widespread environmental challenges again trouble the world.

Corrinne Sullivan  |  Faculty of Arts 

In highlighting the power of sexuality, gender and economic independence for Indigenous sex workers, Dr Corrinne Sullivan’s award-winning PhD has positioned her as a thought-leader on Indigenous Australian sexualities and gender – and Indigenous research practice and methodologies.

The first of its kind, her research has resulted in critical knowledge regarding Indigenous and gender and sexually diverse people’s health and wellbeing. This new knowledge has already contributed to social justice in planning and policy making.

“My PhD findings demonstrate a need to recognise the multiple realities of Indigenous Australian sex workers, which seep out far beyond the popular discourses that label them as victims,” says Corrinne.

As well as being in demand as an author and speaker, Corrinne has been appointed as a research fellow with the University of Technology, Sydney; Victoria University of Wellington; and Stanford University.

“These esteemed institutions asked me to direct them in Indigenous research methodologies, Indigenous sexuality and gender, and health and wellbeing for Indigenous people,” says Corrinne, who presented her doctoral research as seven outputs, including five published Q1 ranked journal articles (another is accepted for publication), and a published book chapter. Her thesis received a VC Commendation and was rated in the top five per cent.

Anam Bilgrami  |  Macquarie Business School 

In tackling the challenges of health and social policy evaluation in Australia, Dr Anam Bilgrami’s research is already directly contributing to policy debate and future policy design.

Anam’s thesis, in which she used innovative econometric modelling techniques to analyse the effectiveness of three Australian policies earned her the 2020 Macquarie Business School Award for Research Excellence in Economics – and publication in the prestigious journals Health Economics and the Economic Record.

One of her three papers, which found that adequate paid parental leave boosts maternal mental health, received significant mainstream media coverage and an Altmetric Attention Score of 58 (top five per cent of all research outputs).

“My research paper on the impact of harmonising workplace health and safety law on workers compensation in Australia adds to the scarce academic literature on workplace health and safety in Australia and is the first study to evaluate the impact of this reform on claims and injuries.

“The findings could contribute to future cost-benefit analyses of this policy. When this paper is published, I plan substantial media and industry outreach to disseminate the findings.”

STEMM

Jenny Lee  |  Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences

Dr Jenny Lee’s research has catapulted the application of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) into most melanoma clinical trials and everyday clinical practice – with the promise of making cancer diagnosis, treatment and prognosis more accurate for patients.

Just a year after receiving a VC Commendation and top five per cent rating for her PhD thesis, Jenny is recognised internationally for her critical understanding of cancer cell biology and oncology, and her exceptional ability to identify, collate and annotate patient cohorts. Jenny also received an NHMRC investigator grant (EL1) within one year of completing her PhD.

“My research has made significant contributions to the implementation of liquid biopsy in the routine management of melanoma patients and understanding immunotherapy response and resistance mechanisms,” she says.

“My work contributed to significant knowledge and health impact by proving that ct DNA accurately reflected disease activity in real-time. We were the first to highlight the true advantage of longitudinal ctDNA over standard imaging to monitor treatment response by accurately differentiating pseudo-progression from true progression. Initial increase in cancer size – likely due to inflammation – followed by cancer shrinkage occurs in 5–10 per cent of patients receiving immunotherapy.

“This accurate, early response data has a critical impact on therapy and treatment, resulting in better patient outcomes and reduced healthcare costs.”

Ali Lalbakhsh  |  Faculty of Science and Engineering

Imagine: high-speed internet for every person on Earth; smart emergency vehicles responding to natural disasters; and remote, precision farming that maximises every harvest.

As the dream of global connectivity inches closer to reality, the massive potential of satellite internet is hampered by the lack of low-cost Satellite Ground Terminal Antenna (SGTA) systems.

Dr Ali Lalbakhsh’s interdisciplinary research – combining engineering and artificial intelligence (AI) – promises to revolutionise existing satellite communication. Using AI, he is producing the first extremely low-cost technology for SGTAs, which also has the benefits of being compact, lightweight and low-power.

