Ma & Morley Newsletter MARCH - APRIL 2024
What’s been happening?
WELCOME PROGRAM
The newest cohort of Ma & Morley Scholars attended the two-day Welcome Program at Callaghan campus with a busy schedule of activities. We are excited to welcome another amazing bunch of Scholars and look forward to their contributions to the Program. A massive thank you to our Scholar facilitators – Max, Georgia Young, George Stanford, Luke & Eliza
MENTORING INTRODUCTION
Scholars (Stage 2 and above) who nominated to be a mentor attended an online training workshop before connecting with their mentee. Katrina Hamall, Wellbeing Advisor at the University of Newcastle, joined the session to give tips and ideas on what services & support mentors can offer their mentees.
Continued..
GATHER & CONNECT
2024 Ma & Morley Scholars gathered after their first week of Uni for 2024 to hear about the range of support services offered at UON – Scholars heard from Academic Learning Support, UNSA, the Careers Service, the library as well as Rebecca Hazell, Executive Director of Advancement in the Office of Alumni & Philanthropy about the origins of the donation from the Jack Ma Foundation.
STAGE 3 LAUNCH
Stage 3 Scholars met for the Stage 3 Launch early in March. The session was run a little differently this year – after the two Program reviews last year (Triennial Review & CEEHE Evaluative Research Report), many insights emerged on how to improve this stage of the Program. In this session, the Program team invited Scholars to share their ideas & suggestions with the goal of co-designing Stage 3. A Stage 3 working group has been established with more information to come! Just a reminder that all Scholars who are still studying from the 2018 – 2022 cohorts are Stage 3. Stage 4 is once you graduate and become an Ambassador –it does not refer to the fourth year of your degree.
SCHOLAR CHARTER INFO SESSION
The Program team held an online info session on the Scholar Charter, which gave Scholars the opportunity to ask any questions or have anything clarified. If you were unable to join, but would like to watch the recording, please reach out & we can share it. The Scholar Charter is now in effect, so please take the time to read and understand it.
Hangzhou Normal University Student Visit
Students from Hangzhou Normal University (on a Scholarship also funded by the Jack Ma Foundation) visited Newcastle on a two-week study tour in February. The students met with Ma & Morley Scholars on several occasions & were incredibly excited to share their culture with us! We hope to connect with the students again when we visit Hangzhou!
Alibaba Expo 2024
Scholars and Ambassadors from different years attended the Alibaba Expo in Sydney on March 15 & 16, volunteering in various capacities. With over 60 exhibitors, a conference full of speakers and representatives from different business units within Alibaba, Scholars had an incredible insight into the current consumer trends in China and heard about the opportunities and challenges of building trade within those markets.
Program team update
ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING
The Program team has been preparing an upcoming Advisory Committee meeting on 15 April. At this meeting, the Program team is to provide an update on how they will implement the recommendations from the Triennial Review and CEEHE Evaluative Report.
LEADERSHIP INTENSIVE
The two-day Leadership Intensive for Stage 2 Scholars is fast approaching on April 16 – 17. Please note, these are the new dates for the Leadership Intensive due to the availability of our facilitators. For any 2022 Scholars who were unable to attend last year, you are invited to join this year – please keep an eye out for the registration form in Slack.
CHINA IMMERSION
It’s hard to believe we are planning for the China Immersion yet again – we are getting very excited! The tentative dates for the Immersion are 23 June – 5 July. Scholars joining the China Immersion will attend a series of pre-departure sessions in May/June. Our itinerary will be similar to last year, visiting Shanghai, Hangzhou & Beijing.
What’s next?
Other opportunities
NEWCASTLE WRITERS FESTIVAL
5 April – 7 April
The 2024 Newcastle Writers Festival has an amazing & stacked program of events yet again! The event will run from Friday 5 April – Sunday 7 April, with a mix of free & paid events. There are some pretty big names in this year’s program from David Marr, Leigh Sales, Clementine Ford, Sally Hepworth & Deborah Conway. Check out the full program here – there are lots of events for all different interests!
TRUTH & LIES: COMMUNITIES OWNING THE NARRATIVE
26 March, 7pm – 8pm, online
Hosted by The Community Independents Program - join alumnus Richard Denniss (B Commerce 1993) and Nicolette Boele for a robust conversation about how dis and misinformation undermines democracy in Australia and the power organised communities can harness by owning the narrative through established networks of trust. More information can be found here.
iLEAD
The University's iLEAD program allows you to develop and demonstrate essential leadership and professional skills so that you can be a leader in a range of different contexts – it is incredibly aligned with the Ma & Morley Program. The time commitment to complete iLEAD is only 10 hours across one academic year.
iLEAD participants will also be invited to an optional Public Speaking Workshop on Wednesday 14 August 2024. The workshop aims to provide a safe and supportive environment for students to build the core skills required to speak publicly.
Based on the feedback from the Ma & Morley Triennial Review and the CEEHE Evaluative Report, some Scholars shared a desire for more practical skill development – this is an excellent opportunity to make this happen! In particular, this would really benefit Scholars in Stages 1 & 2 to build their leadership capabilities.
You can find more information here, including how to apply. There are two intake periods for iLEAD in 2024 –
Intake 1 – Thursday 28 March 2024
Intake 2 – Thursday 22 August 2024
Don’t miss out!
Meet the Scholar: Evie Smith
Tell us a bit about yourself and your journey to getting to University
My name is Evie (2024 Ma & Morley Scholar) and I’m a proud Wiradjuri woman living on the Central Coast. I got into a Bachelor of Renewable Energy Engineering at the UON through Early Entry. I have grown up in a family which has always been very conscious of the environment which is why I chose this course to study and was also another reason I chose to apply for the Ma & Morley Scholarship Program.
What is something about you that most people wouldn't know?
That’s a really hard question, but maybe that a couple of years ago I went cage diving with great white sharks.
What is your favourite thing to do outside uni?
My favourite thing to do outside of uni is definitely hanging out with my friends. They are always a lot of fun and it helps keep a balance between uni, work and life.
What is your favourite quote?
“You got to try and reach for the stars or try and achieve the unachievable” - Cathy Freeman
Recommended read: What are you currently listening to, watching or reading?
I would definitely recommend the Happiest Man On Earth by Eddie Jaku!
Recommended read (or listen)
A moving story of a young Vietnamese-Australian woman who returns to her family in the wake of her brother’s murder, determined to discover what really happened. A dive into the migrant experience and racist sentiment of the late 1990s in Sydney.
The world is on fire. There's a coup. A former president is being indicted. Inflation is through the roof, and AI is taking our jobs. What does it all mean? Each week, Matt Bevan explains the biggest story in world news in an easily digestible way!
Scholar recommendation: Emma Booth Aussie Ark depicts Tim Faulkner’s journey as a conservationist and advocate for our land and native animals. It offers deep insight into current issues that we don’t necessarily take seriously all the time – an excellent read!
Thank you
Thank you for a wonderful few months –it’s been a busy start to 2024 with lots more exciting things to come!
If you have any suggestions or would like to add anything into the next newsletter –please reach out