SUMMER | 2015
BOND DIVES INTO
HEALTH Messel’s legacy
Breaking barriers
Down to business
Bond alumni
Tribute to a ‘force of nature’
Health Sciences and Medicine
From classroom to boardroom
Stamping their mark
SUMMER 2015
contents
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Exercise science gears up Growing Bond’s school of Bullsharks
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The leading edge Dr Helen O’Neill unlocks the secrets of the cells at Bond
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Indigenous health Dr Shannon Springer champions a cultural shift at Bond
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Destination Oxford Alumni reach new heights on prestigious scholarship
Production
Editor: Camilla Jansen Journalists: Laura Daquino, Paris Faint, Nick Nichols, Jenna Rathbone, Karen Rickert, David Simmons
Publisher: Business News Australia. PO Box 1487, Mudgeeraba. QLD. 4213
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Alumni 25
Biofuel expert spreads her message
37 Sam Coad makes the big league in US football 49 Dr Fay Haisley’s legacy of giving
Campus & Careers 16
Academics lead new approach to medicine
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Packing a big punch at University Games
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Alumni mentor program helps Bondies reconnect
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Editorial enquiries Alumni and Development Office Bond University Gold Coast Queensland 4229, Australia Ph: +61 7 5595 4403 To join The ARCH mailing list please email: development@bond.edu.au
Design: Sean Dutton, Paris Faint, Elizabeth Marcano Contributors: Professor Tim Brailsford, Brett Walker Photography: Corne Lategan, Annie Noon, Remco Photography, Matt Roberts
VICE-CHANCELLOR’S LETTER
LEVERAGING OUR LEGACY,
CARVING OUR DESTINY THE last issue of the ARCH was dedicated to Alan Bond who sadly passed away earlier this year. Since then, the University has lost another of its elder statesmen with the passing of Emeritus Professor Harry Messel in July. However, the sad news gives us cause to reflect on the life and times of this great educator and his tenure as the University’s third Chancellor. Harry, often referred to as a force of nature, was the embodiment of Bond University’s independent spirit. Without his discipline and determination, Bond could not have grown to be the institution it is today. Harry took on the role of Executive Chancellor at a time when the University was in considerable financial difficulty facing challenges from creditors and banks. It was a tumultuous time that demanded the intense qualities that Harry possessed, both as a financial manager and as a person with the drive to cement the long-term future of the University. His tenure at Bond was marked by his strenuous attention to the detail of what a University should stand for. Harry was fastidious in his push for academic standards. He had been recruited from the University of Sydney where he had built an internationally-renowned School of Physics. This had been no easy task, but Harry had prevailed and under his leadership Physics at the University of Sydney was the envy of the scientific community. Harry became a passionate believer in Bond University. Despite the challenges, he worked feverishly in growing the institution; hosting many lunches and dinners to foster support and sell the message most ably and always supported by his beloved wife, Pip. The Bond University community is grateful, and indeed better off, for having Harry as part of our family.
His passing brings into focus Bond’s evolution which continues today. Our most recent change has been the renaming of the Faculty of Business as the Bond Business School.
This issue of The ARCH includes a feature on Bond’s initiatives in health. This includes a focus on ground breaking research being undertaken in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine.
The rebranding firmly aligns Bond with its roots. Our founders envisaged the business faculty at Bond in the image of the best business schools in the world, producing outstanding graduates taught in an entrepreneurial environment by leading scholars and always exposed to contemporary developments in industry.
The past year has been exciting for Bond on a number of levels. A number of recent developments have placed us on a path that is set to reap rich rewards for the entire Bond community. Our alumni network continues to grow and in 2015 we rolled out another stage of our alumni engagement strategy. Inside these pages, you will find reports from various functions and events that have been held around the world.
As a kickstart to the new brand, Bond Business School has recently received the global stamp of quality passing through a rigorous accreditation process known as EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System). It is now one of only eight business schools in Australia and among only 100 or so in the world to be awarded dual EQUIS and AACSB accreditation.
We look forward to 2016 with great enthusiasm as Bond University builds on the legacy of the past and nourishes the core values that have built this remarkable institution.
Bond is also extending its reach in the health and exercise arena, with the Bond Institute of Health and Sport (BIHS) now fully operational after an extensive refurbishment. The refurbishment includes a new High Performance Training Centre which will enable students to study and research in an absolute state-of-the-art facility. The study of elite sport, health and nutrition is a vital link to our understanding of the human body and how it can benefit learning. It also provides a pathway to creating a more active, healthy society that will provide lasting benefits for all - and ease the growing pressure on our health system. BIHS is home to academic staff and research students exploring the fields of nutrition and dietetics, physiotherapy, sports management and exercise and sports science. Key features of the Institute include its advanced teaching and research laboratories, as well as clinical skills rooms. In 2016, the centre will house a physiotherapy clinic, dietetics and nutrition services and a psychology consultancy.
PROFESSOR TIM BRAILSFORD Vice-Chancellor and President
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SUMMER 2015
CAMPUS NEWS >
WHAT'S HAPPENING + WHAT'S NEWS + WHAT'S COMING
ACTUARIAL SCIENCE
BUILDS ON TALENT INTERNATIONALLY experienced actuary, Wilma Terblanche, has joined Bond University’s rapidly expanding Actuarial Science program as Assistant Professor. Assistant Professor Terblanche’s appointment follows the appointment of Dr Gaurav Khemka earlier this year, with both academics working alongside Bond’s Head of Actuarial Science, Professor Terry O’Neill, who is one of Australia’s leading authorities in the field. Professor O’Neill says Assistant Professor Terblanche, a Fellow of the Australian Actuaries Institute, would bring an international business perspective to the program. “Having worked in Australia, the UK and South Africa, Wilma has a wealth of
Assistant Professor Wilma Terblanche (R) with Assistant Professor Gaurav Khemka (L) and Professor Terry O’Neill (C)
experience and will be an invaluable member of our actuarial science team,” says Professor O’Neill. Bond’s Actuarial Science program is set to introduce a Masters program and a Big Data major, in what would be another Queensland first, addressing the growing need for professionals that can find innovative ways to quantify and manage emerging risks. “Bond is the first university in Queensland to offer Actuarial Science degrees, which means students no longer need to travel interstate to study or do the actuarial subjects through distance learning,” says Assistant Professor Terblanche.
“
Bond is the first university in Queensland to offer Actuarial Science degrees
”
Connections have also been made with major employers including Queensland Treasury, Suncorp, RACQ and Allianz Global Assistance for projects and internships.
BOND’S MBA TOPS STUDENT RANKINGS BOND University’s MBA program has come out on top for student satisfaction in the Australian Financial Review’s latest BOSS MBA rankings. The independent national ranking of MBA programs also places the Bond Business School number two for improvement of skills. Overall, Bond was named seventh for its MBA program and fourth for its Executive MBA program in the bi-annual Australia-wide ratings system. Bond Business Executive Dean Professor Mark Hirst says Bond has a proud
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reputation for student satisfaction within the Faculty.
global connections students make while studying their MBA are priceless.
“Bond Business School offers a unique model that focuses on small class sizes, a personalised teaching environment and practical skills, and that is the key to our success,” says Professor Hirst.
“Bond’s MBA offers a real diversity of nationalities, with students from 20 different countries enrolled in the program, allowing for shared business experiences and the formation of a world-wide network of contacts. A lot of students end up going into business together,” says Maxim.
“We consistently rate among the top universities for MBA and Executive MBA programs and to be listed as number one for student satisfaction is a real coup, and recognition that our students really value their experience at Bond.” Bond MBA Director Neva Maxim says the
“With global business becoming the norm, a lot of universities, including Bond, teach cross-cultural management but in the Bond MBA program they live it every day.”
NEWS
GOING GLOBAL
AFTER a decade of tireless work to
improve the lives of those living in remote PNG communities, AusAID scholarship recipient Paula Fore has graduated from Bond University. Fore completed a Bachelor of International Relations on a scholarship from AusAID, the Australian Government agency that provides higher education opportunities to people from developing countries. In a special ceremony held in her honour, Bond University Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Tim Brailsford presented Fore with her degree. But the PNG aid worker says she walked away from the ceremony with more than just a degree. “Studying at Bond has opened my mind to a world of opportunities available to me, both personally and professionally,” says Fore.
Paula Fore (C) with Bond University Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Tim Brailsford (L), and Faculty of Society and Design Executive Dean, Professor Raoul Mortley (R)
“I am passionate about being able to equip Papua New Guineans with the right skills and knowledge to live better lives and to be self-sufficient, and through my studies at Bond I have tapped into new ideas and ways to do this.”
WORLD-FIRST RESEARCH UNIT A WORLD-FIRST research unit has been established at Bond University which aims to enhance the protection and performance of those on the front line protecting their country.
The Tactical Research Unit (TRU) is a network of multi-disciplinary, international experts who will investigate ways to enhance the health and performance of tactical personnel in military, law enforcement, fire-fighting and first responder organisations.
those who look after us – what potential and corporate knowledge have we lost through injuries that could easily have been prevented?”
for over 20 years, military expert Dr Joe Knapik, police researcher Dr Jay Dawes, fire-fighter researcher Dr Katie Sell, and military psychologist Captain Scott Gayton.
Joining Dr Orr on the TRU team as collaborating researchers are Dr Pope, who has worked in the defence sector as a contract service provider and consultant
The group will also work alongside advisors from the Australian Federal Police, New South Wales Police, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services and the Australian Army.
Dr Rob Orr, one of the research team leaders, says the ultimate goal of the TRU is to give back to those who serve. “It is very easy to take for granted the hard work and sacrifice that our tactical personnel provide on a daily basis,” says Dr Orr. “Tactical responders are susceptible to a wide range of specific health and injury issues. “There is a notable gap in research around the health and safety of all tactical personnel as a collective, with a key problem being that much of the research conducted is siloed within each of the different forces and services. “It is so important that we look after
Dr Rob Orr and Dr Rod Pope (front: L-R) with Senior Sergeant Shane Irving and Captain Scott Gayton (back: L-R)
www.arch.bond.edu.au
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SUMMER 2015
GAME
ON Professor Jeff Brand
VIDEO games aren’t just for teenagers any more. New research by Bond University has found that the ease and accessibility of video games on mobile phones and consoles is attracting older Australians. The Digital Australia Report 2016, authored by Professor Jeff Brand, shows 68 per cent of the Australian population plays video games, with the average age of gamers in Australia now 33 years old. Forty-nine per cent of those over 50 years of age and 39 per cent over the age of 65
play video games, many citing that games keep their minds active. Professor Brand says while having fun and filling in time to alleviate boredom topped the uses and gratifications list for most players, those aged 50 years and over were motivated by health factors. “The majority of older Australians felt video games could increase mental stimulation, at 76 per cent of participants, with 61 per cent feeling it might help fight dementia and 55 per cent that it could help maintain social connections,” he says.
BOND NAMED WORLD’S
BEST BEACHSIDE UNI THE best beachside University isn’t on America’s west coast or France’s southern strands – it’s right here on the Gold Coast. Bond University has been named the world’s best beachside university by education network Study International. Bond claimed the throne ahead of the University of California in Santa Cruz, USA, and the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Bond’s International Director John McPartland says the University’s selection as the world’s best beachside university is a major win for the institution and the Gold Coast as a whole.
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“We have a strong international student base already and to be given an award such as this can only further enhance our attractiveness internationally,” says McPartland. “To have an international body recognise the unique mix of first-class education in a first-class city blessed with an abundance of natural assets is very exciting. “The combination of the Gold Coast’s famous surf culture and laidback lifestyle with Bond’s small class sizes and tight-knit community makes it a study experience that is second to none.”
“This suggests games are transforming as a medium and while they will continue to be played for entertainment, they will increasingly serve other purposes, especially among Australians over the age of 50 who now represent 33 per cent of the population. “The use of games-based technology is increasingly finding its way into physical and mental health applications. I continue to marvel at the growth of video games and their potential to serve as a positive social, political and economic force.”
NEWS
PROFESSOR RISES TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT POSITION
Professor Nick James
JAMES BOND
RAISES THE
BAR AT
LAW
BOND University welcomes Professor Nick James to the position of Executive Dean of Law.
Professor James is a former commercial lawyer and has been a legal academic since 1996, having authored three textbooks in his time. He says he is honoured to undertake the position and is excited to introduce new ideas to the Faculty.
“
I have a clear
vision for the Faculty and a carefully thought out plan
”
“I will be overhauling our highly integrated skills program to provide a more thoughtful, staged approach to the development of legal skills and professionalism. “I will be developing a suite of innovative new programs and subjects, delivered in ways that enhance accessibility by busy professionals, including new Masters programs such as the MLA, and new subjects such as Infrastructure Law.” As for the future, Professor James has a vision of transforming Bond Law into an education and research hub, with a keen focus on professionalism and scholarship. Professor James says a strong team and open communication are key elements of leadership he is bringing to the table as Dean.
In his short time as Executive Dean, Professor James has already introduced a new program, Masters of Legal Administration (MLA), and has plans to restructure the Legal Skills program.
“I have a clear vision for the Faculty and a carefully thought out plan for realising that vision, but I remain open to suggestions about improvement and the need to adapt to changing circumstances,” he says.
“My vision is to build upon our reputation by ensuring that we provide a legal education that is not only high quality but also professionally focused and relevant to the realities of legal practice in the 21st century,” says Professor James.
“I am lucky to have a team of smart, loyal and hardworking academics and professional staff working with me in the Faculty, so I find serving the Faculty as Dean to be very enjoyable and very satisfying.”