“My technology will allow low-cost access to reliable broadband internet, which means ordinary people can benefit from high-speed connectivity anywhere and anytime,” says Ali. “This is crucial to enhance the quality of life of people living in remote areas.”

Ali has also been able to transfer his AI skills to medical research. “I formed a team of medical and AI scientists from 13 universities around the world to develop an AI framework for treatment and diagnosis of COVID-19. The resulting paper was ‘one of the Most Popular papers from more than 1.5 million publications by IEEE Xplore’”.

The accolade – along with the 2021 NSW Fresh Science Award – are two of many for Ali, who started his research journey only six years ago.

Early Career Researcher of the Year

These awards acknowledge outstanding performance in research by an early career researcher.

HASS

Dr Emlyn Dodd  |  Faculty of Arts

As a global leader in archaeology, Dr Emlyn Dodd is constantly pushing the boundaries of his discipline and, at times, rewriting history. By tackling complex problems of the ancient world, his work in ancient agriculture and production informs responses to contemporary problems such as climate change, pandemics, population pressure and migration.

Rather than using traditional humanities techniques, Emlyn incorporates innovative, novel and interdisciplinary methods – some never before used in archaeology. His findings have resulted in the reassessment of existing material and traditional scholarship, and highlighted a wide range of overlooked primary evidence for wine and oil production across the Cycladic archipelago and Italy.

Emlyn’s work in the Greek Islands is the most comprehensive of its kind.

“Its impact extends beyond archaeology and into history and science,” says Emlyn. “It re-orientates the Cyclades as a place integral to the eastern Mediterranean socio-cultural and -economic nexus, and the movement of goods and knowledge across both Greek and Roman worlds.”

Emlyn is sought after around the world as an expert consultant on large-scale projects. He’s also collaborating on the design of a cutting-edge, open-access database that will make Roman wine and oil press equipment accessible to researchers across a range of disciplines.

Associate Professor Daniel Ghezelbash |  Faculty of Arts

The prolific and internationally renowned research of migration and refugee law expert Associate Professor Daniel Ghezelbash reflects his family’s own refugee experience, his practice as a refugee lawyer and his development of innovative technology that increases access to justice.

In working to make asylum policies more humane and counter racial discrimination in Australia, Daniel’s many successes as an early career researcher include shaping public debate and policy around refugee law, helping to enhance safety at sea for asylum seekers and migrants, changes to the UNHCR resettlement guidelines, and examining how to reverse the current trend of states using COVID-19 to shut out asylum seekers.

He is a pioneer of comparative migration law and in transcending traditional disciplinary barriers to research.

“I draw on everything from law, computing, political science, psychology and data science to understand and inform the asylum policy-making process and how to get better outcomes for refugees, children and first nations peoples engaging with the legal system,” explains Daniel.

“I’ve been involved in leading numerous large comparative studies measuring and comparing migration and asylum laws across countries. My book Refuge Lost shows how inhumane asylum policies are being copied around the world and Australia’s role in this process.”

Dr Rohan Best  |  Macquarie Business School

With 24 journal articles in high-quality, high-impact, capacity-building publications in under four years – nine in the first five months of this year – Dr Rohan Best is making a name for himself in energy and environmental economics.

His research aligns with the Science and Research Priorities of the Australian Government, particularly developing new clean energy sources and storage technologies.

“Australian society can be more prosperous with more efficient policies for household energy and superannuation,” he says. “My research has begun to show how this is achievable while still promoting equitable outcomes.”

The wide scope of Rohan’s global economics analysis – covering energy, the environment, development, labour, superannuation and transport – sets it apart from previous studies.

“One of my goals is to produce analysis that changes public policy for the benefit of society. My starting point is household energy policies, and I plan to extend to social policy more broadly.”

Another innovative aspect of Rohan’s work is its social focus.

“Household eligibility for policy support can be tailored for specific policies and based on wealth or components of wealth. My research shows this is superior at identifying households that face constraints in solar panel uptake, home battery uptake, energy consumption and energy poverty.”

STEMM

Dr Sidong Liu  |  Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences

In his quest to become a world-class leader in medical informatics and artificial intelligence (AI), Dr Sidong Liu is leading projects that have great potential to improve the quality of clinical care across many fields of health.

