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2025 DEAN’S STUDENT EXCELLENCE AWARDS

NOTE FROM THE DEAN

Every year, Monash Business School seeks to celebrate the School’s student excellence and recognise achievements that truly encapsulate the Monash experience.

A signature achievement is our annual Future Global Leaders awards. Additionally, this year we celebrate achievements in equity, diversity and social inclusion.

I am delighted to announce that the 2025 recipients are:

– Anna Huynh, 2025 Future Global Leader, Undergraduate

– Prithviraj Rajesh, 2025 Future Global Leader, Postgraduate

– Karinda Taylor, 2025 Equity, Diversity and Social Inclusion Student Award

– Stuart Hayes, 2025 Dean’s Equity, Diversity and Social Inclusion Award

These students exemplify the spirit of Monash University and its commitment to addressing the challenges of the age for the betterment of our communities, both locally and globally.

You can read more about them in this program.

Also in this program are our 2025 Student Course Award recipients, as well as the Dean’s Honour List, our individual Department Unit Awards and the Dean’s Commendation List.

As a Monash University student, you are part of an institution that is worldleading in its education and research, with a record for innovation and collaboration ranked in the global top 50.

Being a Monash Business School graduate means your studies will be recognised for its quality around the world, with the depth and knowledge to really make a difference.

That will always be our commitment to you.

Professor Simon Wilkie Dean, Faculty of Business and Economics Head, Monash Business School

Professor Simon Wilkie

2025 FUTURE GLOBAL LEADERS AWARDS AND EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND SOCIAL INCLUSION AWARDS

Our Future Global Leaders Awards recognise students who champion sustainable businesses and practices that further economic, environmental and social community development, and who demonstrate the drive and ambition to become global leaders.

Our Equity, Diversity and Social Inclusion Student Awards celebrate students who have made meaningful contributions towards fostering inclusive communities aligned with Monash Business School values.

From culturally safe healthcare to grassroots community support, this year’s four major award winners are using their skills in economics and enterprise to deliver real-world results. The stories of Anna Huynh, Prithviraj Rajesh, Karinda Taylor and Stuart Hayes demonstrate how purpose-driven leadership can create lasting impact.

Banking on inclusion

When Master of Banking and Finance graduate Prithviraj Rajesh looks at a business plan, he doesn’t just see profit; he sees potential.

In his postgraduate studies, Mr Rajesh focused on the transformative power of inclusive business.

As a consultant to the Mosaik Experiences social enterprise, he championed cultural safety and inclusion across diverse communities.

With the First People’s Wellbeing organisation, he worked closely with Indigenous leaders to co-design growth strategies that prioritise both cultural safety and economic empowerment.

He also led a social impact Hackathon team that developed scalable, Indigenous-led health initiatives combining commercial insight with cultural values.

Mr Rajesh said he was passionate about using financial models to unlock social progress.

“Real impact begins with how well we listen, honour, and respond to different ways of knowing and being,” he said.

“That is what keeps me focused – the possibility of building systems that are not only effective but also culturally safe and inclusive.”

Being named 2025 Future Global Leader Award (Postgraduate) was a “proud and meaningful” moment.

“It reflects the kind of leadership I believe in: grounded, people-focused, and culturally aware,” he said.

His vision is to embed cultural awareness into the fabric of business practice.

“I want to shape strategies that reflect a deeper understanding of place, culture, and shared responsibility,” he said.

Prithviraj Rajesh

Policy with purpose

Final year Law/Commerce student Anna Huynh is fascinated by how macroeconomic policy can respond to the urgent challenges of climate change and sustainability.

Her drive to create positive impact has been sharpened by hands-on experience, including a global mobility internship at Ernst & Young, and policy analysis at Victoria’s Department of Treasury and Finance, where she contributed to the government’s response to the 2022 floods in Melbourne’s west.

A skilled communicator, she is Editor-in-Chief of the Monash University Law Review, and was part of the team that won the Law Student Society x Monash Association of Coding Hackathon for an AI-based immigration tool.