Dr Daryl McPhee
ASSOCIATE Dean of Research Dr Daryl McPhee has been appointed a Director of the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC). Dr McPhee and a team of directors will help guide the research and investment efforts of the FRDC, playing an important role in investing producer and taxpayer funds to increase long term returns to Australian fisheries and aquaculture. McPhee’s extensive research on the ‘coastal zone’, the area where most human settlements are located in Australia, and how the integration of ecological, economic and social information can be applied to the diverse challenges those zones face, will be invaluable to the FRDC. Dr McPhee says the FRDC’s role is to plan and invest in fisheries research, development and extension activities in Australia. “The FRDC has a significant responsibility in ensuring, on behalf of the Australian Government, that research is undertaken to assist in the management of the fisheries and aquaculture resource for ongoing sustainability,” says Dr McPhee. “It is important for me to address the lack of understanding of the harvesting and farming practices that produce Australian seafood and the associated management regimes. “I hope to contribute to a better understanding of the need for fresh seafood in a healthy balanced diet, and the role of recreational fishing in contributing to positive physical and mental health of the population.”
www.arch.bond.edu.au
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SUMMER 2015
THE
MESSEL LEGACY The late Emeritus Professor Harry Messel, described as a force of nature, is remembered for his role in steering Bond through a tumultuous era.
EMERITUS Professor Harry Messel wasn’t one to mince words. It may not have won him many friends, but it was a fundamental strength the fledgling Bond University needed as he took on the role of Executive Chancellor and CEO in 1992. For those reflecting on the life and times of Professor Messel, who died in July on the Gold Coast aged 93, many described his capacity to drive an agenda with a booming voice that demanded attention. In those formative years when the University’s Japanese founders EIE International hit the rocks and the Long Term Credit Bank (LTCB) was looking to recover its loans, Professor Messel had a vision that Bond could steer its way to independence. In the late hours when he would sit on the sixth floor of the Chancellery smoking a cigar and sipping on a martini, he would ponder the finer detail of the strategy that would entail a tight rein on the University’s budget. The hope was that the University could buy the land and the buildings and ultimately control its destiny. Professor Raoul Mortley, Dean and ProVice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Society and Design, concedes not everyone was happy with the changes the new Executive Chancellor was making. However, history
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shows he was the right person at the helm of Bond during a difficult period of transition. “Tact was not his strong point,” says Professor Mortley. “But he had a purpose and it was for the benefit of the University. He would speak his mind very loudly and clearly.” While many would describe Professor Messel as ‘larger than life’, Alan Finch prefers to remember him as a ‘force of nature’. Finch, Bond’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Students and Academic Support, was one of many who saw behind the tough persona. “When you got to know him better there was a surprising level of generosity and understanding in the man, and kindness,” says Finch. “He was an innovator in a real sense. Harry touched a lot of people and awakened a lot of interest and encouraged them. “He was tough enough to maintain that exterior, and that’s what most people saw, but he was a very difficult person to read. “There was no artifice about him. Harry never had time for diplomacy or tact. But under Harry’s leadership, the University accumulated sufficient surplus to buy its
way out of its dilemma. “He made a lot of difficult decisions at the time, like not replacing computing equipment for some time and giving people promotions in name only but with no additional salary. Yet he amassed $40 million and that eventually became the University’s fighting fund.” The Canada-born physicist came to Bond with an esteemed background in education that stretched back to the 1950s. In 1954, he established the Nuclear Research Foundation, now known as the Physics Foundation, at a time when science research funding was in its infancy in Australia. For decades he was a strong advocate for science in education, and is remembered by many students for his support and encouragement. Finch says Professor Messel would describe his time at Bond as the toughest job of his career. The former soldier, who served during the Korean War, ran the University with military precision. “Harry faced a difficult and almost insurmountable task of maintaining the momentum of a young and evolving University while dealing with the financial challenges of Bond,” says Vice-chancellor Professor Tim Brailsford.
TRIBUTE
Mrs Pip Messel and grandson James Messel-Read at the campus tribute
Professor Harry Messel and Mrs Pip Messel at Bond’s 25th Anniversary Gala Ball
Professor Harry Messel with Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Tim Brailsford at the Bond 25th Anniversary Book Launch
“His tenure at Bond was marked by his strenuous attention to the detail of what a University should stand for. Harry was fastidious in his push for academic standards.”
in terms of leadership. His leadership was not everyone’s style, but he was a shrewd man who was a good financial manager and he was capable of making tough decisions.”
tenure that lasted until 1997.
Professor John Farrar, Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Law, was another who warmed to Professor Messel even though the relationship had an awkward beginning.
According to Professor Mortley, Professor Messel’s eye for financial detail was impeccable. “What was remarkable about him was that he knew where every dollar was; he pored over the budgets continuously,” he says. “I can’t stress too much about the mastery he had over the detail of management of the institution.”
“When he arrived we were a tenant at will on the campus. We weren’t in strife financially, but the LTCB had to retrieve what it could of its assets. Harry knew what had to be done and he was strong enough and wilful enough to do what had to be done. I don’t know that too many other people would be able to plough through regardless.”
Finch describes Professor Messel as a ‘deep thinker and politically astute’. His appointment to Bond was on the recommendation of board members Neville Wran and Malcolm Turnbull. It was a
A memorial service was held at Bond University in late July. Many long term staff and friends attended to pay their respects to Mrs Messel and her grandson, who is currently studying at Bond University.
Professor Farrar was appointed Acting Vice-Chancellor of Bond after a staff revolt saw a vote of no confidence in Professor Messel not long after his appointment. “I worked very closely with him and my view of him changed over time,” says Professor Farrar. “I think he made a significant contribution
“The simple truth is that Bond wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for Harry,” says Finch.
www.arch.bond.edu.au
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SUMMER 2015
BOND GETS DOWN TO BUSINESS
Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Tim Brailsford (L) with Bond Business alumnus and CEO and President of Ferrari Asia-Pacific, Herbert Appleroth (C), and Bond Business School Executive Dean, Professor Mark Hirst (R)
Our partnering between Town and Gown strengthens with the emergence of Bond Business School. IT’S a subtle name change, but the newly branded Bond Business School positions Bond University as a serious player in business education. The new Bond Business School already has an edge, according to its Executive Dean Professor Mark Hirst. “Bond is unique because 26 years ago we were actually created in the image of the best business schools in the world – Harvard and Stanford – so it’s not as if we are changing from one path to another,” he says. “We are reconfirming that we are moving along the path we are already on and focused on continuing to deepen our engagement and intimacy with the business community.
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“We needed to show we were agile. While we wanted to retain the status of a faculty, we felt we needed to be a school. “The rebadging is a symbol of our past, showing where we are now and also looking forward to where we want to be.” The name change places Bond’s brand alongside the preeminent business schools in the world. While it has been a time coming Professor Hirst notes that there has been an extensive process. Professor Hirst says the new positioning builds on the Business Faculty’s historical connection with the business community and signals an intensified focus on ‘blurring the lines’ between the boardroom and the classroom. Centred on the three key pillars of entrepreneurship, quantitative skills and internationalisation, Bond Business School will also build on the Faculty’s reputation for innovation as evidenced by the launch of Queensland’s first Actuarial Science programs and the new Centre for Actuarial and Financial Big Data Analytics in 2015. The School is increasingly becoming an incubator of new business startups and
growth strategies, and its curriculum is developed and delivered by business directors, executives, senior managers and consultants. From January 2016, Bond Business School will offer Business Model Generation and Business Model Execution subjects which will expose every undergraduate student to the experience of creating their own business. “This change to become the Bond Business School acknowledges that we put as much focus on the ‘business’ as we do on the ‘school’,” says Professor Hirst. “We’ve created a uniquely immersive learning environment where entrepreneurs and senior executives come into the classroom to work with students on real case studies and business challenges. “The learning experience then goes out to the workplace where internships and capstone projects are recognised as subject units that count towards a student’s degree.” The rebranding comes on the heels of Bond gaining international accreditation under the EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS).
CAMPUS
NEW WAVE OF BUSINESS THINKING
Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship Baden U’Ren (L) and Navdeep Pasricha (R)
BOND University alumni and Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship Dr Baden U’Ren has been a driving force in business this year, accelerating startups and laying bold plans of his own. The third edition of the Bond Business Accelerator, conceptualised by Dr U’Ren and Program Manager Tres West, kicked off earlier this year with a new batch of budding entrepreneurs. Managed and run by the Brussels-based European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), EQUIS is the international gold standard system of quality assessment, improvement and accreditation of higher education institutions in management and business administration. Less than 2 per cent of the world’s 13,000 business programs are EQUIS accredited and Bond Business School is one of only eight in Australia to have dual EQUIS and AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) accreditation. “EQUIS is an internationally recognised stamp of excellence and going through the extensive accreditation process itself delivered significant value,” says Professor Hirst. “The EQUIS approval process put us under the microscope with an in-depth review of the School, strategy, programs, research, community outreach and global competitive positioning conducted by a panel of international experts. “The expert opinion of the peer review team reinforced our confidence that our focus and competitive positioning for the future is on target.”
The 12-week incubator, aimed at earlystage startups, nurtures and develops business ideas into a commercially-viable enterprise. Participants pitched their business to investors at Demo Day, with the $5000 in seed funding awarded to Navdeep Pasricha to grow his teen mental health initiative iYouth. Proving he can practice what he preaches, Dr U’Ren bested five other ventures from across the world to take out the StartupHouse Battlefield in San Francisco in October. Along with co-founders Bond MBA students Caile Ditterich and Shiny Su, he pitched Ditterich Agriculture which is a hand-held grain analysis and management tool to maximise margins for crop farmers. Dr U’Ren says the achievement confirmed the startup’s potential impact in the industry and ignited a new wave of strategic thinking. “I went up against some serious competitors in the Battlefield, so it was a real coup to come out on top,” he says. “Some of the other ventures were significantly further progressed in their development, so to be named the winner
is a great endorsement of our concept and that we are moving in the right direction.” StartupHouse Battlefield wasn’t the only successful stop on the Bond study tour to Silicon Valley. The students also shared a rare glimpse of vibrant work spaces. Students met influential members of the startup community, as well as toured the offices of Google, graphic design company 99Designs, tech hub Hacker Dojo and RocketSpace – the birthplace of Uber and Spotify. Dr U’Ren says the open working environments foster collaboration and inspired innovative thinking among employees. “Silicon Valley is pretty much the epicentre for tech and startup companies,” he says. “The students had the opportunity to meet and learn from those who are going out and making their ideas a reality, and it has really pushed them to start taking that next step.” Upon his return, Dr U’Ren was invited to speak at the Advance Queensland forum alongside Minister for Science and Innovation Ms Leeanne Enoch and Griffith University Institute for Glycomics General Manager Dr Chris Davis. The $180 million state government initiative aims to position Queensland as an attractive investment destination with a strong focus on innovation. Dr U’Ren also celebrated the city’s entrepreneurial spirit by co-hosting the 2015 Gold Coast Young Entrepreneur Awards, which recognise the founders of innovative businesses across a wide range of industries. www.arch.bond.edu.au
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SUMMER 2015
BREAKING
DOWN THE
BARRIERS Bond University’s Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine is challenging the norm as an ageing population puts growing pressure on the Australian health system.
Professor Helen Chenery Executive Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine
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FEATURE BOND University revels in being the exception to the rule, and its Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine (HSM) is no different. The exception starts at the top with HSM Executive Dean Professor Helen Chenery. Far from an inaccessible figurehead, Professor Chenery draws on her expertise in communications to break the mould and build a Faculty culture based on collegiality, respect, collaboration and end-user impact. She’s a speech pathologist with a storied 33-year clinical academic career that has included assisting people who have lost the ability to communicate as the result of an acquired neurological injury, either acute or degenerative. “I’m all about the power of language and communicating,” says Professor Chenery. “A lot of what we need to do in this Faculty is come up with out-of-the-box and solutions-focused models and this is achieved through, among other things, interdisciplinary learning, research and practice. “We’re focusing on breaking down the silos between professions, disciplines and sectors so that we have better integrated, highly effective and more affordable healthcare.” A scholar and researcher with a substantial track record of publications and grants, Professor Chenery also has a suite of strategic and operational experience in executive leadership roles, including Deputy Executive Dean (Academic) for the Faculty of Health Sciences at UQ and NonExecutive Director of a large not-for-profit organisation. She’s only been at Bond since the end of 2014, but that counts for longer considering Bond’s fast-paced trimester schedule. Professor Chenery believes the accelerated study model favours HSM, where students graduate into their clinical careers ahead of their high-school peers. As Bond University has the lowest staff-tostudent ratio of any Australian university, HSM students not only graduate earlier but also benefit from having strong engagement with Faculty staff.
in maintaining the sustainability of our current health system.” Professor Chenery notes our health system comes at a high monetary cost to society with projections indicating it will become more expensive. “There are many challenges linked to the rising prevalence of chronic and complex disease, mental illness and lifestyle diseases, exacerbated by the fact we have a rapidly ageing population, and the existing significant inequities in our system particularly among people from disadvantaged backgrounds,” she says. “Put all of those things together and we have a pressing issue our nation needs to address – but it’s much more complicated and complex than that. “Health consumers also have rising expectations of the health and hospital system linked in large measure to an increasing reliance on digital and other health technologies – but these technologies can be an expensive addition to the health budget. “The foundations of our current health system are now close to 50 years old. As noted by our current Minister for Health, Sport and Aged Care, if the requirements of patients are changing, then is it logical that Australia’s health system must also be future-focused.” Professor Chenery says graduates produced by HSM are job-ready for the health system now and, more importantly, for the future.
The Executive Dean is also dedicated to addressing the disparities in our health system, and using her Faculty’s agility to lead the way in bridging some of the health and education gaps that currently exist.
The Faculty opens its doors to collaborators, stakeholders and endusers, supports students into placements in hospitals and research institutions, and encourages students to travel to communities such as Kirakira in the Solomon Islands to further develop their skills and improve healthcare outcomes.