He and his multidisciplinary team at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation are working on novel studies in AI medical imaging that will impact diverse conditions such as glaucoma, neurodegenerative disease, brain tumour, cancer and COVID-19.

“Last year I initiated collaborations with two Chinese hospitals and universities to develop an AI system to determine the severity of COVID-19,” says the recipient of the NHMRC Peter Doherty Biomedical Early Career Fellowship.

And his world-first study of AI in glaucomatous disc identification based on fundus photographs achieved better results than human ophthalmologists – providing important evidence of AI’s potential to make glaucoma screening more accessible.

“My research has attracted more than 1700 citations – 50 per cent since joining Macquarie two years ago,” says Sidong. “As a computer scientist specialising in AI, I am committed to translating the research outputs into real-world applications that can benefit our community.

“To date, I have led the development of various software tools for medical image computing and made them available to the public, with one receiving more than 35,000 downloads.”

Dr Mohsen Asadnia  |  Faculty of Science and Engineering

In his relatively short career, Dr Mohsen Asadnia has had a big impact – in various fields ranging from biomedical engineering and biomimetic devices to the development of auditory sensors.

For 12 years, Mohsen has built an innovative research program based on nanotechnology, biomedical sensors and electronic devices.

His results are of such high interest to the microelectromechanical research community that he’s achieved $5.2 million in research grants and attracted more than 3017 citations and h-index 34 for his 138 peer-reviewed articles.

Industry and community engagement is a core value of his academic career: “My funding success has been achieved through close collaborations with different industries. These also help my students to access cutting-edge scientific facilities not always available in our university and to train job-ready PhD graduates. This enables my research group to pursue additional lines of research that ultimately contribute to the faculty’s productivity.”

While Mohsen’s primary interest lies in employing new physics that use novel micro- and nano-engineered systems for cancer management, bioprocessing and medical diagnostics, his achievements extend to many fields.

Since 2018, he’s been developing a novel implantable device, the “Ear-on-a-chip” artificial cochlear system.

“These areas of research are not only state-of-the-art, but are also steered towards solving meaningful problems of societal and environmental impact,” he says.

Dr Noushin Nasiri  |  Faculty of Science and Engineering

The Sun-Watch: it’s the world’s first wearable sensor to alert users of over-exposure to harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. In a nation with the highest rate of melanoma in the world, it has the potential to save lives – and reduce the annual $750 million cost of treatment.

Just four years into her postdoctoral career, Dr Noushin Nasiri is making a significant global impact. Unlike other UV photodetectors, her nanoscale architecture for band-selective UV photodetectors has the outstanding ability to differentiate between UVA and UVB rays – essential for measuring potential skin damage.

“It can measure the UV Index in real-time and calibrate to the user’s skin type,” says Noushin.

And it’s so small, the app-linked device can be embedded into a watch, clothes or even sunglasses.

“It has high potential for commercialisation and will soon enter an evaluation phase with an international company. We will then apply for government grants to take the product to market.”

The TEDx speaker already has 41 peer-reviewed publications to her name, and many accolades including the 2021-2022 Superstar of STEM and the 2019 NSW Young Tall Poppy Award.

As Head of the Nanotechnology Laboratory, Noushin also applies innovative teaching techniques, which have resulted in an increase in enrolments and performance.

Missed our earlier finalist profiles? Find them all here.

All staff are warmly invited to register to attend the ceremony and help celebrate our outstanding colleagues.

For the next five weeks, we will be shining a light on the accomplishments and impact of our Awards finalists. We start with ‘The Leaders’ – an exceptional group of staff whose teaching and research leadership inspire others to achieve their best.

Vice-Chancellor’s Educational Leader Award 

This award recognises educational leadership that has influenced and enhanced learning and teaching and/or student experience.

Dr Lise Barry, Macquarie Law School

Associate Professor Dr Lise Barry’s “zest and passion” for teaching and integrated learning is reflected in her innovative overhaul of the law curriculum, which now focuses on improving students’ career and employability skills.  

