2019 Vice-Chancellor's Award winners

This year's Swinburne Vice-Chancellor's Awards ceremony recognised and celebrated the remarkable contributions of individuals and teams that are making an impact throughout the university and the world.

The 13 award categories recognise excellence across Swinburne’s teaching, research and professional areas.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Swinburne Vice-Chancellor, Professor Linda Kristjanson said: “Today, we recognise and celebrate transformational initiatives that are redefining our future and contributing to the goals of our 2025 Vision and Strategy.

“Today’s nominees started by inspiring someone. They generated excitement. They had an impact. They looked beyond expectations to make a positive difference. It is this energy and determination that inspires us.”

The winners and highly commended nominees are as follows:

Vice-Chancellor’s Reconciliation Award

Team: Lisa Williams, Lea Jones, Clare O’Kelly, Ann-Maree Colborne, Sharon Rice (Aboriginal Workforce Development Initiative)

Individual: Jennifer Turner (“On Country Conversations” Study Tour)

Vice-Chancellor’s Engagement Award – Community Engagement

Team: Huseyin Sumer, Eddie Brelsford, Elliot Henkel, Alan Duffy, Virginia Kilborn, Rebecca Allen (SHINE: An innovative space project for university and high school students)

Team: Tay Fei Siang, Then Yi Lung, Hudyjaya Siswoyo Jo (Nurturing Social Community through Innovation, Education and Technology)

Highly commended: Emily George Jimbai, Ee Sia, Audrey Hui Kian Chong, Mohamad Safaree Sapuan, Lai Jia Chi, Yiin Chung Loong, Bing Shen How, Elaine Yeu Yee Lee, Ting Lik Fong, Chew Jiuan Jing, Irine Runnie Henry Ginjom, Hwang Siaw San (Cancer awareness programs,  Sarawak)

Highly commended: Bernie Reed, Isabell Mitsel (Tradies Breakfast - a partnership with Vic Police and Department of Justice)

Vice-Chancellor’s Inclusion and Diversity Award

Team: Julia Prendergast, Deanne Fisher (Gender Agenda - Gender Diversity Support Group)

Team: Laura Wilkinson, Lachlan van der Velden, Mary Miceli, Daryl Steffen, James Hallinan, Anh Nguyen, Olga Lavouasier, Kaylene Tyler, Franx Ann, Hue Pham, Simona Jobbagy, Robbie Van Dijk (PAVE Family Violence Prevention Student Project)

Highly commended: Jarrod Walshe, Angela McMillan, Jacqueline Dohaney, Bernadine Van Gramberg, Sarah Maddison, Kathleen De Boer, Aimii Scott, Yana Zhang, Aijiwati Tjiam, Christine Critchley (SAGE 2018/2019 data analysis and HDR Student Survey team - Creation and Results analysis)

Highly commended: Jacqueline Bondell, Lisa Horsley, Mark Myers, Rebecca Allen, Alan Duffy, Carl Knox (SciVR - Astronomy for all Australians)

Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award (Higher Education)

Team: Clare Dyson, Nicola Fish, Cait Ryan, Amir Abdekhodaee, Peter Mahon, Christopher McCarthy, Jill Bamforth, Peter Ciszewski, Matthew Cooke, Lucas Licata, Simon Morgan, Diane Sivasubramaniam (Student and industry-responsive model for Work-Integrated Learning)

Individual: Andrew Rixon (A strengths-based belonging approach to developing employability skills)

Highly commended: Mark Strachan, Mun Wong (Development of immersive scaffolding in systems and services design)

Highly commended: Lim Weng Marc (Enhancing student satisfaction of learning experience through the LABS pedagogy)

Highly commended: Mitchell Adams (Design and creation of immersive legal learning experiences)

Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award (Vocational Education)

Individual: Pia Armitage (A creative and innovative approach to teaching)

Highly commended: George Naguib (From student to teacher: A story of professionalism and a desire to change and impact the learning experience)