“Australia has an excellent health system, arguably one of the best in the world and the envy of many countries,” says Professor Chenery. “That’s the optimistic ‘glass halffull’ perspective though, and it’s equally known that we are facing many challenges
Professor Chenery says the ‘old way’ of working, detached from the community and the rest of the world, has never meshed with Bond’s ethos. It can’t deliver world-changing research and outcomes, such as the work of HSM’s Centre for
Research in Evidence-Based Practice (CREBP), which is investigating antibiotic resistance and medical overdiagnosis. Professor Chenery is set on keeping Bond on a pathway that assures aspirational careers for its health and medical graduates and better health outcomes for communities. “We are ahead of the pace in the integration of sport, physical activity and nutrition/dietetics – and not just at elite levels but for grassroots participation also. “There’s an interesting graph showing how higher education or public research institutes collaborate with industry across all OECD countries,” she says. “Of 33 countries, Australia is dead last. Australia is doing basic research and discovery well, but when it comes to translating research through a research and development pipeline into product, process and system applications and commercialisation, we are investing less and performing more poorly. “At HSM, we are passionate about ensuring the translation and adoption of both our research and the research of others into the clinics, hospitals, health facilities, communities and indeed lounge rooms of people that need it.” Bond was built as a ‘practical university’ with an educational model where programs would be closely aligned with the needs of the world of business. This is why HSM is building collaborations with the Bond Business School in entrepreneurial health tech ventures. Professor Chenery says the most valuable resources available at Bond’s HSM are talented and engaged students and academic staff who are leaders in their fields and are committed to teaching and research excellence. “When these ingredients are combined on a campus that encourages interaction, outreach and participation, the collaborative gain and impact for our health and hospital system is immense,” she says. www.arch.bond.edu.au
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SUMMER 2015
A new era in
EXERCISE SCIENCE The recently refurbished Bond Institute of Health and Sport is dedicated to growing the health and fitness culture at the University as well as the wider community.
BOND University’s commitment to delivering world-class sporting programs has taken a major leap forward and it’s not only students that are poised to benefit. With an aim to create a legacy of sporting excellence, and after a year of refurbishments, the Bond Institute of Health and Sport (BIHS) is now open to students and the broader community. The facility is proving that Bond is a leader in sporting opportunities in Australia, providing access to unparalleled stateof-the-art equipment and world-class academic health, training and testing facilities. BIHS is home to a new High Performance Training Centre, encompassing a gym, recovery area, rehabilitation pools and altitude room. It also builds on Bond’s understanding that sport is the cornerstone of a successful education. Executive Director of Sport Garry Nucifora says Bond is setting the benchmark in Australia for recognising the ambitions of sportspeople to pursue excellence in both the classroom and on the field. “It is all part of the grand plan to let
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people know that we are serious about sport,” says Nucifora. “We have a Vice-Chancellor that firmly believes that sport is the cornerstone to a good education and to have this building only enhances that vision. “It is a key part of our elite strategy. It not only attracts elite sports players and teams but it is an opportunity for students and research.” Bond’s Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine Executive Dean Professor Helen Chenery says that, through the Institute, she wants to grow Australian’s knowledge and understanding of health and fitness. “What we want is for Australians to be physically active – and we’re not,” says Professor Chenery.
endorphins you produce; the more you socialise with others, the more mentally healthy you are,” she says. “We have known this direct relationship for a long time but sometimes people need to be reminded in black and white. The Institute is fantastic and it’s a template for what we need to do as a society.” Situated adjacent to Robina Hospital and Cbus Super Stadium, BIHS is home to students, academic staff and Higher Degree Research students including nutrition and dietetics, physiotherapy, sports management and exercise and sports science. In 2016 BIHS will host students in Bond’s Master of Occupational Therapy program.
Professor Chenery adds that Bond is currently working on a project with an overseas university, investigating the relationship between physical activity and mental health.
Head of Physiotherapy Professor Wayne Hing says BIHS is a drawcard not just for local students but national and international students looking to study at Bond. He says although the Doctor of Physiotherapy program is hugely popular, with over 300 applications for a place in the program in 2015, he suspects the new and upgraded facility will attract further entrants.
“The more active you are, the more
“Our current intake is only 40 students and
“The BIHS is very much around helping people understand and follow a physically active lifestyle.”
FEATURE
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Students are in a very unique environment with the Institute and it means they will be well prepared and work ready when they graduate.
we have a teaching ratio of one lecturer to 12 students,” says Professor Hing. “And that is important to stress because there are 22 universities that offer physiotherapy programs across Australia and cohorts range in size from approximately 80 up to 160 and even over 200. “Making sure we keep a small cohort is a priority so that students come to us and get a quality experience at Bond. And that quality experience does come from a low student-to-staff ratio and the facilities that they learn in.” The Institute features advanced teaching and research laboratories, and houses small clinical skills rooms that are set up to provide a discrete teaching environment for the problem-based model of education that the physiotherapy program utilises. Next year, the fourth floor of the five storey building will be home to the Bond Medical Centre. The Centre is expected to
be home to a physiotherapy clinic, dietetics and nutrition services and a psychology consultancy. “The clinic is going to be quite overarching,” says Professor Hing. “Although it is going to be predominantly a musculoskeletal outpatients clinic, there will definitely be a widening of scope such as cardiorespiratory, neurological and paediatric services, and also it will be an ideal location to be able to conduct clinical research,” says Professor Hing. Head of Nutrition and Dietetics Professor Liz Isenring says she is excited to be part of the new Institute, and highlights that it puts Bond ahead of other universities. Students have access to leading equipment and teaching including body composition devices and simulation activities. “If I focus on the Institute and what we do sports wise, we are incredibly fortunate to have cutting-edge technology and facilities,” says Isenring.
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“Through our offering we have had students write meal plans for some of the local rugby teams and they have also conducted group education.
“Eventually we would like to do some cooking demonstrations as well because we have beautiful facilities where we can do that within the Institute. “Students are in a unique environment with the Institute and it means they will be very well prepared and work ready when they graduate.” In addition to the Institute, Bond University leads the Collaborative Research Network (CRN) for Advancing Exercise and Sports Science. The CRN brings together partners from key research and sport science institutions including the University of Sydney, the University of Queensland’s Diamantina Institute and the Australian Institute of Sport. www.arch.bond.edu.au
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Resisting RESISTINGMedical THE MEDICAL
DARK AGE
Professor Chris Del Mar
Professor Paul Glasziou
Alarming statistics have prompted Bond University researchers to explore ways of fighting the threats of overdiagnosis and antibiotic resistance.
DARK AGE
FEATURE IT’S said to be as great a threat as terrorism and climate change, and if you’ve ever taken antibiotics for the common cold, you’re part of the problem. Bond University’s Centre for Research in Evidence-Based Practice (CREBP) has been following the problems of antibiotic resistance and overdiagnosis under a close microscope since its inception in June 2010. CREBP Director Professor Paul Glasziou heads up research on overdiagnosis. He says that if patients actually understood what the medical system was doing, ‘we would have a revolt on our hands’. Professor Chris Del Mar takes the lead on research into antibiotic resistance. He warns that the issues are so pressing that, if they aren’t addressed, the world will return to a ‘dark age’ of medicine. “We’re getting to the stage now where some infections don’t have an antibiotic available to treat, which means we are returning to the dark ages in medicine of the 1930s and earlier,” says Professor Del Mar. “People are dying of infections that 20 years ago we were able to treat very easily, and the number of people dying is huge. “In America and Europe 25,000 per year are dying directly because of infections that can’t be treated, and the same proportionate number to our population in Australia.” Professor Del Mar says common medical practices could soon be void because of this. Banking on discovering new antibiotics isn’t smart either, as he says their development hasn’t been fruitful over the past decade. “Many medical procedures such as chemotherapy, hip replacement or heart valve surgery could no longer be safe because they would be too dangerous without antibiotic cover and infection could be catastrophic,” says Professor Del Mar.
“We think a technique called shared decision-making is very important, where doctors are frank about benefits and harms, and we’re currently trying to gain more evidence about how effective antibiotics are through systematic reviews, because at the moment the harms especially aren’t very clearly articulated,” he says. “If you look at the information in a coldblooded way though, you can already tell in most cases of acute respiratory infection that you are better off not using antibiotics. “Resistance develops as soon as antibiotics are discovered, but the good news is that when we cut down their intake, resistance also quickly dissipates.”
“They didn’t quite understand how universal the effects were and how they also could be contributing to the problem – around 45 per cent of the Australian population were prescribed antibiotics in 2013.” CREBP Director Professor Paul Glasziou says antibiotic resistance is one of four big neglected areas of health, the other ones being non-drug treatments, waste in research and overdiagnosis, which have long been his specialisations. As the focal areas of the CREBP, they all feed into each other. “There’s an overdetection, for example, in what we call cancer but it won’t actually harm people,” says Professor Glasziou.
Bond University Research Fellow Malene Hansen has been tackling the issue with Professor Del Mar since starting at the CREBP in July 2014.
“Thyroid cancer is one such diagnosis that is increasing three-fold but its mortality rates are going down.
Hansen and Professor Del Mar are chief investigators on a related study that’s tracking 30 general practices in Queensland, eight of them on the Gold Coast.
“The issue often comes down to the lack of global rules for changing the definitions of diseases and disorders, so when the definition of something like depression changes, they don’t consider the benefits and harms of doing so.
“We’re trying to see if certain interventions like shared decision-making, delayed prescribing and visual appeals such as posters placed in waiting rooms – ‘we do antibiotics properly’ – are effective,” says Hansen. Another Bond Research Fellow, Amanda McCullough, is a physiotherapist whose line of work has included respiratory infections for some time. She says the work is centred on changing mindsets. “Across the two systematic reviews we have undertaken we discovered that most people thought antibiotic resistance was someone else’s problem,” says McCullough.
“We are now working with others to set up a standard for how you define diseases, otherwise financial interest often conflicts.” Professor Glasziou equally expects overdiagnosis to be a big talking point around federal budget time next year, in light of the Medicare Benefits Schedule Review Taskforce being ‘well aware’ of the problems. “A blended payment system could be part of the solution where doctors are paid for having patients on their books and the patient gets as much care as they need from there, which is the Oxford system.”
“The Chief Medical Officer in the UK has stated that she thinks antibiotic resistance now poses as great a threat to the West as terrorism and climate change.” Professor Del Mar believes the problem often comes back to general practice, where doctors feel under pressure to prescribe antibiotics. “Patients routinely overestimate the benefits of treatment and we have a bias towards doing something, so doctors feel under pressure to act. Then there are economic pressures and the perceived benefit of conducting the consultation quickly.” Nevertheless, Professor Del Mar says it should be ‘quite possible’ to reduce antibiotic prescription in Australian general practice by 50 to 90 per cent ‘without much trouble at all’.
BACK ROW: Dr Ray Moynihan, Professor Chris Del Mar, Professor Paul Glasziou and Dr Rae Thomas FRONT ROW: Dr Amanda McCullough, Associate Professor Elaine Beller, Professor Tammy Hoffmann, Assistant Professor Chrissy Erueti, Research Administrator Melanie Vermeulen, Dr Malene Hansen
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Professor Helen O’Neill
SECRETS CELLS OF
THE
Bond University researchers are at the
leading edge of organ regeneration as science turns to stem cells to unlock the secrets of the body.
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FEATURE
IT ALL started at Stanford in the 1970s, before it was ever known as Silicon Valley. That was when and where the new world began to take shape, recalls Bond University Professor Helen O’Neill, who was studying there at the time with husband Professor Terry O’Neill, now Bond’s Head of Actuarial Science. Not only was this the beginning of the microcomputer evolution, thanks to the likes of residents such as Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, but biomedical science was rapidly changing too. An article in the Palo Alto Times led Professor O’Neill down the path she’s on today. Now she’s a world-leading immunology and stem cell expert, and the inaugural Bond University Chair of Immunology and Stem Cell Biology who oversees a team of eight researchers working on regenerative medicine and stem-cell-based immunotherapies. “The article was about the concept of flow cytometry and single cell analysis which [Dr Leonard] Herzenberg developed at Stanford, and that formed the whole basis of immunology and a lot of what has been achieved in biomedical science since,” says Professor O’Neill. “Immunology was the flavour then; you could do things with cells in immunology, isolate them and expand them and grow them so you could actually study them, which you couldn’t do with other tissues. “It became clear that the process of understanding any system in the body is tied very deeply with the development of those cells,
and if you don’t understand cell or tissue function in the concept of development, you are really limiting your ability to understand anything. “It all started there and Stanford was a huge hub for activity. People used to say the reason it was such a productive area was because of the climate and the many hours of sunlight.” Professor O’Neill says Bond University’s climate is much the same. This partly inspired a move to the Gold Coast in July from Canberra, where she worked at ANU for the past three decades, firstly in the field of immunology research and, from 1996, as Leader of the Stem Cell and Immunology Lab and Professor within the Research School of Biology. Professor O’Neill says her strength is research supervision, and for the past 20 years each one of her students has undertaken independent projects related to her areas of interest. She has brought three researchers with her to Bond. They are focusing on blood-forming hematopoietic stem cells, novel regulators of cancer stem cells, and methods to regenerate immune organs such as the spleen. Professor O’Neill notes that Assistant Professor Jonathan Tan has just identified how to regenerate a spleen from stem or progenitor cells, a ground-breaking finding currently under submission for publication. “It has been known for a long time, if a ruptured spleen is removed, and fragments of tissue are transplanted into the abdomen, these will regrow,” says Professor O’Neill. This team works alongside
researchers in Bond’s Clem Jones Research Centre for Stem Cells and Tissue Regenerative Therapies, which has just received another $1.2 million in funding from the Clem Jones Foundation following a major medical breakthrough in the journey to restoring sight to patients with acute macular degeneration. “Macular regeneration, which concerns developing neuroretinal cells at the back of the eye, is probably one of the more promising immediate therapies in stem cell work,” says Professor O’Neill. “Other things being tried like the regeneration of blood cells, bone and muscle all require putting new cells in the body that face the immune system, but the cells in the eye don’t face the full brunt of the immune system so they have a better chance of regenerating.” Professor O’Neill says the whole area of biomedical science has done a ‘double flip’ in the past five years, with single-cell studies and microenvironments taking precedence over whole-tissue studies. This suits her fine attention to detail. “Since the concept of flow cytometry came to light, we can study and target individual cells,” says Professor O’Neill. “The future is all about single cell work, while 50 years ago it was all about organs and taking a macro focus. “It is so essential to gain basic scientific understanding of stem cells and their development, employing a lot of attention to detail and precision, otherwise one will end up limiting what can be achieved in terms of regenerative medicine.”