By pushing the boundaries in incorporating workplace realities into teaching, her leadership has resulted in authentic skills-based assessment becoming a key element of learning and teaching at Macquarie Law School. And this puts it at the forefront of meeting the needs of current and future students, the university and the legal profession.  

As well as pioneering the use of online and video materials for students, Lise has also led the way in seeking formal accreditation of staff. “I set up a ‘Shut Up and Write’ group and led meetings to discuss our teaching practices and reading lists as we prepared our applications,” she says. “Law had one of the highest numbers of applicants from any department, with 19 staff applying for support for fellowships since 2017.” 

Lise’s commitment extends to the Macquarie Law Society, to which she was elected Life Member in 2017 for her tireless delivery of extra-curricular activities and assisting with developing online resources and support for student events.

Professor Deborah Richards, Department of Computing 

“Empathic, empowering and ethical.” This was the title of Professor Deborah Richards’ invited e-leadership talk on her 60th birthday, and it has underpinned her way of thinking for more than 20 years at Macquarie. 

Her achievements span the development of the Business Information Systems major and multiple units; innovations such as the first significant cross-faculty learning analytics project, reducing study stress and using games to teach cyber ethics; and supporting her fellow teachers. 

In succession planning, the latter has transitioned recently to encourage others to take the lead. “My empathic and empowering approach is used to mentor junior colleagues, sessional staff and research students,” says Deborah. “I often provide support by getting behind someone else’s vision.” 

It’s Deborah’s empathy that sets her apart. 

“As an early-career lecturer, I received ‘advice’ from my leaders: ‘you spend too much time with students’, and ‘be worried when there is a queue of students outside your door’. After some time pondering this, I decided to ignore it – to be accessible to students, providing prompt, empathic and transformative responses to their concerns. This would mean time to listen and effort to identify and bring about needed changes.” 

Professor Leonie Tickle, Deputy Dean, Research and Innovation, Macquarie Business School

In her recent role as Associate Dean Learning and Teaching, Professor Leonie Tickle has not only inspired and enhanced her community of teaching professionals, she’s also skyrocketed the Business School’s reputation.  

Leonie was project sponsor for Macquarie’s global success story, the online Global MBA, the first Asia-Pacific university degree collaboration with online learning platform Coursera.

In 2020, just a year after launch, it was ranked first in Australia and sixth globally on CEO Magazine’s Global Online MBA list.

“The program is distinctive in equipping students with capabilities for the future world of work; its global focus; being co-designed with industry and students; and embedding concepts of sustainability,” says Leonie.

Leonie also oversaw the development of the Business School Careers and Employability Strategy and a range of student experience initiatives including Course Compass, the Dean’s Scholars program and the Young Leaders program.  

In positively impacting learning, her teaching staff are key. “I regard the most important part of my role as inspiring colleagues to think differently about teaching, empowering them with skills, and engaging them in a connected and collaborative community.” 

With her team, she launched  MQBS Learning and Teaching Toolkit – within just two days of the move to online teaching in 2020. “The buy-in from grateful academics was swift and empathetic,” says Leonie. The Toolkit is continuing to transform the School’s teaching, with more than 170,000 visits to date. 

The Jim Piper Award for Excellence in Research Leadership 

This award seeks to recognise, encourage, and reward those researchers who are on a path to becoming research leaders at Macquarie University. 

Professor Liz Pellicano, School of Education 

Professor Liz Pellicano is among the world’s leading authorities on the relationship between autism science and practice, and shapes global research strategies accordingly. She has eight major prizes to her name, including the prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prize, and was named as Australia’s Field Leader in Child and Adolescent Psychology by The Australian for the last two years running.  

Professor Pellicano is well-known for her theory of autistic perception; investigating the autism community’s scepticism of established autism science; and examining innovative supports for autistic children using social robotics and artificial intelligence. 

But her work is far from over.  

She is now bringing her agenda-setting research together into one project that will transform autism science using her pioneering participatory approach.  

“We are seeking to more accurately reflect everyday autistic life. By bridging the gap between lab and life, and opening up research to greater involvement of autistic people, the goal is to generate scientific discoveries that bring real benefits,” she says. 

