Every month we celebrate some of the impressive achievements in the Macquarie community. Got something to share for next month? Tell us.

Macquarie’s seven Eureka Prize finalists

Congratulations to all of our finalists who had had outstanding success in their respective areas and who have been nominated in the Eureka Prizes. The Eureka Prizes reward excellence in the fields of research and innovation, leadership, science engagement and school science.

Distinguished Professor Michelle Leishman and Distinguished Professor Lesley Hughes (main photo) with the Weed Futures team have been named as finalists for the 2019 NSW Environment, Energy and Science (DPIE) Eureka Prize for Environmental Research.

Associate Professor Joanne Jamie, Associate Professor Subramanyam Vemulpad and Dr Ian Jamie, have been nominated for the 2019 Department of Industry, Innovation and Science Eureka Prize for STEM Inclusion, along with Yaegl Aboriginal Elder Dr Uncle Ronald Heron, and Dr Danny Bedgood and Associate Professor Paul Prenzler from Charles Sturt University.

Professor Neil Saintilan of Macquarie University’s Department of Environmental Sciences has been shortlisted for the Eureka Prize for a second year running. In 2019 he has been shortlisted in Environmental Science, while in 2018 his work was recognised in the Mentoring of Young Scientists category. His success as a mentor is obvious from his latest nomination, which builds on the success of his former students. Three members of the team completed their PhD studies and postdoctoral research under Neil’s supervision.

Macquarie University Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics, Sophie Calabretto, is a finalist for the 2019 Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Science. In 2017 Sophie was chosen as one of the ABC’s ‘Top 5 Under 40’ researchers, which gave her a platform to engage with the wider community.

In addition to her Eureka Award nomination (above), Professor Lesley Hughes has also been honoured with the 2019 Australian Museum Research Institute Lifetime Achievement Award.

Receiving her award in the Museum’s Long Gallery on 31 July, Professor Hughes spoke of her hope in the face of climate change.

Read Professor Hughes’ full speech >>

Congratulations to Dr Philippe Gilchrist and Associate Professor Melissa Norberg from the Department of Psychology who hosted a Visiting Scholar, UK PhD student Tess Langfield, in a specialist lab here on campus.

Tess won a USD$3000 award from the Health and Behaviour International Collaboration (HBIC) to investigate drinking behaviour using psychophysiological measures. This project builds upon her PhD research, which investigates the impact of glass shape on drinking behaviours for soft drinks.

Tess explains the project greatly benefited from Macquarie University’s state-of-the-art facilities and equipment (including a “bar laboratory”, situated in the MQ ‘Simulation Hub’, complete with a BIOPAC machine for measuring physiological responses).

The Department of Physics and Astronomy has received the Silver Pleiades Award from the Inclusion Diversity and Equity in Astronomy Chapter of the Astronomical Society of Australia.

The Pleiades Award recognises organisations in Australian astronomy that take active steps to advance the careers of women through focused programs and strive for sustained improvement in providing opportunities for women to achieve positions of seniority, influence and recognition.

In 2016 WiA broadened its aims to encompass wider issues of diversity. The overarching objective of the IDEA Chapter is to achieve an environment in all institutions associated with Australian astronomy that is welcoming and supportive of all academic staff, professional staff and students, regardless of gender and sexual identity, ethnic and cultural background, disability, age, family/carer responsibilities, political affiliation, and religious belief.

The Department received the Bronze award in this scheme in 2016.

Read our 2018 This Week story about the Department of Physics and Astronomy’s efforts to create a more inclusive culture >

Associate Professor Ronika Power has been named as the recipient of one of two Early Career Awards from the Union Académique Internationale – a global organisation of more than one hundred national and international academies from more than 60 countries across the world.

As part of the celebration of the Union’s Centenary in 2019, the Board created two awards of €6000 ($10,700 AUD) each for a period of two years (2020-2021) to scholars who qualify as Early Career Researchers in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

“The project I will be undertaking under the auspices of this award is entitled: The Sentinels of Ħal Saflieni, Malta: Science Facts versus Science Fiction,” says Ronika.