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Technology for the better
BOND University’s Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine sees technology as a life-changing tool, but it’s not about technology for technology’s sake.
“Smartphones are becoming a significant enabler in monitoring health and wellness and smart health technologies will be a major driver of transformational health care in the next decade,” says HSM Executive Dean Professor Helen Chenery. She sees seamless connectivity as the way forward for health technology, and developments coming out of the Faculty are enabling this. “By adding an accelerometer to a watch, for example, you have a smart product,” says Professor Chenery. “When you connect that device to the internet you have a smart, connected product that can monitor your activity within your lived environment and provide useful, real-time analytics to improve your health. “It’s when information from that smart, connected device integrates with data provided by other devices – such as a fridge with nutrition data – that we have a smart product system.
“This is a key part of our line of research at the moment, as we move towards seamless device connectivity and big data analytics. In a decade’s time, this will all be happening in the background of our lives without a conscious click of buttons.”
external shape but its connection to the language bank and its ability to quickly detect trouble in a conversation will enable it to assess the context and offer possible conversational repairs to keep the conversation going.”
Among the technologies under development at Bond is a language robot, through a collaboration with UQ and CSIRO.
Also in the field of computational neuroscience, Bond is collaborating with UQ and CSIRO on My Life Tracker, a smartphone app which monitors the activity and life space of people with Parkinson’s disease, with potential to be extended to other areas.
This research, funded by the Australian Research Council, will result in a smartphone that can record conversations between a person with a degenerative illness and their communication partners while conversation is still possible, and with all necessary ethical approvals and consents in place. It’s aimed at assisting communication for those with diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
The app connects to GPS and creates a ‘heat map’ of the patient’s activity on a daily basis, revealing where they have been throughout the day and where they spent most of their time. The analysed data will provide both the patient and their health care professionals with summary graphs on the progression of the disease and a person’s response to various treatments.
“We aim to automatically analyse large amounts of conversation and transfer the data via encrypted protocols to a secure internet server,” says Professor Chenery. “Then we can geographically lock that conversation to a particular space and time to develop a personalised language bank. The language robot can take any
Professor Chenery says a major part of this technological revolution is to gather evidence on the efficacy of online and mobile health apps, which is being carried out by researchers at the Centre for Research in Evidence-Based Practice (CREBP) through scientific validation studies.
GETTING REAL WITH IT SIMULATED medical emergencies are one sure-fire way to make sure Bond University students are ahead of the curve. Dr Victoria Brazil, a Bond Associate Professor, has been working with leading medical corporation Laerdal Medical and the Gold Coast University and Robina Hospitals on evolving emergency medical education techniques for the past two years. They are called scenario and screen-based ‘patient journey simulations’. These simulations allow students and clinicians to practice patient care without risk to real patients. “We use computer-controlled human patient mannequins and the latest in screen and app technology to simulate patient care so learners can practice and make mistakes without risk,” says Dr Brazil. Dr Victoria Brazil
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“We design challenges by dialling up things like heart rate and blood pressure,
or by using techniques to recreate certain injuries or illnesses.”
At the hospital these simulations are conducted ‘in situ’ – within the physical environments of emergency department, operating theatre and birth suite – to allow for testing of systems, as well as the performance of staff. Common simulations include trauma cases, strokes or other medical emergencies. FaceTime and GoPro cameras are used to capture the training experience for reflection afterwards. The camera is strapped to the ‘patient’ to give a bird’s eye view of the experience. “We learn things about how to improve patient care, teamwork, efficiency and safety every time we run a simulation,” says Dr Brazil. “This has been very instructive for us in trying to improve the way we care for patients and designing the environment in the clinical areas.”
FEATURE
CREATING A
CULTURAL SHIFT DR SHANNON Springer was chasing a career in professional football when he enrolled in an Indigenous primary healthcare degree on a sporting scholarship. During his early studies the Mackay local began to learn more about his own cultural background, sparking an insatiable interest in Aboriginal history and health. Dr Springer’s newfound passion led him away from the footy field, on a journey through medicine studies in Brisbane and the Gold Coast before he eventually returned to his hometown to open an Aboriginal medical centre. After six years running the practice in Mackay, Dr Springer decided to call Bond University home, and now works as the Discipline Lead for Indigenous Health at the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine (HSM). Throughout his journey into medicine Dr Springer discovered the importance of cultural awareness when it comes to practicing, and now he is imparting the same to students through a fresh curriculum and the creation of Bond’s first Indigenous medical scholarship. “When I was in Mackay, it was a real privilege to work within my own community and to see what difference, as an Aboriginal doctor, I could make,” says Dr Springer. “Having Indigenous doctors, physios, nurses and all of the other allied health professions in addition to recognising
Dr Shannon Springer
the wider social responsibilities around Aboriginal health is important in terms of closing the life expectancy gap.”
where all the infrastructure has really been set up, and the next step is trying to get the right students,” he says.
With Dr Springer’s guidance, Bond has now developed an integrated curriculum which spans the duration of the medical program, aiming to foster the concept of culture within medicine.
“I’m really looking forward to graduating the first Indigenous student from medicine and making them feel supported right through until the end, where they can hopefully return and help their own communities in whatever capacity they feel would be best suited.”
The curriculum teaches students about issues integral to Indigenous health and helps create an understanding of how to work cross-culturally in all communities. “Particularly in the medical world people tend to think it’s all about the science, but you’re actually working with people who have their own experiences and values,” says Dr Springer. “As a health practitioner, if you cannot understand the patients, where they come from and the way they see and interpret their environment, it would be very difficult to try and make behaviour change without considering those facts.” Dr Springer believes the whole program is consolidated to a point where any medical student can now travel along a more direct pathway into Indigenous healthcare. In Australia there are currently around 200 Indigenous doctors and 310 medical students throughout various universities, with Dr Springer aiming to lift this to 3000 Indigenous doctors across the country. This would represent about 3 per cent of the profession. “We’re really at an exciting point in time
While there are standards set by the Australian Medical Council that strongly encourage all schools and colleges to engage with Indigenous students in similar ways, Dr Springer says the work wouldn’t be possible without Bond’s dedication. “I think the leadership and the support from the University has been a big enabler of this process, rather than some external standard,” he says.
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Having Indigenous doctors, physios, nurses and all of the other allied health professions in addition to recognising the wider social responsibilities around Aboriginal health is important in terms of closing the life expectancy gap.
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BINDING TIES
IMAGINE just 14 doctors serving the whole of the Gold Coast. If you thought getting an appointment with your local GP was difficult, what if you had to walk for a couple of days through dense jungle to get to their practice? This is life at Kirakira, a remote community on Makira Island in the Solomon Islands where there’s only one doctor for 40,000 people. In the spirit of Bond, the University is focused on making a difference through the Solomon Islands project. Bond University Dean of Medicine Professor Peter Jones says the aid mission is distinguished in frequency and type,
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cutting across several Bond faculties including Health Sciences and Medicine, Architecture and Sustainable Development, and most recently Society and Design due to growing interest from Film and Television students and academics. “We have managed to develop something unparalleled,” says Professor Jones. “I don’t think there’s another place where universities have sent more than 100 students and over 20 staff in three years.” Professor Jones says the project is being funded by the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan (NCP) through to 2019, which is aimed at strengthening knowledge and ties with the Indo-Pacific region. He says the uniqueness of Kirakira was a deciding factor for Bond.
Dean of Medicine Professor Peter Jones
“It’s only a three-hour flight from the Gold Coast and a very equitable society, without the dangers of many other developing communities, but they don’t have a lot,” says Professor Jones. “There isn’t a university there or formal tertiary education so we encourage students banding together and stepping up, and from that they gain experience which is far more than feel-good.” For three years, final-year medical students have undertaken two-week clinical placements at the 60-bed Kirakira Hospital. Bernadette Tran Nguyen, who returned from the trip earlier this year, says the experience is rewarding and eye-opening. This is particularly so because patients
FEATURE typically present much later than they would in Australia, thrusting students such as herself into the front-line. “It was so rewarding to apply our skills to treat people and help save lives, for example, a pregnant woman who was having seizures,” says Tran Nguyen. “You would rarely see this in Australia because it’s something you prepare for and prevent from happening at all costs. “We all worked together to stabilise her enough to send her to the larger hospital in Honiara the next day. That is the experience that stands out the most, because I believe we did save her life.” Nicole Webb, Bond University Assistant Professor of Urban Design and Planning, says the project also encourages her students to ‘think outside the box’ of design conventions.
Jon-Paul Hogan with his hospital waste incinerator
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for students to be creative with their planning knowledge, as the Solomon Islands do not have the same rules and regulations we have here in Australia,” she says. “Students come back having taken photographs with drones and work out how they can design for the community.” A standout example of student resourcefulness came out of the first year’s trip when urban planning student Jon-Paul Hogan turned the barrel of a cement mixer into a hospital waste incinerator to save around $20,000 and alleviate the risk of hazardous waste being buried on a site behind the hospital. Hogan returned to Kirakira the following year with planning and property students to work on an improvement plan for the local marketplace, of which the Premier and Provincial Secretary of Makira Ulawa Provenance were extremely supportive. Professor Peter Jones says groups of students have already set a high precedent, and there’s plenty of opportunity to follow suit. “In the context of providing autonomy, we recognise it’s a fine line between colonial paternalism and providing expertise,” he says. “The goal is for this community to become a model that others could follow and, rather than replicating our efforts elsewhere, we just want to do a really good job in kirakira. “If people can think a little creatively, they might be able to work out how they can create spaces like this elsewhere.” www.arch.bond.edu.au
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Professor William van Caenegem with PhD candidate Madeline Taylor
RESEARCH WEEK BUILDS ON RICH HISTORY FROM prescribing solutions to the culture of overdiagnosis, diving into the deep with unprovoked shark bites and a taste of raw milk cheese in between, Bond University’s academic excellence has been on show. The fourth annual Research Week was celebrated between November 16 and 20 with a series of free community lectures and seminars presented by the Business, Health and Medicine, Law and Society and Design Faculties. The initiative also showcased industry events, doctoral student presentations and the Three Minute Research Competition to provide a glimpse of the diverse range of studies under way. Bond University Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Tim Brailsford says Research Week has become a highlight of the academic calendar. “Research can improve our way of life by uncovering the how and why, and finding new and better ways of doing things,” he says.
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“Universities have an important role to play in the wider community and Research Week allows us to open our doors and showcase our recent breakthroughs. “Research is the first step to making change, whether that be improved healthcare options and outcomes, the implementation of new laws, doing business differently or better informing the community about a range of social concerns. “We’re tackling these issues right here at Bond and Research Week is a chance for the community to learn more about them first hand.” A series of evening lectures has proved to be a popular choice among attendees, exhibiting a major project from each faculty to highlight the diversity of research. Executive Dean of Law Professor Nick James kicked off the series by outlining significant changes in legal education in Australia and across the world over the past 20 years. “Modern legal education needs to focus on delivering professionally-focused, skills-based, authentic, global and consistent learning,” Professor James says. “At the same time, we need to ensure that law schools continue to focus on other important aspects of their role in society, including equitable access to legal services, law reform and social justice.” Bond’s recently appointed Chair of Immunology and Stem Cell Biology Professor Helen O’Neill
discussed how stem cells’ unique capacity to self-renew can be used to advance medicine. Associate Professor Daryl McPhee provided context to the growing number of unprovoked shark bites and whether techniques to mitigate the issue should be employed. Key academics also shared their findings during presentations throughout the day, sharing an insight into their work and answering questions from the public. Professor William van Caenegem led a discussion about the framework surrounding raw milk cheese in Australia with PhD candidate Madeline Taylor, Australian Specialist Cheesemakers’ Association Secretary Alison Lansley and Paul Wilson from Nimbin Valley Dairy. Despite production being given the green light earlier this year, guests learnt how heavy regulations compared to Europe are stifling the industry. The session was followed by sampling the dairy delights on show. A number of speakers from Bond Business School showcased a wide range of research streams, including emotional intelligence and consumer ethics, whether food marketing is making us fat, how to detect and prevent fraud and whether ocean acidification will create a not-so-Great Barrier Reef. Research Week was capped off with a special luncheon for academics and research partners hosted by the Vice-Chancellor, followed by a celebratory community gathering.
ALUMNI
Air
CLEARING THE Alumna Ms Larissa Rose
The biofuel industry has a new champion in Larissa Rose, and her mission is to bring the renewable energy message to a broad audience. LARISSA Rose has wasted no time immersing herself in the world of biofuels since graduating from Bond University in 2014. Along the way, her support for a biofuel mandate in Queensland to shift consumer perceptions about ethanol at the bowser has captured the attention of fellow advocate Bob Katter MP. It’s a controversial subject that has sparked serious debate between grain growers looking for a stable market for their crop and lot feeders concerned that a biofuel mandate could lead to higher prices. For Rose and her company Glowing Green, the task at hand is to demystify the topic with a firm belief that a mandate will deliver lasting benefits to the environment. While balancing a growing family, Rose established Glowing Green during her final year of studying her Master of Environmental Management and Sustainable Development at Bond University. The Gold Coast-based organisation
raises awareness about the environment by educating a broad audience from kindergarten children to business owners, and it also offers advisory and consulting services to industry. Her ultimate vision is to see biofuel mandates rolled out across Australia and to continue to teach children about how their everyday choices impact the world. “This includes everyone from young children breathing cleaner air that’s not full of particulate matters and pollutants that give them respiratory disorders, especially in regional towns, to the joggers running along the Gold Coast Highway breathing car exhaust fumes undoing the good of physical exercise,” says Rose, who has been dubbed the ‘queen of biofuels’ in the industry. “I want us to all be breathing cleaner and living healthier and longer lives.” With the support of her lecturers, Rose tailored her degree to focus on ethanol as a renewable resource. She says studying at Bond also unlocked invaluable networking opportunities, giving her the confidence to pursue her passion. “I started in 2010 and began researching renewable energy and more specifically about renewable fuels in Australia,” Rose says. “The faith that was given to me by my lecturers to pursue a particular topic which wasn’t specifically talked about in the University curriculum has been beneficial.
