September 2024

13 September 2024

I hope you have enjoyed the mid-semester break this week and are feeling refreshed for the last half of Semester 2 teaching.

I’m continuing to travel across our campus network to meet with University stakeholders. Recently, I’ve been to some events that reinforced the importance of working with partners – whether it’s the schools around our campuses, local government, TAFE, or industry collaborators. Our regional campuses host annual dinners with local secondary school principals, and I’ve just been to the Mildura dinner after attending events in Bendigo, Albury-Wodonga, and Shepparton over the last couple of months. I’ve enjoyed learning more about the broad range of schools we work with and the ways La Trobe supports students to prepare for university.

I also visited the Cann Group facility in Mildura. We’ve been working with Cann Group for several years on advanced protected cropping research and training to support medicinal cannabis production. We’re also helping to create a skilled horticulture workforce in the Mildura region by working with SuniTAFE to develop and deliver course content for a new Certificate II in Protected Horticulture, supported by industry partners like Cann Group, which will bring new training and job opportunities to Mildura.

Back in Bundoora, I attended two events last week that further reinforced the value of partnerships. Last Thursday, I spoke at a breakfast event presented by the NORTH Link business network with 200 people from local government, businesses, health, education, and not-for-profit organisations from across Melbourne’s north. On Friday, we hosted an event at the La Trobe Sports Park to launch a blueprint for the Northern Innovation Sustainability Precinct developed by Banyule and Darebin Councils. The plan aims to drive economic development in Melbourne’s north through education, health, and research innovation that is supported by a well-connected transport network, knowledge economy jobs, infrastructure, and housing – underpinned by a commitment to a net zero future. La Trobe can play a major role in the precinct through our R&D and innovation expertise and our Nangak Tamboree eco-corridor and its waters that flow through the campus to Darebin Creek and the centre of precinct.

On the policy front, there have been some significant recent announcements. You may have seen media reports about a proposed cap of 270,000 new international students coming to Australia each year from 2025, which is 53,000 fewer students than last year. The policy, which covers both higher and vocational education, includes caps for individual institutions and cessation of Ministerial Direction 107 that has caused significant delays in visa processing, particularly for students from South Asia. While the proposals require parliamentary approval, La Trobe has welcomed the policy as a proportionate measure to ensure the managed and sustainable growth of international students in Australia. You can also listen to an interview I did on Radio National about the caps.

Separately, the Government is implementing recommendations from the Australian Universities Accord Review Panel’s Final Report. La Trobe supports the measures outlined in the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill, particularly changes to HELP indexation; the introduction of Commonwealth Prac payments to help with placement costs for teaching, nursing, midwifery, and social work students; and increased funding for FEE-FREE Uni Ready Courses that help students gain the skills needed for university – like La Trobe’s fantastic Tertiary Preparation Program.

We will keep staff up to date with further developments on the proposed international student caps and other policy measures that affect the sector. In the meantime, I’d like to mention a few recent achievements and activities from across our campuses.

Award winning innovation

Congratulations to James Boyd and the team behind the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department (VVED) on winning the 2024 Australian Financial Review Higher Education Award for Industry Engagement. The VVED was developed in partnership with Northern Health and gives non-urgent patients access to emergency care from anywhere in Victoria, 24 hours a day. It’s been incredibly successful, supporting 1,000 patients a day – and is a brilliant example of the novel solutions we can develop in our Digital Innovation Hub. We’ve just produced a fantastic video about the VVED that you can watch here.

La Trobe was also a finalist for three other AFR awards. Bec Strating was shortlisted in the Emerging Leadership category; the RISE with La Trobe Indigenous pathway program and our Tertiary Preparation Program were finalists in the Access and Equity category; and MedTech company AlleSense, which was created to support commercialisation of the NanoMslide technology invented by Brian Abbey and Eugeniu Balaur, was shortlisted in the Research Commercialisation category.Well done to the VVED team and all the La Trobe finalists.

Well done to the VVED team and all the La Trobe finalists.

Digital health frontiers

La Trobe is fast becoming Australia’s leading university for digital health innovation. Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas visited our Bundoora campus this morning to launch the Australian Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Medical Innovation that's being established within our Research and Innovation Precinct. It’s the world’s first university innovation centre specialising in the application of AI to accelerate the discovery and development of immunotherapies, vaccines, and other medical innovations. It’s exciting to think how the Centre will revolutionise the speed, cost, and availability of personally designed drugs, including enabling testing on “digital twins" before new drugs are given to patients. I look forward to seeing the innovations developed at the Centre under the leadership of Director Wei Xiang, the Cisco Chair of AI and Internet of Things at La Trobe.