“In close collaboration with Heritage Malta, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage Malta and colleagues from various international institutions, the project will carry out the first-ever interdisciplinary analyses of the remains of the only surviving individuals (<20 out of a prospective 7,000 people) excavated from the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, a multi-level subterranean Neolithic (~4,000–2,500 BC) burial and ritual complex located in Paola, Malta.”

Congratulations to the LEAP UP Refugee Mentoring Program run by the Widening Participation Unit has been shortlisted for the Australian Financial Review Higher Education Awards under Equity and Opportunity.

The Awards are judged by an independent panel of eminent higher education veterans and this year will be held on 27 August at the Hilton Brisbane.

Associate Professor Ronika Power (main picture) from the Department of Ancient History – and one of Australia’s foremost experts in bioarcheology – is the recipient of the Australian Academy of the Humanities’ 2019 Max Crawford Medal.

The Medal is Australia’s most prestigious award for achievement and promise in the humanities and it is awarded to an Australia-based, early career scholar for outstanding achievement.

“I am profoundly honoured to receive the 2019 Max Crawford Medal from the Australian Academy of the Humanities. In accepting this award, I stand alongside our nation’s greatest champions of the arts and culture to celebrate the multifaceted and critical role of the humanities in every aspect of society,” she said.

Read more >>

Congratulations to Dr Rozanna Lilley from the Department of Educational Studies who has been shortlisted for the 2019 National Biography Award for her work Do Oysters Get Bored? A Curious Life.

The award is the richest prize in Australia for biography and memoir writing and Rozanna’s title is amongst six powerful memoirs by debut authors and compelling personal stories of incredible women.

Through personal essays, Rozanna works through the ongoing repercussions of childhood trauma and captures her autistic son Oscar’s rich inner world, as revealed through his vivid fantasy life and curious observations.

The prize winners will be announced on Monday 12 August at a Champagne breakfast event at the State Library of NSW.

Professor Darryll Hull in the Macquarie Business School has been named Faculty Adviser of the Year by Enactus Australia at their 2019 National Conference.

Enactus is a global student organisation, operating in 36 countries, who’s mission is to ‘enabling progress through entrepreneurial action’.

Professor Hull says the award really belongs to the whole Enactus Macquarie University chapter.

“The award is theirs as much as mine,” he says. “It’s been a privilege and a pleasure to work with such a passionate and talented group of volunteers who are totally committed to their projects and to each other.”

Macquarie subjects in World’s top 100

 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) 2019 has ranked more than 4000 universities around the world across 54 subjects. Six subjects within Macquarie University ranked in the Top 100.

• Earth Sciences
• Ecology
• Education
• Geography
• Psychology
• Telecommunication Engineering

“We are proud that several subjects at Macquarie University are performing in the world’s top 100. This is a testament to the hard work and dedication from our research and teaching staff across our faculties, who continually strive to challenge their students, as well as themselves,” said Professor David Wilkinson, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Engagement).

Read more >>

Macquarie University moves up in 2020 QS Global Rankings

Macquarie University has again been ranked as a leading institution, moving up 13 places to 237th in the QS World University Rankings 2020. This result consolidates Macquarie’s position in the top one percent of universities worldwide.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Engagement), Professor David Wilkinson, said: “These results cement Macquarie’s place among the leading universities worldwide.

“It is pleasing to see Macquarie’s rise in international rankings, and while this is only one indicator of performance, it is a strong reflection of our commitment to quality research, teaching, international engagement and industry partnerships.”

Read the full media release.

It all started in early 2018 when I completed a photography project for Dr Gil Davis – the Director of Macquarie’s Ancient Mediterranean Studies Program. He told me that some of our Ancient History students would soon be travelling to Israel for an excavation at Khirbet el-Rai, jointly led by Macquarie University, the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and asked if I could come along and document their experience.

Next thing I knew, I was hauling two 30 kilogram suitcases of photography equipment onto the luggage belt at Sydney Airport, and about to embark on one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I was excited and nervous at the same time, as I had never travelled that far before, let alone with a group of people I had never met.