“I was a very ambitious student and Bond gave me the ability to attend conferences while I was studying and working parttime. “I wouldn’t have been able to have the platform to do that, which then gives you the confidence of being able to network and talk to people.” Working alongside Katter’s Australian Party, she shares important updates about the industry and has even travelled to Canberra to provide consultation. “Being a 35-year-old woman in a maledominated industry and not working in the biofuels field so to speak and only being an academic, there was a barrier to be taken seriously,” Rose says. “I secured a meeting with Bob Katter and, from that day onwards, he asked me to consult to him on what was going on in the industry. As a federal politician you need to be kept updated on potential projects and what could be happening overseas.” Rose is also making strides in the Western Downs Region, where she volunteers her time to speak on community radio while consulting with sorghum farmers in a bid to develop further support for the biofuels industry. The grain is grown across Dalby, Warra and Chinchilla and is used at the Dalby Bio-Refinery as a feedstock to produce locally grown fuel ethanol.
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IT’S PURE
GOLD After achieving the height of sporting glory, Annabelle Williams continues to live the Olympic dream as Rio beckons in 2016. AS ELITE athletes gear up for Rio de Janeiro, Bondies are punching above their weight within the Australian Olympic movement at the corporate level. Bachelor of Laws and International Relations graduate and Paralympian Annabelle Williams has been appointed legal counsel for the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) until the end of the 2016 Olympics in Rio. While Bond University alumna Fiona de Jong holds the top position as CEO at the AOC, Williams is now handling the legal ropes of one of Australia’s most revered sporting organisations. The role covers everything from team and anti-doping agreements, to sponsorship and marketing, and potential appeals on athlete selection. “What I love about this role is there’s a gamut of varied work where I’m exposed to so many areas of the organisation,” says Williams. “I’m very fortunate to be learning from the best in the industry, Fiona de Jong and President of the AOC John Coates, who are both lawyers. “It’s been a really steep learning curve and, at my age, is truly a dream come true. “People probably wouldn’t realise I’m a one-woman show without a team of lawyers around me.” The 27-years-old’s journey to the AOC started when she landed a graduate position at Allens in Sydney in 2013. After working in mergers and acquisitions and intellectual property, Williams came to the AOC on secondment and scored a contract.
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However, even before graduating she had notched up a lifetime of achievements, including as a stunt double for Charlize Theron in Mad Max 4: Fury Road. Yet, it is her sporting achievements for which she is best known. Williams made her first Australian team in the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, where she won a bronze medal in the 50 metre freestyle during her final year of high school. She was also school ViceCaptain at the time. This was followed by bronze at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics in the 100 metre butterfly, silver at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the 50 metre freestyle in New Delhi, and gold at the 2012 London Paralympics in the 4x100 metre medley relay. In 2007, Williams was named the Bond University Sportsperson of the Year and was a finalist for the Australian Universities Sportsperson of the Year. “I always had a dream to get into law and I think it’s testament to my parents and their support over the years that I actually made it,” says Williams. “My great uncle was a judge and used to tell amazing stories about the people he met, things he had done and I just knew that law was something I wanted to do too.” Like many academic athletes, Williams learnt to compartmentalise her life at a young age. “When I was younger I loved so many sports, but I realised as I got older that I had to specialise in my favourite because I didn’t have time to do all of them,” she says.
Alumna Ms Annabelle Williams
“I think Year 12 in particular instilled in me skills that helped me combine both passions for sports and law. “I was balancing a lot and so I learnt if I was swimming, I had to focus 100 per cent on that and not let anything else like assignments or school council meetings cross my mind, otherwise I’d end up doing everything half-hearted. “I had to learn to maximise even the smallest window of time – I remember I would have 20 minutes between the end of school and start of training and always tried to get something useful accomplished in that time. “The same thing at Bond – there weren’t many contact hours in the classroom, but I would approach study like an office job. “As Quentin Bryce once said, ‘you can do it all, just not all at the same time’.”
ALUMNI
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People probably wouldn’t realise I’m a onewoman show without a team of lawyers around me.
”
Williams says this type of routine doesn’t really come naturally for anyone and, in moments of doubt, she was lucky to have a support network that encouraged her to keep up the momentum. “I don’t know if I could have continued for 10 years on the Paralympic team without the support of family and friends and having the opportunity to take muchneeded breaks,” she says. While Williams’ resume has a lot of high points, she says anticlimactic moments can be found in the spaces, which she quickly learned to fill. “That feeling of anticlimax is very common among athletes because the enormous highs of winning medals is very hard to replicate in everyday life,” she says. “Coming back from the 2006 Melbourne
Commonwealth Games was difficult, to go from such a massive high to final exams in Year 12. “From then, I made sure I always had something to look forward to at the end of a major competition so I wouldn’t feel that way again and again. Bond was great for that and completely understands its athletes. “After the Beijing Paralympics, I went on an internship through Bond to Paris where I worked with Austrade, and after the London Paralympics I did an exchange with Perennial Strategy Group in Washington DC.” Williams clearly thrives under pressure in a team dynamic, a trait that came to the fore in the lead-up to winning gold at London. “We were such unlikely winners in that
relay and such outsiders to even win a silver or bronze,” she says. “We won by 0.03 of a second – there were four teams on the wall in less than 0.2 of a second, so it was very hard to tell whether we won or came fourth. “I had about 30 friends and family in the crowd and could see them from where I was standing as we were waiting for the verdict, which was such a special and unlikely coincidence in a huge stadium of 11,000 people. “People often ask whether I would keep swimming to win an individual gold medal – and I know that’s often the goal – but winning as part of a team and to share the happiness of that gold medal with three friends, I think, is even more special.” www.arch.bond.edu.au
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SUMMER 2015
PICS TO PLACE
SPORT
CULTURE Bond University’s commitment to sporting excellence is paying dividends with success across all fields of play.
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SPORT
DIVING IN THE
Head Coach of the Bond University Swimming Club Richard Scarce
BOND University is set to achieve its vision of having a top 10 swimming club in Australia, following the appointment of two of the country’s leading swim coaches. Richard Scarce has taken on the role of Head Coach of the Bond Swimming Club, bringing with him a team of swimmers to train, including Olympian Cameron McEvoy. As a leading Australian swim team coach, Scarce has steered swimmers to victory at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships, and was one of the coaches of the Australian team at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, Russia. Joining Scarce is Assistant Coach Kyle Samuelson who has close to 10 years’ experience as a swim coach. Bond University Executive Director of Sport Garry Nucifora says since the
appointment of the new coaches, the Bond Swimming Club has grown from around 13 swimmers five months ago to more than 90. “We have some really big goals for Bond swimming; we want to have a top 10 club in Australia, which we think we can achieve within the next couple of years,” says Nucifora. He says swimming has always been a big part of the sporting culture at Bond, with Olympians including Grant Hackett, Giaan Rooney and Daniel Kowalski studying at the University. “The Olympic team is generally made up of Queenslanders and Bond University has had a good history of swimmers,” says Nucifora. “We are investing in swimming because it is an iconic Australian Olympic sport, we do very well in it and strategically it is great for our program. We intend to link with
American universities and this just showcases the opportunities for swimmers to come here.” Bond General Manager of Sport Operations Russell Ramsay says the new swimming program is an excellent recruitment driver. “The swim program is a perfect example of a sporting initiative that is bringing our target market onto campus,” he says. “We have kids that are six or seven years of age swimming in our pool and we intend to hold onto those kids for as long as we can. “We hope that these kids that are enrolled in our swim program recognise the benefits of studying at Bond, and we are confident they will do this and choose to study and swim at Bond in years to come.”
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SUMMER 2015
Amy Forrester (R) and Samuel Young (L)
SWIMMING TO
SUCCESS Rising stars of the pool dive into a promising future with Bond University as the latest recipients of a coveted sporting scholarship 30
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SPORT
RISING swim star Amy Forrester is set to make a splash at Bond University, with the 17-year-old recently awarded the 2016 Georgina Hope Rinehart Swimming Excellence Scholarship. Forrester, who is ready to study a Bachelor of Journalism at the Gold Coast campus, says the scholarship is a dream come true. “It is so exciting, I can’t wait to get studying and dive into the Bond pool,” she says. “It is such a good opportunity to meet new people and a really good springboard into life.” Forrester has been swimming since the age of seven and last year represented Australia in the Youth Olympics in China, where she came home with three bronze medals. In 2015 she was part of the Australian Junior World Championship team and the Australian Youth Commonwealth team. Throughout her swimming career she has broken 20 Queensland records and four Australian records. Forrester is joined by up-and-coming swimmer Samuel Young, who was presented with the second 2016 Georgina Hope Rinehart Swimming Excellence Scholarship. Young also was part of the Australian Junior World Championship team in 2015 and the Australian Junior Pan Pacific Championship team in 2014. He says his main objective is to become an elite swimmer on the senior Australian team and qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Bond Sport and Programs Manager Jennifer Younger says the swimming scholarship is one of the most prestigious in the country. “The swimming scholarship is an opportunity for a series of high performance swimming scholars to compete at an elite level while getting an outstanding education,” says Younger. “Given the significance of the scholarship, and the swimming opportunities offered at Bond, both scholars will be leaving their clubs to train under Bond Swimming Head Coach Richard Scarce.”
Georgina Hope Rinehart Scholarship for people who are on their way to becoming an elite sportsperson,” says Younger. “It really stresses the importance of having an education while having a sporting career. You never know what could happen with sport.” Forrester agrees and says she is passionate about having both a swimming and professional career. “Swimming can only take you so far - it can really only take you into your early 30s, if you are lucky,” she says. “You need something to fall back on and to help continue and move your life forward after sport. “I also believe it is good to show people that I am more than just swimming.” Forrester’s week usually includes nine swim sessions and two gym sessions, totalling around 25 hours.
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There is no real opportunity like the Georgina Hope Rinehart Scholarship for people who are on their way to becoming an elite sportsperson
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She says with the support of Bond and the scholarship, she knows she can balance her busy schedule. “I have always been pretty organised, so I just need to make sure I manage my time well, prioritise, plan ahead and use my time wisely,” she says.
Due to the generosity of Gina Rinehart, the Georgina Hope Rinehart Swimming Excellence Scholarship is awarded to two recipients each year and covers tuition for their chosen course and a living bursary per year for up to three years.
Forrester is currently working towards the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2020 Olympics, while her ultimate career goal includes working for a publishing house and writing for magazines, including Cosmopolitan.
“There is no other opportunity like the
In 2015, the Georgina Hope Rinehart
Swimming Excellence Scholarship was presented to Madeline Groves and Alexander Graham, who are both capping off a successful swimming year. Among other achievements, the duo swam at the 2015 Australian Swimming Championships with Groves giving a standout performance, taking home gold in the 200 metre butterfly for the third consecutive year, and silver in the 100 metre butterfly. She also beat a 15-year-old record for the 200 metre event previously held by swimming legend Susie O’Neil. This success saw Groves take out the Sportsperson of the Year title at the Bond University Blues Awards. In another sign that Bond is attracting top swimming talent, open water champion Solomon Wright has enrolled in a Bachelor of Law at the University. Wright competed in the 2015 Australian Open Water Championships, coming third in the 5km open water race and fourth in the 10km open water race. He also recently competed in the Open Water Swimming Series 2015-16, taking out the top gong in the 10km open water event. Wright was awarded the Vynka Hohnen Scholarship in 2014, given annually to a Year 12 student enrolled at a Western Australian Secondary School.
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SUMMER 2015
BOND UNIVERSITY RUGBY TACKLING BIG
AMBITIONS BOND University Rugby is gearing up to bring home a premiership in 2016, following the addition of two up-andcoming sporting superstars.
Dylan Riley from The Southport School (TSS) and Gavin Luca from St Joseph’s Nudgee College have been awarded the prestigious John Eales Rugby Excellence scholarship for 2016, and will play for Bond University during their studies. In line with Bond University’s commitment to nurturing the sporting and career aspirations of future leaders, Riley and Luca will be awarded the opportunity to network with elite athletes, coaches and top-level teams from a range of sports. They will also benefit from regular one-onone mentoring sessions with rugby legend John Eales. “This scholarship represents the ultimate achievement for me, a recognition which looks deeper than achievements and academia into what I embody – a positivity that is contagious,” says Luka, who will be studying a Bachelor of Commerce at Bond. “To be mentored by John Eales would be a dream come true. A Bond scholarship
represents the opportunity of a lifetime, a personal learning experience unparalleled.” Luka’s sporting career includes a selection in the Australian Schools Barbarians Squad Queensland Schoolboys Team, Queensland Reds U18 Squad Team and the Queensland Reds U20 training squad. Riley, who is enrolled in a Bachelor of Sports Management, is currently a member of the Australian Schoolboys Rugby Union Team and the Australian Youth Sevens Team. His goal is to be a part of the Australian U20 Rugby Program within the next two years and aims to be in the Queensland Red’s U20 starting XV in 2016. The John Eales Rugby Excellence scholarship will not only set the scholars up to achieve their sporting dreams, but prepare them for life beyond rugby. Highlighting the success of the scholarship, 2015 scholar Alex Mafi is making his rugby dream a reality after recently being offered a three-year contract with the Queensland Reds. Looking at Bond University Rugby as a whole, the club is one step closer to tackling its vision of establishing Australia’s
General Manager of Bond University Rugby Dale Salmon
2016 John Eales Rugby Excellence scholars Gavin Luca (L) and Dylan Riley (R)
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leading sporting program, following the appointment of General Manager Dale Salmon.