Vice Chancellor’s Service Excellence Award

Individual: Edmond Washington (Improving students’ ELICOS experience)

Team: Tiffany Milne, Tania Sabatino, Stella Chua, Shana Chong, Elisa Cassin, Sandra Luxton, Keryn Chalmers (Above and Beyond: The Journey to AACSB Accreditation)

Highly commended: individual: Kate Ebbott (Creating an online learning environment to improve the student experience)

Highly commended: Rae Richards, Ashley Singh, Valentina La Piana, Andreana Newson, Brenton Hall (Canvas Result Moderation Tool, a win for everyone)

Highly commended: Paula Swatman, Nitya Phillipson, Astrid Nordmann, Ann Gaeth, Sally Fried, Bertha Chin, Heidi Collins (Servicing Sarawak and Beyond: Transnational Research Ethics)

Vice-Chancellor’s Research Excellence Award

Team: Andrew Wood, Nicholas Reynolds, Philip Branch, Denny Meyer, Simon Moulton, Saulius Juodkazis, Michael Gilding, Nerida Cole, Gianni Renda, Sally McArthur, Paul Stoddart (ARC Training Centre in Biodevices)

Highly commended: Baohua Jia, Jie Zhang, Dan Yang, Keng-Te Lin, Han Lin (Graphene research: from fundamental to impact)

Highly commended: Michelle Zwagerman, Terry Burke, Vivienne Waller, Stephen Glackin, Emad Gad, Jay Sanjayan, Christine Critchley, Kathleen Hulse, Hussein Dia, Peter Newton (Swinburne Research Node of Excellence in Low Carbon Living)

Individual: Professor James Ogloff (Forensic behavioural science)

Highly commended: Xiaoming Wen (Advanced photonics research)

Vice-Chancellor’s Research Excellence Award (Early Career)

Individual: Kwong Ming Tse (Biomechanics: Relating Mechanics to Biology, Health and Medicine)

Individual: Dr Andrea Phillipou (Mental health and anorexia nervosa)

Highly commended: Nikole Nielsen (Galaxy Gas Flows)

Highly commended: Saravana Kannan Thangavelu (Renewable and sustainable energy)

Vice-Chancellor’s Engagement Award – Industry Engagement

Team: Jennifer Wood, Muhammad Awais Javed, Elizabeth Mathews, Steven Knight, Scott Wade (Corrosion Mitigation Technology for the Royal Australian Navy)

Highly commended: Victor Bong Nee Shin, Angelia Liew San Chuin, Kelly Yeo Lii Kheng, Siti Nurfarahin Mohamad Razali, Wallace Wong Shung Hui (Digitalising the Construction Industry through Effective Academic-Industry Partnership)

Highly commended: Patrick Then, Choo ChungSiung, Matthew Wong,Sim Kwan Hua, Hudyjaya Siswoyo Jo, Valliappan Raman (Industry Revolution-4.0 Digital Waste Management Platform)

Vice-Chancellor’s Global Initiatives Award

Team: Aengus Topping, Emily Heard, Stewart Collins, Sally Rodrick, Alastair De Rozario, Elise Gumm, Carla King, Diana Gonzalez (Launch of Overseas Internships to Swinburne Students)

Individual: John Hopkins (Excellence in developing an outstanding authentic international education experience)

Vice-Chancellor’s Leadership Excellence Award

Individual: Roberta Anderson

Individual: Terry McEvoy

Vice-Chancellor’s Innovation Award

Team: Michelle Gillespie, Jessica Potter, Katie Routley, Mark Di Nardo, Vince Persi, Tony Davies (Reimagining Library and studentHQ as the heart of the campus)

Individual: Amirul Islam (3-stage care plan for treating people with vision impairment)

Lifetime Achievement Award

Individual: Mr Stephen Fankhauser

Individual: Dr Andrew Peters

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