As a photographer/ videographer, when heading out on assignment there’s an anticipation that builds – you’re out there to create what you’ve imagined. I’m no historian, so my challenge was going to be understanding the process of archaeology, to be able to capture the story visually and tell it in a compelling way. I would be learning on the job and getting to know each student on a personal level to be able to share their experiences.

The next three weeks were spent accompanying students as they participated in the excavations at the dig site, where they were looking for proof that King David ruled over Southern Judea.

The dig days were long – with 5am starts, cold weather, exhaustion and challenging conditions. It was a constant mission to stay focused and try to capture all the aspects of the dig with both still photography and video content.

The days of hard work were peppered with moments of real excitement, as each new discovery was made. They uncovered pottery from the Hellenistic period and then, as they excavated further down, they uncovered walls connecting rooms and courtyards dating back to the iron age.

After a hard day’s dig, we’d pack up and head back to the bus, for our trip home to our shared accommodation in a Kibbutz. The students would begin washing the pottery at 4pm before attending evening lectures, and then eating dinner at 7pm. It was quite a tough schedule and most nights I would finish at 11.30pm.

Our early morning alarms continued to ring on the weekends, when we travelled to historic sites and museums around Jerusalem, Masada, The Dead Sea, City of David and the Sea of Galilee.

With so much to see, the schedule was tight – we were constantly on the go from one site to another, with the occasional respite stop for traditional local meals – typically yoghurt, salads, kebab skewers and of course falafel!

There were days of gorgeous sunshine and blue skies, as well as days of walking in the rain and mud to get to our destination. Those moments were challenging, both physically and mentally, but the experience and inspiring views outweighed any struggle.

From the breathtaking views of Masada, to the calming vibes of the Dead Sea – these were the moments that sparked my creativity, being immersed in the history of each site and being able to capture and share these moments with the students.  After learning about the history of Israel and experiencing its culture alongside the students, I really felt I was capturing 1000 words with each image, as the expression goes.

It was such a mind-blowing experience and privilege to travel with this amazing group of students and capture their journey in one of the most historic corners of the world. As I got to know each student, I was no longer an outsider doing “a job” – I became part of the group; part of the journey. Not only was I able to capture and tell a great story, I made some amazing friendships along the way, which I am very grateful for.

I would like to thank Dr Davis and the whole team for inviting me to be part of such an incredible experience. It is absolutely the highlight of my career to date.

Watch Unearthing Ancient Israel (photography by Joanne Stephan):

Macquarie University’s participation in the dig at Khirbet el-Rai was made possible with the generous support of the Roth families and Mr Isaac Wakil, in honour of his late wife Susan.

‘A glimpse of teenage life in Ancient Rome’, which currently has over 8.7 million views on YouTube. The concept was specifically developed to encourage more young males – including Professor Laurence’s own sons – to study ancient history.  

1) In a nutshell, my job is to…
Promote the study and better understanding of the history of ancient Rome.

2) The question I hear most often in my work is…
How did you end up making the cartoons?  I’ve been asked so many times now that I’ve written about this in blogs and as a chapter in Teaching Classics with Technology, just so that this question is answered once and for all!

⊕ Learn more: Professor Laurence chats to The Lighthouse about digitisation of historical resources in the Leading Lights podcast >>

3) The thing I find most rewarding in my role…
Working with PACE students to create a new research platform on the city of Rome.  Academia tends to undervalue the potential of students to undertake research, but the potential of undergraduates to initiate research, scope new projects, and to consider alternatives to existing interpretations is immense.

4) A place that’s special to me is…
The Markets of Trajan in Rome – a site few tourists venture into.  Yet, it lies right in the middle of Rome with wonderful views across the city and, through the rebuilding/restoration of much of the markets, it is possible to imagine the streets of ancient Rome there. There are even game-boards from almost 2000 years ago scratched onto the paving stones in the middle of the street.

5) This year I want to…
Achieve a better work-life balance.

6) The bravest thing I’ve done is…
Sitting at my son’s hospital bed when he was in intensive care.

7) I’m scared of…
Being unable to find the right room in most university buildings, especially when they turn into a labyrinth of misnumbered rooms and mezzanines and I am both lost and late to teach a class.