Salmon, who played more than 100 games for the Gold Coast Breakers which merged into Bond University Rugby in 2013, says he is pleased to be back on home soil and looks forward to working with the club to kick big goals. In addition to his time playing premier rugby, the former front rower has more than 12 years’ experience in business development and sports administration, having worked for Queensland Rugby Union, Sports House at Varsity Lakes and City of Canada Bay Council. Salmon says with a strong connection to the club and with Bond’s resources, the team is geared up for success. “I see great potential in the Bond rugby program and what it offers the game of rugby on the Gold Coast,” says Salmon. “It is a program that is essentially giving players a professional environment and allowing them to have that pathway up into professional rugby, whether that be in Australia or overseas.
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GROVES TAKES HOME
ANOTHER GOLD Dylan Riley (L) and Gavin Luca (R) with Bond University Rugby Patron Terry Jackman AM (C)
“It is all about working together and evolving as an elite program so we can bring some premierships to Bond University.” While Head Coach and Director of Rugby Sean Hedger works with the players on field, Salmon will manage the off-field program including building partnerships and relationships with community organisations, engaging students and other departments within Bond into the Rugby program, and ultimately developing strong governance within the club. “The idea is to really build awareness of the rugby program and what it brings to rugby on the Gold Coast and to Bond University and also trying to get supporters and organisations behind it,” says Salmon. “Ultimately what we want to be is the best rugby program under Super Rugby in Australia. “We really want to get away from being an amateur club in a local competition. We want to lift our standards and, in everything we do, we want to mirror a professional sporting organisation, both on and off the field.” In 2015 Bond University Rugby celebrated a number of wins, with the Premier side leading the competition half way through the year. Only after some of the senior team members suffered a number of injuries towards the end of the year, the boys just missed the semi-finals. The Reserve Grade worked hard to win the grand final, while the Colts’ 1st team (U19) also made the semi-finals. In a clear sign that Bond University Rugby is offering players the tools to play in the professional arena, six Bond players represented Queensland Country in the 2015 National Rugby Championships.
Bond Sportsperson of the Year Madeline Groves with Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Tim Brailsford
ADDING to a long list of achievements, swimming ace Madeline Groves has taken out the 2015 Sportsperson of the Year title at the Bond University Blues Awards.
of my fellow athletes and friends to accept the award for Bond University Sportsperson of the Year,” says Groves, who is in her first year of a Bachelor of Social Sciences.
This comes on the back of a stellar swimming year which saw Groves not only claim gold in the 200 metre butterfly at the 2015 Australian Swimming Championships in Sydney, but she also broke the Australian All Comers record.
“Bond is home to so many amazing athletes who study and train here, and their collective achievements both on and off the field this year have been truly commendable.
The record marked the fastest swim in an Australian pool in the 200 metre butterfly event, with the record previously held by swimming legend Susie O’Neill for 15 years. In 2015 Groves also competed for Australia in the FINA World Championships in Russia and the FINA World Cup Series in both Moscow and Paris. Groves says it was an honour to accept the Sportsperson of the Year Award, especially considering the calibre of sporting talent at the University. “It is such a privilege to stand in front
“The Rio Olympics are less than one year away, so my focus is now on training hard to give myself the best chance of making the Olympic podium in 2016.” Also recognised at the 2015 Blues Awards were Queensland Reds captain James Slipper, surfing champion Codie Klein and long-distance swimmer Jordan Harrison, with the keynote address delivered by Bond student and world champion sailor Mat Belcher. Bond Cheer claimed the Champion Club trophy, while the University Football Club took out the award for Best Sporting Moment for the historic back-to-back premiership win in the Queensland Amateur Football Association competition.
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Bullsharks flex
WITH NEW GYM BOND University is flexing its sport offering with the unveiling of the Bullshark Cage, the new High Performance Training Centre at the Bond Institute of Health and Sport (BIHS). Located on the ground floor of the Institute, the new facility is dedicated to the development of elite sport both at the University and within the wider sports community. The sporting facility features a gym, recovery area, rehabilitation pools and altitude room. “The Bond University High Performance Training Centre will provide a high quality training facility to support the Bond Institute of Health and Sport’s teaching and research programs,” says Health and Sport Liaison Manager Vinese Berkett.
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“This centre will contribute to the University’s strategic objectives for student development and sports participation by providing superior facilities to meet the training needs of the University’s elite athletes and premier sports clubs.” The gym area sits on about 600sqm of space, in addition to change and bathroom facilities, sauna and steam rooms and kitchen space. It also features three recovery pools. While there is another gym on campus, Berkett says the new High Performance Training Centre provides students with broader sporting options. “The reason this facility is different to the main campus gym is because the equipment is more specialised for strength and conditioning, so the weights are
heavier and there is more specialised equipment for that higher-end athlete who is looking to build strength,” she says. Bond University also aims to build mutually beneficial relationships with external sporting organisations that generate positive outcomes for its teaching and research activity. “We are forming partnerships with external sporting organisations who wish to use the gym, and there are benefits there for Bond through providing better placement opportunities for students,” says Berkett. Australian Canoeing is currently training within the facility, while a number of the Brumbies’ players have also used the gym.
SPORT
THE BULLSHARKS THREE-PEAT SUCCESS
MORE than 8300 university students from across the country converged on the Gold Coast for the Australian University Games (AUG) in 2015, but it was Bond that once again came out on top. The Bond Bullsharks took out the Doug Ellis Per Capita Champion trophy for the third year in a row. The title is awarded to the university with the most points per student numbers. “Smaller universities like ours generally do quite well in this sort of competition because we have a strong sporting culture and a large number of students who want to be involved with this great event,” says Bond Sport Officer Renee Frizzell.
Also selected into their respective Green and Gold teams were fellow Bondies John Duncan for touch football, Matt Kuhnemann for T20 cricket, Josh Neal and Vincent Quigley for Rugby Sevens, Sean Ong for golf, Edward BurrowsCheng for AFL and Ahmed Alali for handball. More than 40 universities competed in 32 sports from athletics and swimming to water-polo, handball, touch football and fencing. More than 240 students participated from Bond, with Frizzell saying the Games are a great way for students to engage with and meet other students studying at different universities.
Bond dominated in the water, taking home eight gold medals and 13 swimming medals overall.
“Australian University Games is definitely a highlight on the sporting calendar for students,” she says.
Olympic gold medal freestyle champion Melanie Wright (nee Schlanger) broke two AUG records, while butterfly icon Maddie Groves broke four records.
“A lot of clubs train throughout the year with the hope of participating in and achieving success at the Games.
Both of these sporting superstars were named in the exclusive AUG Green and Gold merit team, compromising players who displayed excellence in their chosen sport.
“It is one of the only chances where the students get to compete against the other universities, particularly in Queensland, where the universities are spread over a large distance, we don’t often get to integrate with them.
“It is a great way for the students from different universities to interact; not only in a competitive sense on the field, but off the field as well.” Bond University was the partner university of the 2015 Australian University Games, and hosted the Women’s Futsal competition and the Rugby Sevens. The University of Sydney was crowned the overall winner of this year’s Games.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING TEAMS AND INDIVIDUALS WHO CAME HOME WITH A MEDAL: Beach Volleyball Women’s Pair Silver Beach Volleyball Mixed Team Silver Touch Women’s Team Silver Sean Ong, Golf Overall Silver Madeline Groves, Swimming Five gold, one silver, one bronze Melanie Wright, Swimming Two gold, one silver Alex Graham, Swimming One gold, two bronze
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SUMM MEERR 22001155
FROM UNDERDOGS TO
CHAMPIONS BOND University’s AFL team is proving it is a force to be reckoned with after claiming momentous back-to-back premierships. The Bond Bullsharks took out their second premiership in two years, defeating rival the South East Suns in the QAFA (A) Senior grand final in 2015, following their QAFA (B) South inaugural premiership win last year. Bullsharks Playing Coach Sam WhishWilson says the team has widely been considered the underdog in the QAFA competition, but the team is kicking this reputation out of the park. “Having only formed in 2011 we are only a relatively new club, so to win a premiership two years running, after moving into a higher division, is a real testament to the determination and skill of the players,” says Whish-Wilson. Bullsharks Captain Jack Fox agrees and says it was surprising to take out the grand final in a new competition. “In the beginning, we were in no-man’s land - we didn’t know how strong the other teams were and we didn’t know how we would go against them,” says Fox. “But we finished our home and away season undefeated – it was very impressive considering we jumped up a division. “We then versed a very strong team full of very experienced players in our first final which we did lose but we managed to beat the reigning premiers in the preliminary
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final and then we beat that same team we lost to in the semi-final, in the grand final.” Fox attributes the success of the team to the culture of the club and training hard. “We have a very close team and we always play for each other,” says Fox. “It was pretty amazing to win. However, for me the highlight of the year actually wasn’t winning the grand final… it was the memories I have taken away of my team.” Looking at AFL as a whole, for the first time in Bond’s sporting history, 2015 also saw the implementation of a men’s reserve side. Although the reserve side missed out on finals by one game, the team says it’s an encouraging result. The men are not the only ones kicking big goals, with the women’s team also establishing a name for itself in its first year of running onto the field. The women’s team finished third on the ladder, a result that Bond AFL Club Coordinator Sam Schiphorst says is just the beginning. “From most of them never playing AFL before to making it to the preliminary finals in their first year of competition is really impressive and a major accomplishment,” says Schiphorst. “There was a bit of apprehension at the start but hopefully they will get us a premiership next year.”
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We are only a relatively new club, so to win a premiership two years running, after moving into a higher division, is a real testament to the determination and skill of the players.
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ALUMNI Coad assigns his success so far to guidance and luck, but there’s no doubt his hard yards and grit set him apart from other job candidates, both local and abroad.
Alumnus Mr Sam Coad
He began his PhD in Sports Science in 2013, researching the neuroimmunological, physiological and biochemical responses of elite contact sports athletes to training and competition, and that same year became a certified Specialist Strength and Conditioning Coach with the National Strength Conditioning Association (NSCA).
IN THE
BIG
This experience put him in good stead when the entire staff at University of Michigan’s football program, himself included, was fired after a bad season last year. “It is sadly the reality of the field I work that results are everything,” says Coad.
LEAGUE
Sam Coad draws strength from University mentors as the Bondy makes his mark in the competitive collegiate American football circuit MANY Aussies dream of cracking the big league, a feat that Sports Science graduate Sam Coad has pulled off as he marks his spot on the American football circuit. The 24-year-old Bond University alumnus has landed a dream job opportunity as Performance Manager for the University of Oklahoma football team, the Oklahoma Sooners. The University is currently in the middle of designing a $300 million stadium and strength and conditioning complex. In addition to running daily training sessions and logging performance analysis for the team, Coad has been appointed to design the performance and testing equipment that will be integrated into the facility. It wasn’t an easy catch though. Coad completed a Bachelor of Sports Science in 2012, graduating with Honours, and then secured full-time positions as Sports Science Assistant and Strength and Conditioning coach with the Brisbane Lions AFL club. Aspiring to physiotherapy when he was younger, to ‘be in sports in one way or another’, Coad says Bond opened him up to other pathways in elite sport.
“It wasn’t until my second year studying Sports Science in 2010 when a mentor of mine, Dr Chris McLellan, offered me the opportunity to complete my Honours research with him at the Gold Coast Titans that I realised I could turn my passion into a career,” says Coad. “Dr Mac was definitely behind the scenes making this career a reality for me. “There was also Dr Bon Gray who made me realise my initial efforts in the classroom were subpar, which I really respected. “Both their professional standards have stuck with me and remind me it’s a longer path to success than most people are willing to take – you need to be okay with paying your dues. “I’ve come a long way from my first four years working six days a week for 10 to 12 hours per day and being paid next to nothing, but I know I still have plenty more to achieve.”
“I was fortunate enough to be kept on by the University of Michigan in a noncoaching role, but when I was offered my current job at the University of Oklahoma Football, I decided to move again halfway across the US after only being there for eight months.” Coad says, once again, a strong mentor sealed the deal for him. His current boss, Coach Jerry Schmidt, is one of the most successful Strength Coaches in College Football in the US, having won four national and a number of other NCAA conference championships. “I think to Coach Schmidt’s surprise though I told him I needed a few days to think over the offer,” says Coad. After 4.30am starts every morning at the University of Oklahoma, followed by frequent 15-hour days, Coad’s definition of a career touchdown has changed. “Originally I thought my dream job would be a Strength Coach in the NFL, but I’m really enjoying college coaching – you have so much scope to help an athlete become very successful,” says Coad. “Every day I get to see potential NFL players working as hard as they can to achieve their dreams, and to be part of helping them reach that next level is much more rewarding than I previously thought. “My advice to other sports-minded graduates is to find a mentor; work hard for them, find an internship, work hard during that, and spend all your time listening and doing your best to learn. “Don't be afraid of hard work, be afraid of not working hard enough.”
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SUMMER 2015
Destination Oxford
Alumnus Dr Jack O’Sullivan
FORMER Bond University students are making waves on a global scale after being awarded the prestigious Clarendon Scholarship to study at the University of Oxford. With 12 Clarendon Scholarships awarded to Australians, Bond is one of a few universities to celebrate not one, but two recipients. The number of Australian Clarendon scholars in 2015 was only surpassed by 20 students from the UK and 13 from Canada. Dr Jack O’Sullivan heads into familiar territory as he prepares to spend the next three years at the University of Oxford. The Bond University Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery graduate previously completed a research unit over two months at Oxford. Now he plans to complete his PhD and thesis in preventing overdiagnosis there. Dr O’Sullivan says the shift would have been easy regardless as the Oxford campus is so accommodating. “The wider learning community within the university itself was very appealing,
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as almost all of the students live within a short walk or bike ride of each other,” he says. “The calibre of students within all divisions and departments is fantastic and I often find I learn incredible amounts at lunch and other social activities. Oxford has an indefatigable appetite for knowledge.” The opportunity to further his research into overdiagnosis by working under academics, such as Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine Carl Heneghan and Director of Medical Statistics Rafael Perera, was another fundamental factor. Dr O’Sullivan’s interest in the issue was ignited last year after Bond Professor Paul Glasziou invited him to chair a session at the Preventing Overdiagnosis Conference. “Doctors across all specialities are becoming more aware that some of the tests we order and the procedures we perform are unnecessary,” he says. “I am very interested in trying to quantify this problem and produce appropriate evidence-based guidance for the next generation of clinicians. “The field I am researching is still very
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Oxford has an indefatigable appetite for knowledge and it is impossible not to be swept up within it.