“Autistic advocates and their supporters have long argued that conventional research provides too few opportunities for genuine engagement by autistic people, contributing to an ongoing sense of social disenfranchisement. Participatory methods – where community members are involved as partners in the research process – are now gaining momentum.” 

Professor Dali Kaafar, Department of Computing

Professor Dali Kaafar is a pioneer in cyber security, in demand by industry and the government – especially for his work on Privacy Preserving Technologies and AI security.

His research, industry connections and leadership within the University have positioned Macquarie as a leader in the field. So much so, Singtel Optus described the Cyber Security Hub, headed by Dali, as “an exemplary partnership” they would like to replicate across the country.

In restructuring the Hub, Dali led the development of six cross-disciplinary research-and-development programs – involving more than 50 academics from four faculties – to tackle a wide range of cyber challenges and opportunities.

“It has become an ideal ecosystem for our partners to collaborate on building a resilient, secure and trustworthy digital infrastructure,” says Dali. “Partners contribute to research, commercialisation ideas and projects, and in developing the next generation of cyber security talent. In return, they gain first access to student talent pools, research outcomes and commercialisation opportunities.”

Dali’s research integrity is reflected in his higher-degree research supervision and publication record.

“I target publications only in the most prestigious conferences and reputable journals,” he says. His unique achievement of repeated publications in NDSS (2012– 2020) and PETS (2011–2021) is testament to this research excellence.

Keep an eye on This Week in October we get to know the finalists in each faculty.

LEARNING AND TEACHING AWARD FINALISTS 

Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Student–Nominated Award
This award recognises staff for their teaching and support of learning that influences, motivates, and inspires students to learn. 

• Dr Shireen Daft, Faculty of Arts 
• Dr Holly Doel-Mackaway, Faculty of Arts 
• Dr Petra Graham, Faculty of Science and Engineering 
• Dr Gaurav Gupta, Faculty of Science and Engineering 
• Professor Debbie Haski-Leventhal, Macquarie Business School 
• Dr Yimin Stephanie Huang, Macquarie Business School 
• Dr Ian Jamie, Faculty of Science and Engineering 
• Dr Prashan Karunaratne, Macquarie Business School 
• Dr Ali Lalbakhsh, Macquarie University International College 
• Mr Daniel Lombardo, Macquarie University International College 
• Miss Christine Mikhael, Faculty of Arts 
• Dr Melissa Norberg, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences 
• Dr Joshua Penney, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences 
• Dr John Turchini, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences 

Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Sessional Staff Award
This award recognises staff for their approaches to teaching and support of learning that influences, motivates, and inspires students to learn. 

• Mr Joshua Fitzgerald, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences 
• Dr Amanda Head, Faculty of Arts 
• Mr Damian Jurd, Faculty of Science and Engineering 
• Mr Dylan Thompson, Macquarie Business School 

Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Early Career Award
This award recognises staff for their quality teaching and support of learning and the impact they have on influencing, motivating and inspiring students to learn. 

• Dr Joel Fuller, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences 
• Dr Wesley Robertson, Faculty of Arts 
• Dr Helen Siuki, Macquarie Business School 
• Dr Zhu Sun, Faculty of Science and Engineering 

Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence
This award recognises staff for their excellence in teaching and support of learning and the impact they have on influencing, motivating and inspiring students to learn. 

• Dr Alissa Beath, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences 
• Dr Frances Chang, Macquarie Business School 
• Professor Iain Collings, Faculty of Science and Engineering 
• Ms Linda Kelly, Faculty of Arts 

Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Learning Innovation
This award recognises the development and implementation of innovations that improve learning, teaching or assessment to enable, motivate, support, and inspire students to learn. 

• Mr Shamim Joarder, Learning Enhancement and Student Engagement, PVC (Learning & Teaching) 
• Dr Jennifer Ruskin, Macquarie Business School 
• The team of: Ms Agnes Bodis, Ms Melissa Reed and Ms Yulia Kharchenko, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences
  
• The team of: Professor Panos Vlachopoulos, Associate Professor Andrew McGregor and Mr Michael Rampe, Faculty of Arts
• The team of: Dr Christian Schwab, Associate Professor Richard McDermid and Mr Jacob Pember, Faculty of Science and Engineering

Vice-Chancellor’s Educational Leader Award
This award recognises educational leadership that has influenced and enhanced learning and teaching and/or student experience. 