In 2023, she was awarded a scholarship with the Australian Centre for Justice Innovation to explore how AI could improve access to tribunals.

Healing Country, healing systems

Karinda Taylor sees healthcare as an opportunity to connect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with culture, support families and strengthen communities.

A Wamba Wamba woman and CEO of First Peoples’ Health and Wellbeing, Ms Taylor is driving systemic reform in how care is delivered to Aboriginal families.

In 2023, she led the launch of Victoria’s first Aboriginal Early Parenting Centre, which provides culturally-grounded support during the critical early years of parenting.

She also established a social enterprise training café, Blak Fig, which creates safe spaces for connection and offers employment opportunities for Aboriginal people.

Belonging in Motion

What if inclusion could spread through a beach walk, a swim, or a simple conversation?

PhD student Stuart Hayes is turning everyday moments into powerful tools for belonging – both in life and at work.

Working alongside health and community partners, Mr Hayes helps people connect across social, cultural and physical barriers, without competition, cost, or expectation.

Rooted in a philosophy that small, meaningful interactions can spark big change, his approach is informed by his doctoral research exploring how real-time experiences impact longer-term belonging, flexibility and psychological safety outcomes.

Previously a volunteer project manager with Impetus Consulting Group, Ms Huynh now contributes to research on climate investment strategies alongside Associate Professor Anke Leroux and the team at Monash Green Labs.

“The thread that ties all my projects together is my passion and motivation for harnessing technology and finding innovative solutions to problems that persist in society,” Ms Huynh said.

Her commitment to socially driven innovation has been recognised with the 2025 Future Global Leader Award (Undergraduate).

“Being named a Future Global Leader inspires me to continue exploring how my skills and areas of interest in law, economics and regulation can meld together to create solutions that apply to pressing global issues,” she said.

Now undertaking a Master of Indigenous Business Leadership, Ms Taylor is sharpening her advocacy for a system that centres culture, accountability and self-determination.

She believes Indigenous business can shape services that reflect the values and needs of Aboriginal people.

“Aboriginal-led and culturally-safe care is central to improving health and wellbeing outcomes for First Nations people,” she said.

Ms Taylor’s leadership has been recognised with a 2025 Dean’s Equity, Diversity and Social Inclusion Award.

“It’s an honour to be a recipient of this award and to have my leadership and commitment to Community acknowledged in this way.”

While his research and events operate independently, they share a common belief: that micro-moments of connection can shape how we feel, think, and relate.

“Sometimes the smallest gestures – like walking beside someone or sharing a swim – open the biggest doors, and it gives me such a kick to see it in action,” Mr Hayes said.

“Watching a CEO, a student, and a councillor chatting and laughing together after a swim is a powerful reminder that we all matter and that we all belong.”

His quiet revolution in social inclusion has earned him the 2025 Dean’s Equity, Diversity and Social Inclusion Award.

“This award reinforces that inclusion doesn’t need to be formal, mandated, or serious. It can begin with simple, human interactions in natural settings.”

Anna Huynh

Karinda Taylor

Stuart Hayes

2024 STUDENT COURSE AWARDS

MANY THANKS TO OUR INDUSTRY SUPPORTERS

UNDERGRADUATE DEGREES

2024 HIGHEST ACHIEVING STUDENT

ACCOUNTING

Supported by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) Ginell Yi Lin Lee

ACTUARIAL SCIENCE

Supported by Uni Super Henry Jack Brown

BANKING AND FINANCE

Supported by Monash Business School Suning Jiao

BUSINESS

Supported by Forvis Mazars Royina Hendrika de Bruijne

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Supported by UniSuper Zixin Liu

COMMERCE

Supported by Adore Earth Henry Jack Brown

ECONOMICS

Supported by Monash Business School Minh Trang Nguyen FINANCE

Supported by Monash Business School Changhao Yuan

HONOURS

Supported by Monash Business School Susama Mahnaz

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

Supported by i-Build Building Solutions Tala Lawand

MARKETING

Supported by Monash Business School Tayla Rose Burrell

2024 STUDENT COURSE AWARDS