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much in its infancy and lots of high-quality research is required. I hope I can make a significant contribution to the literature.” Dr O’Sullivan says studying at Bond has helped create the path to follow his ambitions and forge beneficial contacts in the industry. “In many respects, Bond follows a similar model to the education system in the UK and the US,” he says. “A significant portion of Bond students come from cities and towns around Australia and the world. The University becomes the student’s life and this fosters a strong and inclusive community. The quality of education, mentorship and support through the Alumni Scholarship I have received from Bond has led me to the position I am in now.”
ALUMNI
New heights for Swift JAIME Swift always dreamed of studying at the University of Oxford, before summoning up the courage to apply in a move that has taken her to new heights. Swift attained a Bachelor of Arts at Bond University in 2002, joining the Australian Federal Police (AFP) after graduation. She later pursued her interest in human skeletal analysis and completed her Master of Arts with First Class Honours in Forensic Anthropology at Australian National University in 2014 – finishing with the highest grade for her thesis in the cohort. She will undertake a PhD in Archaeology at Oxford, researching the violence on the frontiers of the Inca Empire by analysing human skeletal remains in the Chilean Andes. “The nexus of archaeology and physical anthropology with techniques from the harder sciences is a burgeoning field,” Swift says. “I will be happy if I can contribute in some small way to the growing body of novel applications of scientific techniques to the interpretation of our human past. “Having served for nearly 12 years in the AFP, I am careful to maintain knowledge of and connections with the forensic world as I also hope to be able to assist others by applying my expertise as a physical anthropologist in humanitarian contexts.” Swift says her new campus has a strong focus on cross-disciplinary interaction, with a diverse range of extracurricular activities on offer. “Jack O’Sullivan and I have both joined the university surf club, which is probably not a surprising act from a pair of Bondies,” she says. “However, I was surprised to discover that a surf club even existed. There is no ocean in Oxford but the club takes regular trips to the coast, which is a refreshing break for
“
Alumna Ms Jaime Swift
I will never forget that Bond has played a large part in getting me to where I am now.
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an Aussie – even if the beach is rocky, cold, grey and rainy. “I have my suspicions about the British weather and the role it plays in Oxford’s academic success. It rains here more days than not, which drives everyone back indoors to their laboratories or one of the
many cosy Oxford libraries.” A culmination of Swift’s dedication, academic achievements and assistance from the Bond University Alumni Scholarship has turned her dream into a reality. “I am grateful for the time I spent at Bond University, as well as the support I have continued to receive from the community after graduating,” she says. “I will never forget that Bond has played a large part in getting me to where I am now.” www.arch.bond.edu.au
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SUMMER 2015
Indigenous
Bond student Ms Emily MacDonald
BONDS
EMILY MacDonald is a big believer in connecting with her community. The third year Law and Psychology student recently undertook an Aurora Project Internship based in South Australia, becoming the first Indigenous Bondy to do so. Established in 2006, the Aurora Project pairs Law, Anthropology and Sociology students with organisations representing native title and Indigenous education across Australia. According to MacDonald, the program was an experience of a lifetime. “The internship was so inspiring because I was able to work with people who have created lasting relationships with small communities,” she says. “It was a really good example of where Indigenous people were engaged with the ability to have an active voice and become involved.” MacDonald shadowed a prominent South
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Australian native title barrister for three weeks, travelling to the remote Oak Valley Maralinga Tjarutja community north-west of Ceduna to observe land management body corporate and council meetings. “The community at Maralinga was fantastic, and their local committee was a great example of a tight-knit body corporate,” says MacDonald. “Sitting in on my first meeting was a mind-blowing experience because you had a mix of traditional Indigenous and non-Indigenous executives. It was a really interesting dynamic coming together.” MacDonald’s internship mentor Andrew Collett worked as a solicitor during the Indigenous legal rights movement in the 1970s. While MacDonald believes it can sometimes be more difficult to connect with traditional community members on a deeper level, she says the need for cultural understanding is essential when it comes to policy decisions.
“I think it takes a really special person to build that trusting relationship, and if someone is able to sit down and talk openly about culture and show other people that they understand, it makes a huge difference,” she says. “There’s so much risk of Indigenous people not being properly engaged in decision making or things not being explained well enough, that’s why I think this work is so important.” Maralinga Tjarutja land was occupied for nuclear testing by the British Government in the 1950s and handed back two decades later under the terms of a land management agreement. Since radiation has now been almost completely cleared from the land, MacDonald’s itinerary also included a trip to Canberra’s Department of Industry and Science, meeting former Minister for Industry and Science Ian Macfarlane and Parliamentary Secretary Allan Tudge to discuss new land management and tourism initiatives.
COMMUNITY
YARNING UP FOR
Indigenous Education
IN AN effort to forge lasting education pathways within the Indigenous community, Bond University convened the annual Women’s Yarning Up excursion to the Torres Strait Islands over five days in July-August. A number of principals from the Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia joined representatives from Bond and other business leaders on the trip which sought to highlight the challenges impacting modern Indigenous education. Pro Vice-Chancellor of Pathways and Partnerships Catherine O’Sullivan, the leader and convenor of Women’s Yarning Up 2015, says the experience was an important way to see how isolated communities engage with education. “Many of the Alliance schools have Indigenous students from remote communities, so the Women’s Yarning Up initiative provides a unique opportunity for these leading educators to see first-hand the issues faced by Indigenous families living in isolated regions like the Torres Strait Islands.” The tour included visits to Murray (Mer) and Thursday Islands, where the group met with local educators, Elders and members of the community as well as
visiting local school facilities.
key to giving their children a future.”
O’Sullivan recalls one of the most memorable moments on the trip when local woman Melora Noah made a profound plea about the difficulties parents face giving their children a chance to learn.
Closing the education gap is high on Bond’s agenda as 42 Indigenous students currently study degrees at the campus, with more than half assisted by scholarships.
According to Melora, mothers on Mer Island have no choice but to send their young children to boarding schools on Thursday Island or the mainland, because the local island school doesn’t go beyond Year 6.
Bond also has a strong partnership with the Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia, an organisation dedicated to improving education and career outcomes for women.
O’Sullivan says Melora’s recount of the bitter-sweet reality of giving her own child an education stirred strong emotions within the group. “Melora told us what she wants for her daughter, in terms of her education and her future; she told us what she wants from us as educators, what she wants from the government authorities and what she wants from the community,” says O’Sullivan. “There were tears, hers and ours, as she shared how hard it is for mothers to send their 11 and 12-year-old babies away from home to boarding schools. “But there was steely resolve as she assured us that they can cope because Mer Island mothers know that education is the
“For several years now, Bond University has focused on forging university pathways for Indigenous students,” says O’Sullivan. “The only way we can close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is to work in partnerships, with our fellow principals, with universities like Bond, with training providers, with government. “Most importantly we need to work with community members like Melora who know exactly what they need in order to create a better future for their children.” To see more from Bond’s Women Yarning Up journey to the Torres Straight Islands search YouTube.com for Women Yarning Up 2015 – Torres Strait.
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SUMMER 2015
Milestone year for
gala
INDIGENOUS NOVEMBER 13 marked Bond University’s largest annual Indigenous Gala event to date, with the community raising more than $360,000 for the University’s various Indigenous scholarship programs. More than 550 people from around the country celebrated at the Gala alongside Patron Dr Patrick Corrigan AM and special guests including Member for Algester Leeanne Enoch MP and Rugby League legends Mal Meninga AM and Preston Campbell. Australian Indigenous pop icon Christine Anu was the keynote speaker and headline musical act for the night, sharing her journey from humble beginnings in the Torres Strait to international stardom. Pro Vice-Chancellor of Pathways and Partnerships Catherine O’Sullivan says the University is thrilled at the success of this year’s Gala in supporting education for all Indigenous students, both current and future. “The overwhelming generosity of our partners allows us to not only create opportunities for Indigenous students to gain a university qualification, but also provides the necessary support through the Nyombil Centre to develop leadership skills and confidence in the next generation of young leaders,” says O’Sullivan. Since its inception, the Indigenous Gala has raised more than $1 million for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander scholarships. As a result, 22 scholarships have been awarded for students to commence in 2016.
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O’Sullivan puts the outstanding support shown by corporate sponsors and local businesses down to the cause itself, coupled with Bond’s world-class ability to attend closely to its students. “Everyone sees value in this cause; many companies these days have reconciliation action plans and really want to get involved,” says O’Sullivan. “Bond is a smaller-scale university and, because of that, we can nurture our Indigenous students and build a great network of support to get them through their studies.” The Indigenous student cohort at Bond has increased by 64 per cent in the last three years, with retention and completion rates sitting well above the national average.
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1 - Bond Art Patron Dr Patrick Corrigan AM with Chancellor Dr Helen Nugent AO
O’Sullivan says significant efforts have been made to ensure the success of all Indigenous students, but there is still more to be done before the education gap is closed for good.
2 - Dancers from the Aboriginal Centre for Performing Arts (ACPA)
“A significant gap remains Australia-wide between higher education enrolments and outcomes for Indigenous Australians compared with their nonIndigenous peers,” says O’Sullivan. “We are strongly committed to continuing our efforts to address this disparity and seeing the gap close.”
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3 - Christine Anu 4 - Emcee Biama Nona and Ben Hunt
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5 - Christine Anu with Pro Vice-Chancellor Pathways and Partnerships Catherine O’Sullivan
COMMUNITY
NEW CLUB STRIKES A CHORD ON CAMPUS IT MAY be one of the newest clubs on campus, but the Bond University Orchestra is already setting the standard for community engagement. Formed in September 2014, the Orchestra is Bond’s first official instrumental group and is open to both students and staff. Sponsorship Director Honor Mijatovic says the club has gained significant momentum since its inception and has been invaluable for all musicians in building strong crosscampus friendships. “While it’s great being able to play music and do what we love, the best part about being in the Orchestra is definitely the fact that you don’t often get the chance to meet people from other faculties,” says Mijatovic.
FASHION’S QUEEN BEE
buzzing GETS CROWD
CARLA Zampatti is Australia’s first lady of fashion, so when an opportunity arose to be graced with her presence, Bond couldn’t help but say yes – twice.
Pathways and Partnerships Catherine O'Sullivan says Zampatti’s ‘unique combination of leadership, determination and style’ is a true inspiration.
As part of the Entrepreneurial Women Leadership Series, Bond University held a marquee lunch and runway parade at Victoria Park for more than 200 guests to celebrate the launch of Zampatti’s memoirs My Life, My Look, following on from the on-campus event earlier this year, High Tea with Carla Zampatti.
“Carla is among the top five successful businesswomen in Australia and it’s important to recognise the fashion industry as a significant economic contributor – 50 per cent of the population are directly engaged with the industry,” says O’Sullivan.
Zampatti immigrated to Australia from Italy in 1950 and, through her flair for elegant fashion and a sharp eye for business, went on to build a chain of 30 Carla Zampatti boutiques and concept stores. From a single store in Surry Hills in 1972, Zampatti is now celebrating 50 years in business, surviving a number of economic downturns along the way in a fickle industry. Bond University Pro Vice-Chancellor of
“It’s fun being able to socialise with people who aren’t doing everything you’re doing, and having great friends who aren’t stressing at the same time as you.” The Orchestra hosts a number of concerts throughout the year, including the recent Soiree Under the Stars event which was held to give students a welcome diversion from mid-semester stress and to raise funds for the group. The Orchestra has also become regular performer at Bond’s graduation ceremonies throughout the year. Mijatovic says the next step is searching for long-term sponsors to secure the club’s future. “Inevitably people from the Orchestra will graduate and people from the committee also move on, so setting in those relationships with sponsors is important so that future committee’s and students won’t need to stress about it,” says Mijatovic.
“We want to be seen as a thought leader in the female business space and Carla couldn’t be a better role model.” Recognised through a number of Australian and international accolades such as Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) and Commander in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Zampatti’s current appointments include Executive Chairman of Carla Zampatti Pty Ltd and board member of the Australian Multicultural Foundation and the European Australian Business Council.
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SUMMER 2015
OPEN DAY HIGHLIGHTS
Tijuana Cartel at Bond
Live at Bond championing
THE ARTS THE most recent instalment of the Live at Bond concert series rounded out another successful Open Day, drawing more than 1000 people to the campus for the event. Performers from a number of local high schools, youth orchestras and community groups shared the spotlight with indieelectronic icons Tijuana Cartel on Bond’s ADCO Amphitheatre stage. Schools included Robina State High, Varsity College, Emmanuel College and the Gold Coast Youth Orchestra. Sharon Solyma, of Bond University’s Pathways and Partnerships office, says attendance to Live at Bond has grown by 900 per cent since the first concert over four years ago, engaging the community in an important and lasting way. “The directors of music and teachers from the various schools involved commented on how the student bands loved performing for a live audience,” says Solyma.
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“Overall, the Live at Bond concert series has definitely opened up the campus to the wider community and has earned Bond recognition as a contributor to high quality arts and cultural programming in the city.” Solyma believes Live at Bond is an event which boosts the University’s ranking as a major supporter of culture and the arts. “If you look at the top 10 ranked universities in the world, without exception, they all have extensive arts, cultural and community engagement activities which embed the university into the community,” says Solyma. “As a leading and innovative University, Bond recognises this too, and I am proud of the ongoing investment being made into the cultural landscape of our Gold Coast region.” Live at Bond has also drawn attention from several local media outlets including ABC Gold Coast, BlankGC and The Gold Coast Bulletin.