• Dr Lise Barry, Faculty of Arts 
• Professor Deborah Richards, Faculty of Science and Engineering 
• Professor Leonie Tickle, Macquarie Business School 

RESEARCH EXCELLENCE AWARD FINALISTS 

Excellence in Higher Degree Research Awards
These awards will be presented for outstanding research undertaken by a current or former higher degree research candidate.

HASS 

• Dr Anam Bilgrami, Macquarie Business School  
• Dr Jarrod Hore, Faculty of Arts 
• Dr Corrine Sullivan, Faculty of Arts  

 STEMM 

• Dr Ali Lalbakhsh, Faculty of Science and Engineering  
• Dr Jenny Lee, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences  

Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision – Supervisor of the Year
This award recognises our outstanding Higher Degree Research (HDR) supervisors who enable our HDR candidates to achieve their highest potential. 

• Professor Chris Patel, Macquarie Business School  
• Professor Anina Rich, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences 

Early Career Researcher of the Year
These awards acknowledge outstanding performance in research by an early career researcher.

HASS 

• Dr Rohan Best, Macquarie Business School 
• Dr Emlyn Dodd, Faculty of Arts 
• Associate Professor Daniel Ghezelbash, Faculty of Arts 

STEMM 

• Dr Mohsen Asadnia, Faculty of Science and Engineering 
• Dr Sidong Liu, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences 
• Dr Noushin Nasiri, Faculty of Science and Engineering 

Excellence in Research – Five Future-shaping Research Priorities
These awards celebrate the Five Future-shaping Research Priorities which are identified areas of cross-disciplinary research strengths. These awards demonstrate the real-world impact of university research that has the potential to deliver significant benefits to Australian and international communities.

The five categories are: Healthy People, Resilient Societies, Prosperous Economies, Secure Planet, and Innovative Technologies  

• The team of: Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite, Professor Enrico Coiera, Professor Johanna Westbrook, Associate Professor Yvonne Zurynski, Professor Andrew Georgiou, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences 
• Professor Sheila Degotardi, Faculty of Arts 
• Dr Miriam Forbes, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences 
• The team of: Professor Catherine McMahon, Dr Kylie Gwynne, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences and Pro Vice-Chancellor Leanne Holt and Professor Liz Pellicano, Faculty of Arts 
• The team of: Professor Bronwyn Carlson, Professor Sandy O’Sullivan, Dr Tristan Kennedy, Ms Madi Day, Ms Tetei Bakic, Dr Jo Rey, Faculty of Arts 
• Professor Maroš Servátka, Macquarie Business School 
• Professor Neil Saintilan, Faculty of Science and Engineering 
• Associate Professor Dominic Berry, Faculty of Science and Engineering  
• Dr Hazer Inaltekin, Faculty of Science and Engineering 

Excellence in Research Innovation, Partnership and Entrepreneurship Award
The inaugural Research Innovation, Partnership and Entrepreneurship award is to recognise and reward excellence in research innovation, partnership, commercialisation, translation, and entrepreneurship at Macquarie University. 

• The team of: Dr Julian Droogan, Dr Brian Ballsun-Stanton and Ms Lise Waldek, Faculty of Arts 
• The team of: Dr Sourabh Khandelwal, Professor Michael Heimlich, Professor Anthony Parker and Professor Simon Mahon, Faculty of Science and Engineering 
• Distinguished Professor Phil Taylor, Faculty of Science and Engineering 

The Jim Piper Award for Excellence in Research Leadership
This award seeks to recognise, encourage, and reward those researchers who are on a path to becoming research leaders at Macquarie University. 

• Professor Dali Kaafar, Faculty of Science and Engineering 
• Professor Liz Pellicano, Faculty of Arts 

SAVE THE DATE 

The Academic Staff Awards will be held on Tuesday 30 November via Zoom.