Oscar© on stage

It’s been great to see La Trobe staff collaborating with our partners at The Australian Ballet to help bring a world-first production about the life and writings of Oscar Wilde to the stage.

La Trobe experts in history, sexuality, and creative writing have helped The Ballet present Oscar Wilde’s life, times, and works with integrity and compassion. Dennis Altman, Noel Maloney, Timothy Jones, and Alexis Harley have led consultation with The Australian Ballet’s dancers and artistic team and developed a book, The Importance of Being Oscar, as a companion to the performance. Timothy did an interview with The Age about working with the dancers, which you can read here. Clare Wright also convened a sold-out discussion about the collaboration at the State Library of Victoria, which was expertly chaired by Dennis.

The collaboration was sponsored and commissioned by our Chief Marketing Officer Natalie Ellisdon. I’d also like to acknowledge the core Marketing and Events team of Emma Fox, Blake Dawson, Darcy Muller, and Tory Dillon, who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make the project a success.

Congratulations to everyone involved in creating Oscar© with The Australian Ballet. The team has established an excellent model for future collaborations.

National leadership

I was pleased to see our PVC Indigenous, Michael Donovan, appointed to the inaugural ARC Indigenous Forum that will help strengthen Indigenous leadership in the research sector, build opportunities for Indigenous-led and focused research, and support career pathways for emerging Indigenous researchers. The appointment is a testament to Michael’s standing in the national research community.

Research winners

Congratulations to Roland Burke and Thomas H Ford on being awarded prestigious ARC Future Fellowships. There is intense competition for these Fellowships, which are awarded to the nation’s best mid-career researchers.

And well done to Caitlin Gionfriddo and Michelle Richards, who have received funding under the ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) scheme that supports outstanding early career researchers.

Thanks to Deepa Balakrishnan and the team in the Research Grant Development and Transformation office, who continue to provide tremendous support for La Trobe’s research grant applicants.

Smart cities in India

The Asian Smart Cities Research and Innovation Network (ASCRIN) developed by Ani Desai in 2019 to bring researchers, start-ups, industry, and government partners together to work on projects that improve the sustainability, liveability, and efficiency of cities across South Asia has won the 2024 Excellence in Partnerships award presented by the India Australia Business and Community Alliance.

Congratulations to Ani and ASCRIN partners on being recognised for their work to help address strategic, economic, environmental, and social challenges faced by communities in India.

Next week, I am joining a Victorian Government Higher Education Mission to India led by Premier Jacinta Allan. During the visit, we’ll be signing some agreements to establish new biotechnology and innovation collaborations for La Trobe with partners in India – keep an eye out for announcements during the week.

Upcoming events

La Trobe Asia is presenting an event at our City campus on Monday 16 September featuring four La Trobe experts who will explore vulnerabilities to human trafficking in Southeast Asia and how governments and organisations can support victims. Bec Starting will chair a discussion with Lisa Denney from La Trobe’s Centre for Human Security and Social Change; Sallie Yea, a Tracey Banivanua-Mar Fellow at La Trobe; and Elisabeth Jackson from our Centre for Human Security and Social Change.

The next Industry Engagement ‘Game Changer’ webinar is being held on Thursday 19 September. La Trobe alumna Andrea Gardiner, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Jelix Ventures, will discuss her entrepreneurial journey since graduating from La Trobe to establish Jelix as an early-stage venture capital firm dedicated to backing innovative tech projects across Australia and New Zealand.

Finally, the University’s ‘Classics in the City’ series is being held until November at the City Library in Flinders Lane and the new narrm ngarrgu Library in the Queen Victoria Market precinct. La Trobe experts on ancient Greece and Rome will present talks on the series theme You Were What You Ate: Food, Wine and Other Substances in Ancient Greece and Rome. The events are free to attend but bookings are essential – more information and booking links are here.

In closing

As you can see, it’s been another busy month at La Trobe. It’s also my first spring in Melbourne – I’m looking forward to seeing native wattle in bloom over the coming weeks.

I hope you enjoy the warmer weather and longer days that come with spring – and don’t forget to nominate a colleague or team for the 2024 Staff Awards before the closing date of 18 October.

Best wishes,
Theo