CAMPUS
career assistance RECENTLY graduated and still looking for that break into the workforce? You’re not alone. With the national unemployment rate hovering around 6 per cent, many students are leaving University highly qualified, but still finding it hard to land a job. If this sounds like you, the Career Development Centre (CDC) can help. The CDC is a service every student knows to be the one-stop shop for anything related to part-time work, work experience and internships. But what many alumni don’t realise is that the CDC and its services are available to alumni for the rest of their lives. Kirsty Mitchell, the Director of the CDC, says this lifelong access is what sets Bond apart.
FOR LIFE both, but looking at the job description I wouldn’t have really known that. So although you have some prescribed ideas of what you want to do, I think it’s important to be open to other ideas.” The CDC’s services aren’t just for recently graduated alumni. Anyone who has ever graduated from Bond can return to the CDC and have a consultation. Mitchell says the most common alumni consultation is with students who are about five years out of University and have realised that they are stuck in a joyless career. “Bondies, because of the nature of the way they study, find it frustrating when they don’t get the full life cycle of activity,” says Mitchell.
“It’s a key distinction that Bond can offer alumni lifelong access to career services,” says Mitchell.
“Often they are in a consulting or advisory position which isn’t giving them what they thought it would. That’s when they freak out and often there’s a lot of angst.
“It’s all about extending that relationship within the institution and realising that at different points in your career you have reasons to connect with Bond University.”
“This transition zone is a lot less neat and tidy. There’s no open door or clearly defined path.”
Mitchell says this isn’t the end of the world, and all alumni need in order to make it through this tough phase is a strategy. “My advice would be to first reach out to us. From there it all comes down to strategy – regardless of the labour market there are always jobs and opportunities. “I think that students think the only way to find a job is spending excessive amounts of time on job search sites and applying and not getting a result. “But you need a strategy based on understanding the market and building relationships – networking, alumni connections, cold calls and reaching out. “There is a way. Sometimes it isn’t as obvious and it only has to make sense to you. There is no perfect career path or perfect plan. Be guided by what makes sense for you.” To make an appointment at the CDC call 07 5595 3388 or email cdc@bond.edu.au.
For alumni struggling to look for that job, the CDC is your best bet. The suite of services offered to alumni includes resume reviews, cover-letter writing, LinkedIn training, mock interviews and assistance looking for the job that is right for you. Mitchell says many students come into the CDC struggling to find a job and often just haven’t considered all their options. “Often the way you imagine where you’re going to be and how it winds up is very different,” she says. “The plan isn’t the terrain – the terrain is often wildly different. The older you get the more complex it gets; there’s even more of a need for alumni to remain connected with us and use the services.” Bond alumnus Nick Tomkins found himself stuck in an endless cycle of job searching for six months after graduating from a Law and Commerce degree in 2014. But after visiting the CDC he realised that he was not looking in the right place. “I originally wanted something specifically in finance and not necessarily in a law firm,” says Tomkins.
Alumnus Mr Nick Tomkins
“Now I’ve found a job that is providing
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SUMMER 2015
STAMPING THEIR MARK ON THE
WORLD 1
ACROSS the globe, Bond University’s alumni community continues to bloom through the development of several alumni committees in 2015. This includes Australian-based committees in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and international committees in London, New York, Tokyo, Malaysia and Toronto. Further alumni committees are being developed by alumni in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Events around the world are supported by Bond University Vice-Chancellor Professor Tim Brailsford and the Alumni and Development Office, and being run by local alumni committees. Depending on their size, committees are labelled either a chapter, group or club,
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with chapter indicating the largest cohort of 100 or more members. All committees are fronted by honorary executive members including President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary. Executive Director of Alumni and Development, Brett Walker, says this new structure has seen the alumni community strengthen over the past year. “Since initiating the new alumni community structure in 2014, it is pleasing to see the tremendous involvement of alumni through alumni events,” says Walker. “Homecoming and University activities such as the Alumni Mentor Program and Annual Fund are providing opportunities for fellow Bondies and students, as well as the Alumni Advisory Board, which is playing a significant role in supporting and
engaging with alumni.” Further support for the alumni community comes with the appointment of two alumni to the University Council or Board of Directors in April 2015. Derek Cronin (LLB, 1989) and David Baxby (LLB/BCom 1992) were appointed to Council in April 2015, which continues representation by alumni at the highest level of the University. Alumni are encouraged to get involved as well with the upcoming Alumni Advisory Board elections, which will take place in December. The inaugural Alumni Advisory Board has been operating since January 2014, and requires three elected alumni members, one of which must be based outside of Australia.
ALUMNI
3
ALUMNI EVENTS 1 - London, UK 2 - Kuala Lumpur, MY 3 - Tokyo, JP 4 - Perth, AU 5 - Kuala Lumpur, MY 6 - New York, US 2
7 - Gold Coast, AU 8 - New York, US
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SUMMER 2015
Time to
RECONNECT It’s not just students reaping the rewards from a Bond University initiative, with alumni gaining an insight into the next generation of recruits. STUDENTS past and present have formed a valuable connection by participating in Bond University’s Alumni Mentor Program. The program has been matching alumni with current students for the past five years in a bid to foster networking opportunities and provide Bondies with a glimpse of working in their chosen field. Mentor Mark Ellis graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1992, before relocating to Canberra to work at the Department of Defence and later Australian Federal Police. He has been working as General Manager of Australian Subsidiaries at Aspen Medical since 2011, overseeing four separate entities operating under its umbrella. Having previously mentored graduates during his days in government, Ellis says he saw the program as a chance to reconnect with Bond. “I’ve basically been in Canberra since I graduated, so I’ve had little to do with Bond being geographically far away and I saw this as an opportunity to reconnect,” Ellis says. “I look back on my time at Bond very fondly. I started in the early days, made some very good friends and it was a really enjoyable part of my life. “When I returned recently for the launch of the Alumni Mentor Program, I was quite amazed at how much the place has changed but also stayed the same in some ways.”
assistance,” Macdade says. “Mark assisted me in ensuring my resume and cover letters were of a standard that an employer in the real world would look twice at. “He also assisted me in putting together an application that secured me an internship with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade at the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.” Ellis says it’s important to remember that each partnership will be different, and participants shouldn’t enter the program with expectations of attaining work experience or a job. “Both sides need to make the commitment to catch up, discuss things and follow through,” Ellis says. “When I gave Courtney advice about something, she followed through and reported back. If she asked me questions I didn’t know the answer to, I always made sure I found the answer for our next meeting. “Courtney also completed a work placement with us for a few weeks to get some experience in the workplace and see how things are.” Macdade echoes the sentiment and encourages eligible Bond students to take advantage of the opportunity and commit to it. “When you have been partnered with
Ellis was paired with Bachelor of Laws and International Relations student Courtney Macdade, who was seeking career guidance on employer expectations in the industry. Demonstrating distance was no barrier, Ellis and Macdade communicated using Skype on a weekly basis accommodating both of their schedules. “I was lucky enough to be paired with Mark, who is not only successful, but also a fantastic mentor who is willing and able to convey his advice and provide useful
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Bond student Ms Courtney Macdade
your mentor, make sure that you are well prepared, have done some research and are ready to listen and learn,” she says. “Make sure that you have questions that you want to ask your mentor and ensure that you are timely and respectful in all communication.” As well as being able to share his experiences with an up-and-comer in the field, Ellis says he also gained an insight into the employment market. He says entering the workforce is not as easy as it was 20 years ago, with many students having to seek unpaid work before commencing a paid role. “It’s a totally different world and I think being able to see what the difficulties are for young graduates entering the workforce, which probably weren’t there when I graduated, helps me when I look at hiring other positions within the organisation,” he says. Ellis and Macdade still keep in contact, with plans to catch up when she returns to discuss her work placement in Malaysia as she considers her career path. Ellis has already signed up to the Alumni Mentor Program again and is guiding a postgraduate student. To become involved in the next program, please contact the Alumni and Development Office at: alumni.bond.edu.au
ALUMNI Alumna Dr Fay Haisley
LEGACY OF
Giving
Dr Fay Haisley’s passion for education is taking seed in a new scholarship fund that is now with Bond for life. AT 80 years of age, Dr Fay Haisley began laying the foundations of a legacy that will last as long as Bond University is producing graduates. It was the tragic passing of Dr Haisley’s brother Warren Sambrook in a car accident three years ago that prompted the Bond Honorary Professor to establish the Sambrook Scholarship Fund. Her target is to donate a total of $100,000 over five to 10 years to the fund, providing the seed capital for a corpus that will grow in value over time and engender a culture of giving within the Bond community. While she is first to admit these are small beginnings to that target, Dr Haisley sees a broader context for the scholarship fund. “We don’t do philanthropy very well in Australia, but it happens in America a lot,” she says. “If we had 10 people doing what I’m doing, then we would have interest from $1 million to start with.” In the early 90s, when she was Professor and Dean of the Benerd School of Education at University of the Pacific in California, Dr Haisley was given a gift of $5 million by a teacher dying of cancer. She applied that gift to a perpetual fund to provide scholarship assistance to students of the university. Now that fund is worth about $50 million.
After two years, the Sambrook Scholarship Fund has reached $30,000 and is expected to hit $40,000 by the end of June 2016. The aim is to invest those funds, grow the principle and only pay out a portion of the annual interest to recipients. Currently, the scholarship is worth $500 a year, although Dr Haisley says this will increase over time. “While this is a small gift, it’s not going to go away – it will not be given to one student and then disappear. “It would take a long time to pay a full scholarship, but it was never intended to do that. “The Sambrook Scholarship Fund is now built into the Bond Scholarship account and, over time it could become $1 million. This money is now invested in Bond’s budget forever. “People need to understand that even $100,000 built into a corpus is going to make a big difference overtime. “At the University of the Pacific, the strategy was to put the gift into a fund that gained interest. That fund is there in perpetuity, and the only money that can be spent is a percentage of the interest both for the Dean’s discretion and scholarships.” Starting her career as a primary school teacher in Sydney in 1952, Dr Haisley, an
Honorary Professor, retired in 1999 as Professor and Dean Emerita at University of the Pacific. However, she has played a significant role at Bond over the past 15 years including; earning a JD degree in 2006, serving as Dean of Students and Executive Officer in the Law school in 2007, Director of the Education Program in 2008, and assisting with the AACSB accreditation process for the Bond Business School from 2009-2013. Dr Haisley is passionate about education and sees the culture of giving back as part of that process. She says scholarships, helped her along the way and even though they may be small, show ‘somebody else cares’. “Even a small amount of money opens doors because a scholarship notation goes on the curriculum vita. “A lot of parents struggle to get their children to university and there are lots of really bright students who need a good start. Even a small scholarship helps. When you put them on the right road, you never know what happens. I never thought I’d do a PhD. “I’d like to see a host of Bond excellence scholars tell us of their success, help by giving back themselves, and encouraging others to set up similar funds to keep the Bond legacy of giving alive.”
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SUMMER 2015
CLASS NOTES
Bond University is proud to have been part of the journey of these graduates who are forging paths of success and reaping rich rewards in their respective fields. Be inspired by fellow Bondies on the following pages and check out what some of your classmates have achieved.
2005
she's got her priorities in ‘czech’
adoption joy for masters graduate Vikas Golchha recently adopted a 2-year-old girl Inaya who is giving wonderful company for her 7-year-old brother Ishaan. The joy experienced after his and wife Madhu's decision to adopt their
1998
little girl has been beyond all of their expectations. Vikas runs a small business of Pigments and Construction Products. He completed his Masters degree in International Business from Bond University in 993.
1999 Amit Roy graduated with Masters in Information Technology in 003. After working for few years as Software Engineer, he shifted to school teaching in India. (He blames it on watching Attenborough’s Gandhi repeatedly at the library). Currently, he is pursuing an interdisciplinary PhD in Education at University of Eastern Finland. His research focuses on use of technology to provide better quality life skills education specifically in schools serving middle and bottom tiers of the economic pyramid.
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Alicia Kizekova graduated in 2013 with a PhD by Research, majoring in International Relations. Since leaving Bond, she worked as a Head of Department of Asian Studies at Metropolitan University Prague. She left academia in January and became an Adviser to the Speaker at the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament. She continues to collaborate with Bond University through an honorary adjunct research fellowship at the Centre for East-West Cultural and Economic Studies.
ALUMNI 2002
2004 Adrian Praljak is employed by a leading hotel group Wyndham World Wide on the Gold Coast in a CMA role. He is currently completing a leading MBA program and designing and developing a career in senior business management for a multi-national company. One of his true career passions is Australian politics.
all in the family Tayguara Helou works with his family business as the M&A Director. The company provides parcel distribution and logistics solutions throughout Brazil. He is also Vice-President at SETCESP the local carrier's association in São Paulo. He is married to former Bondy Fabiola de La Lastra and they have two children, Layla and Tayo.
Tim O'Loughlin works as Senior Financial Planner at the LDB Group providing holistic financial advice to young professionals. Tim continues to remain actively involved with various sporting committees and is the Club Secretary at Grace Park Lawn Tennis Club.
2008 James Graham moved to Boston in August to Boston to complete a Masters of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. James has been working at Goldman Sachs in Sydney since graduating from Bond in 2012.
building a better life for the parentless Kinjal Gajera has initiated Sunita’s Makerspace, a workshop at Vatsalyadham. It has become a home for orphans in Surat India, for kids to dream, to design and to create. Sunita’s Makerspace serve as a gathering point for tools, projects, mentors and expertise. It aims to
2012
create an environment where the mundane of teaching ends and excitement of learning begins. Sunita’s Makerspace is a workshop where patrons and experts come together to teach kids new techniques and train them in skills.
bondy sweethearts tie the knot at home
2008
Andrea Charleau has tied the knot with Brennan Wood. The couple were married in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in May 2015. They are both Canadian, but met at Bond in 2008.
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2016 BOND Bond Homecoming 2016 welcomes you back on campus to reconnect and celebrate with your fellow Bondies. SAVE THE DATE | 26th May – 29th May. More details will be announced soon. To ensure you don’t miss any information regarding our celebrations, keep your details up to date at alumni.bond.edu.au/update-details or contact us at alumni@bond.edu.au
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Connect & Celebrate