8) My guilty pleasure is…
Red wine.

9) My hidden talent is…
Finding new ways to drop my mobile phone.

10) A moment I’ll always remember is…
Getting on the plane at London Heathrow with a one-way ticket to Sydney in 2017.

The 20-plus bronze and silver coins from the 1^st to the 3^rd century AD have been released from a high-security vault at Macquarie’s Australian Centre for Ancient Nunismatic Studies for display in the City of Rome exhibition.

They are on show together with 15 prints from the 1600s to late 1900s that depict the ruins of the Roman Forum – for centuries the teeming centre of city life where everything from elections to gladiatorial combat took place.

Portraying harbours, temples, bridges over the Tiber, even a shopping centre and giant drain, the coins provide an almost 360-degree view of what it would have been like to live in the city, says PhD candidate and co-curator Charlotte Mann.

“We have placed them on topographical maps of Ancient Rome so students can look at it and see where in the city those structures were and what they looked like,” says Mann, a Roman coin specialist. Large, high-resolution photographs alongside the maps allow visitors to inspect the coins in all their glorious detail.

“It’s very fine art; some of these coins are extremely small with incredible detail when we look at them under the huge camera – for instance, you can see the berries and leaves of the garlands that hang in the window of the Temple of Janus.”

Professor of Ancient History, Ray Laurence, who curated The City of Rome to support his teaching of a new unit of the same name, says the prints – part of a collection donated to the museum in 2015 – show the gradual revelation of the Forum ruins from the 1600s, when excavations began. A number of them feature Benito Mussolini using the Forum for his own dictatorial purposes.

“It’s fantastic to get the prints out and hang them up so that students can actually look at them, because they were collected very deliberately to show the sequence, and to be a focus for teaching,” Laurence says.

The exhibition is on until May 11.

Last week, the University played host to His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, during His Holiness’s first ever visit to Australia. Today, we take a look back at Coptic Studies at Macquarie and what it means to the University, the community and the world around us.

Coptic Studies, which focuses on the language and culture of the Coptic people of Egypt, is a relatively unknown field of study. “The heritage and history of the Copts of Egypt has not received the attention it deserves,” says Peter Hanna, a Macquarie alumnus and one of the founders of the program. “It’s often treated as an after-thought to the glamour of Ancient Egypt, or as a neglected pre-curser to Islamic Egypt.”

Once Peter and his fellow Coptic alumna Lisa Agaiby developed their idea to help establish Coptic Studies at Macquarie, there was no going back. His Grace Bishop Daniel, Coptic Bishop of Sydney, soon signed an agreement with the University to formalise the sponsorship of the program by the Coptic community, and the rest is history.

Sixty members of the Australian Coptic community donated almost $200,000 to enable Coptic Studies to start at Macquarie, and Dr Heike Behlmer, now Professor of Egyptology and Coptology in Göttingen, was appointed to develop the program.

In 2006, Peter and Lisa became the first two graduates from the Masters of Arts in Coptic Studies – the first program of its kind anywhere in the world. “It wasn’t even available in Egypt,” says Peter. “How ironic that the history of such an ancient culture and civilisation has been supported by a country and institution as young as ours. It speaks volumes for the spirit of our country and its great institutions.”

Since then, Coptic Studies at Macquarie has built an internationally recognised program, acknowledged by prominent scholars throughout the world as providing world-class graduates, and one of most prominent centres in the study of Coptic language and culture. The Macquarie program is still the only one of its kind in Australia.

Coptic Studies has also been awarded four Australian Research Council-funded Discovery Projects since 2006, totaling $675,000 in funding. “It’s a great privilege that my work allows me to pass on what I know about the Coptic language and culture,” says Associate Professor Malcolm Choat, convenor of the Coptic Studies program at Macquarie. “And I get to uncover more and more about it through my research; I save people in the past from being lost to history by connecting them to the present, and I get to use history to help communities maintain their traditions. It’s an enormous privilege, and it’s thanks to Coptic Studies.”

Find out more about Coptic Studies at Macquarie on the website.